Transcript
Sam Byrd
Executive Director, Idaho Migrant Council
I have a comment with regard to the issue of immigration. I would just like for those of us who live in the three states that were discussed this evening to imagine a day without Mexicans, and imagine the social costs and the richness that would be lost. Imagine the economic crisis that would occur. And imagine the human costs. Imagine if you will, speaking only one language because it seems that as we talk about immigration, we talk about speaking one language, and that language is English. I just want us to notice that in the three states there is no movement, either in a contemporary context or in the past, which is speaking of an "only" kind of language. So it's interesting to see that people want to push one language, but the idea is that if you know another language, you know there are some things that can't be said in English. So when you lose a language, whichever language that is, including English, but in this case we speak of losing Spanish we lose forever, all of us, todos los Americanos, all of us Americanos, lose the ability to interpret and ever know that view or that perspective of the world. That is too high a cost. As far as education, education is probably the biggest issue facing the Latino community throughout this country. It is the biggest human rights issue facing our community. Our businesses will not continue to be productive, and our communities will not continue to be vibrant if we are missing the contributions that many of us can make. We bring also the gift of a different definition of an education. The definition of an education in the Mexican context is of respect, is of reverence, is of belief in the connections between the past and the future and how important it is for us to maintain those connections between us. I can't imagine not combining those gifts and providing us the opportunities that we as Americanos want. And finally, I just want to comment on Los Americanos, because we are all Americanos. I think the title of the show, as I was commenting to my colleagues, gives me hope, because it begins to define the term "Americano" and give it that new definition which I think is very consistent with that new future that all of us are hoping for. I want to encourage the dialogue, because although it is painful, I think it is through dialogue that we build the bridges of understanding.
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