March 28 – April 3: Meetings w/ Mr. Klein & Kafalah

Goals for This Week:

1. Medicare for All Summary
2. Kafalah System Summary
3. Meetings w/ Mr. Klein

It is impossible to imagine a world without discrimination, but what we often don’t think about is why this discrimination ends up happening. For example, the kafalah system in Saudi wasn’t meant to be discriminatory— which we can see in the actual outline of the law itself. Originally, kafalah was established to solve a shortage of labor in Saudi, since culturally Saudi women were discouraged from working. However, like most laws, kafalah became warped and turned into a systemic form of discrimination. We see this parallel in America, however the origins are more sinister.

In America, the influx of undocumented immigrants came from the braceros movement, which allowed immigrants from Mexico and Central America to come in and fill the vacuum in the agriculture industry without the necessary paperwork. Subsequently, there was an influx of undocumented immigration to the United States, mainly because they were simply ‘cheap labor’ in the eyes of the corporations.

In looking at these laws in a more nuanced way— what they are vs. what ends up happening— then we can approach such a complex topic like healthcare discrimination into more than just a single-sided issue. It adds a level of complexity and nuance to this anything-but-simple topic.

In the coming weeks, I’ll be conducting more and more interviews with experts in the field as well as Mr. Klein. Thank you for tuning in!