Review of "The Help", discrimination and our favorite: equal rights

We recently saw the movie The Help. This movie was amazing; so many of the oppressive norms that were prevalent during the 1950s and 1960s were displayed during this film. First, women were not supposed to have careers. They were supposed to stay in their kitchens and be good little housewives. This norm is disgusting, sexist, and chauvinistic. The second oppressive norm was evident with the treatment of African Americans in Mississippi. African American women worked as maids for pocket change during the 1960s. In this time period, African Americans were beaten or killed just for speaking their minds. The Help was an excellent portrayal of the struggles that women had to endure during the 1960s. The women in The Help fought back against their racist oppressors. They spoke their minds to overcome bigotry in Mississippi during the 1960s. It was an extremely inspirational film, and it set an example for those people in America that are victims of racism and hatred.

What worries us today is that many of the norms of the 1950s and 1960s are resurfacing in America. For example, state legislatures are restructuring voting rules which will make it more difficult for minorities to vote. Other states are racially profiling Hispanic children who are trying to attend primary and secondary schools. In addition, people on the streets are being racially profiled for just looking a certain way. Last but not least, the Equal Rights Amendment which would give women complete equal rights in America, has continued to fail ratification. Federal courts will ultimately handle many of these problems. However, American society needs to overcome racist norms of the past. Most people in the United States descend from European immigrants. When various European ethnicity's migrated to America, they were harshly discriminated against. However, these immigrants were the backbone of America. They worked in factories, they built our cities, and they spilled blood during the World Wars.


A perfect example of the racism and bigotry that was just discussed is evident with this picture which was recently posted on a facebook account of a PA resident.


This kind of ideology and racism still exists. When we saw this we were left with no words, I personally was utterly disgusted.
The ignorance shown in such post is just unbelievable. To think that people think this way just makes me lose a little hope of how the election are going to be this year. I remembered a lot of aspects of my childhood. Being of Mexican descent and speaking Spanish and above all coming to live to a hick place in Pennsylvania made some of my life very unbearable. At a very young age I was discriminated against and had to learn to deal with comments and stares from people who just don't understand.

The viewer comments that were associated with the facebook  picture explained how many Mexicans come here to work and obtain the jobs in which other Americans would never want. The thing I disagree with this comment is that not only Mexicans come to work but HISPANICS. People seem to misunderstand and end up blaming Mexicans. I have met people from Honduras, Guatemala, Chile, the Ukraine, Mexico, Russia, every fucking place who come here to work illegally in jobs the normal American would not do. Many people have been conditioned to think that people who work in the fields are Mexicans when that is totally false. Just because they see a person talking in Spanish they instantly think that they are Mexican. It is such a pity that there is so much ignorance. I have heard so many times how Mexicans are blamed for "stealing the jobs". Yes I agree you rarely see whites doing the work that Hispanics supposedly take. Although these jobs are being done by various minorities, not one specific group is working these jobs.  There are economic consequences to the stoppage of hiring illegal immigrants.  According to a Pew Research Center study by Jeffery Passel, undocumented immigrants compromise 25 percent of farm employees (Passel 15). These human beings sustain a large portions of America's economy. We can not imagine how high produce prices would be if there were not undocumented immigrants working in the fields. Just this year so many crops went bad because people were being detained and taken back to their homeland (Neiwart 3-5). Besides the economic consequences there are moral consequences of deporting Mexicans. It is unjust and disgusting to see these deportations; people do not understand that while undocumented people are being detained and taken to prison, their kids are at home waiting for their parents to come back. Kids are being left without their parents, families are being torn apart.

Another example is evident with the DREAM Act. The Congressional Budget Office has explained that if the DREAM Act were passed, undocumented children would be saving the Federal government millions of dollars (CBO 1). The fact of the matter is that immigrants advance American society.  In addition, the DREAM Act is the morally fair policy to enact. Undocumented children did not intentionally come to America illegally; they were brought to this country by others. The DREAM act or any type of immigration reform would bring in millions of dollars to the US government. My suggestion for Congress is to enact either the DREAM Act or a comprehensive immigration reform policy. The people that would be able to apply would have a fine to pay thus it not being a free option causing money to come into the government.
The post says how there shouldn't be "no freebies: Non-citizens." But yet look at all the illegal aliens who have fought for the united states to end the war on terror and have died. People pay taxes and contribute to this society everyday. We are not asking for amnesty for these people, we are asking for a fair and just policy. America was founded on principles of fairness and justices.

The people who are in America should be given a chance to contribute to American society without the threat of hatred or bigotry. Black, Brown, yellow, purple, pink, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, men, women, old, young, disabled, christian, atheist, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, Hindu, etc., are all human beings. This isn't rocket science, people are people despite their color or belief system. We need to stop the childishness and welcome people in this country and let them contribute. That is America; that is how America was built.

Reference
Neiwert David. "Alabama Harvests the Bitter Fruit of Its Harsh New Immigration Laws: Tomatoes
            Dyin On The Vine." 6 Oct. 2011 Crooksandliars.com  2011 Crooks and Liars. Viewed
            28 Dec. 2011. http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/alabama-harvests-bitter-fruit-its-ha

Congressional Budget Office. "Congression Budget Office Cost Estimate: S. 3992 Development, 
            Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act of 2010." 2 Dec 2010 CBO.gov  2011
            Congressional Budget Office. Viewed  28 Dec 2011.   
             cbo.gov/ftpdocs/119xx/doc11991/s3992.pdf>

Passel Jeferry. "A Portrait of Unauthorized Immigrants in the United States." 14 April 2009.      
            PewHispanic.org  2011 Pew Research Center. viewed 28 Dec 2011.
            http://pewhispanic.org/files/reports/107.pdf