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  1. #1
    Senior Member concernedmother's Avatar
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    The Ugly Side of the Immigration Debate

    I offer it up--y'all have fun tearing it down!

    http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/o...3navarret.html

    The ugly side of the immigration debate


    UNION-TRIBUNE
    May 3, 2006

    When Congress went on spring break recently, having failed to put together an immigration reform bill, I had hoped that the respite might give Americans the chance to have a constructive dialogue on this explosive subject. Considering what happened in recent weeks, “constructive” isn't a word that springs to mind.

    How about frightening? What else would you call it when two of California's most prominent Latino officials – Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa – receive death threats for having been vocal in support of legalizing undocumented immigrants?

    The threats were brought to light last week by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who blasted such actions as “not what California stands for.” The governor said he had asked district attorneys in the state to “be vigilant and swift in their actions against those who practice hate against our fellow citizens.”

    What about heartbreaking? That aptly describes the ghoulish attack in Houston where a 17-year-old Hispanic youth was severely beaten and sodomized, allegedly by two white youths who – according to authorities – yelled racial slurs.

    Or sickening? That's a good description of an Internet video game – introduced in 2002 but enjoying a boost in popularity in recent months – where players can shoot Mexican immigrants coming across the border, complete with splattered blood. The images include an American flag where the 50 stars have been replaced by a Star of David, making it clear that the game is both racist and anti-Semitic.

    A few weeks ago, there was also the ugly scene in Tucson where border-watch vigilantes burned the Mexican flag outside the Mexican Consulate. Then there was the firebombing of a family owned Mexican restaurant in Jamul, where – in an incident that authorities have labeled a hate crime – the building was spray-painted with anti-Mexican graffiti.

    These are hard days in the land of the free and the home of the brave. It's no consolation that we've been here before. It's not the first time that some group – African-Americans or Jews or gays or Muslims – was singled out and persecuted and judged responsible for society's problems. Then, as now, relations soured thanks to racism or ethnocentrism or some other “ism” lapped up by those who feel it necessary to view themselves as superior to others.

    The conversation usually starts with someone serving up ignorant and careless remarks about how this group is taking over, or that group doesn't know its place or demands special treatment. It's become standard fare on conservative talk radio, where hosts are spinning rage into ratings by repeating the canard that the United States is being “invaded” by foreigners.

    And, with all this ugliness going around, what has so many people up in arms? Amazingly, it's the silly things. It's the fact that a member of the Brown Berets, a militant fringe group founded in 1967, once said something childish about how white people have a “duty to die.” Or the fact that when Mexicans joined in this week's boycott by forsaking U.S.-made products, our neighbors to the south tactlessly dubbed it “a day without gringos.”

    Or the fact that a British record producer translated the national anthem into Spanish. It's not an official translation, of course, but that fact didn't stop President Bush – and some Mexican-American elected officials including Villaraigosa and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson – from registering their complaints and insisting that the anthem ought to be sung in English only.

    You've got to be kidding. It was Bush who started the craze of non-Hispanic politicians speaking Spanish on the stump. Members of Congress, from both parties, now gather regularly for Spanish lessons. Both Villaraigosa and Richardson have given parts of major speeches in Spanish, and they have exploited their ethnicity and bilingualism for their political benefit.

    The culture critics need to calm down and embrace this sort of thing for what it is – not an assault on America but a love letter to it. For crying out loud, it's the national anthem. If someone wants to translate it, or anything else Americans hold dear, we should feel proud. Translation is – like imitation – a form of flattery. We should also accept the obvious – that immigrants voted with their feet and that if any country should feel insulted, it's the one they abandoned and not the one they embraced.

    Now that would be constructive.
    <div>"True patriotism hates injustice in its own land more than anywhere else."
    - Clarence Darrow</div>

  2. #2
    Senior Member Brian503a's Avatar
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    Read one article by Ruben Navarette and you read them all.
    Support our FIGHT AGAINST illegal immigration & Amnesty by joining our E-mail Alerts at http://eepurl.com/cktGTn

  3. #3
    Super Moderator Newmexican's Avatar
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    I heard ,on the news, that they weren't going to prosecute those kids for hate crimes because the 12 year old girl the guy was kissing was hispanic.
    Support our FIGHT AGAINST illegal immigration & Amnesty by joining our E-mail Alerts at https://eepurl.com/cktGTn

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