Thread: Coalition launches immigrant campaign in Tennessee

http://www.welcomingtn.org/

The Welcoming Tennessee initiative is the voice of concerned Tennesseans from all walks of life who are proud that Tennessee is a welcoming state and are eager to uphold that noble tradition.

Most Tennesseans agree that we are and should continue to be hospitable, empathetic people. We have a responsibility to treat everyone – neighbors and visitors alike – with respect and decency.

Politicians from both major parties agree that our self-image as a caring, welcoming state is threatened when immigrants are demonized for any reason. Our ability to self-govern is at risk when the various options regarding our relationships with immigrants are ignored in favor of divisive political maneuvers.

Welcoming Tennessee is designed to be a proactive communications effort and promises to alter the political climate in Tennessee for the better. The moral vision of Tennesseans promoting a more Welcoming Tennessee might be exactly what’s needed to turn the tide in this critical year.

Positive messages are already appearing on billboards in Middle Tennessee - including the two designs featured here. We need small and large contributions to pay for these billboards. If you can, please contribute. Send a check to the address under "Donate" in the right-hand column, fill out our contact form (computer-ready PDF) and fax it to (615) 252-6351, or contact us at

This Tennessee Welcome is extended to you by

Frances Ansley (Professor, Knoxville), Marissa Benchea (Training and Development, Nashville), Adriana Bialostozky (Pediatrician, Nashville), Sean Braisted (Blogger, Nashville), Rick Casares (Springfield), Catholic Charities of Tennessee, Conexion Americas, Demarious K. Danovi (Educator, Memphis), Rev. Mary K. Friskics-Warren (Nashville), Marcela Gomez (Small business owner, Nashville), Jose Gonzalez (Nashville), Hispanic Marketing Group, Hispanic Nashville Notebook, Carolyn Hughes (Professor, Nashville), Inclusive Communications, Bettie Kirkland (Nashville), John W. Lamb, Jr. (Attorney, Nashville), John W. Lamb, Sr. (Orthopedic Surgeon, Nashville), Sean Lewis (Attorney, Nashville), Maria Clara Mejia (Nashville), William Partridge (Professor, Nashville), Doak Patton (Attorney, Nashville), Esteban Pedraza (Student, Nashville), Lynn Pollan (Attorney, Nashville), Avi Poster (Nashville), Gregg Ramos (Attorney, Brentwood), Scarritt-Bennett Center, Renata Soto (Non-profit director, Knoxville), The Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition, Pete Wooten (Banker, Knoxville)...

Add your name to the list! Contact us with the computer-ready PDF form and fax it to (615) 252-6351, or e-mail us at

Welcoming Tennessee
Bldg D, Ste 118
442 Metroplex Dr
Nashville, TN 37211

Put this graphic on your web site, your family newsletters, or your corporate communications. Click above for a larger version if necessary. Link to www.welcomingtn.org

LOOKS LIKE THEY GOT A LOT OF MEDIA COVERAGE....
July 31, 2006


Nashville Scene blog
July 28, 2006

NewsRadio 1510 WLAC

More press coverage of the Welcoming Tennessee initiative:

Nashville City Paper

Tennessean

Nashville Public Radio

WKRN-Channel 2 (new story about local immigrant reaction)

WSMV-Channel 4

WTVF-Channel 5 (web story)

WTVF-Channel 5 (AM video)

WTVF-Channel 5 (PM video)
July 27, 2006



infowelcomingtn.com

Nashville City Paper
Coalition launches immigrant campaign
By Blake Farmer, News Correspondent
July 28, 2006

The immigrant rights coalition Welcoming Tennessee launched a statewide, 50-billboard campaign Thursday in downtown Nashville.

Written on the signs is a verse from the New Testament: “I was a stranger and you welcomed me.” Others urge Tennesseans to “welcome the immigrant you once were.”

Organizers say those words are meant to remind viewers of America’s history as an immigrant haven and to cool what the coalition calls “hurtful rhetoric” in current political campaigns regarding boarder security.

“The immigration debate does not start and end with how the immigrants behave and who they are,” local attorney and coalition chairman John Lamb said at a news conference Thursday. “The immigration debate in Tennessee should start with our values and who we are.”

