* • * ♦ - t r
♦ 4 »' r
I
OPINION
10
WWW.GUILFORDIAN.COM
Obama’s immigration policy needs reform
BY NICOLE BARNARD
Stww Wwtoi
"I thought Obama was
progressive as far as basic human
rights," said junior Noelle Lane.
What is Lane talking about?
Barack Obama, not progressive?
Not in the case of immigration
reform.
"It seems that immigration has
taken a backseat due to healthcare
policies," said Lane, who went
on the No More Deaths trip last
spring. "More people have been
deported under his administration
since the implementation of
the racist law called 'Operation
Wetback.'"
The official White House
website states, "The president's
plan builds a smart, effective
immigration system that continues
efforts to secure our borders and
cracks down on employers who
hire undocumented immigrants."
How can that be bad?
"The increased number of
deportations is ... destroying
families," said Jorge Zeballos,
Hispanos Unidos de Guilford
advisor and Multicultural
Education Department head.
"It's not a humane approach to
immigration."
Junior Gabriel Felly agreed.
"More so than any other
president, Barack Obama has used
deportation as an instrument of
immigration policy," said Felly.
"The problem with (the
immigration policy) is that it leads
to racial profiling, increased jail
time for non-citizens and insecure
communities," said senior Chloe
Weiner, who also went on the
NMD trip.
"Obama supposedly wants
to fix our broken immigration
system, yet he fails to identify the
real problems in the system."
According to Juan Gonzalez
of New York Daily News,
deportation separates tens of
thousands of immigrants from
their children born in the United
States.
"(A)n astonishing surge of
Latinos at the ballot box helped
assure Obama a second term,"
wrote Gonzalez. "That surge
convinced many Americans ...
that the time had come to fix our
broken immigration system."
But the administration's actions
tell a different story.
"(In) his speeches, (Obama)
claims to be (on) our side, but all
the people ... his administration
has deported say something very
different," said first-year and
HUG member Jose Oliva. "He
won the Latino vote in 2012 ... The
problem is that there are not many
options for us.
"It is either Obama, who is
deporting thousands but doing
a few things in our favor, or the
Republicans, who hardly want to
do something about immigration."
Unfortunately, the effects
are evident even in places like
Greensboro.
"At Oakwood Forest... Mexican
families live in fear that a family
member could be deported simply
for showing up to work or driving
a car," said Felly.
So what is the administration
doing about this violation of
human rights?
Well, nothing.
"Lam not aware of any efforts
from this administration to lessen
the number of immigrants being
deported," said Zeballos.
Lane agreed.
"Why don't we spend money
(on) creating better pathways to
citizenship instead of spending
money on a failed and inhumane
border?" Lane said.
The propaganda on the White
House website says this: "The
president's plan... requires anyone
who's undocumented to get right
with the law by paying their taxes
and a penalty, learning English
and undergoing background
checks before they can be eligible
to earn citizenship. It requires
every business and every worker
to play by the same set of rules."
According to Teaching
Tolerance, "Undocumented
immigrants pay taxes every time
they buy gas, clothes or new
appliances (and) contribute to
property taxes ... They can receive
schooling and emergency medical
care, but not welfare or food
stamps."
So they can pay taxes, but not
get the benefits everyone else
does?
Sounds "equal" to me!
As for learning English, I can't
see an American going to another
country and being forced to learn
the language.
Fresident Obama needs
to reform his approach to
immigration. Otherwise, he'll lose
the support of his people and of
his country.
ARE YOU INTBIESTED HI...
Dead celebs: not strange to monm strangers
BY KINSEY
DANZIS
Stmrf Warm
EARN ENGLISH OR COMMUNICATION
CREDIT & CAREER EXPERIENCE WHILE
WORKING FOR...
THE GUILFORDIAN!
Register for 285: GuHordiai Pradkum for spring semester
for 1,2, or 4 credits. Contact Jeff Jeske, jjeske@guilford.edu
for more information.
Instructor permission required.
Your favorite celebrity has just died.
Sorry for dropping that bombshell. How do
you feel?
Never fear, "Insert Name Here" is probably
alive and well.
But imagine if they'd
really died. Imagine that
they could no longer
produce music, create
artwork or appear in the
next blockbuster. How
would you feel then?
Most would say they feel
at least a bit sad, which is
perfectly normal, but what
about the ones who let the
grief dominate their lives?
They've likely never met
this celebrity or developed
a personal connection with them.
Don't worry; you're still allowed to mourn
them to an acceptable extent. It's just the
"why" that's a bit foggy.
"The issue of there being a connection
with the person — which ends due to death
— is a possibility," said Christopher Lootens,
assistant professor of psychology at High
Foint University, in an email interview.
"Whether there is a connection or not
depends on the person grieving and on the
celebrity."
Indeed, it's a case-by-case basis. Someone
could be a loyal member of a celebrity's fan
base and hence know a fair bit about them,
while someone else could know nothing
except for their name.
Say that I am said loyal member. Despite
that, I still don't know the celebrity in person,
so why would I be sad? A death is a death, yes,
but millions of people die every day that we
often don't shed a tear for.
Is it simply because someone has died, or is
it because I'll no longer be able to hear or see
new works from them?
"Some deaths are quite painful to accept,
so the 'death is a death' argument isn't
very persuasive," said Dana Frofessor of
Fsychology Richie Zweigenhaft. "You're being
deprived of future work by that person."
Like Zweigenhaft, Lootens believes that one
cause of such grief is the sudden impossibility
of further contributions.
"When a celebrity dies, there's a sense of
loss of that person and the entertainment that
they provide," said Lootens. "We realize that
we'll never see a performance or a contribution
from this person again, and that sense of loss
can result in feeling sad and disappointed."
That sense of loss can vary from person to
person depending on what kind of effect the
celebrity's work had on them.
They could've made art that inspired
you, films that touched you or music that
comforted you, and the knowledge that they
can't provide that anymore is enough to
provoke at least a bit of sadness.
It's not uncommon to know a bit about
your favorite celebrity's life even if you've
never actually met them. For instance. I'm a
hardcore Lindsey Stirling fan. Because of a
quick Google search, I know that she started
taking violin lessons at age five, that she was
born in 1986 and that she trained herself to
dance by watching YouTube videos.
Bam — I suddenly know something about
that celebrity, and that establishes a faux
cormection to them. But just because I know
these tidbits about her doesn't mean I know
anything about who she truly was, not like
I would know a parent or a close friend.
Should she die. I'd be incredibly sad but not
inconsolable to the point where it would
impair my ability to function properly.
That's not to say I wouldn't be allowed to
grieve for her.
"There are no rules to say who you can
mourn," said Catherine Machanic, an Early
College junior. "If someone's had an important
influence on your life and they die, it's normal
to be sad about them even if you didn't know
them personally."
So does a dead celebrity equate to, say,
a dead family member? No, or at least it
shouldn't. !
But that doesn't mean you're not entitled to
some sense of loss.