Thread: Latino activists call for gasoline boycott

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepubli ... ott01.html

Latino activists call for gasoline boycott

They seek to show migrants' value

Daniel González
The Arizona Republic
Jul. 1, 2005 12:00 AM

A statewide gasoline boycott this weekend to call attention to the economic contributions of Latino immigrants is part of a growing movement across the country.

In communities from California to Connecticut, Latinos are organizing boycotts, marches and other actions to counter perceived anti-immigrant measures such as Proposition 200, proposals for local police to enforce federal immigration laws and armed civilian patrols at the border.

"This is a counterreaction to the anti-immigrant climate taking place in this country," said Raul Yzaguirre, former president and CEO of the Washington, D.C.-based National Council of La Raza, and now a professor at Arizona State University. "There is a sense that we've got to get organized."

Still, the movement has yet to jell as organizers argue over tactics that will win them support instead of turning people off.

In Connecticut last month, 1,200 people marched to protest a request by the mayor of Danbury to use state police to enforce immigration laws to cope with an influx of immigrants in that city.

In Utah, Latino activists angry about a new law that bars undocumented immigrants from obtaining driver's licenses, called for work stoppages and business boycotts. Others are organizing a day of public service.

And in California, activists are organizing a march and rally on Saturday in San Ysidro to protest plans by the Minuteman Project to conduct armed civilian patrols on the border with Mexico similar to the ones in Arizona in April.

Meanwhile, in Arizona, Latino activists are calling for a statewide gasoline boycott Saturday and Sunday. By hindering gasoline sales over the Fourth of July weekend, the height of the summer travel season, they hope to demonstrate the economic clout of the state's booming Latino immigrant population and counter any perception that it is a drain on the economy.

Elias Bermudez, the main organizer, has been promoting the gasoline boycott on a radio show he hosts weekday mornings on Radio Formula, 740 AM.

He said immigrants in Arizona have been pushed to the edge first by Proposition 200, the 2004 voter-approved measure that seeks to prevent undocumented immigrants from voting and receiving certain public benefits, and then by more than two dozen immigration-related bills introduced by the state Legislature this past spring.

Gov. Janet Napolitano vetoed all the major immigration-related bills passed by the Legislature, including one authorizing police officers to investigate, arrest, detain or deport undocumented immigrants; another declaring English as the state's official language; and one banning state and local governments from accepting Mexico-issued consular cards and other foreign forms of ID as valid identification.

Bermudez, who organized a May boycott that called on Latinos to stay home from work and not spend money, plans more boycotts targeting other commodities.

"There is a saying in Spanish, Con el pie en el pescuezo. That's how we feel, that there is a foot to our throats. When you are in that position, the only thing you can do is fight back," Bermudez said. "We are doing what we are doing out of desperation."

Bermudez also is organizing a rally at 4:30 p.m. Saturday at Pioneer Park in Mesa calling on Congress to overhaul the nation's immigration system, which he says is out of sync with the labor needs of the United States.

"We feel like we have been used as a scapegoat for the ills of this country," said Bermudez, owner of Centro de Ayuda, a Phoenix business that helps immigrants prepare tax and immigration documents. "But we know the opposite is true, that we have been the salvation of the country and in the future more of us are going to be needed to save the economy of this country."

Randy Pullen, one of the main supporters of Proposition 200, said he doubts the gasoline boycott will have much effect.

Nearly 44 percent "of Latinos supported Proposition 200, so I don't think there is much support for their position," Pullen said.

Louis DiSipio, a political science professor at the University of California at Irvine, said gasoline boycotts have been tried in the past with mixed results.

"There is a search for a national strategy, and this is one of the things that is being experimented with," DiSipio said.

If boycotts are successful in Arizona, they could lead to larger regional and national boycotts, he said. But getting the word out is difficult.

Take Phoenix resident Ramiro Rodriguez, a 30-year-old undocumented immigrant from Puebla, Mexico. On Thursday, Rodriguez, a construction worker, stopped to buy a soda at a gas station at Thomas Road and 35th Avenue in west Phoenix. He said he hadn't heard about the gas boycott.

But he thought it was a good idea.

"People have to know we are important to the economy," Rodriguez said.

Some Latino activists, however, said boycotts can backfire.

"It definitely turns people off," said Tony Yapias, Utah's former director of Hispanic Affairs.

Instead of a boycott, Yapias is organizing a statewide day of public service in Utah on July 30 to counter what he sees as an anti-immigrant movement escalating nationwide.

On that day, immigrants and their supporters from around the state will spruce up cemeteries, collect litter, conduct food drives and participate in other community service projects.

"The perception out there is that Latinos are a burden to the state, but undocumented people don't qualify for any (public benefits)," Yapias said. "We wanted to do something positive."

David Cowley, spokesman for AAA Arizona, said Latino activists might have picked the wrong commodity to boycott. That's because the confidential nature of gasoline industry reports could make it difficult to measure any drop in sales.

Gas stations in heavily Latino neighborhoods, however, could see a drop in sales, he said.

Good, we need to save fuel. And, maybe they'll help bring down the gas prices!!

Also, it'll mean less purchasing of junk from China over the weekend. Be American. Stay home and BBQ. Watch a movie. Read a book. Play a board game. Eat Apple Pie with vanilla ice cream. Fix something around the house that you've been putting off for 3 years. Post at Alipac. Wash the car. Take a walk. Clean out the closet. Write the Minutemen a thank you letter. Finally put together that photo album.

