October 30, 2007

Everyone’s smile is genuine. Everyone’s smile is a reflection of that individual.

A smile is a sign of approval. A smile shows happiness.

Everyone has a beautiful smile.

Laughter starts with a smile.

Have you ever spoken to someone on the phone and knew that they were smiling even though you couldn’t see their face? Most likely, you’ve did notice.*

That’s the power of smile.

In Ukraine, one of the things that surprised me is the power of a smile. Even though I didn’t realize it in the States, I lived in a bubble. Americans are happy people; we are optimists. It is ingrained in our culture that the future will be better, happier. We tend to put less value on the past and constantly look ahead at the future. And, until recently, I believed everyone in the world lived by this ideology.

Even when I visited the Dominican Republic, I enjoyed the time I spent with my relatives because they are incredibly happy people, who often smile.

As a small boy, I traveled with my fathers to los campos de la Republica Dominica. I remember him lecturing me on life and poverty, and how I have nothing to complain about in life. As he drove me through the poorest neighborhoods in the island, he told me, “Half of these children don’t wear shoes because they can’t afford them, yet they’re happy. They are not happy because they don’t have money, but because it’s better than the alternative.”

In Ukraine, people often ask me, “Why do you smile so much?” or “You smile a lot, what happened?” At first, I thought that this was something I would encounter once or twice and that’s all. But it wasn’t. Ukrainians are intrigued and they constantly want to know why I smile.

During Peace Corps training, our Technical and Cross Cultural trainer, Mila, told us that the first time she began working with Americans it was strange. She sat down with a group of Americans to teach Russian, but they smiled and laughed during the entire lesson. She remembers thinking during the lesson “Why do they smile so often? What are they hiding?”

This type of thinking is not irrational in Ukraine. It’s just not apart of their culture to smile on the street or at work. This is not to say that Ukrainians are sad or bad people. Once you get to know a Ukrainian, they are warm and happy people. I have made many lasting friendships that I hope will last for as long as I live. But even my friends tell me, it is completely different to have a conversation with me. They say that “you’re just so happy and optimistic.”

In fact, my favorite situation is when I speak to an Ukrainian randomly. Throughout the conversation, we smile and joke around. Then, he asks me why I smile so often, and I reply “What do you mean? You’ve been smiling during this entire conversation too.”

At that point, they admit “we’ll, that’s only because you were smiling.”

So I guess you can add this to the list: A smile is contagious. Just smile and it’ll make you happier and those around you too
*If not, I encourage you to try it. I know you will be able to tell.

Congressman Rahm Emmanuel (D-ILL) was quoted this week saying that immigration “has emerged as the third rail of American politics, and anyone who does not realize that isn’t with the American people.” We all know that immigration has become a “hot-button issue” for political campaigns. Politicians from both ends of the spectrum use it to court their base and/or to woo Latinos to vote for them, and yet fail to address the problem once they get elected.

I believe politics is partly the art of compromise making it possible to enact public policies that find solutions to difficult problems and hence move our society forward. Unfortunately, this past week Congress failed once again to find a solution and compromise on immigration reform. While the business lobby was pushing for an increase in the number of temporary visas for “high-tech” students and professionals, the immigrant rights advocates demanded, and rightly so, that Congress include as part of the package two legislative proposals that could solve the plight of the millions of undocumented agricultural workers and also create educational opportunities for college bound high-school age undocumented children. The irony of the debate was palpable; at the same time that the business lobby argued that the US lacks educated workers to take on skilled jobs, they were limiting educational opportunities for some of the brightest kids in the US and in turn become the skilled workers our economy needs. The ability for some members of Congress to argue that denying educational opportunities to children was good public policy was disturbing, and it showed how close we are to becoming a society that puts short term political gains ahead of the long term welfare of our economy. If we need educated workers, why do we limit our ability to educate those kids who want to get an education? And why should it be more important to facilitate the entrance of high-tech workers and at the same time allow farm workers to continue risking their lives crossing the Mexican border illegally to come to the US to pick the vegetables and fruits we eat everyday?

