letter to a family member

I am glad that you are keeping in touch. I am sorry that I cannot sign this petition and want to explain why.

As the global economy changes so too do the politics. People want someone to be angry with and to blame our problems on. This happens all over the world. There are extreme anti-immigrant actions that happen in Italy and other places. My concern here is about justice and fairness. We are the grandchildren of immigrants. Italian-Americans also faced great discrimination.

I currently work at the Center for Immigrant Families in NYC. You know, the women who come there want to learn English. They also both extremely strong people and sometimes victims of abuse. Every immigrant has a story and often it is one of struggle. However, there are immigrants of various educational and economic levels. One thing that our country benefits from and will continue to benefit from is their work. Immigrants are often in the fields and factories, in restaurants, hard physical labor, and child-care. Often this is the lowest paid work, which isn't to say that they don't want it. Even though they are often living in poverty and segregated in poor areas, the places they come from are sometimes worse. These are complicated issues; however, I know that you are a kind person and would not want to make people that are vulnerable the scapegoat. This is why I am against petitions that make "illegals" the target of people's anger.

Love,