Friday, January 18, 2008

Welcome immigrants into democratic process

This column talks about the need to help immigrants learn about our democracy. Many do not understand it and don't know how it works or how it could help them. DP

By ETHAN LO, GUEST COLUMNIST

seattlepi.com: Immigrants are America. Everyone living here today has roots tracing back to someone who took the plunge. But while there has been much commotion over the enormous number of people immigrating in, the way we ignore those immigrants already here is a critical issue.

Many immigrants are unaware of the processes of American democracy, and we're not taking enough steps to address that. With the percentage of foreign-born residents in Seattle near 20 percent, city government needs to take a more active role in encouraging immigrants to participate in politics.

The most fundamental part of political participation is the simple act of voting. It's understandable that many recent immigrants don't vote because they don't have a full handle on the process. U.S. natives educated in public schools have the advantage of being slowly taught the structure of government. Immigrants have no such luxury. Because many are unaware of our system of democracy, responsibility falls upon the city government to educate and encourage participation in immigrants.
Be sure to read the rest of this story! This is only a small part of it.

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