A few weeks ago, I took a road trip to see the Packers play at Lambeau Field.  It was my very first trip to see the mighty Pack, after being a fan all of my life.  On the way to the game, we stopped to get gas at a BP station in rural Wisco.  I pumped the gas and the boyfriend went in to browse for feasible snack options.  When I came in to pay for the gas, my boyfriend was looking at a rack of bumper stickers that one would assume to be witty and possibly dry-humored.  I never guessed that this BP would be a harbor for racist anti-immigrant propaganda.  I noticed one bumper sticker at the top of one of the racks that read, "Illegal Immigrant Hunting License".   It was designed to look similar to a normal hunting license.  The sticker made me do a double take, as this bumper sticker was nestled in amongst pro-American, patriotic eagle infested stickers.  The offensive sticker made me first recoil in horror at the racism but then think about the location of it.  Seeing it sitting next to the 'American' bumper stickers, it made me think that for one to be patriotic, one must be against immigration, and that because undocumented immigrants aren't citizens,  they must be less than human.   This sticker made my face flush in embarassment for the state of Wisconsin, my beloved Wisconsin. 

When I came to the state of Minnesota for college, my new friends from rural Wisconsin called Madison (city of my birth) the  "Liberal Bubble" of Wisconsin.  I didn't quite realize the extent to which I was harbored from racism or anti-immigration sentiments because I simply did not have any of those experiences while I lived there.  I didn't know anyone who considered undocumented immigrants to be less than human, and had certainly never come into contact with any bumper stickers that blared the same.  Therefore, when I was in this rural gas station, I was prepared to see standard patriotic bumper stickers, festooned with stars and stripes, and the ever-present eagle.  I was not prepared to feel punched in the stomach. 

I work so hard in my internship helping refugees integrate into the US culture.  THEY work so hard to simply survive in this harsh environment.  Most have lived in refugee camps for 10 years or more, arriving here in the middle of winter without coats or boots.  In their home countries, they were doctors, lawyers, translators and more.  They arrive here and realize that they are now at the bottom of the hierarchy, the lowest end of the scale because they can't all speak English, or have a heavy accent.   For the most part, Minnesotans have opened their arms to the new arrivals, donating coats, furniture and their time so these refugees can have something to start out with.    There is a dark side to some Minnesotans, too.  I've dealt with landlords who, upon hearing that I am looking for housing for refugees, suddenly have nothing to rent, or don't return phone calls.  I've heard stories of landlords charging refugee families more for rent than their native Minnesotan neighbors down the hall.  I've worked to end a series of violent attacks on a refugee family with small children after they moved to a different neighborhood.  Their new neighbors welcomed them with closed fists and gun shots.  Then, to come face to face with the beliefs that undocumented immigrants are less than human on a stupid sticker just eats away at my faith in people to grow and embrace new people, new cultures and different experiences.  We say that in the US we are a 'melting pot', or a 'mixed salad'.  What we really mean is that we are a full 'melting pot'.  There is no more room, the door is closed, the pot is running over. 

I recognize that not all places in rural Wisconsin share these anti-immigration sentiments, as this was the first time I had seen such blatant disregard for human decency in a popular gas station.  This blog is not intended to open the debate about immigrant policy in the US.  Racism is prevalent everywhere in the US, from rural towns to big cities.  Unless we work to advocate for newly arrived groups of people, racist people will be allowed to continue to discriminate.