Immigration, an injury to one is an injury to all

I worked at two factory jobs

for twenty one years.

Those manufacturing jobs,

and millions of others were eliminated.

The work was hard, dirty, and dangerous.

The bosses were belligerent,

and routinely humiliated the workers.

Then, they demanded that we work faster.

We did the seemingly impossible.

We increased production,

and improved quality at the same time.

Then, the managers eliminated all those jobs.

In all, corporations eliminated

tens of millions manufacturing jobs in this country.

Many of those jobs went to nations

where wages are between one and ten dollars per day.

In order to survive on those wages

many of the things we take for granted

are unthinkable in those nations.

I’m talking about education, health care, and even food.

In order to enforce these conditions,

there are repressive governments,

and street gangs dedicated to making sure

there will be no challenges to this horrendous system.

Clearly, everyone would like

to have the basic necessities of life.

These include: a place to live, food, clothing,

healthcare, and education.

For those reasons millions of people have risked

their lives to come to nations where

they work at the jobs no one wants,

so they might have the basic necessities of life.

Then, there are politicians of

both political parties in the United States,

who say that this is illegal.

What are the facts?

Corporations feel they have no borders.

They profit from the labor of workers all over the world.

When there are nations that object to this,

governments respond with sanctions or even war.

No one can control where we are born.

So, the place where we are born

is a matter of luck, and not a personal decision.

The law punishes people for something they have no control over.

Then, there were the first inhabitants of this country.

They experienced genocide.

Entire nations are no more.

Schools taught Indian children to forget their heritage.

The government signed hundreds of treaties with Native Americans.

They violated all of those treaties.

Yet, the same government that violated all those treaties,

argues that there are people living in this country who are illegal. 

Most immigrants come from Mexico and Central America.

Most of their ancestors were Native American.

Yet today, the government

is building a wall aimed at keeping them out.

We are the workers of the world.

While governments are determined to divide us,

we will continue to find ways of coming together,

because this is who we are.

Today Cuba is sending its doctors all over the world.

They treat some of the poorest patients in the world.

They understand that they are workers in the world,

and an injury to one is an injury to all.