There has been a strong nativist streak in the United States for much of our\nhistory. In the mid-1800s, the Know-Nothing Party was created to stoke fears of\nthe Irish Catholics who had fled famine to come here. And a couple of decades\nlater, the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed to protect America from the growing\n“yellow peril.”
\n\nMy grandparents, Eastern European Jews, fled waves of pogroms to come to the New\nWorld before WWI. They both came to Canada, because they each had family there,\nbut after finding very little work to sustain his growing family, my grandfather\nput his wife (pregnant with my mother) and their three children on a train bound\nfor New York City in 1926.
\nThey arrived in the US after passage of the Johnson-Reed Act of 1924, which\nbanned immigrants from Asia and restricted immigrants from Eastern Europe and\nthe Mediterranean. It was enacted by White Protestant elected officials of\nNorthwestern European descent to curtail the huge wave of Italians, Greeks,\nSlavs and Jews that were coming here for a better life.
\nAnd so, my grandparents were undocumented immigrants (“illegals” in common\nparlance). My grandfather recalled looking for work and seeing signs that said,\n“No Jews Need Apply.” Eventually, he found work sewing ladies’ garments for long\nhours in a sweatshop. He became active with the Ladies Garment Workers Union. My\ngrandparents remained “illegal” here for 30 years. In 1956, families of soldiers\nwho served during WWII who were undocumented were granted an amnesty. My\ngrandparents had to go back to Montreal, where they’d lived when they first\narrived in North America, and then return to the US as citizens.
\nThe question of who is and who isn’t “legal” is always determined by those in\npower. Because the US considered Communist Cuba an enemy, if an anti-communist\nCuban could make it onto dry land (the “Wet Foot, Dry Foot” policy), they were\nwelcome, while El Salvadorans fleeing from a right-wing dictatorship that we\nsupported had to stay in the shadows.
\nVast numbers of Mexican peasants left their farms and fields after NAFTA\ndestroyed their livelihoods by allowing the import of cheap American corn. While\nAmerican corporations were allowed freedom of movement across the border so they\ncould build maquiladoras employing cheaper Mexican labor, Mexican laborers were\nnot accorded the same freedom of movement to seek better jobs here.
\nAs the grandson of undocumented immigrants, I’m thinking a lot about immigration\nin the wake of the repressive ICE raids being conducted against largely\nlaw-abiding, hard-working Latino immigrants here in Los Angeles, the city I\nlive in.
\nThe battle against these people isn’t just being waged in restaurants and Home\nDepot parking lots, it’s also being waged in language and messaging. During the\nThird Reich, German media portrayed Jews as a disease, as vermin that had to be\nexterminated. Donald Trump portrays undocumented immigrants of color as an\ninvasion of criminals.
\nHe highlights the anecdotal evidence of the infrequent undocumented person who\ncommits a heinous crime while ignoring the inconvenient truth that the\nundocumented are much less likely to commit crimes than the native\npopulation—these folks try to keep a low profile—getting into legal trouble\nmeans possible deportation. Trump’s audience of white nativists hears this and\nis sent into paroxysms of disgust and horror at the advancing menace.
\nBut here in LA, the undocumented among us are an essential part of our\ncommunities. These are the people who come and take the jobs that no one else\nwill take, and work for low wages, all to try to support impoverished families\nin their home countries or to feed their growing American families here. These\nare our friends, our colleagues. We are outraged at seeing these people show up\nfor scheduled immigration hearings only to be snatched up by ICE, taken from\ntheir families and deported, often not to their country of origin, but an El\nSalvadoran concentration camp that no one ever emerges from.
\nIf America is indeed being invaded, it is being invaded by an army of\nhard-working, law-abiding, disciplined people who bring so many rich gifts to\nour society as they strive for a better life. Every country should be so lucky\nto be invaded this way!
\n","date_published":"Sun, 15 Jun 2025 20:15:00 GMT"},{"id":"https://artact.io/artact-xeo/","url":"https://artact.io/artact-xeo/","title":"Hello ArtAct.io 🧊","content_html":"Our website just got a whole lot cooler, thanks to open source 📖
\n\nWelcome to our new site powered by Xeo, my variant of\nSimple Blog by\nÓscar Otero, a clean and minimal blog theme for\nLume with support for tags and authors.
\nStay tuned, this is just the very beginning of what we have in store\nfor you.
