Being Thankful Isn’t Easy
Noit isn’t easy to be thankful when one more year has gone by without immigration reform.
We’re still waiting for a law that benefits 11 million undocumented immigrants. We still feel disappointed and don’t feel the need to say: “Thanks, Mr. president.” Even though a bipartisan group of eight senators did introduce a bill that the Senate later approved, the drive for reform has become so weakened that the overhaul is now expected to be passed in six parts.
Because of the narrow-mindedness of a political class that won’t support the measure even for economic reasons (not to mention humanitarian ones), the ones who are still in the fight are activists, the Dreamers, businesspeople and some lawmakers who still hope to achieve immigration reform.
We value their quest, and they’re the ones we want to thank.
On the other hand, the signature achievement of the Obama administration is the health care reform. In the middle of the debate surrounding the government shutdown, the Republican strategy of derailing or at least delaying the so-called Obamacare became apparent. Despite all the criticism and risking a decrease in his popularity, the president has kept the law basically intact. But we still need for the website to work, the online marketplace to operate and the reforms benefiting Latinos to really be implemented for everyone so that we can be completely thankful.
As far as gay rights, we must recognize that with the hashtag #LoveIsLove, the president showed he supports and respects the rights of all citizens, no matter their sexual orientation.
The gay community won two major battles. In June, the U.S. Supreme Court found a key provision of the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional and ruled that a same-sex couple legally married in a state must be able to receive federal benefits. The court also held that California’s Proposition 8, banning same-sex marriage, was unconstitutional.
It is no small feat to achieve peace in places like Syria and Iran. The president was able to avoid sending troops into the Syrian conflict. Our country also made progress with Iran by signing a six-month deal to put a hold on its nuclear program, in exchange for lifting some sanctions.
Despite all that, one more year has gone by. Our intent isn’t to sound pitiful. Instead, we want to make an urgent call for Obama to take the Latino community seriously, since we voted for the president and put our trust in him. Our community shouldn’t have to live apart, deported, harassed. We want to be able to give a big “Thanks” to the lawmakers who represent the country where we chose to live.
