Resounding Truths

by Armando Simón (September 2023)

Sonombre, Clifford Hanley, 1993

The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race. —Chief John Roberts

Melvin Dickman, a professor of political science at the local university, got in his car after a grueling four-hour workday of giving lectures and sitting in his office grading tests. He drove out of the university parking lot and headed on home. Right away, he turned on the car radio to listen to his favorite station.

“Today, on NPR, we have a panel discussion on a hot button topic, that of undocumented immigrants. We’re going to discuss all points of views and ramifications of the topic. With us today, we have Ken Frankenfurter from Immigration Reform Now, Professor Zachary Sillitoe from Columbia University’s Department of Ethnic Studies, Congressman Eli Dwibb and, lastly, Paco Cantú, head of La Raza Suprema. I’m the moderator and my name is John Allred.”

“All right, let’s start with you, Ken. How do you see the problem?”

“As I see it, we need immigration reform. The immigration system is broken, and it has to be fixed so that the undocumented immigrants that are inside the country have a clear pathway to legal residency and ultimately citizenship so that they will vote for the Democratic Party. There are an estimated five million undocumented immigrants in the United States. They’re part of the community, they pay taxes, so we should facilitate their legal status.”

Dickman nodded in agreement.

“And you, Dr. Sillitoe?” Allred went on to the next panelist.

“I agree that the immigration system has been broken for some time now and we need to legalize the status of these people. They can’t live in the shadows forever. We need for them to have a clear pathway to legal residency and ultimately citizenship so that they will vote for the Democratic Party. We have to work towards that goal, get support behind us.”

“Very interesting, Zachary. How about you, Paco? How do you see this problem?”

“We need immigration reform,” said Cantú. “The immigration system is broken, and it has to be fixed so that the undocumented immigrants that are inside the country have a clear pathway to legal residency and ultimately citizenship. There are an estimated five million undocumented immigrants in America. They’re part of the community, they pay taxes, so we should do everything possible to facilitate their legal status. The Hispanic community in this country is behind this effort all the way.”

“Congressman, Dwibb,” Allread continued on to the next guest. “I know you’ve been very vocal on this issue. One might say that it’s one of your principal issues in Congress.”

“Yes, John. We need immigration reform. The immigration system is broken, and it should be fixed so undocumented immigrants that are inside the country have a clear pathway to legal residency and become citizens. These people are part of the community, they pay taxes, so we should do everything possible to facilitate their legal status. One of the things I’ve done in Congress is introduce legislation to make it illegal to refer to these individuals as ‘illegal aliens.’ It’s a demeaning term, having negative connotations.”

“I see that we have callers already,” said Allread. “Let’s go to the first caller. Hello, Mark, you’re on the air.”

“Hi, John, thanks for taking my call. I just wanted to say that I think that we need immigration reform. The immigration system is broken, and it should be fixed so that undocumented immigrants who are inside the country have a clear pathway to legal residency and become citizens. These people are part of the community, they pay taxes, so we should do everything possible to facilitate their legal status. That was all I wanted to say.” The caller then hung up.

“Thank you for that excellent observation, Mark. Let’s take the next caller. Hello, Michelle. What are your thoughts on the matter in question?”

“I just wanted to commend Congressman Dwibb on trying to make it illegal to refer to these poor unfortunates as ‘illegal aliens.’ I hope it goes into law.”

“Thank you,” Congressman Dwibb responded.

She hung up and Allred welcomed the next caller.

“Hello, Juan. You’re on the air. We’re certainly looking forward to hear what you have to say.”

“What I have to say is, first of all, Cantú does not speak for all Hispanics, contrary to what he claims. Second, these people are, indeed, illegal aliens, since they came into this country illegally; the first thing they did when they came here to this country was to break the law. We don’t need ‘immigration reform’ and the system is not broken. What is broken is that there is no law enforcement in this area, and third—”

“Thank you,” Allred disconnected the caller. “Ken, what should be the next step towards fixing the broken system? I know you’ve given a lot of thought towards this goal.”

“Well, the Southern Poverty Law Center has been very helpful in this area. They have—”

Dickman would have liked to have heard the rest, but he had arrived home. As per his routine, he would watch the news first, then have dinner. He went in, said hello to his wife and son and plopped himself on the sofa in front of the television and began surfing the news channels. He liked changing news channels in order to get a diversity of viewpoints.

“NBC has learned from confidential sources,” spoke the news anchor, “that former President Donald Trump may have originally been involved in the sinking of the Titanic, which resulted in so many casualties.”

He pressed the remote button.

“CNN has learned that a report by the government’s intelligence agencies have pointed former president Donald Trump as being the one responsible for the weakening of the Titanic compartments that led to the sinking of the cruise ship when it struck an iceberg. Cutting costs on the construction of the ship in order to minimize expenses may have led to the tragedy.”

He could not believe how a man could be as evil as Donald Trump. As if he hadn’t done enough harm to the world! Again, he pressed the remote button.

“ABC has learned that there is an FBI investigation of the sinking of the cruise ship Titanic that implicates former president and 2020 election denier Donald Trump as having been responsible for the sinking and the loss of lives when tragedy struck.”

He pressed the button again to listen to CBS, but just then his wife called him to dinner. Dinner was early today.

Just as they sat down, his son asked him, “Dad, I’m supposed to do a project for school regarding undocumented immigrants, but I don’t know much about the subject.”

“Well, son, it’s like this. I’ve given it a lot of thought. I believe the immigration system is broken, and it has to be fixed so that the undocumented immigrants that are inside the country have a clear pathway to legal residency and ultimately citizenship. They’re part of the community, they pay taxes, so everything possible should be done to facilitate their legal status. The Hispanic community in this country is behind this effort all the way. We need immigration reform. There’re an estimated five million undocumented persons in this country that have to be assimilated.”

“I understand,” said his son, having been enlightened.

Armando Simón is the author of Very Peculiar Stories and Fables from the Americas.

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