Thread: AZ:Immigration and tolerance the focus of annual breakfast

Immigration and tolerance the focus of annual breakfast
Betty Reid
The Arizona Republic
Jan. 19, 2008 12:00 AM

Friday's Martin Luther King Jr."Living the Dream" awards breakfast in downtown Phoenix was seasoned with references to tolerance of immigration in Arizona.

More than 1,200 people attended the 22-year-old event that started with a 5K run and inspirational speeches at the Phoenix Convention Center.

Yvonne Watterson, GateWay Early College High School principal and an advocate for undocumented children, said immigrant children are faced with adversity. They come to the U.S. with hope but now Proposition 300 limits their access to a college education, and the death of the DREAM Act legislation limits their chances to get legal status, she said.

"They are here," she said. "We need to listen to their dreams, and we need to act to make those dreams a reality."

Speakers included Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano and Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon.

Although the late civil-rights activist launched change for good, Gordon said, tolerance and compassion still have enemies. He shared a story about a Hispanic Marine who was told by "pretend patriots" that he brought shame to the uniform because of his skin color.

The mayor also urged the crowd to remain true to King's legacy by making their voices heard on immigration.

"Let Congress know that reforming immigration in this country is their responsibility," Gordon said. "Tell them to enact a practical and effective immigration policy that provides new, trackable 'work visas' for millions of honest, hard-working people who help strengthen our country . . . and grow our economy."

Others at the breakfast spoke about the importance of education, religious tolerance and hope.

Watterson was one of seven people given the "Living the Dream" award. The others were Fatimah Halim, Imran and Yasmine Hafiz, Rufus Glasper, Isabel McMahel and Deedra Abboud.

The event also honored Calvin C. Goode, who is the namesake of the lifetime achievement award. The late George Benjamin Brooks Sr. was posthumously honored with the Calvin C. Goode Lifetime Achievement Award.
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/ ... g0119.html

Yvonne Watterson, GateWay Early College High School principal and an advocate for undocumented children, said immigrant children are faced with adversity. They come to the U.S. with hope but now Proposition 300 limits their access to a college education, and the death of the DREAM Act legislation limits their chances to get legal status, she said.

"They are here," she said. "We need to listen to their dreams, and we need to act to make those dreams a reality."

I agree with her, it is a crime! They have hope of a college education, and we must listen to their dreams. I say we take time out of our busy days and find them nice colleges back in their own countries. Look, I am feeling particularly generous today, so, lets even pay their airfare back so they can settle in before the next semester.

Is there nothing that these opportunists will not drag the subject of illegal immigration into, for God's sake?


Again, the illegal immigration issue has nothing to do with race or civil rights. It has nothing to do with illegal alien children furthering their education on the backs of American taxpayers and to the exclusion of American children....a great many of those being African American children who are shut out, by illegal aliens, of their rights and opportunities.....the rights and opportunities that Dr. King sacrificed his life to secure for them.

This event should have been solely about honoring Dr. King and celebrating what he stood for, and for whom he worked so hard.

It should never have been permitted to turn into a platform for pro-illegal advocates to further their agenda and continue on with this ridiculous civil rights comparison they've concocted

"They are here," she said. "We need to listen to their dreams, and we need to act to make those dreams a reality."

One person's dream is another person's nightmare.

"Illegal aliens are not immigrants, they are foreign intruders"
Jean Baptiste Truong