Thread: American Hispanics Tired Of Hypocrisy

Originally Posted by Ruben Navarrette Jr., The Marysville-Yuba City (CA) Appeal-Democrat (click masthead)

American Hispanics tired of hypocrisy
Ruben Navarrette Jr., April 22, 2008 06:18:00 PM

U.S.-born Latinos in America are fed up. They're tired of the ugliness in the immigration debate, and they're not buying the argumentthat it does not concern them. Take it from Janet Murguia, president of the National Council of La Raza, the nation's largest Hispanic civil rights organization. She recently delivered a passionate and important speech to the National Press Club in Washington. Her topic: the immigration debate and what she labels a wave of hate sweeping the land — one that isn't limited to illegal immigrants, or even immigrants in general, but which is now splattering onto all Hispanics regardless of where they were born, what language they speak or what flag they wave.

"Most Latinos aren't immigrants," she said. "More than 80 percent of Hispanics in this country are U.S. citizens or legal residents. But the truth is, Hispanics understand that this issue is about all of us." That's obvious. You might live in Colorado or New Mexico or Arizona and come from a family that has lived in the United States for several generations. And yet, your citizenship is being challenged by nativists who paint with a broad brush. All they see is your skin color or surname and, from this, they conclude that -- unless you go along with every harebrained scheme to combat illegal immigration -- you're, as one reader recently informed me, "an American in name only." How do you suppose Hispanics will react? A middle-aged reader who describes himself as Italian-American recalls that when he was growing up and the Italian kids were picked on in school, it only made him feel "more Italian." It could be the same with Hispanics, he wrote.

Could be. According to Murguia, "two-thirds of Latinos say that the failure (of immigration reform) has made life more difficult for Latinos overall and roughly half say that it has affected them personally." Part of the problem is that the right-wingers weren't content to just attack illegal immigrants. They had to attack an entire culture, which is shared by legal immigrants and U.S.-born Hispanics. And so, a discussion that should have been about exactly three things — improving border security, smoothing the path for legal immigrants, and deciding the fate of 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States -- became about outlawing taco trucks, limiting the number of people in a home, blasting pizza parlors for taking pesos, banning Spanish language library books, and other nonsense. The way Murguia sees it, immigration is "on the verge of becoming one of the largest civil rights issues of our generation."

Not to mention, an election-year issue. Arguing that the ugliness of the immigration debate "galvanizes the Latino vote," Murguia vowed that Latinos would fight back. "We will not be demonized," she said. "We will not be scapegoated. And we will not be ignored." You tell 'em, Janet. I've had my share of run-ins with the NCLR over the years, and lodged my share of criticisms of the organization. But not for the reasons that nativists, cable news demagogues, and right-wing columnists and bloggers attack it. I've argued that, for too much of its 40-year existence, the group has been too corporate, too cautious and too easily co-opted by foundations and Fortune 500 companies looking for an entree into the Hispanic market. But in this case Murguia has a point. An ethnic group that has always answered the call to duty, and which boasts a higher ratio of Medal of Honor recipients than any other, deserves better.

That's what I'm hearing from many U.S.-born Hispanics. When they talk to me about the immigration debate, they condemn the hypocrisy of a society that is addicted to illegal immigrant labor but looks for others to blame for the addiction. As for the claim that much of this is about national security, they wonder why no one talks about building a wall along the U.S.-Canada border. They worry about racial profiling as authorities become more aggressive in rounding up illegal immigrants. They recognize the racism, and the assault on their culture, and they resent that they're being lumped together with recent immigrants. But at the same time, they find it easy to identify with the immigrant plight — through their parents or grandparents. Most of all, they scoff at the claim that, as U.S.-citizens, this debate doesn't concern them and that the attack is limited to illegal immigrants. Hey, no matter what side of the border we were born on, we weren't born yesterday. Source (click here)

Well, here's more racism from the head racist reported by arguably the stupidest race-baiter Mexican meathead of all. The head racist thinks because she tells the National Press Club that conservatives paint her "race" with a broad brush, including citizens and legal residents, it must be true. I'd point out she's not only a racist but a liar. If anyone paints the Latin American problem with a broad brush it the head racist, president of the organization of the same name: La Raza! I know many conservatives and live in a hotbed of illegal alien activity: Texas. And yet, I know of no one, NOT ONE PERSON, who deems Mexico or any other Latin nation a race. Clearly, Mexico is not a race.

