Donald Trump, meet an immigrant. Don’t be too surprised when you see who it is.

Donald Trump’s inflammatory remarks in his Presidential announcement, which disparaged Hispanic immigrants, have inspired an interesting social experiment that disproves The Donald’s theory in a most visible, immediate way. On a beach boardwalk recently in Los Angeles, a Hispanic man stood dressed in a bright orange jumpsuit and wearing a red blindfold, handcuffs and chains tied around his ankles. Next to him was a sign that read, “Meet an immigrant, do you really see me as a drug lord, rapist, criminal?” 

Sergio Mejia, the performance artist who is, in fact, an immigrant, thought he would test out The Donald’s theory and see if ordinary Americans agreed with his racist remarks.

“I came up with this idea for a video, only I didn’t know exactly what message I was trying to get across,” said Mejia on his YouTube comments. “I more just wanted to see who supported Donald Trump or not.”

The results far exceeded his expectations.

As you’ll see in the video, people go up and shake his hand. They give him hugs. Some even provide him with water. Others simply offer a handshake. One young woman says, “I’m an immigrant too,” Other comments include, “Just know that you are welcomed here, you’re not a drug lord or rapist,” “You’re a human being,” and “That impacted me more than anything today.”

“I never thought it would have this effect,” said Mejia in an interview. Since he was blindfolded, he couldn’t see people’s facial expressions but he could sense the warmth from people’s handshakes or when they took his hand.

Mejia has an unfortunate familiarity with the immigration process; ICE deported his father deported 10 years ago. He remembers visiting his father in jail in Lancaster, California and seeing him in the ubiquitous orange jumpsuit – a reminder of their precarious status.

“So my dad was something else, an incredible man like many other immigrant fathers,” said Mejia on his YouTube comments. “So when society labeled him as a criminal, I saw through that label as a young child. And that is exactly what ‘Meet An Immigrant’ is all about.”

“Meet an Immigrant”

Go to the next page to find out about the Mexican who just fired The Donald!

This post launches a new site category for us – Politics. The idea made me a little reticent at first – religion and politics are still dangerous topics to raise among circles of friends and acquaintances – even virtual ones. But they’re also hard to avoid – especially when politics can affect so many aspects of our daily lives.

Take the politics of trash, for instance. Our landfills are overburdened, and across America our landSCAPES are burdened by the all-too-familiar sight of those cheap white plastic shopping bags drifting and spiraling in the wind along the roadsides, and every place else imaginable.

They’re a hazard to wildlife, and an unsightly blight on our beautiful land. But they’re also incredibly cheap and convenient, and retailer associations cling to their right to use plastic bags even harder than Clint Eastwood clings to his gun. If you’ve never thought about this as a political issue, think again.

The big news this month is that Hawaii just became the first state to ban the use of plastic shopping bags by retailers. Paper only from now on in the Aloha State! The State didn’t actually enact the law; each populated island/County issued a ban on their own. Oahu had been the last one to hold out, but they passed their ban on July 1 this year so that now bags are banned on every island in the chain.

Movements like this usually start in the West. In Portland, where I live, plastic shopping bags have been banned for a couple of years now. Every merchant, large and small, has switched over to paper. Ditto San Francisco and Seattle. In fact, the California Legislature recently attempted to ban the bags statewide.

Go to the next page to find out what happened to that attempt, and read about Seattle and San Francisco’s crazy “garbage inspection” programs!