Thread: American thrown out of rally for illegals

Heckler ejected from rally for immigrants

By Jack Spillane
Standard-Times staff writer
March 18, 2007 6:00 AM
NEW BEDFORD — Though yesterday's rally in support of the undocumented workers caught up in the Michael Bianco raid was packed with immigrants and their supporters, a lone woman holding a counter-protest sign succeeded in throwing the rally off stride for a bit.

Marjorie Blaha of New Bedford held a sign that said, "ICE protects my mother, America, by deportation of illegal alien criminals."

After being asked to lower the sign, Ms. Blaha began to heckle the rally speakers, who in turn tried to quiet her.

Corinn Williams, a longtime advocate for the local immigrant community, asked the protester to keep quiet while immigrant supporters at the rally began to surround her.

"We've given you the airwaves, now give us our time to speak," said Ms. Williams, director of the Community Economic Development Center.

"You can call radio all you want, you can call them all day," Ms. Williams continued, in a reference to the many opponents of illegal immigrants who can be heard on local talk radio.

After a few minutes, New Bedford police forcibly escorted Ms. Blaha from the auditorium.

Some people attending the rally were gathering around her and the emotional situation could have gotten out of hand, police spokesman Capt. Richard Spirlet said.

"It's our duty to protect her, as well as the other people there," said Capt. Spirlet, who was part of the police presence at the rally.

In an interview outside the building, Ms. Blaha described herself as a disabled Navy veteran who stands up for what she believes.

"I'm just angry that an American citizen has to follow the laws but those who illegally came into this country are given ... rights," she said.

Ms. Blaha criticized The Standard-Times for drumming up sympathy for the children of illegal immigrants by publishing their pictures.

"These people need to be deported," she said.

She charged the illegal immigrants with driving down American wages and working conditions by taking jobs that Americans won't.

"The labor system is being subverted by these people," she said.

Jeff Taylor of New Bedford, a supporter of Northeast White Pride (a white supremacist group that picketed Gov. Deval Patrick's appearance in New Bedford on Martin Luther King Day) backed Ms. Blaha.

Like her, he contended that the American job market is being adversely affected by foreign workers.

"I've lost jobs (in the carpentry and garden industries) because of illegal immigrants," he said.

Illegal immigrants have no one to blame but themselves for their predicament, he said.

"I don't feel sorry for people who don't deserve your sympathy," he said. "They know they broke the law by coming across the border."

He isn't moved by illegal immigrant mothers separated from their children, Mr. Taylor continued. (The pro-immigrant rally speaker's podium bore a poster that said "Free my mom.")

"If a pregnant woman kills somebody, should you feel sorry for her because she's pregnant?' he asked.

Immigrants and others are asking for special treatment because of this circumstance or that circumstance, he said.

"Everyone should be treated the same," he said.

Contact Jack Spillane

at jspillane@s-t.com

http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbc ... /703180356

Though yesterday's rally in support of the undocumented workers caught up in the Michael Bianco raid was packed with immigrants and their supporters, a lone woman holding a counter-protest sign succeeded in throwing the rally off stride for a bit.

Marjorie Blaha of New Bedford held a sign that said, "ICE protects my mother, America, by deportation of illegal alien criminals."

Thank you Marjorie Blaha for doing what a lot of your fellow citizens didn't have the guts to do! This country is full of Ms. Blaha's, but they have to get off their butts to be seen and heard.

Blaha is a brave woman.

We have several Alipacers that have stood up alone amoungst the opposition. Every American should be so bold.

Dixie

Originally Posted by NoIllegalsAllowed

She charged the illegal immigrants with driving down American wages and working conditions by taking jobs that Americans won't.

I doubt that is what she charged. I don't call Hispanics taking 2/3 new construction jobs, "taking jobs that Americans won't." There is no way they would be in the industry in such numbers without illegal immigration. Construction jobs are middle class jobs.
[http://pewhispanic.org/files/factsheets/28.pdf]

And now Home Depot and Lowes have bilingual signs in their stores.
Spanish-speaking home improvement contractors must be shopping at those stores in large numbers. Home improvement contracting is not a "job americans won't do."

[quote]["I'm just angry that an American citizen has to follow the laws but those who illegally came into this country are given ... rights," she said. /quote]

Marjorie Blaha is right. Americans have been stepped all over by illegal immigrants "rights groups" demanding much more than regular citizens get. The difference is that Americans are respectful and civil people, but have gotten themselves too deep in the "political correctness" crap.
We just have to stop being so nice, which is making illegals walk all over us. Years ago, they would be too afraid to speak out in public for fear of being deported. What happened? Homeland Security happend. What a joke of a government agency.

Here is a letter from the lady that was "silenced for her own protection" and publicized on a page with white supremacist rants.

We are all Americans
I write in response to the Oct. 5 article on "revolutionary" activist Manuel A. Lopes.
I have always been under the impression that the United States was supposed to be a "melting pot," not a country that promoted division.
Although the late Mr. Lopes may have been regarded as something of a visionary leader for his own personal ethnic community, I do not see how embracing what is obviously a blatant form of segregation can be of any help to the general population.
In the last few years there has been a disturbing trend in American society that can only be called a form of tribalism. One has merely to cast an eye on Africa, the Balkans and the Middle East to see just where ethnic and religious rifts can lead a nation.
As a child, I marched on Washington with Dr. Martin Luther King; I listened to his "I Have a Dream" speech, which profoundly changed my life.
Today I see our society bastardizing Dr. King's ideals of true integration: He espoused to be considered only an "American," not an "African American" and to be judged for the content of one's soul, not the color of one's skin.
The pendulum has swung too far from the middle. How long must we wait for society to come back to the high ideals of the 1960s, where the color of your skin, the religion you practice, or the country you came from were all secondary to our being Americans?
We must stop this insidious trend of segregation that America is quickly sliding toward. We are Americans first, and that is all that should matter.
Divisiveness creates alienation and racism. In America there should be no divisions.
MARJORIE BLAHA
New Bedford

Date of Publication: October 10, 2006 on Page
http://archive.southcoasttoday.com/dail ... pinion.htm

It would have been better had Marjorie Blaha made a better public relations action by associating herself with some further step readers of this could take like logging onto ALIPAC