\n","date_published":"Fri, 06 Jun 2025 15:15:00 GMT"},{"id":"https://artact.io/videos/hca/single-payer-plans/","url":"https://artact.io/videos/hca/single-payer-plans/","title":"Single Payer Plans - Health Care for All - California","content_html":"For Health Care for All -\nCalifornia, this video counters insurance companies bogus claim that\nAmericans prefer private insurance plans. Single Payer Health Care means freedom\nfrom insurance companies. Directed by Hector Ceballos, Written by Clifford J.\nTasner, Produced by Clifford J. Tasner and Ricky de Laveaga, Cinematography by\nVincent Toto, Edited by Ricky de Laveaga, Music by Clifford J. Tasner
\n","date_published":"Tue, 21 Feb 2023 15:19:00 GMT"},{"id":"https://artact.io/videos/hca/solo-pagador-seguros/","url":"https://artact.io/videos/hca/solo-pagador-seguros/","title":"Atención médica de un solo pagador Seguros - Health Care for All - California","content_html":"For Health Care for All -\nCalifornia, this video counters insurance companies bogus claim that\nAmericans prefer private insurance plans: Atención médica de un solo pagador\nsignifica que no habrá más interferencias de las compañías de seguros en nuestra\nsanidad. Visite\natencionmedicaparatodos.org\npara saber más y unirse al movimiento. Directed by Hector Ceballos, Written by\nClifford J. Tasner, Produced by Clifford J. Tasner and Ricky de Laveaga,\nCinematography by Vincent Toto, Edited by Ricky de Laveaga, Music by Clifford\nJ. Tasner
\n","date_published":"Tue, 21 Feb 2023 15:18:00 GMT"},{"id":"https://artact.io/videos/hca/single-payer-jobs/","url":"https://artact.io/videos/hca/single-payer-jobs/","title":"Single Payer Jobs - Health Care for All - California","content_html":"For Health Care for All -\nCalifornia, this video inoculates the audience against medical-industrial\ncomplex propaganda which falsely asserts that Americans can count on the\nhealthcare they get through their jobs. Single-payer healthcare means you have\ngreat lifelong health care not tied to a job. Directed by Hector Ceballos,\nWritten by Clifford J. Tasner, Produced by Clifford J. Tasner and Ricky de\nLaveaga, Cinematography by Vincent Toto, Edited by Ricky de Laveaga, Music by\nClifford J. Tasner
\n","date_published":"Mon, 01 Aug 2022 19:10:00 GMT"},{"id":"https://artact.io/videos/hca/solo-pagador-trabajo/","url":"https://artact.io/videos/hca/solo-pagador-trabajo/","title":"Atención médica de un solo pagador Trabajo - Health Care for All - California","content_html":"For Health Care for All -\nCalifornia, this video inoculates the audience against medical-industrial\ncomplex propaganda which falsely asserts that Americans can count on the\nhealthcare they get through their jobs: La atención médica de un solo pagador\nsignifica que cuentas con buena atención médica de por vida que no está ligada a\nun empleo. Visite\natencionmedicaparatodos.org\npara saber más y unirse al movimiento. Directed by Hector Ceballos, Written by\nClifford J. Tasner, Produced by Clifford J. Tasner and Ricky de Laveaga,\nCinematography by Vincent Toto, Edited by Ricky de Laveaga, Music by Clifford\nJ. Tasner
\n","date_published":"Mon, 01 Aug 2022 19:09:00 GMT"},{"id":"https://artact.io/videos/hca/single-payer-benefits/","url":"https://artact.io/videos/hca/single-payer-benefits/","title":"Single Payer Benefits - Health Care for All - California","content_html":"For Health Care for All -\nCalifornia, this video explains the benefits Single Payer will have to\nseniors. Single-payer healthcare provides even more comprehensive benefits than\nMedicare, and it will improve access and lower costs by pooling state and\nfederal funds. Directed by Hector Ceballos, Written by Clifford J. Tasner,\nProduced by Clifford J. Tasner and Ricky de Laveaga, Cinematography by Vincent\nToto, Edited by Ricky de Laveaga, Music by Clifford J. Tasner
\n","date_published":"Tue, 19 Jul 2022 08:17:00 GMT"},{"id":"https://artact.io/videos/hca/solo-pagador-beneficios/","url":"https://artact.io/videos/hca/solo-pagador-beneficios/","title":"Atención médica de un solo pagador Beneficios - Health Care for All - California","content_html":"For Health Care for All -\nCalifornia, this video explains the benefits Single Payer will have to\nseniors: Atención médica de un solo pagador proporciona beneficios aún más\ncompletos que Medicare, y mejorará el acceso y reducirá los costos al reunir los\nfondos estatales y federales. Visite\natencionmedicaparatodos.org\npara saber más y unirse al movimiento. Directed by Hector Ceballos, Written by\nClifford J. Tasner, Produced by Clifford J. Tasner and Ricky de Laveaga,\nCinematography by Vincent Toto, Edited by Ricky de Laveaga, Music by Clifford\nJ. Tasner
\n","date_published":"Tue, 19 Jul 2022 08:16:00 GMT"},{"id":"https://artact.io/videos/lee/cosas-buenas/","url":"https://artact.io/videos/lee/cosas-buenas/","title":"Cosas Buenas (Nice Things) - Daniel Lee for SD30","content_html":"Made on a shoestring budget for Daniel Lee’s campaign for California State\nSenate District 30, this video highlights Daniel’s commitment to fight for\nhealthcare for all, real climate change legislation, and to keep people in their\nhomes. Produced by Ricky de Laveaga, Written and Directed by Clifford J. Tasner,\nCinematography & Edit by Ricky de Laveaga, Music by Clifford J. Tasner
\n","date_published":"Tue, 02 Mar 2021 09:08:00 GMT"},{"id":"https://artact.io/videos/lee/billionaires/","url":"https://artact.io/videos/lee/billionaires/","title":"Billionaires - Daniel Lee for SD30","content_html":"Made on a shoestring budget for Daniel Lee’s campaign for California State\nSenate District 30, this video uses humor to explain why Daniel’s platform of\nhealthcare for all, real climate change legislation, and keeping people in their\nhomes frustrates billionaires who depend on corrupt politicians. Produced by\nRicky de Laveaga, Written and Directed by Clifford J. Tasner, Cinematography\n& Edit by Ricky de Laveaga, Music by Clifford J. Tasner
\n","date_published":"Mon, 01 Mar 2021 21:31:00 GMT"}]}