Needless to say, inaction at the federal level continues to create more chaos and confusion at the local level. Take the case of NJ and the “public safety” directive issued by Attorney General Milgram as an attempt to clarify the role of police officers in dealing with undocumented immigrants who are suspects of committing a crime. While at best, the intentions of the directive were to assure people in New Jersey that our elected officials were thought on crime, the lack of action at the federal level made this directive a dangerous tool that allows unscrupulous law enforcement agents to use their power to create fear among the immigrant community. An article by Elizabeth Llorente in the Bergen Record (Sat., 10/27) reported that “When they encounter immigrants these days, law enforcers in New Jersey are increasingly apt to dial up immigration officials.” According to the same article, “A fraction — 20-30 percent — of inquiries from law enforcement officials result in direct immigration involvement, often leading to deportation.” It is unimaginable that in the US, a country based on the principle of “justice for all,” we are allowing an entire group of people to be criminalized for simply wanting to earn a living in the US. Nowadays, when an immigrant worker leaves his/her home, he is not just afraid being stopped at a traffic stop, but of having any type of interaction with a police officer. How is this good public policy? To have safe communities, all citizens need to be active participants in securing their neighborhoods, their schools and workplaces.

The only silver lining for us in this stalemate, in the NJ and the US, has been the actions of Mayor Cory Booker in Newark. He did what very few politicians dare to do; he had the courage to stand up and represent all citizens who live in his city and not blame the weakest group in our community for a horrendous tragedy. By publicly stating that the role of his police department was to protect every citizen, he demonstrated that politicians have the ability to determine what kind of community/society they want to lead; one that believes that all people deserve opportunity and respect, or one that breeds hatred and distrust. Our leaders in Congress should learn from Newark; they should understand that immigrants are here to stay and good public policy demands that we recognize them as full-pledged members of our communities and enact laws that will lift them out of the shadows, not drag them further underground.

After all, good public policy is what keeps our democracy working. On immigration, we must find the middle ground and fix our broken immigration system. On this I am with Rep. Emanuel when he stated that any politician “…who does not realize [this] isn’t with the American people.”

For the second time this month, conservative elected members of Congress showed their true colors that they do not care about our children. First, those conservative Senators and Representatives voted against the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), which would have given New Jersey’s children access to health care. Then the Congress failed to override President Bush’s veto by just 15 votes dealing another blow to our children.

Now today, those conservative Senators voted against access to a higher education for our undocumented students when a test vote (a.k.a. a vote on “cloture” to stop debate) fell 8 votes shy of the 60 votes needed to put the DREAM Act to a vote, which effectively kills the bill. Because it was a stand-alone bill, the DREAM Act may not come back for years.

I find it amazingly hypocritical that these conservative members of Congress who claim to be pro-family, pro-life, pro-God, that they would vote against these bills. These votes are puzzling because anyone who is a religious person (as many of those conservative elected officials claim to be) know that neither the Bible, Torah, nor the Koran would not promote denying health care for children or denying undocumented children, who did not come here on their own, a chance at a higher education and path to earned citizenship.

New Jersey can stand proud that Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) voted YES to allow the DREAM Act to come to a vote. However, Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) who is one of the more moderate Republican Senators voted NAY on the DREAM Act cloture vote. If you have contacts or business interest in Pennsylvania, you need to tell your friends in Pennsylvania of the disgraceful vote of Senator Specter. Up until this vote, he had voted primarily in favor of comprehensive immigration reform, but heeded to the pressures of the anti-immigrant and anti-Latino forces in the state.

We need to call these conservative Senators for what they really are . . . anti-children, anti-Latino, and even anti-family. The failure of the Senate to pass the DREAM Act is very disappointing and those who voted against it need to be called out, especially Senator Arlen Specter.

It’s now time for the New Jersey State Legislature to act. With no DREAM Act as a foundation for state legislation, we need for the New Jersey Legislature to join the other ten states that have passed legislation allowing undocumented students to pay in-state tuition at public colleges and universities. I call on the NJ State Senate and NJ State Assembly to pass in-state tuition legislation for Gov. Jon Corzine to sign, so that our undocumented students who graduate high school in New Jersey and have lived her for many years can achieve their educational dreams.

