Thread: MLK Day to focus on immigration issues

MLK Day to focus on immigration issues
The Daily Herald (WA) : January 10 , 2007 -- by Krista J. Kapralos

Some activists say King is being linked to a cause that may encourage illegal immigration.

A holiday known for solidarity rallies and peaceful marches is a forum for debate this year as immigration issues become the focus.


This week's Martin Luther King Jr. Day events include a speech from a renowned Chicano labor activist, a movie and discussion of that movement, and a forum on immigrants' rights.

"It is my belief that if (King) were alive today he wouldn't make a distinction between documented and undocumented people in terms of how they are treated in their pursuit of life, liberty and happiness," said Wally Webster, interim chairman of the city of Lynnwood's Diversity Commission.

Webster's commission organized a panel discussion on immigrant rights, scheduled for tonight at Edmonds Community College.

The current immigration debate mirrors the issues of the 1960s, Webster said. The similarities were never more apparent than when thousands of immigrants around the country left their workplaces to march last year to protest proposed immigration laws, he said.

"There are people who feel disenfranchised and that they do not have rights, whether you're talking about refusal to allow you to sit at a lunch counter or whether it's exploitation of labor," he said.

Others worry that King's message is being twisted to fit another agenda. King shouldn't be posthumously attached to a cause that could encourage illegal immigration, said Shawna Forde, a member of the Minutemen Civil Defense Corps, a volunteer border patrol group. Members of Forde's group plan to attend the forum to make sure that information presented there is accurate.

"We have a lot of respect for Martin Luther King Jr., and we don't like how (the holiday) is being spun this way," she said.

King fought against the injustices that force illegal immigration, said Enrique Gonzalez, of El Centro de la Raza, an advocacy center in Seattle.

"What injustices are being propagated for folks to have to immigrate against their will? They don't choose to come here, they have to," he said. "If (King) were alive, he would join hands right along with us."

Last year's marches seemed to herald the birth of a vibrant movement, but it quickly lost steam, said Bill Ong Hing, a law professor at the University of California at Davis who has written about the topic.

"The middle class of America understood the black civil rights movement in the South to be very important, and I don't think we're there yet in terms of the immigrant rights movement," Hing said. "It's not massively vibrant in the way the civil rights movement was."

Many Americans aren't aware of the Chicano labor movement that took on workers rights in the 1960s and 1970s, said Christina Castorena, who held a panel discussion about the movement at Everett Community College on Tuesday evening.

Castorena was on the Snohomish County committee that invited Dolores Huerta to speak today. Huerta led the Chicano labor movement, founding the United Farm Workers with Cesar Chavez.

"A lot of people are aware of the civil rights movement and they think of it as predominantly an African American movement," Castorena said. "But parallel to that, on the west side of this country, was the Chicano civil rights movement, and it's not widely known."

Martin Luther King Jr. Day is a chance to educate the public about the role immigrants played in a nationwide transformation, Castorena said.

"There are Latinos who were born in this country who have made a contribution to American history," she said.

http://www.heraldnet.com/stories/07/01/ ... mlk001.cfm

Now they are trying to hijack MLK day??? Black leaders should be outraged at this. I'm white and I'm outraged.

Originally Posted by gingerurp

Now they are trying to hijack MLK day??? Black leaders should be outraged at this. I'm white and I'm outraged.

I'm Black, and I'm outraged, but believe me, The Al Sharpton's,and Jesse Jackson's of the world only see this as a Black/Brown unity.

"

The middle class of America understood the black civil rights movement in the South to be very important, and I don't think we're there yet in terms of the immigrant rights movement," Hing said. "It's not massively vibrant in the way the civil rights movement was."

The reason it isn't "massively vibrant" is because it is precisely the middle class who are getting hosed AND because we can see there is an obvious difference between the civil rights movement, which was to enable African American CITIZENS of this country to claim their due rights under our constitution, and ILLEGAL ALIENS who have NO SUCH RIGHTS!! Sheesh.

And, yes, the political movers and shakers are only concerned with consolidating their own power and not what is in the best interests of the people they supposedly represent. However, I will make a prediction that when the Latinos get where they want to be, and don't need Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton any more, they will throw them under the bus.

Ridiculous to compare the civil rights movement to illegal immigration.

Others worry that King's message is being twisted to fit another agenda.

We don't "worry", we KNOW MLK's (and Rosa Parks) message is being twisted to fit the OBL agenda and it is absolutely infuriating! Imagine what MLK would think about the fact that the constitutional equal rights he spent most of his life fighing for (which cost him his life), on behalf of true AMERICANS CITIZENS, are today being given, by proxy, to anyone that manages to illegally cross our borders.

Totally Disgusted!! I'm considering posting this on some black websites to guage the reaction it gets...

Originally Posted by AngryTX

Totally Disgusted!! I'm considering posting this on some black websites to guage the reaction it gets...

Go for it. Provide contact information too.