http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2006/04 ... 4_3_06.txt

Lessons for the students, activists

By: PHIL STRICKLAND - For The Californian

Latino students, here and elsewhere, have made known their presence by walking out of schools and onto the streets to show their opposition to the strict immigration-reform bill passed by the U.S. House and support for the liberal bill in the Senate.

The idea that a student simply can walk out of school is ridiculous. In the recent protests, some schools even provided buses for them when they decided to leave the protests. A better response would have been: You walked there, walk home. And, when you get back to school, be prepared for the consequences of your actions. That many school officials acquiesced and declined to punish the offenders sets a bad precedent.

Oh wait, that's precisely what the protests really are all about to begin with ---- not being responsible for your actions.

Some schools have organized assemblies where the issue can be examined. They are to be applauded, loudly.

Because they are more relevant, the lessons of today are studied more passionately than those of hundreds of years ago. But, a little context is a good thing.

Take, for example, one of the rallying cries, and threats, of the recent protests: California was stolen from Mexico and we will take it back. Oh, and Anglos should go back from whence they came.

There is nothing like some righteous indignation over being the victim of the illegal European immigrants who stole your land.

Let's take a closer look at that. Actually, the European immigrants to what is now the United States were real slackers. For an example of how to conquer an indigenous people one only has to look at the events that followed April 21, 1519 ---- the year 11 Spanish galleons under the command of Hernan Cortes arrived off the coast of Mexico.

The rest, sadly for the natives of that part of the New World and what is now California, is history. Read up on it. It's not a pretty story. Does this mean that all the Latinos should pack up and head to Spain? It's a very nice country. They'll love it and, no doubt, will be grandly welcomed home.

Another really good thing over which to spout some venom is bias. The protesters point to the awful treatment of the illegal immigrants. Awful as in: free education, free medical care, money to support the babies born to them here, no real enforcement of income-tax laws, and the ability to send billions of dollars to Mexico. (That money, by the way, is Mexico's second largest source of income.) How dare we be so mean.

Yes, we in the U.S. have more than a few skeletons piling out of the bias closet. But we slowly and unrelentingly are winning that battle. Let's look south of the border. Ever see those Indians selling Chiclets on the street or holding their babies as they beg at the border crossings? It's those same indigenous people from whom the Spanish "liberated" the land. Check it out.

The Indians are at the bottom of every social and economic category you care to examine in Mexico. Or consider the bias Latinos exhibit even among themselves when they look down on Latinos whose skin is darker, who have less Spanish blood.

Perhaps after the students have examined these things they can educate the activists who fill their heads with nonsense. Education is a good thing. Go for it.

Phil Strickland of Temecula is a regular columnist for The Californian. E-mail: philipestrickland@yahoo.com.