Out of the Mouths of Babes: Second Grader Asks Michelle Obama About Immigration Reform |
|
| By: Teddy Partridge Wednesday May 19, 2010 11:08 am | |
Heartbreaking.
The little girl seems to know not to reveal too much, asking the question hypothetically at first about "everybody who doesn’t have their papers.." When Michelle bullshits her with crap about working with Congress, the wee one essentially replies, "Hey lady you’re talkin’ about my mommy."
About MyFDL
MyFDL is the community site of progressive political blog Firedoglake. Anyone can participate by writing a diary, commenting on others’ diaries, or joining groups to find other people in your area. Content posted to MyFDL is the opinion of the author alone, and should not be attributed to Firedoglake.
News. Community. Activism.
Firedoglake is a member-supported organization.
Help us continue our work for as little as $45/year.
Tweet
19 Comments
The natural response would be to enfold this child in your arms and say, “No one’s going to send your mommy away, honey.”
But Michelle Obama really can’t make that promise, can she? Not with her husband’s ICE beating every record set by the Bush Administration for deportation and family breakup.
Recommended!
Tis sad… “Kids will say the darnedest things”… Art Linkletter
Yeah, I thought her two-step was quite telling. She clearly already knows not to tell people about her mom being without papers. And how sad is that, to have to worry about that in second grade???
But when the lady started talking about working with Congress to fix this, she just had to let the lady know that this was not really an academic/political exercise: it’s about her own mommy.
Heartbreaking. And screw the politics. I just lost any respect I had for Mrs. Obama.
When you are going into classrooms of very small children to take spontaneous questions for lovely, sympathetic photo ops, you have to have more courage than that.
For the sake of the little girl alone.
And isn’t this the “debate” in a nutshell? Yup. But when it comes to politics, people (and children) just don’t matter.
In Michelle’s defense (sort of) I guess I would say that she probably wasn’t briefed on the ins-and-outs of immigration policy prior to her visit to a second-grade classroom.
But that’s kind of the lesson from this tyke, isn’t it? Little tiny Americans are directly affected by this, and given the chance to speak truth to power, they will.
I respect Michelle Obama enough to think she might take this story home with her; thanks to YouTube and FDL, though, we can give it pretty wide exposure too.
This is why we need to pass the DREAM Act. To protect these kids who are growing up as Americans, only without papers.
Damage Control Stat Hispanic TV and Radio will cover this non stop why we don’t get attention from the WH plus the kid are cute.
Michelle answer we need to work with Congress? Cha! I’ve gotten more sensible and sincere promises from used car dealers.
Michele couldn’t handle a kid. Ted’s right the right answer would be give the kid a hug and say my husband won’t let that happen.
Obama oicks a fight with the GOP to help a little kid worried about her Mom? Priceless PR. Obama does nothing and this kid’s mom gets deported before the election and trust me Spanish news will find out if that happens.
Then Obama looks weak, looks like he hates kids, is doing nothing for Hispanics.
Get people jobs lots of good paying jobs and then people stop worrying about immigrants taking their jobs.
Physics Obama Cause and Effect just how removed are you from the streets Chicago African American unemployment around 20% and you do nothing?
It’s sad when you have to defend your lame, do-nothing, ego-driven husband, isn’t it?
I’ve been watching the “immigration debate” for a very long time and have been unable to articulate just what pisses me off so much/causes me to ponder human existence for hours at a time. Granted the Arizona law brought the issue to a head and, being a Mexican border state, the focus in Arizona is on Latino immigrants, specifically illegal Latino immigrants. My perspective is from a Georgia county that is a primary gateway and welcome center to the US for refugees, typically from African and Middle Eastern countries (including Iraq and Afghanistan). I’m tired of hearing “We should let ‘them’ in because they want a better life.” I know people who witnessed their family members being raped, hacked to death, or otherwise brutalized and then these survivors languished for years in refugee camps while they fought and struggled to get out and come here legally. I also know that the world human population has more than doubled in my middle-aged lifetime. I have taken in many friends, family, and nonhuman animals in desperate situations over the years. I know that if I took in many more, I would be considered a hoarder and all of us would be in a more perilous situation than when we started out. The choices are sickening. And, in many ways, I see this as a HUGE women’s issue. We are viewed as babymakers, but no one thinks of what will become of all these children – they all need somewhere to go and something to do when they grow up. So I see these choices – whether you have papers or you don’t have papers – and it’s maddening.
I too find it hard to put into words all of the cruelty, injustice, lack of empathy, etc. etc. that plays out around the whole issue of immigration to this country. For lack of space here, one of the saddest things is how rabble rousers get the least well off, most vulnerable Americans pissed off against these vulnerable would be and illegal immigrants, convincing them that illegals get the lion’s share of gov’t largesse and take jobs away from real Murkans. During the health care fight there were all these rumors about the Obama plan taxing ordinary Americans so that illegal immigrants could get health care. I live in all white, no Hispanics (nearly) upstate NY. A woman I know who is by no means stupid and is very savvy about local issues insisted this was true, when illegal immigrants are not part of the health care plan at all. They get zero, zilch. She has befriended many local people with troubles in various ways and she herself barely gets by. If she would let herself be informed about the plight of so many immigrants instead of mainlining Faux News, I’m sure she would have a very different opinion. But she just stops listening when you try to give her the facts.
In your county does its role as welcome center and gateway create jobs, help the economy? This is the kind of thing that could counteract the anti-immigrant line.
My primary point was that there is an endless need, human and nonhuman, and no one focuses on that much larger picture. We will have this debate into eternity if our only solution is to be the welcome wagon to the entire world, and it will become uglier and uglier. To get an overview of my community, read “Outcasts United” by Warren St. John (minus the Southern guilt, because even though he has written for the New York Times, he is from Birmingham, Alabama, and is not proud of it). My observation over the years has been that each community supports itself: immigrants shop at businesses owned by other immigrants from their home countries and send remittances back home. They support each other a lot better than we do by shopping at Walmart and sending most of our jobs overseas.
We tend to give First Spouses the benefit of any doubt, UNTIL they start discussing the admin’s policies, at which point they inevitably support those policies.
I don’t hold Michelle responsible for her husband’s failings but if she can be objective (big IF) I think she is intelligent enough to know that his policies suck.
I didn’t. I thought she handled it as gently and truthfully and constructively as she could. She can’t go dissing her husband in public, and yet she’s clearly loving with that child and says it’s a problem that Congress needs to fix.
As I’ve watched Obama make all these horrible decisions with his presidency and basically betray everything he ran on and everyone he ran for, I keep thinking of Michelle’s statement during the campaign that for the first time in her adult life she was proud of her country, because hope was making a comeback — I mean I knew exactly how she felt then, I wonder if she feels exactly as I do now? Incredibly angry and disgusted and betrayed.
I bet she’ll be glad if this video goes viral.
I bet Michelle gets this Levis/Walt Whitman video even if Barack wouldn’t: link
Oh well, Michelle replied with all the heart and soul of “the corporate response.” Her husband does look weak, and heartless and corporate. Next time she visits a kindergarten, she might just want to have a staff member hand out form letters for each question, particularly re: immigration.
“But she just stops listening when you try to give her the facts”
I’ve encountered people like that.
More babes:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/20/opinion/20kristof.html?ref=todayspaper
i don’t have that problem, but it must have sucked to be her in that moment, yeah.