One of the former elected officials in North Jersey caught violating his oath and the people’s trust by taking bribes in exchange for steering no-bid contracts pleaded guilty a few days ago, and, instead of expressing shame and contrition, offered “an explanation”. He acknowledged what he had done is a crime, but added that he had used the $15,000 bribe not for himself, (heavens, no!) but “for the community.” So, this disgraced former official wants to be treated as a modern day American Robin Hood (or should we say, a Robin Hood American?). He admittedly stole, but he did so (he wants us and the sentencing judge to believe) from the rich to give to the poor. No matter what evidence he may offer to prove his “explanation,” it should not suffice to get him leniency. The fact is that he stole from the taxpayers, who foot the bill for the tainted contracts with the added acquisition cost (read “the amount of the bribe”). Given the district he represented, the victims of this robbery, the taxpayers, can hardly be described as the rich. And by “the community” does he mean his constituents? A segment of them? Are they really the poor?

His defense counsel, sensing trouble, immediately disavowed the Robin Hood explanation as “irrelevant.” But, having offered it, his client should suffer the consequences; instead of the leniency for which he was clearly hoping, the judge should throw the proverbial book at him for his demonstrated lack of remorse and his chutzpah, as we say in Spanish.

On October 6th, Ukraine celebrated the Day of People with Disabilities. Luda Ivanivna , the president of the Pryluky Deaf Society, invited me to attend a concert for all of her organization’s members. I decided to go to the concert because I never turn down an invitation to a group. My reasoning is that since I am a volunteer every day and every hour, I might as well meet with organizations that welcome me.

This is not the first time I am working with an organization for people with disabilities. Last spring, for example, the Pryluky Blind Society invited me to one of their meetings. They asked me to purchase audio books because don’t know how to read by using the Braille alphabet.  Purchasing audio books was a great idea, but the cost of producing it in Ukrainian cost $125 per audio book. Instead of getting them audio books, I found them something better. The International Research and Exchange Board (IREX) funds a special project for people with disabilities. IREX provides a computer trainer for two weeks to any disabled person interested in learning computer and internet skills. At the conclusion of the training, the instructor gave the group CD-ROMs and free access to websites that give free audio books in Ukrainian and Russian.

I’m hoping to repeat some of my good fortunes with the Blind Society to the Deaf Society. After the concert, Luda asked me initiate a project with the organization. Thus far, the organization knows that they want to have a computer with internet access; to build better relations with disabled people in Ukraine and to communicate with deaf people in other countries, but they don’t know exactly how. So I decided to meet with them to brainstorm ideas. In a few days, I’ll have a better idea where this is going.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30rcGOua7RI
In the meantime, I want to tell you a little bit about the concert. It was really IMPRESSIVE. I was told that the dancers are completely deaf. Yet, they can still perform Ukrainian traditional dances to the rhythm of the music. What is their secret? Simply countless hours in rehearsal and a dance technique that allows them to feel the vibrations from the wooden floor. If you don’t believe me, take a look for yourself.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvIPd6UWgTA
And this was my favorite: A skit that involved a few audience members. The camera is a little shaky, but it’s still fun.

Lonegan, the poster boy for anti-immigrant (read anti-Hispanic immigrant) and English Only efforts in New Jersey was caught with his hands in the cookie jar demonstrating all that is simply wrong with the recent attacks against day laborers and other immigrants that work hard to sustain themselves and their families. (And do not bring up the Newark tragedy as the vast majority of immigrants are NOT criminals and should not be maligned in this manner).

Long claiming the law and order excuse they came here illegally breaking our laws, etc., Lonegan and many like him, chose to divert citizens attention from more important issues such as the wasteful IRAQ war and our country’s inability to provide healthcare to the most vulnerable to protect the tobacco interests, to instead appeal to worst in people and provide an unwritten license to hate an entire Hispanics. Lonegan, also like many others, does not practice what he preaches. Easy to accuse hardworking Spanish-speaking immigrants of violating the law, he was clearly caught availing himself of the fruit of such illegality by hiring 2 undocumented workers to do his work. Although some have said Lonegan was a victim of his own rhetoric, I would refrain from calling him a victim. Instead, I wonder if he ever paid those 2 individuals whose only mistake that day was to go out and seek honest work! Although the 2 illegal workers were candid and honest in their responses to their own detriment, Citizen Lonegan proceeded to blame everyone else for his own greedy illegal actions. Now we know why he was taking Spanish lessons, so he could communicate with undocumented workers and probably avoid compliance with minimum wage, civil rights, and yes, immigration laws.

