Every year the University of Michigan awards the Wallenberg Medal in honor of Raoul Wallenberg. This year's recipient is Aung San Suu Kyi, the nobel peace prize laureate famous for her non-violent work for democracy in Burma.  Each medalist is invited to give a lecture and last night, for the first time, it was held via video chat as Suu Kyi feared that if she left Burma, she would be prevented from returning.

While her lecture catalyzed a whole cascade of thought, it was her re-endorsement of non-violent protest that really gripped me.  It's not that I've ever engaged in any sort of violent revolution or activism.  But my understanding of the purpose of non-violent movements has always stemmed from the idea that the revolution ought to live the ideal it espouses.  A revolution born in violence would be an empty one.  However, as the years have gone by, I do have to admit that there have been moments when I've wondered if taking arms is sometimes necessary.  Are our non-violent actions simply naive expenditures of energy?

However, Suu Kyi reframes non-violence in more than idealist terms. She agrees that non-violence is a longer path that is more difficult.  Ultimately, however, it's to everyone's benefit in the long run because the less wounds that are created, the less healing that has to be done and sooner one can return to harmony among dissenting opinions.  Her's is a pragmatic argument to avoid the vicious cycle of violence that so many conflicts get locked into.

Though I aspire to be the person who can be motivated solely by ideals, I continue to fall prey to moments of hatred, frustration, and helplessness. Because though I do believe that activists are always partly motivated by justice, at the end of the day it's our own well being that ultimately controls behavior.  There is no better example of this than the Occupy Wall Street movement.  But now, in those moments of weakness, that Suu Kyi's argument for non-violence still resonates and that excites me.

Today I told my attending not to expect me at work tomorrow. The GOP presidential hopeful debates are tonight and they are expected to discuss immigration.  In anticipation, NPR had people who vote conservatively call in and state their own opinions.  The things that they said... I'm going to kill myself. So, sorry, I can't come to work tomorrow, because I will be dead.

However, some things that I just have to say:

1) Regarding Taxes: "Illegal immigrants" almost always PAY taxes. Many folks have some sort of "fake" paperwork in order to get jobs so they pay taxes when it comes out of their paychecks. Many still file income tax. They still pay rent, part of which, goes towards property taxes.  And they certainly buy things which means, unless they live in Deleware, they pay sales tax. So, please... no more of this "I'm a tax paying citizen and illegal immigrants are just getting a free ride off of me."

2) Regarding Cheap Labor: Because immigrants all of kinds (not just illegal) provide the US economy with a cheap work force, many businesses, especially small businesses and chambers of commerce are aligned with their historical opponents, labor organizations, on the immigration issue.  There are even reports from Alabama and Arizona of employers being unable to find enough workers because the new immigration laws have frightened potential workers and nobody else is interested in those jobs.

a) These days all I hear about is how bad the economy is and how difficult it is to find a job. It's true and I agree that poor regulation of financial corporations has played a huge role in this. However, white people of America -- STOP BEING SO LAZY. When you need a job, you get whatever you can -- even if it's picking fruit, cleaning bathrooms, or cleaning up after other white (or *gasp* non-white), rich people.

That being said...

b) Business people of America, the reason why other Americans do not want to do those crappy jobs is because you don't even pay a living wage. It's only folks who have the threat of immigration laws and/or systemic racism hanging over their heads that put up with it because they are afraid to advocate for themselves.  Folks who have white privilege and secure status in the US won't put up with that shit. So the answer is not to continue to pray on vulnerable populations, but just pay a goddamn wage that's fair. Then you'll find workers. And if services and products cost more because the workers make more? The rest of us will suck it up and pay, because that's how much it should have cost in the first place. (I don't know why chocolate and coffee are the only two industries where "fair trade" seems to be important to consumers. It should all be fair trade.)

ok, exit soapbox.