When a neighbor comes across the street asking to borrow a cup of sugar, it’s reasonable and polite to lend them one. When the neighbor takes to the streets demanding a cup of sugar it’s equally reasonable to be concerned.
Generosity towards guests is an ancient and honorable human impulse. Reciprocity is more ancient yet. Even babies and animals understand it.
If you are referring to the economic underclass, (We, They)? are not your neighbor and everyone knows it. So you’re speaking metaphorically?
I have neighbors from all socio-economic classes, all races, all religions. Not just figuratively. Literally.
I do not live in a lily white homogeneous suburb. Deliberately.
Specifically, what I’m referring to are the “Dreamers”—illegal immigrants brought to the United States by their parents, presumably as young children. From a strategic standpoint I think they’d be better off asking the American people to allow them to stay rather than denying that they’re here illegally and demanding they have a right to stay. Street demonstrations flying Mexican flags are a darned good way to convince many Americans that as a group they aren’t particularly sympathetic.
When a neighbor who works for a church has students rake leaves at his house for service hours, I write to my Congressman about expanding the definition of income in the Internal Revenue Code. That’s how I roll (or would like to think I roll)
Or in this day and age, is it better to follow the saying, “the squeaky wheel gets the grease�
I mistook your premise, sorry.
As for the “dreamers”, to their memory, they ARE natives here. But Mexican in their hearts.
Hard to understand, proud to be from a place you’d risk life and limb to escape from.
At least twice in the past the United States has engaged in mass deportations of Mexicans including those who were here legally or even American citizens of Mexican descent. Maybe things really are different today but it seems to me that kicking up a stink is a risky strategy especially when a significant proportion of non-Mexican Americans are favorably disposed to you as it is.
It’s interesting to me, I serve restaurants owned and run by Illegal Mexicans. These people have worked hard, to get here, to learn the language, to save the money for their business. They speak english (most of them), but they always try to teach me Spanish in a friendly way. Seems that there are so many of them, they feel comfortable living here as people who still identify as Mexican, but want better money and better lives.
One of the owners said to me “I suppose you’d turn us in?”. My response was, “Well, as far as I know, there’s no bounty yet”. We both laughed.
Truth is, if I did call ICE, no one would show up.