Missing in Immigration Debate, Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee’s Bill

The big issue last week and the week before was immigration. And men in government, politics, religion and mass media responded by playing the race card in almost every interview – instead of seriously and soberly considering immigration as a human dilemma in need of just, deliberative, human-centered proposals and legislation.

In the midst of a polarizing, partisan, mean-spirited and ultimately failed process, one woman in Congress laid out the human and unifying element that should inform the immigration debate and be included in the legislation. In her interview with Democracy Now’s Amy Goodman, this five-term member of Congress refused to avoid substance by wasting breath on the race card.

Congresswoman Sheila Jackson-Lee said in last Tuesday’s interview on immigration that we have entered a new civil rights movement that crosses races and ethnic groups and is a cause best served by legislation that acknowledges human beings and their equality, and citizens who recognize all people as equals, and join them in progressive action.

“(We) have operated in this debate with the wrong facts, with the idea of creating divisiveness, rather than finding a common ground that would educate Americans, no matter whether they’re African Americans or whether they are white Americans or Asian Americans or others,” Jackson-Lee told Goodman.

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