The people in Bogota, New Jersey know better than to take Lonegan seriously as my fellow blogger, Cid Wilson has eloquently outlined. However, the long-term impact of Lonegan’s anti-immigrant statements and actions so amply reported in National news ( where are they now???) have caused division and hatred among many who otherwise share similar family, community and faith values.

It is time we take a good look at the root causes of our concerns and stop victimizing further those who have fallen prey to US economic policies that have failed our southern neighbors miserably. It is time that we look at the economic policies that have resulted in our collective uncertainty and sense that we may lose all that we have worked for at a moments notice. It is time that we understand that hating the working poor will not make us richer or safer. If this incident gives us pause to think and opportunity to re-group as New Jerseyans for the betterment of our state then thanks Lonegan!

Mayor Lonegan’s latest incident hiring undocumented immigrants highlights the real complexity of the immigration issue - it is not as easy to demonize immigrants once you recognize that you need their labor to get your work done. Whether Mayor Lonegan intentionally hired those workers is irrelevant; what is relevant is the fact he can no longer denied the market realities of our state and country. Our economy needs the labor of immigrant workers and employers, whether small or large, who do not have the ability to decipher on their own who is legal or not, without putting themselves in the middle of a discrimination suit for racial profiling. As representatives or workers, unions have long advocated the need for a legalization program that gives workers and good employers the tools to do the right thing; to hire the workers that they need at the wages that workers deserve. We should use Lonegan’s incident as an opportunity to educate people in Bogota, and all anti-immigrants advocates in NJ and the US, that we cannot escape from reality; undocumented workers (more than 12 million total in the US) are here to stay. It is our challenge to integrate them into our communities as full pledged participants in our labor market or we run the risk of driving them further underground where unscrupulous employers will exploit them. This will only continue to drag down our standard of living and the ability of all workers to get hired based on their skills and talents and not on their race and/or nationality. As advocates, let’s not just demonize Lonegan; let’s use his experience to challenge him and others to offer real solutions, an earned legalization program that rewards work and acknowledges that immigrants are full-pledged participants in our economy and our communities.

Patricia Campos
Political Director, NJ Council of UNITEHERE

It has been widely reported in the media that Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan, who has been one of the most radical anti-immigrant activists in New Jersey (and in my opinion, one of the most anti-Latino mayors in the history of New Jersey) went to hire undocumented Guatemalan immigrants to assemble lawn signs at house owned by Mayor Lonegan for his radically conservative group, Americans for Prosperity. However I think that we need to read between the lines to see what is REALLY going on here.

The fact that on Monday, October 8, 2007, Steve Lonegan went to the corner of Broad Ave. and Rt. 46 in Palisades Park, NJ to pick up the two day laborers is a sign that he is a complete hypocrite. Mayor Lonegan has all but told the immigrants in Bogota (21% Latino and 8% Asian according to the 2000 Census) that their language, culture, expertise, and their spending dollars are NOT welcome in Bogota. This has led to an increasingly tense environment where some residents feel that they must call the police if they see Latinos working in the borough. As unfortunate as it is, this is probably not the first time the Bogota Police Department has received a call from a resident citing a “suspicious” Latino doing work in town.

That resident call was probably the fruits of the tense environment that Mayor Lonegan has tried to promote that have not been welcoming for Latinos. Now it has come back to bite Mayor Lonegan in the rear end not only among immigrant advocates, but even among his own radical base. Promoting “English-Only” laws, trying to remove a Spanish McDonald’s sign in town, and exploring the possibility of deputizing the police department to do immigration enforcement are not exactly the way you promote inclusion, diversity, and economic prosperity in Bogota.

