Conclusion

Much of the humor and understanding that comes from political cartoons depends on knowing about the issues that are depicted.  As we coded our cartoons, we really began to see how little we actually knew about immigration, and that what we thought we knew may have actually been wrong.  It was quite the humbling experience.  Here are a few of our conclusions and things we learned from this project:

- Referring to any immigrant to our country by anything that would make them seem less than human is wrong.  Using emotionally loaded language is a sure way to blow issues out of proportion and create tension between groups.

-Cartoons generally framed those with conservative agendas (especially radical ones) as uncaring, stupid, racist, less sympathetic towards immigrants, and proponyents of stricter regulations while being against amnesty.  Liberals were generally framed as sympathetic, pro-amnesty, logical, level-headed, and proponents of legislation such as the the DREAM Act.

-Obama's decision to use his executive order to bypass the stalling of the DREAM Act was generally framed positively.  Though they made him appear somewhat aloof, and didn't necessarily portray his decision to circumvent Congress as ethical or virtuous, it was generally praised because at least he was doing something.  Obama himself was generally framed as powerful, self-righteous, and vigilante-like, but not necessarily negatively as much as humorously.  Romney was generally portrayed in a negative light:  clueless, naive, fickle, oblivious to the plight of immigrants, out of touch, and in over his head.  He seemed to be portrayed as unprepared to solve the immigration problem if he were elected as president.

-Hispanics/Latinos/undocumented immigrants were the most positively framed.  Many times they were more level-headed, intelligent, and sensible than Congress, The Supreme Court, or Americans in general were.  They were portrayed as confused over immigration fights, family oriented, and hard working.  The dehumanizing of illegal immigrants was shown to be vile and inhuman.  Americans were portrayed negatively: hypocritical, lazy, careless, and self-righteous.  Politicians were generally slammed in the cartoons for being responsible for the lack of progress in immigration reform.

Though many of the cartoons were able to use humor to cut to the key issues, we feel that even some failed to address something very important: the people.  With every argument over legislation, every presidential jockeying for position in the horcerace, it is often the lives of our Latino neighbors that gets put by the wayside.  We need to expand our scope of the world around us and the humanity around us.

We feel that this cartoon satirically, and yet truthfully, shows the narrowminded view with which we often have on the world.