Oakland

About 15 years ago when I was living in Oakland, CA, I shared a house with about five people.  One was a young Mexican man; he was about 19.

Like many young people in the Oakland/Berkeley area, he was very vocal about his views as well as being pretty radical.   He worked at Whole Foods in Berkeley under an assumed identity because he had come to this country illegally.  His assumed identity included several (four or five) fake dependents.  Even at the time, I was baffled that he was able to do this.  I have no idea who provided him with this identity or what if any legal repercussions followed him or ever caught up to him.  But he pretty much made his paycheck tax-free, lived a great life, and very soon married a cute Berkeley American-born undergraduate woman to become a legal resident.

Many young people (myself included) have ridiculous ideas about authority.  This young man never restrained himself while taking almost any opportunity to bash the USA.  He clearly felt victimized, “anti-American” and very much deserving of ripping us off.  He was a classic “punk.”  Whether he has outgrown this or not, I have no idea.  But it always bothered me for reasons that are probably too obvious to bear explanation.

Now, this is broad, and maybe stupid…but generally I really like Mexico and its people.  I love color.  I love art.  I love music and I love what I know of their culture. I have known many Mexican/American people, but none that well.  (I knew this young man better than I have known others).  And I am by no means in favor of aggressive, alienating Nationalism.

And I am no Trump fan.  Basically, to me, he is clearly mentally ill.  You might say it takes one to know one.  And I accept that.  It may.  As far as I can tell and based on my experience, he is not right in the head, clearly unstable and not fit to run the country.

That said, I see a lot of noise coming from California and others about Trump’s immigration policies.  But I keep thinking about that kid I knew.  It’s not that he just stole from “us," and I mean all of us, but most especially those of us who work hard for a paycheck we need.  He was such a punk.  Stealing from us with one hand and exercising his (his?) right to free speech out of the other side of his mouth all the while.  

Yes, just one example.  But also the only example I personally know of firsthand.

I don’t know what the answer is.  I think it is certainly not war, or anything like it.  But I feel like the truth has sometimes been understated, on both sides.