Dr. King and the value of work; how he would have supported immigration reform

Dr. King and the value of work; how he would have supported immigration reform

 

Commentators see many parallels between the civil rights struggle and the need for immigration reform.  One link occurred nearly 50 years ago, when Martin Luther King, Jr., gave his “American Dream” sermon at Ebeneezer Baptist Church.    He based it on the Declaration of Independence,  which holds that all men are created equal, and that they have God-given rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.   He taught that segregation is morally wrong because it denies this universal truth.  As a result, we are charged to respect the dignity and worth of every man.  He said that our view of work reflects how we treat each other, and that because there is dignity and spiritual value, or should be, in every kind of work, that value should be recognized.

 

Matthew Fox, an Episcopal priest, made the same point as Dr. King in his 1994 book “The  Reinvention of Work”.    He said that all workers who provide necessary goods and services for others to use in the journey of life are ministers to their brothers and sisters.  

 

Studies show that if people stop working, they are more likely to fall into depression than those who continue working or begin volunteering regularly after retirement.   Those who quit work abruptly are more like to die earlier than those who continue working.     In positive, supportive settings, work gives us strong feelings of self-esteem and worth, while in negative and destructive settings, it can destroy our self-worth and our health.  

 

Under the grading system used by Dr. King and Rev. Fox, our immigration system is a total  failure.   The system denies temporary visas to workers who perform manual labor, if the job is year-round.   It artificially limits H-1B visas for high skill workers to 65,000 per year, a number so low that every year the annual allotment is gone within 5 days after the April 1 filing season opens.  Most employment based green card categories are badly backlogged, chaining workers to their jobs for years.    The system hurts children who excel in high school by shutting them out of college (which also hurts our economy).  It labels people as criminals for being here without permission, when their only reason for entering the US was to do an honest day’s work.  It lets politicians claim that we cannot have reform until we have total border security, a goal they know is unreachable.  That claim rings hollow when the government is and has been deporting more people each year (400,000) than ever before.

 

Our system limits temporary visas for high skill workers arbitrarily, instead of basing annual numbers on prior year’s usage, or some other such formula.   For manual laborers, it is immoral for our system to brand them as bad people for doing jobs that Americans will not or cannot do.   When we do this, we deny them the dignity that the Declaration promises, and that Dr. King and Rev. Fox cared about so much.

 

In late October, over 600 members of the BBB (Bibles, Badges and Business) Coalition lobbied in Washington for common sense reform.  Representative Fred Upton (R. Mich) now confirms that between 120-140 Republican colleagues in the House will vote for immigration reform.   The Pew Center reports that as of May, 75% of Americans think that our immigration system needs major change, and 35% believe it should be completely rebuilt.  

 

Workable, responsive legislation will require Congress to be creative, to use good faith, and to compromise.   The best interests of this country require them to do no less.  As Rep. Upton said, “Doing nothing is not acceptable.”  It is time to bring immigration reform to a full debate and to end this national insanity.  The longer we allow the system to abuse workers, their employers and families, the longer we sin by omission.  

 

Best regards,

 

Gerry Chapman

Gerard M. Chapman

Chapman Law Firm

P. O. Box 1477

Greensboro, NC 27402

403-A North Elm Street

Greensboro, NC 27401

Phone: (336) 334-0034

Fax: (336) 334-0036

E-mail: gerrychapman@chapman-immig.com

Website: www.chapman-immig.com