Then. GO SEE SOME FIREWORKS. AS YOU WATCH THEM GO OFF...THINK ABOUT ALL OF US....WORKING FOR THE USA.....
AND ESPECIALLY:

THINK ABOUT THE MINUTEMEN SALUTE THEM

LegalUSCitizen,
Well Said

This is a counterreaction to the anti-immigrant climate taking place in this country," said Raul Yzaguirre, former president and CEO of the Washington, D.C.-based National Council of La Raza, and now a professor at Arizona State University. "There is a sense that we've got to get organized."

If Raul Yzaguirre is an American, why would he feel that "there is a sense that we've got to get organized" to counter-act illegal immigration? He is the former President of La Raza, a 501 C 3 public charity. Does this not confirm that National Council of La Raza was pro-illegal immigration and used its status as a public charity to aid and abet this mess?

On an even more positive note, if they are getting a "sense" of needing to do something, then that means something is working...keep up the good work everybody!!

"We feel like we have been used as a scapegoat for the ills of this country," said Bermudez, owner of Centro de Ayuda, a Phoenix business that helps immigrants prepare tax and immigration documents. "But we know the opposite is true, that we have been the salvation of the country and in the future more of us are going to be needed to save the economy of this country."

Apparently, Mr. Bermudez is one of those guys filing fake tax returns with fake social security numbers and enjoying quite a nice living from handling the illegal....illegally.

This was a very "telling" article!! Good Work Brian503a!!

Happy 4th of July everybody!!

It's time for a tea party...and remember it begins with:

DON'T SPEND, SAVE!!

Judy

If he is a professor at a state university, is it not TAXPAYERS that are paying his salary? He needs to be FIRED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes indeedy he does!!

And, I forgot to post that this man, Raul Yzaguirre, is on the special committee for the Council of Foreign Relations that "studied" the recommendation to converge, which means to combine, our country with Mexico and Canada, you know that old stinky traitorous "security and prosperity partnership" where this wacko President is going to Open Borders through "regulation" instead of "legislation" and end our Nation?

This man is not an American. He is a Traitor by every definition.

Regarding what I've read here....it makes me feel great to be an American with such an honorable president such as the dear one presently in the Whitehouse. Don't you just respect him so much??? Don't you just want to write him a letter and say, "YOU are the biggest idiot(...er ..ah...oops, I don't know why I said that)...the best president our country has ever had. WE WILL NEVER FORGET YOU!! A million salutes to the wonderful president who supports La Raza, a racist organization which is anti law enforcement, as well. And to his picking of Gonzales,as Attorney General, a STRONG supporter of La Raza.

I love this president!!! I feel so proud to be an American who voted for him! A million hugs for this wretched moron, ....(er, ah,...oops..I don't know why I said that)...patriotic leader who made it to the presidency on his own, without any help from his family background, strong American president, who stands up for what is right.

Three cheers on this 4th of July weekend to a president who isn't a big baby, doesn't have a silver spoon in his mouth, definitely would have been president even if his last name wasn't Bush, a president who is not turning ordinary American citizens into activists all over the country, a president who will never bow down to big business and who would never think of putting the well-being of American citizens second to anything.

THIS is your president. Congratulations America.

LegalUSCitizen....yep....we voted in a boner this time, didn't we?



There is an old saying I was raised with, "We all make mistakes, now, just go fix it".

WE MADE A MISTAKE AND IT'S TIME TO FIX IT, FOLKS!!

The happy thought that I have this 4th of July Weekend is not in Washington. It is right here at this little computer. This is where I SEE and FEEL America, the nation I have always loved through thick or thin.

I love America, because I love Americans. Sure, we're gonna make a mistake now and then. BUT GOD LOVE US, we've got the power and responsibility to fix it, and I KNOW WE WILL!!

All signs show we're hitting the dirt; all signs show the economy is about to burst and another recession is on its way; all signs show our freedoms and liberties have been undermined by those elected and appointed to ensure otherwise; all signs show that we have been invaded by an advance force of foreign nations wanting to eat our lunch to the tune of 50,000,000; all signs show 98% of our politicians are Clueless in DC or in their respective State Capitals; all signs show we are 3 to 4 months away from being ruled by the World Trade Organization (WTO); the UN Millenium Agenda (One World Government) all to enrich some Globbie Crones; and overall, the signs show we've hit rock bottom.

BUT, all these planners, all these schemers, all these sicko-wacko-evil-parasites-from-hell traitors forgot about ONE THING. They made a MISTAKE of their own.

They forgot about the Americans.

This is the United States.

WE are the Americans.

WE not only decide what happens here,

WE control what happens here!!

REMEMBER THAT this July 4th Holiday; enjoy your families; enjoy your BBQ's; enjoy the Fireworks and think of Francis Scott Key and what the Fireworks symbolize; study the flags waving and remember Betsy Ross; and let your hearts swell with the Joy and Honor of being an American.

There is no greater place to be....than to be an American with a Fight for Right on Your Hands.

Because, it is actually what we do best and were created by our ancestors with the blessing of God to do.

The role the United States and the American People is simply the preservation of Freedom in the World. As we preserve ours and enjoy all the blessings and opportunities of Freedom, opportunities for other nations abound.

It is why we are here.

Lets remember that this July 4th and Come Back Tuesday ready to do what needs to be done to save our nation; expunge the traitors; deport illegals; preserve the United States; and restore normal life to the American People and the World.

Okay, I'll think of Francis Scott Key, and Betsy Ross......but do you mind if our family brings ourselves into the future and thinks about other heroines and heroes, who are alive today?!?!

Good. BECAUSE WHEN THE GRANDE FINALE OF THE FIRE WORKS SHOW GOES OFF, WE'RE GOING TO THINK OF:


ALIPAC and JUDY

AND ALL OF THESE DEDICATED AMERICANS RIGHT HERE TODAY!!!