Chicago Group-Stop "Hate Speech" Against Illegals
Anti-racism group seeks support
February 9, 2008
By STEVEN ROSS JOHNSON Staff Writer
"ELGIN -- A local group concerned by what they call "hateful rhetoric" toward the city's Hispanic population said Friday it plans to call on local and state elected officials to denounce the spread of racial prejudice throughout the community.
A crowd of nearly 50 people came together for Thursday's inaugural meeting of Speak Out Against Prejudice, a group calling for tolerance and the promotion of community diversity.
To that end, the group began a petition drive with hopes of approaching city council members and state officials next month. The purpose, as SOAP Co-Chair John Dalton explained, is to show there is "a substantial number" of residents who object to the mention of Hispanics by local anti-illegal immigration group, Association For Legal Americans. That group has urged local officials to implement tougher anti-illegal immigration enforcement measures.
"We don't really expect the city to take any specific action in response to the petition," Dalton said. "But simply to give us an opportunity to weigh-in before they take more action in this area, because some of the things they have been asked to do clearly would be prejudicial to all Hispanics -- and we would oppose those things."
Dalton, an area attorney, referred to AFLA's seven measures proposed to city council members, which include screening all foreign-born detainees in the Elgin jail, and making English the city's official language.
"I'm hoping that our elected officials will no longer feel compelled to take actions that aren't going to help much to prevent illegal immigration and are going to disadvantage and make the Hispanic population feel uncomfortable and unwelcome," he said. "We're hoping we'll give them the confidence to stand firm when bad ideas are proposed and they say 'no.'"
Dalton wouldn't give a target number of signatures the group hopes to obtain, but felt encouraged by the steady increase of enthusiasm by residents in the last few weeks since the beginning of SOAP's campaign.
AFLA Co-Chair Doug Heaton said his group's efforts are not in any way racist toward Hispanics or any other ethnic group.
"It's a demographic reality that the bulk of the illegal aliens in this country have come from Mexico and Latin America," he said. "Whenever you go after that problem, it's going to appear that you're going after Hispanics -- and I think that's unfair."
Dalton acknowledged that a substantial number of illegal immigrants in the U.S. were from Mexico, but said he failed to see the point's relevance.
"If your concern is illegal immigration, why does it matter that a part of that group is of a particular race," he asked. "Why is that relevant to the discussion -- how does that advance your goals to focus on their racial characteristics?"
SOAP meetings are scheduled for the second Tuesday of every month at 6:30 p.m. at the Elgin Township Center, 729 S. McLean Blvd., Elgin. "
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Re: Chicago Group-Stop "Hate Speech" Against Illeg
Quote:
"It's a demographic reality that the bulk of the illegal aliens in this country have come from Mexico and Latin America," he said. "Whenever you go after that problem, it's going to appear that you're going after Hispanics -- and I think that's unfair."
Dalton acknowledged that a substantial number of illegal immigrants in the U.S. were from Mexico, but said he failed to see the point's relevance.
"If your concern is illegal immigration, why does it matter that a part of that group is of a particular race," he asked. "Why is that relevant to the discussion -- how does that advance your goals to focus on their racial characteristics
The fact of the matter is...YES...we are going after the bulk of IA"S...and they just happen to be from Mexico, Central America, and Latin America! What's so difficult to understand about this? We share a contiguous border! The citizens of these countries are NOT Chinese, Japanese, German or Russian! They are Mexicans, Guatamalans, Salvadorans, and Latin Americans! There are 30M ILLEGAL nationals from these countries squatting on our sovereign soil!
YES, we are targeting these groups...they outnumber every other ethnic group combined! How can you ignore the fact that there are, according to Bear Stearns..38M of them; but we will ALSO apply the same immigration policies to ANY other ethnic group who breaks our immigration laws! And , as far as being "UNFAIR", what does that have to do with enforcing existing immigration laws??? SHEESH!