Just ask the Mayor George Conrad of the township of Riverside, NJ who found out the hard way. Mayor Conrad led a shameful effort to try to oust undocumented immigrants (mostly Brazilian Americans) from Riverside, only to realize that the immigrants were the economic stimulus that the township needed. Fortunately, the township of Riverside reversed its decision and didn’t pass a harsh local anti-immigrant law (that probably would not have held up in a court challenge anyway). The actions of Mayor Conrad in Riverside led to a min-recession in the town given the high number of closed businesses that no longer have immigrant customers to serve. Ironically, the town would probably like to see those immigrants come back to help re-stimulate the Riverside economy.

Let’s not kid ourselves here about the hiring of undocumented immigrants in Bergen County. Anyone who drives through Broad Ave. in Palisades Park in the morning knows that the day laborers who are there looking for work are highly likely to be undocumented residents. The overwhelming majority of those day laborers are hard-working residents who are trying to support their families and do honest work and not cause trouble. They are here because of economic hardships in Mexico, Central America and South America that forced them to come to the U.S. looking for work and to send money back home to their families so that their families can have food and shelter.

The fact that Mayor Lonegan knew exactly where to go to hire the two workers is a sign that he knew that he was hiring undocumented workers in the hopes that it would not be made public. I would not believe for a second that he pulled over and ask for documentation status from the two immigrant workers as he has stated to the press . . . not on the corner of Broad Ave. and Rt. 46 in Palisades Park. I don’t believe it for a second and neither should you.

This is an example of just how hypocritical and naïve Mayor Lonegan is about immigration issues in the U.S. On one side he tells the Latino and Asian communities in Bogota to take their language and culture elsewhere and outside of Bogota’s borders, and then (hoping to not get caught in the act), goes to Palisades Park and pick up two day laborers to do work for him, ironically anti-immigrant work that his organization promotes.

Let’s also not kid ourselves about the flat-out lie that Mayor Lonegan said to the media. He first said that the two immigrants came to his property in Bogota looking for work. Mayor Lonegan was probably not expecting The Bergen Record to get a hold of the immigrants who later told a more realistic and credible story about how they were hired by Mayor Lonegan while he was sitting in the passenger seat of a car negotiating labor terms with the immigrant workers at the corner of Broad Ave. and Rt. 46 in Palisades Park.

Fortunately, the people of Bogota have spoken up and have begun the healing process of the damage caused by Mayor Lonegan. The residents ousted all of Mayor Lonegan’s council candidates who touted his radically-conservative stances. Bogota even elected a Hispanic female, Yesenia Frias, to the Bogota Council as a message to Mayor Lonegan that Latinos will have a voice in Bogota affairs. Mayor Lonegan later decided (the one smart thing he did) not to seek re-election since he saw the writing on the wall that he was about to get booted from public office by the concerned residents of Bogota and it was better for him to save face and leave the office gracefully. He doesn’t deserve to leave gracefully. I wish he had been recalled from his mayoral position.

Unfortunately, the damage has been done in terms of tension that have been created between the few “Loneganians” of Bogota and the overwhelming majority of people in Bogota who value inclusion, diversity, and multi-culturalism. What is also unfortunate is that the names of the undocumented residents whom Mayor Lonegan hired are all over the media. I will not mention their names in this blog because I want to respect whatever is left of their privacy which is not much now that the press has announced their names to the world. Mayor Lonegan dragged two innocent undocumented residents into the national spotlight thus putting them at risk of deportation because Immigration and Customers Enforcement (ICE) is probably reading the same media that the rest of us are reading and could be pursuing the two immigrants for deportation. Steve Lonegan has branded himself as an anti-Latino and anti-immigrant advocate who enjoys profiting from undocumented labor when it serves his own purpose, but would not advocate for the labor rights for undocumented workers that they so much deserve, and instead would rather see them deported.

As someone who advocates for immigrant rights, diversity, and empowerment among minorities, I call upon Mayor Steve Lonegan to come clean and apologize to the two immigrant workers he hired who only wanted to support their families and are now all over the media, apologize to the Latino and immigrant communities in Bogota and around the nation for the divisive actions and unwelcoming image and he has created about the Borough of Bogota, and lastly, apologize to the PEOPLE OF BOGOTA for his embarrassing leadership that have drawn negative publicity to an overwhelmingly positive community that is rich in culture and generally welcoming to all residents regardless of their ethnic background and language status, in contradiction to what Mayor Lonegan would have envision for Bogota.

