-Caveat Lector- For an immigration time-out: http://www.projectusa.org/ New York Iowans "unsophisticated" says Des Moines Register columnist Issue 74: May 18, 2001 +== TIME OUT PROJECT ==+ Last September, Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack announced his support for a plan that would exempt Iowa from federal immigration limits. A combination of national ridicule and strong local opposition has since caused Vilsack to backpedal on the issue, but an early champion of his cheap labor scheme, the Des Moines Register, continues to press for high levels of immigration. This, in spite of the paper's own poll showing that 58% of Iowans did not agree with the governor's proposal. So enthusiastic is the Register for even more immigration, that it has been led to make some surprising claims: In a September 6, 2000 editorial, the paper declared that importing "working age Iowans" from other countries would actually improve the environment. And a January 1, 2001 front page side bar warned Iowans that a failure to import cheap foreign labor could cause an increase in Iowa's unemployment rate since Iowa businesses, short of workers, would need to relocate (you might have to read that one twice). While such claims are easily dismissed as not being worth serious attention, one question does remain: Why does the Des Moines Register go to such lengths to convince Iowans to support a plan to turn their state into a "new Ellis Island?" At least part of the answer can be found in a May 13 piece by Register opinion columnist and editorial board member Shirley Ragsdale, for whom the immigration issue is first and foremost a matter of the skin color and ethnicity of the immigrants themselves. Her column begins with a dismissal of criticism of current U.S. immigration policy (which will cause U.S. population to double within the lifetimes of today's children unless Congress acts) as "xenophobic." Then she asserts the non sequitur "people have merit regardless of skin color, religion or ethnic origin." But for Ms. Ragsdale, it seems, there is something more than general color-blind human merit wrapped up in the skin color, religion or ethnic origin of new immigrants; for her, the various skin colors, etc., of new immigrants are in fact the very reason to support mass immigration: "new Iowans," she argues, would help to make Iowa "more culturally sophisticated and diverse." The fact that her position is racist in itself is apparently lost on Ms. Ragsdale, and she ends her column by complaining that "those who persist in exploiting differences, overstating the superiority inherent in being Iowa born and planting doubts in the minds of the unsophisticated are making it far more difficult" to convince Iowans to embrace her views. More reading: Area diverse enough, most say http://www.dmregister.com/news/stories/c4788998/14672882.html Ragsdale: Surely, Iowans don't buy it http://desmoinesregister.com/news/stories/c5917686/14645762.html +== TAKE POSITIVE ACTION ==+ Shirley Ragsdale, of course, is not the only small city newspaper editor to demonstrate her sophistication by sneering at her rustic readership (she makes it clear in the column that she herself has not lived all her life in a small town). But this isn't just harmless provincialism. On this matter of immigration, Ms Ragsdale and the Des Moines Register play a dangerous game. America's successful history of immigration and assimilation has been marked by periodic immigration time-outs -- the most recent of which lasted the forty years between 1925 to 1965. In the face of today's record-breaking wave of mass immigration, there is no reason to believe public opinion will not soon demand another time-out in order to allow for assimilation, linguistic unity, infrastructure development, and the like. In fact, we should expect a demand for a breather. The question is: what tone will public demand take? By insisting that immigration is most of all an issue of skin color and cultural "otherness," short-sighted -- but probably well-meaning -- journalists and politicians are increasing the likelihood that the next public demand for an immigration time-out will take a racial tone. You can remind the Des Moines Register that support for and opposition to mass immigration for racial or ethnic reasons are simply two sides of the same coin. Ask the paper to please be more responsible and fair in its coverage of the very important issue of mass immigration. Des Moines Register comment line: 1 800 247 5346 (x 8202) In Iowa: 515 284 8202 Or Mary P. Stier President and Publisher [EMAIL PROTECTED] +== QUOTE OF THE WEEK ==+ Telemachus, soon shalt thou learn this, when thou thyself art got to the place of battle where the best men try the issue, -- namely, not to bring shame on thy father's house, on us who in times past have been eminent for might and hardihood over all the world. Odysseus Homer's The Odyssey Tenth Century, BC (?) +==EMAIL OF THE WEEK==+ "Diversity" is not what makes America great. "FREEDOM" is what has made us great. Marje Quiros Coral Gables, FL (see Ms. Quiros' letter in Friday's Miami Herald: http://www.miami.com/herald/content/opinion/letters/digdocs/055388.htm ) +== E-ZINE STAFF ==+ Editor: Brenda Walker Head writer: Craig Nelsen Contributing writer: Allison Solin +== ADD OR SUBTRACT ==+ If you no longer wish to receive this publication, just email us the bad news and we will comply. 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