The invisible walls between us
(Voices of the New Majority/Mario Castillo) Why are we so shocked when we hear talk about constructing a huge wall along the border between Mexico and the United States? The fact is every day we are building invisible walls, either with our attitudes or with our indifference. These “invisible walls” are precisely what perennially makes it impossible for our poorest to provide a better life for themselves and for their children.
In years past it was very common to find big groups of day laborers waiting in front of the Barking Dog hoping for work, but lately their numbers are small. You might think that this is because there is lots of work, but the reality is that deportation plays a big part. Under the “safe communities” program, hundreds of people have been deported in recent years for minor offenses or simply for being undocumented. And once the head of the family is deported, the rest of the family here often find themselves obliged to return to their country of origin to reunite the family.
If for one reason or another the family decides to stay here despite losing the support of the family head, they face a harsh reality. Trying to live in a place that is designed for the wealthy retired and for tourists, they find it literally impossible to survive on a single salary.
It is troubling to think what may come to pass in Sonoma Valley. A few years ago the school district put a lot of energy into ensuring that every elementary school could offer a preschool to low-income families. But now it appears that the only thing that is missing is the children. There are no longer waiting lists, and at least one preschool has been recruiting to find children. No new families are arriving, young families are going away, and the children that grew up here can’t come back to live here because they can’t afford it.
The vineyards are also feeling this shortage of workers. A few years ago, it was common for ranch owners to use the cheap labor of workers who came for pruning, stripping and picking. But lately they have had to raise what they pay since they can’t find people to work.
These two situations, one in the preschools and the other in the vineyards, are merely examples that point to the magnitude of the problem. When as a society we forget to create a balanced situation where all groups have an opportunity to survive, to get ahead and be successful, at some point the consequences are going to reach us.
What is it that scares us about those people who are supporting a huge wall at the border? Is it that someone is saying it out loud? Or is it that we know in the depths of our conscience that we are to blame, for allowing social injustice? Knowing that every day we are permitting public servants to pass or enforce measures that enrich the rich and impoverish even more those already poor? Right here in our own community we are building “invisible walls” between those who have more and those who have less.
At the end of the road what’s left to say to you is that migration is something that has been going on since the world began. Families move to places where we believe we will be better able to survive. And just as we came to Sonoma, so we can start to disappear. But I say that the richness of a society is found in its diversity. Sonoma, like the rest of the United States, is great because of the diversity of its people. If this gets lost because of the “invisible walls” that as a society we are accepting, it could seriously harm our future generations.