All my conservative friends know with crystal clarity that it's the ILLEGAL ALIENS that represent the threat, not the people included in Murguia's endless and widespread diatribes. She's a narcissistic opportunist cut from the same cloth as Jeral-DOH, Hernandez, Sharpton & Jackson. It's true the hatred is growing but not because legal Latinos are the target of American resentment. It's the illegals stupid. She and her handlers don't want you to think that way 'cuz it harms the "Think-Mexico-First" movement. Time to write your congressmen again and let them know how much you resent the millions of taxpayer dollars simply given each year to the likes of La Raza. It's an un-American travesty that represents precisely why we fought the Revolutionary War.

There's alot I could say about this article but we all know janet is a liar....

Gee Janet do you think they outlawed the toco trucks for sanitation reasons...Over crowding in a home has always been against the law, but then LaRaza does not believe even safty laws pertain to them.....In America the money of choice is the Dollar and I have no Idea what library books the kook is talking about....

became about outlawing taco trucks, limiting the number of people in a home, blasting pizza parlors for taking pesos, banning Spanish language library books, and other nonsense. The way Murguia sees it, immigration is "on the verge of becoming one of the largest civil rights issues of our generation."

Keep in mind Racist Janet that the reason we are going after more Hispanic's is there are probably 20 million of them kind of hard not to gather up more of them than anyone else...Your Rhetoric does not work on us anymore we know about your ethnocentric radical racist group and its agenda.

E_mail congress and tell them NO MORE TAX DOLLARS TO LA RAZA!!!!

Thanks for posting the article Tom2.

Janet Murguia is such a drama queen.


"If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State." — Joseph Goebbels

When they talk to me about the immigration debate, they condemn the hypocrisy of a society that is addicted to illegal immigrant labor but looks for others to blame for the addiction.

Why doesn't Miss Raza say who "they" really are? They= those that profit!
Not most American taxpayers. Oh and Ruben Navarrette Jr., graduate of Harvard College what a waste of an affirmative action slot.

I noticed that the words CIVIL RIGHTS was mentioned in this article. Illegal Immigrants have NO RIGHTS in this country civil or other wise. They are still trying to ride on the coat tails of a legacy that they know nothing about and its time for them to STOP using the term CIVIL RIGHTS.

I'm a white American, and I'm sick and tired of being accused of being called a racist because of the color of MY skin.

A group called "The Race" condemning others for racism - that's a good one.

Janet Murguia and her family have made careers out of race-baiting, ethno-supremacist shakedowns of corporations via their ethno-centric "advocacy" organizations.....Navarette is a silly little man that was most probably an "affirmative action" "diversity" admission at Harvard...his level of writings prove that is the case...no intellectual giant here. Janet and Ruben have self-proclaimed themselves the arbiters of "Hispanic" American opinions on everything...but that is simply not the case....just like their equivalents in Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton...they do not represent the views of all black Americans in this country either.

Well said legalatina! I'm sick and tired of apologists like la Janet who INSISTS on lumping LEGAL law-abiding hispancis with the illiterate, criminal illegal aliens of today. The illegals are whats making our lives miserable, NOT "immigration reform". If Janet wasn't making such a big profit from exploiting ignorant illegal aliens, do you really think she'd care about them?

miguelina...to answer your question..no Murguia would not care one bit ....La RAZA is a big-fundraising machine who successfully exploited "race/ethnicity" , "affirmative action" "diversity" initiatives with corporate America to gain big money donors and supporters for their radical, leftist ethno-centrist agenda..and they had the money to package it as a "mainstream organization"....the types of radical organizations that are supported by La RAZA (their 500 affiliates..including Aztec charter schools ) says it all.