A victory for good sense
US Senator John F. Kerry was optimistic, but cautiously so, after a round of bureaucratic maneuvering had put off -- perhaps permanently -- the deportation of Obain Attouoman, the popular Fenway High School teacher who was nearly shipped out of the country last week.
Kerry, Governor Mitt Romney, and Senator Edward M. Kennedy, among others, were involved in the last-minute lobbying to stave off the deportation.
''The system is broken and we need to fix it," Kerry said in a telephone interview. ''I wasn't going to let something that I felt in my gut was wrong take place."
No question, what was staved off was wrong. Attouoman faced deportation to the Ivory Coast for missing a court appearance after misreading the handwriting on a letter telling him the date. That's no reason to deport anyone, especially a teacher whose students attest to his good influence and vigorously campaigned for him to stay in the country.
Attouoman's Fenway High students deserved much of the credit for the victory, Kerry insisted. He met with a group of them Thursday in Washington.
''They were impressive kids and they gave personal stories of how Mr. Attouoman had affected their lives. One young man said he was a role model, and he hadn't had a role model before.
''This is a man who was making a difference in the lives of young people, and this is what we need to do."
Kerry stressed that he supports the immigration process generally, and appreciates its importance in the post-9/11 world. But it wasn't functioning in this case, and he believes he understands why: ''This was an example of how we need to let greater common sense and fundamental humanity and less bureaucratic rigidity into the process."
For now, Attouoman is safe -- until the end of the congressional session -- while a bill Kerry has introduced could halt the deportation permanently.
The case is a victory for a lot of people: Attouoman, his students, and the network of lawyers and activists who worked to bring it about. It raises questions, though, about the many other cases that, for whatever reason, don't mobilize people in the same way. Kerry called Attouoman's situation symptomatic of a larger problem, and he's right.
Locally, there was something striking about it. The case mobilized two communities, immigration activists and African-American activists, that haven't often been linked in political struggles.
''We as African-Americans never, ever, think about immigration," said Horace Small of the Union of Minority Neighborhoods. ''It's a draconian process, and it affects all of us. All we were going to be losing was a good teacher, a good man, a role model, a mentor. . . . It didn't make any sense."
Small said that, as a result of the successful campaign on Attouoman's behalf, he and others are now hearing from other immigrants hoping that some kind of public intervention can be applied to their cases as well.
''We've got to start to take a look at the immigration policy of this country," Small declared. ''And the African-American community has to start to embrace the immigrant community. We have a common agenda and a common destiny."
Kerry and Attouoman finally met in person Saturday night, at the NAACP annual dinner at the Copley Marriott. Attouoman said he thanked Kerry for his support and years of public service, while Kerry commended him for his work with the students at Fenway High.
''He said it shows I should never have been put in this position, because I have done a lot for my community," Attouoman recounted last night. ''This is just one step toward victory, but he is going to continue until we win."
I can't help thinking, though about the many other Obain Attouomans, the potential deportees who never seem to have a US senator to go to bat for them when they really need one.
Adrian Walker is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at walker@globe.com.
