So did you miss me? In case you were curious about my sabbatical last week, I’ll be frank. My finely tuned birdy sense felt a storm brewing. No, not one of those weird “pop up” thunderstorms we’ve been enjoying between oppressive heat waves, a different kind of storm.
You see, the week before last, our cover story was about local undocumented farmworkers (“Life on Alert,” Oct. 15), and any time we write about that segment of the valley’s population, no matter how we report on it, the Sun office always experiences a deluge of angry emails, letters to the editor, and terse voicemails. These letters were already rolling in last week, crowding my turf. I mean a bird’s gotta think, you know? So I flew the coop, before the ringing in my ears burst my little birdy brain.
You’d think I’d be used to it by now, but I’m a bird bath’s half-full kinda soul, and I want to believe that the majority of Santa Marians are logical beings, who form educated, intelligent opinions without losing sight of the humanity inherent in most issues.
But I can only take so much fever-pitched scrawling, and the national news cycle of late has kicked the storm up into a veritable El Niño of slurs, scapegoating, and dehumanization.
“Life on Alert” featured several undocumented workers, who shared their very real feelings about a new Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) building in Santa Maria. This was too much for some locals, who wrote in to voice their outrage.
The Sun’s BFF (that’s best friend forever) and longtime letter to the editor writer Justin Ruhge took us to task, calling the paper “biased” and sympathetic to “anti-American” values, because “you media types do not believe in our American laws.”
Whoa, whoa, whoa. This little birdy loves America and everything it stands for, which just so happens to include the right to freely express an opinion. So I’m glad that Mr. Ruhge feels comfortable expressing his thoughts, but I respectfully disagree.
In what was meant as a look at an alternative population, there wasn’t anything in the article that advocated for undocumented workers, nothing that said that they weren’t breaking any laws, and nothing that said America is to blame for anyone’s plight.
It’s worth noting that even ICE Assistant Field Director Jorge Field, addressed the agency’s understanding of its perception among undocumented residents. He even noted that people like Francesca, one of the women featured in the article are not the folks ICE is actively trying to detain.
“We’re not looking for the mom and dad going to work looking to make a better life for themselves,” he said.
ICE officers said that the people on its radar are dangerous criminals, you know, like Victor Aureliano Martinez and Jose Villagomez, who are being tried following their attack on Marilyn Pharis, who died from her injuries at the end of July. ICE has a big, state-of-the-art new building in which to process these dangerous criminals in Santa Maria now, and people like Francesca are afraid they’re going to get tossed in with people like that, separated from their families, and sent back to a country they no longer call home.
Pharis’ death caused a shockwave of sadness and anger that spread far beyond the Santa Maria Valley. Her name was suddenly on the lips of Republican hopefuls, especially everyone’s favorite billionaire Donald Trump. There were dueling protests at the Santa Maria Courthouse on Aug. 13. And national media clamored to get an interview with Santa Maria Police Department Chief Ralph Martin. There was so much attention that Pharis’ family actually asked the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors to refrain from mentioning her name during a public comment period, pleading for respect after her name had been politicized so wantonly.
This rabid national discourse has made people afraid. That’s understandable.
It’s also taken a toll on the lives of undocumented workers, locally and nationally. However, when folks like Francesca—who hopes she returns to her 6-year-old every day after hours of picking in the fields—are referred to exactly the same as violent criminals like Martinez and Villagomez, it completely muddies the waters of any rational discussion we could be having about real immigration reform.
Unfortunately, it appears that some Santa Maria residents tried to read between the lines in the Sun article and saw something that wasn’t there (don’t feel bad if you didn’t get it right, that reading between the lines thing is a tough skill to master). Because boy, wouldn’t it just be something else if we all just pushed our hair out of our eyes and actually looked into the eyes of another? Shiver. Now that’s getting a bit too deep. I’m just a little bird after all.
Speaking of things that make you shiver, is it just me or as I fly about town does it seem like there are more and more homeless people walking Broadway or standing on street corners asking for donations? Yes, it makes my heart hurt to see humans hurting. Fortunately, the Board of Supervisors has some heart too. They recently approved some much-needed funding for the Good Samaritan Shelter to aid in operating its shelters in Santa Maria and Lompoc.
Good Samaritan Shelter Executive Director Sylvia Barnard said with El Niño expected to bring a wet and wild winter the volunteers are anticipating more people seeking shelter services. Barnard said her organization would take an “all hands on deck” approach to preparing to help as many people as needed this winter. They’re even planning on adding some “warming centers” to care for the overflow. Kudos to Barnard and her team for their efforts in taking care of the community’s most needy this time of year.
The problem is the funding approved by the Board of Supervisors was based on the number of beds the shelters held last year, not what’s been added this year, and likely not taking into consideration the increase because of the expected unprecedented weather.
Before the letters start coming in railing against my soft stance on those lazy homeless bums, know this: While some of them may indeed be lazy bums or “travelers” looking for a dime, many more have mental illness or face addictions. Those are the ones you and I see on a daily basis. The ones who are invisible are the most vulnerable. They are the families with kids. Barnard said that many of these homeless families consist of both parents working low-wage and part-time jobs.
Then again, I wonder, would we even see them if they were there to be seen? If they weren’t invisibly ringing up our purchases or serving us our $5 coffee, or trying to sit still in class with a grumbly tummy?
But there I go again getting a bit too deep. It’s days like these I think maybe I should be a fish.
The Canary could use another vacation. Send comments to canary@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Oct 29 – Nov 4, 2015.