Lamb said the idea of welcoming immigrants to the state is not necessarily unpopular, but simply “uncharted.”

Welcoming Tennessee has spent roughly $5,000 on the advertising blitz by using donated space from Lamar Advertising.

In the Southwest, the Minuteman Project has purchased three anti-immigration billboards over the past three months simply stating “No Amnesty.” A Welcoming Tennessee spokesman said the local project is not a direct rebuttal.

Maria Clara Mejia came to Nashville five years ago from Mexico. Now a U.S. citizen, she works for Conexion Americas, a local immigrant rights nonprofit.

Mejia said she understands the complex nature of the immigration debate, but adds that most people benefit from the Hispanic population’s influence on sectors like agriculture and construction.

“We should go and find immigrants and say, ‘Hey, thank you so much,’” Mejia said. “Perhaps we should reward them with means for them to be able to work with a work permit, to be able to drive with a driver’s license, with all the documents that people need to really interact with the society and become a constructive force.”

Conexion Americas officials said they have seen a recent influx in discrimination toward Hispanics through reports filed with the organization, Mejia said, though the specific numbers are not available.

While an immigration debate, at least locally, centers on the Hispanic population, border security and illegal immigration, others argue that immigrants hailing from the Middle East may have the biggest uphill battle.

Kasar Abdulla, a Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition staffer originally from the Kurdistan region, said simply finding an apartment has been a chore.

“The first thing the lady told me was, ‘Do you know you have to have papers to rent an apartment?’” Abdulla said. “You can tell what kind of assumptions they already have of not just the Hispanic community, but just if you look different … I was like, ‘Yeah, I swam my way over the ocean.’”

READER COMMENTS

By: bfra on 07-28-2006
If I tried to rent an apartment in a foreign country, which would indicate I intended to establish residence there, I would expect to be ask for papers showing that I was there legally. So what is his problem?

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By: JFMoore364 on 07-28-2006
America is and has always been open to immigration. all we ask is that it is done LEGALLY. Miss Mejia did it. She is welcome here. As for those that cheat their way in, they're just common criminals. If you do something ILLEGAL, that's a CRIME. That makes you a CRIMINAL. We don't want the World's criminal population. As for the finding the immigrants and thanking them, as Miss Mejia suggests: thank them for WHAT? For taking our jobs when so many are unemployed? for over burdening our justice, healthcare, and school systems with people who can't pay for it? Or maybe for a Mt Juliet woman's 2 dead parents?!

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By: Jagman on 07-28-2006
In Winchester we had a young woman killed by an illegal. She didn't have any rights. Soon we will be pushing "one" for Spanish instead of English.

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By: waycool1 on 07-28-2006
Maybe Kasar Abdulla should swim back.

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By: Dragon on 07-28-2006
Immigrants are very welcome in this country. The illegals have given "immigrants" a bad name since the proponents don't differentiate between legal and illegal.

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By: fraudman on 07-28-2006
I'm an American citizen and I had to show proof of who I was and proof of income to apply for an apartment earlier this week. Maybe the way the lady said it could have been nicer, but it applies to everybody, even us white guys.

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By: dianar on 07-28-2006
It's probably a good thing that my ancestors from Ireland and Russia didn't have to have as many "papers" as any of us do now. I do know that they endured poverty, scorn, misuse, abuse, and hostility - and I don't want to perpetrate that on anyone, illegal or legal. Seems to me the problem is not really that "they" are here...but that we can't seem to secure our borders. Working out some sort of documentation for those without those precious "papers" ought to allow them to come across at checkable points - and then we could spend our efforts toward making sure that real bad guys didn't cross our borders.

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By: greenwoodd on 07-28-2006
Yes, the immigrants are welcome here until they start to overburden all we as native Americans have worked and paid for all of our lives. Our economic tax base can't withstand the strain of so many immigrants coming at once. It just proves that this is the best country in the world to reside otherwise we would not have immigrants from all over the globe coming here to get away from the violence and problems associated with most of the their home countries. The problem with the "Hey come on in, we welcome all immigrants" attitude is it can't work. We do have the best country in the world and it is a big country but it is quickly getting smaller and smaller. We do not have room here foe every person in the world looking to escape some kind of tyranny, famine, or dictatorship for a life of freedom and democracy. This country can only hold so many before we start to bust at the seams. If we welcomed every immigrant that wants to come here with open arms we soon will have no room left at the Inn. There is NOT room in any country for all the masses that seek to leave their home for a better life. It would make more sense for them to attempt to better their own countries and stay there. Also, if you do choose to become an American, learn the language, fly the American flag, and learn to live with the laws that are established here. If they choose to come here and fly the flag of their homeland, Americans will continue to say go back where you come from if you are so proud of it.

