As an immigrant rights movement we are living a most paradoxical moment. Never in our history has a campaign to push and enact legislation that has come to be known as “comprehensive immigration reform” (CIR) been so well-funded and so well-organized. Yet, the political conditions are simply not cooperating. Besides the fact that Washington, D.C. politics will be dictated by the calculus of mid-term elections, the environment surrounding immigrants continues to be highly toxic and poisoned.
Despite this reality, CIR advocates have been assuring us that CIR is imminent, first claiming that it would be a reality by Thanksgiving of 2009. Of course we know now that Thanksgiving came and went without such thing. Still, they have continued to assure us that if the movement presses forward and doubles up efforts, it will succeed in delivering a legislative win this year.
One could admire such resolute faith, except that facts mount daily, pointing to a much different reality, so that such faith is beginning to look more like delusion.
What are we to do as a movement?
In his best-selling management book From Good To Great, author Jim Collins identifies the factors that catapulted mediocre companies into long-standing successes . Among them was what Collins calls the “Stockdale Paradox”, after Vice Admiral James Stockdale who survived seven years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. During his captivity, Stockdale was subjected to all manner of torture and abuse, and unlike many of his fellow prisoners, he made it out alive.
Stockdale is known for having said of his experience that he “never lost faith in the end of the story. I never doubted not only that I would get out but also that I would prevail in the end and turn the experience into the defining event of my life, which in retrospect I would not trade.” Further, when asked about those who did not make it, Stockdale declared “Oh, that’s easy. The optimists….The ones who said ‘We’re going to be out by Christmas.’ And Christmas would come and Christmas would go. Then they’d say ‘We’re going to be out by Easter.’ And Easter would come and Easter would go. And then Thanksgiving, and then it would be Christmas again. And they died of a broken heart.”
The moral of Stockdale’s story, in his own words, is that: “You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end—which you can never afford to lose—with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be”.
What can we, as an immigrant rights movement, glean from the Stockdale Paradox?
First, we must keep the faith that we will prevail. But, at the same time, we must confront the brutal facts of our current reality. And what are these facts?
Let us start by paying close attention to the public discourse of elected officials such as President Obama and Senator Schumer and Graham. What do their words tell us when they place border security and enforcement above all else and talk about a “tough but fair” path to so-called legalization? Let us play close attention to the overall legislative and political panorama. Where does immigration reform fall in the list of priorities for elected officials, or for the general public for that matter? How does immigration reform compare with jobs, the economy, and energy policy to name a few? Let us pay close attention to the actual actions of the Obama Administration and the fact that deportations have increased in the past year. Let us pay close attention to the charged rhetoric surrounding immigrants and to recent actions at the local level by such states as Arizona that has preliminary approved actions by local police departments to arrest undocumented immigrants on “trespassing” charges.
What does all of the above tell us about the realities we confront as a movement?
We cannot build castles in the sand. It is only when we take stock, in an honest way, of the conditions that surround us that we are able to respond accordingly. If we ignore these realities, we will be going around in circles, and not only waste precious resources in the process, but worse yet, so misguide our people, our constituencies, our allies and potential allies that they will lose hope and it will be that much more difficult to organize and mobilize them when the conditions are ripe.
The time right now is for deep organizing and alliance building at the local level. The time right now is for detoxifying the environment that will create the conditions for real immigration reform that will not criminalize immigrant communities and that will abolish egregious aspects of our current law that wrench apart our families, violate civil and human rights and destabilize our communities. The time right now is to humanize the immigrant community so that we are no longer seen as the “illegal aliens” that deserve to be punished, but rather as the neighbors who have been among us and beside us, contributing with the sweat of our brow and enriching the cultural tapestry of this nation.
