The Fourth of July (Again)

I am sitting on the patio of the little guesthouse I'm staying in in
Antigua, listening to the Guatemalans shooting off fireworks, apparently
in honor of the US independence day.

Of course, there may be some capitalist impulse to all of this--it sure
can't hurt business if all the rich Gringos feel at home--but it really
makes me think about the very helpful, warm nature of Guatemalans, and
their willingness to be open and friendly.

I have, of course, run into tourists who have gotten ripped off a time
or two, but I have thus far been pretty lucky in avoiding that myself,
though I'm sure the time will come. The fact of the matter is, I've
also gotten ripped off in Connecticut, where I grew up.

But I've also experienced so much warmth down here at the hands of the
locals.

Guatemala isn't a place, either, that has imagined grievances up about
the United States--among other things, the US sponsored a coup back in
1953 that toppled the first democratically elected government here, and
the country was exploited at the hands of the United Fruit Company (now
Dole fruit) for decades before and after. So Guatemalans have a right
to be angry at the US, if they choose to be.

But instead, when I tell Guatemalans that I'm from the states, their
response usually has something to do with the fact that they either (a)
wish they could go to the United States to work, (b) they have relatives
who are in the United States, or (c) they have been there themselves.

And of course, they wonder why it's become so hard for them to travel to
the states--"Mucho trabajo ¿si?" And I always say, "yes, of course,"
and tell them about how much fear there seems to be in the states of
foreigners. They know, of course. Many of these people have
experienced a tremendous amount of racism here in their own homeland, at
the hands of people who are "whiter" than them. But I was really struck
by the comments of a Guatemalan I met last year, who said something
like, "How can people from the USA be so afraid of us--you are so rich
and powerful, and we are a tiny, poor country."

And of course, he had a point.

How, on God's green earth, can we convince ourselves that people from
these countries are a threat to our way of life, especially when they're
mostly coming to the US so that they can get a little bit of that apple
pie for themselves.

But I have been taking pleasure, when the opportunity presents itself,
in being able to tell them that both candidates running for president
this time around are in favor of fewer immigration restrictions.