hooray for tirrc!

I am always glad to hear good news from my good ol pals back at TIRRC. I used to work with david back in the days when we were just getting things off the ground and these issues are near and dear to my heart. So i was thrilled to learn that all the the nasty anti-immigrant legislation in the state senate sank like the titanic (for now...I realize this stuff could get revived any time and show up on a bill calendar near you). Just to save you any suspense: A: I know, like, and respect many immigrants, refugees, migrants, etc. B: I'm totally fine with these people being here whether documented or not. and C: angry hatemail will not change my mind about this so don't bother. With that disclaimer out of the way, here's the scoop:

On Saturday, the TN General Assembly completed its two-year session. During that time, a record twenty bills were introduced that would have restricted the rights of immigrants and refugees in Tennessee...EVERY ONE OF THESE BILLS WAS DEFEATED!

While many of the bills collapsed under the weight of their own misguided intentions, many others came dangerously close to passing.

Failed Legislation

State/Local Government Employees as Immigration Enforcement Officials

Repeal of Driving Certificate Program

Discrimination Against the Foreign-Born and Limited English Proficient

• SB 0303 Ketron/HB 0242 DuBois — PROHIBIT TRANSLATION OF DRIVER'S LICENSE EXAM
  This bill, if passed into law, would require the written driver license exam to be given only in English. This would erase the progress made to translate into additional languages such as Arabic and Vietnamese. It would also erase languages currently available such as Spanish, Japanese, and Korean.
  
• This particular one pisses me off because I worked really hard on doing the ground work research on getting documents translated into these languages!
  

Denial of Access to Public Services for Immigrants

Punishment for Employers Who Hire Undocumented Workers

Anyhow, not that you probably care one way or another, but I'm kinda relieved that most of these bills got kicked to the curb. Especially SB0303 because well that's my baby. Besides, every country I've lived in or visited has an option to take the driving test in English, so I figure we can extend the same courtesy and stop acting like college level English proficiency (which well over half of TN's adults lack anyway) is so damn critical to the driving experience.

And all this good news is a nice contrast to crap like THIS. I realize this is a free country and she has a right to her opinion too, but you know I feel sorry for her, it's gotta hurt to go around with so much hate inside of you. Wouldn't be surprised if she has ulcers or something, maybe someone could send her some maalox...It's just sad, I'm sure she really believes this stuff and thinks the kids I work with every week are here to "dumb down the American children and overpopulate our schools." Umm suuuuuure. No offense but I don't think most native born US kids these days lack for innovative ideas on how to slack off at school whether it's playing video games all day or fooling around with their cellphones, or just drinking sodas and getting all hyped up, frankly they come up with this stuff on their own and if anything corrupt the immigrant children with all these lazy habits. ;)

That being said, I'm glad to see all this hysterical reactive legislation has been put in the big time out chair. Maybe all of these so-called "leaders" will spend some time thinking of PROACTIVE legislation that might actually provide real solutions to some of the more vexing problems our economic system has perpetuated on the global south, now that the chickens are coming home to roost...but I won't hold my breath. We like kneejerk solutions in the estados unidos, don't we? Anything to get out of thinking...well that reminds me of some students actually...;)