By Daniel Nardini
Today, there are 1.7 million Mexican Americans in Illinois. Mexican Americans make-up 13.4 percent of the entire population of Illinois. Mexican Americans make-up the single largest Latino group in the state, and Illinois has the seventh largest number of Mexican Americans in the United States. This community has withstood decades of persecution, forced deportation, discrimination, and economic catastrophes (like the Great Depression from 1929 to 1939, and the Great Recession from 2008 to 2013). Not only have the Mexican American communities survived in Illinois, but they have grown. Mexican American communities can now be found not only in Chicago but in suburban towns like Cicero and Berwyn and Summit as well as further afield like Sterling, Illinois, Rock Falls, Illinois, Mendota, Illinois, and Aurora which is Illinois’ second largest city in terms of population. Mexican Americans come from all walks of life, and these communities are important in the state’s industrial sector, its high-tech sector, and in government both local and state.
Given all of this, there is no way to dislodge a community this large, this diverse, and this dynamic from the bloodline of this state. Therefore it is unbelievable and unimaginable there are any people especially high up in the federal government who believe that it is still possible to deport “all illegals” from Illinois. The approach being taken is assuming that any and all Mexican Americans (or for that matter of fact any Latinos—even Puerto Ricans who have always been U.S. citizens!) are “illegals” who are fair game targets. This is the kind of thinking coming from a man who was born and raised in the early 20th Century—a time period of racism, segregation and the primitive thinking that “only whites are superior.” This kind of thinking still exists in too many backward places in America, and where current U.S. President Donald Trump now largely draws his support from. But a lot of parts of the United States are not like this, and eventually the more backward parts will also change. Nothing stands still. The “good old days” are gone forever, and the only way America can be made great again is by embracing the present and the future; not the past. America can never be what it was in the 1950’s, the 1960’s, and the 1970’s. Nor should it.
Someday, Trump will be gone. Good riddance. His followers will also eventually be gone. Illinois can never look back, and cannot live in the past. We all live in a completely different reality from what even our parents could have imagined a generation ago. Illinois was a great state in our great-grandparents’ day because it did not live in its past but instead embraced innovation. That was true 100 years ago, and it is even more true today. Mexican Americans are very much a part of this innovation, and very much a part of this state’s diversity. One of Illinois’ strength is its diversity. Like innovation, diversity has always been part of Illinois’ strength ever since the state was founded. There will be those who try to take Illinois backward, but the only way this will happen is if they can destroy the state. These forces may stop progress, but only for a short time. The only way we can live and thrive is to move forward. Because it takes all of us to move forward, we must defend every and all of us from being forced to move backward. And for this reason we must all defend the Mexican American community as we would defend our family, friends, neighbors, communities, and the state we love so much.
The Mexican American Community of Illinois is Here to Stay
By Daniel Nardini
Given all of this, there is no way to dislodge a community this large, this diverse, and this dynamic from the bloodline of this state. Therefore it is unbelievable and unimaginable there are any people especially high up in the federal government who believe that it is still possible to deport “all illegals” from Illinois. The approach being taken is assuming that any and all Mexican Americans (or for that matter of fact any Latinos—even Puerto Ricans who have always been U.S. citizens!) are “illegals” who are fair game targets. This is the kind of thinking coming from a man who was born and raised in the early 20th Century—a time period of racism, segregation and the primitive thinking that “only whites are superior.” This kind of thinking still exists in too many backward places in America, and where current U.S. President Donald Trump now largely draws his support from. But a lot of parts of the United States are not like this, and eventually the more backward parts will also change. Nothing stands still. The “good old days” are gone forever, and the only way America can be made great again is by embracing the present and the future; not the past. America can never be what it was in the 1950’s, the 1960’s, and the 1970’s. Nor should it.
Someday, Trump will be gone. Good riddance. His followers will also eventually be gone. Illinois can never look back, and cannot live in the past. We all live in a completely different reality from what even our parents could have imagined a generation ago. Illinois was a great state in our great-grandparents’ day because it did not live in its past but instead embraced innovation. That was true 100 years ago, and it is even more true today. Mexican Americans are very much a part of this innovation, and very much a part of this state’s diversity. One of Illinois’ strength is its diversity. Like innovation, diversity has always been part of Illinois’ strength ever since the state was founded. There will be those who try to take Illinois backward, but the only way this will happen is if they can destroy the state. These forces may stop progress, but only for a short time. The only way we can live and thrive is to move forward. Because it takes all of us to move forward, we must defend every and all of us from being forced to move backward. And for this reason we must all defend the Mexican American community as we would defend our family, friends, neighbors, communities, and the state we love so much.