Just imagine. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents are
conducting a raid at Wal-Mart, or McDonalds, or Dunkin Donuts, or, for
that matter, the corner nail salon, and, upon discovering several
employees who lack the necessary documents proving they are authorized
to work in this country, turn to the president, HR Director or owner for
an explanation of how it came to be that the company hired these workers
in apparent violation of the law. By way of explanation, the
responsible party tells the agents that the workers were hired only
after the employer asked whether the applicants were authorized to work
in this country, and each worker said yes. No, Mr. Agent, we did not
wait to see proof that they were authorized to work here, as the law
requires; we took their word for it! I know by now you’re saying to
yourself that you cannot imagine such an occurrence. But that is
exactly what a certain elected official in this State wants us to
believe, and not that, like the millions of citizens who hire the
undocumented immigrants, he was looking for cheap labor. For political
campaign work, no less. That is, in every language, the dictionary
definition of HIPOCRECIA.

On June 4th to 9th, 2007, Jason Cammerano – a fellow Peace Corps volunteer – invited me and nine other volunteers to attend Camp Legend in Izym, Kharkivska Oblast (state) Jason did an amazing job organizing the camp. The camps’ principle theme was myths and legends, with subtopics on other issues like HIV/AIDS awareness, leadership, diversity, music lessons, etc. He worked with two English teachers and recruited 30 bright English students (grades 9-11). He even had to juggle a last minute nuance; the Izym City Council pulled their support from the project one week before the event, leaving Jason without a location for the camp. However, the two English teachers rescued the camp by persuading their school director (principal) to use his school as the camp ground. They were successful and the camp went on.

It’s difficult organizing a camp in Ukraine, especially when the City Council pulls their support. Jason’s maneuvering was stellar and deserves recognition. In Ukraine, government is very centralized and I was surprised (and pleased) that Jason managed to do the camp despite the challenge.

I attended the second Camp Legend. Jason invited me again along with thirteen other volunteers. The camp had the same underlining theme: Myths and legends, with additional subtopics.

I co-taught a diversity workshop on four days and taught salsa on two days. The concept of diversity is something very new in Ukraine. Students do not understand the concept of diversity because there is no direct Ukrainian or Russian translation. The closest word to diversity is variance (різноманітний), which means difference. And there are a lot of stereotypes and generalization that exist in Ukrainian culture. I try to address them in class through interactive and creative exercises. Kids usually have a fun time: Usually because the first exercise is everything but fun for the kids.

The first exercise in the diversity workshop is called experiencing discrimination. The students are separated into two groups; they are separated on something silly like the color of their clothes or the color of their hair. The point is to create two separate groups. Then, the groups are assigned a task: to draw on a piece of paper what you want to be in the future. One groups gets a large piece of paper with color markers and the other group gets a 8.5 by 11 piece of paper (some student’s don’t get paper at all) and blue ballpoint pens. The first team gets attention and positive feedback on their work and the second groups is ignored and gets negative feedback.

It’s an exciting lesson to teach because there is the challenge of not getting emotionally attached. Despite this fact, it’s also difficult to watch the students get discriminated. This class got really frustrated even when they were told the purpose of the lesson. Experiencing discrimination, in this type of atmosphere, gives students a perspective of something they’ve never experienced. It’s far more effective than just lecturing on discrimination because listening to a lecture on something you’ve never experienced is almost pointless.

Now, salsa is something I love to teach. Even though I hardly dance salsa since I arrived, teaching the basic step and some simple turns is something that I really enjoy. Kids love the salsa too. Salsa is just such a popular worldwide dance that everyone’s heard about it even though they don’t know how they’re supposed to dance to it.

The camp was pretty fun. At the end of this camp, the Mayor of Izym came to visit the students and Peace Corps volunteers. He commended students for studying English and thanked volunteers for our generosity. It was a special moment, especially considering that he pulled his support from the camp the first time. Fortunately, now he is a supporter of Peace Corps - Ukraine.