Published - October, 14, 2006
Students don't want to play politically incorrect immigration game


Reginald T. Dogan
@PensacolaNewsJournal.com
The game ended before it even began, but not before a swirl of controversy, criticism and rationalization swept across the University of West Florida campus.

The sad irony is that one of the game's organizers, Clay Williams, chairman of the UWF College Republicans, said he knew the game, "Catch an Illegal Immigrant," was politically incorrect. But he believed it was an appropriate way to draw attention to the issue of illegal immigration.

Williams insisted that the event's demise had nothing to do with the outcry of criticism. And, he said, out of respect for freedom of expression, UWF officials didn't force the event's cancellation on Tuesday.

But the event was canceled nevertheless because College Republicans couldn't provide for the safety and security of students, he said.

I think the game sounds silly. But if that's what the students wanted, I wouldn't object.

When freedom of expression collides with political correctness, freedom deserves the victory. Freedom of speech is essential to democracy, and it must include the freedom to say (and do) what everyone else believes to be false, and even what many people find offensive.

That's not to say that one should agree with the ill-fated game in which participants were to wear name tags identifying them as illegal immigrants. After being caught by the "minutemen militia," they would have become a part of the militia and helped catch other illegal immigrants. The last person classified as illegal would receive a prize.

The immigration rally may have gone on without a hitch if student Armando Grundy-Gomes had not e-mailed school administrators, other students and the media. In the e-mails, he called the event blatantly racist and offensive.

"If (Williams) wants to address the issue of illegal immigration, there's a better way to bring attention," said Grundy-Gomes, a senior from Jacksonville. "Doing it this way will not bring solvency to the issue."

Pat Crawford, UWF's associate vice president for marketing communication, said the university was not aware of the nature of the event until receiving the e-mail. College Republicans had reserved a campus room for a meeting but didn't mention the illegal immigrant rally.

He said while UWF President John Cavanaugh called the event "tasteless and deplorable," the university respects the right to freedom of speech.

Williams said his mistake was not in planning the rally but failing to notify school officials and properly registering the rally as required.

"This event is in no way racist because it does not single out an ethnic origin as the culprit," said Williams, a junior from Destin. "This event is not bigoted because I asked people from both sides of the issue to come out."

Williams blamed Grundy-Gomes for blowing the rally out of proportion. The whole point was to bring attention to the illegal immigration problem, he said.

"This event had zero to do with race," Williams said. "People who claim this was racist don't know me and didn't look into the event."

Grundy-Gomes agrees that there's a problem with illegal immigration. But he said the issue should not be addressed by pretending to be immigrants and playing games.

"There are better and more productive things we can do together," he said. "This is not about being Republican or Democrat. It's about right and wrong."

It's unfortunate that the debate over illegal immigration has fallen to such a low.


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