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By: bfra on 07-28-2006
dianar - We already have a legal process to get the necessary papers. The ones causing the problems are those that do not want to take the time for that and just sneek in and live here illegally. They are criminals and should be treated as such.

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By: tennliberal on 07-28-2006
This campaign came at a good time, just as Phil Valentine hosts his vigilants Klan rally in Franklin yesterday. The fundamentally racist attacks on immigrants -- always covered by lip service about "we don;t hate Hispanics, we just want them to come legally -- is easily apparant to anyone who listens to the knuckle-dragging right wingers who obvioulsy just don;t want "ferriners" in America.

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By: Preds1 on 07-28-2006
Is tnliberal a oxymoron or just a moron?

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By: greenwoodd on 07-28-2006
"Liberal" says it all.

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By: skeptic1 on 07-28-2006
Their billboard campaign just makes me more angry. Why should we have to accept these criminals with open arms? Why should we have to shoulder the burden of caring for and educating them and their children? Mr. Liberal probably thinks that the government has unlimited resources to care for these hard-working people now, but what about the future? Sure they pay sales taxes on their purchases now, but they will get old, sick, and unable to work? Who will be paying then? How many elderly illegals will Mr. tennliberal take into his home to care for their health needs when they can no longer build our houses or clean our mansions in Bellmeade and Brentwood?

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By: JeffF on 07-28-2006
Am I the only one wondering where this group is getting its money? Usually when groups like this are formed they are usually to hide the identity of the real proponents or as in the case of the anti-war nuts a few years ago, they are just another group formed by the same people in another group to artificially inflate their numbers to make their cause seem more popular. I hope that "Welcoming Tennessee" is not a United Way agency. On first guess I will say they are probably the same American Communist Party nuts or keep forming new "coalitions". Wouldn't be surprised to see that they were the homebuilders of Middle Tennessee though.

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By: charlieboy on 07-28-2006
tnliberal has got to be "over the top" on purpose. No one could possibly be that bad.

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By: JeffF on 07-28-2006
I wish I was good at phot editing. I would love to touch up the staged photo's from the news to show the real face of immigration in Tennessee. Replace the harmless looking immigrant women they brought in with the guys standing around the 7-11 and the mug shots off all the assailants in the last few weeks. I really got a kick from the news stories following the "welcoming Tennessee" story where "undocumented" aliens were arrested on receiving 25 lbs. of MJ and the arrest of the other "undocumented" teen who murdered the mother and daughter.

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By: Preds1 on 07-28-2006
On one of the news broadcasts last night they interviewed a member of the group that said they were looking for donations to help pay for these billboards.

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By: JeffF on 07-28-2006
Seriously? Who sold them $5000 worth of billboard advertising without their having the money?? No body. Ignore the man behind the curtains.

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By: ActiveCitizen on 07-28-2006
The immigrant coalition group should change their billboards to read “LEGAL immigrants – Welcome, but if you can’t read this sign yet, learn to speak and read use English ASAP because that’s the language of Tennesseans.” It’s not legal immigrants; it is the ILLEGAL immigrants that have the nation in a tumult. Other nations enforce their requirements for becoming citizens. However, in the United States liberal proposals for instant amnesty for illegal immigrants, instant social security benefits, instant government entitlements has made citizens angry. Years of lax enforcement of the immigration laws has created a sub-culture that we don’t know just how to deal with….and it has now turned into a hot political dilemma. Are they here?....duh…yeah. Are they working?.....yes, that’s why they are here, but there are produce growers, contractors, restaurants, hotels, and other businesses profit from paying them lower wages, and avoid the expense of income taxes, health insurance costs, and social security benefits. Well the answer is NOT “since we don’t know what to do, and since they are already here, let’s just give them the same rights and benefits as legal citizens.” It will require a thorough forecast of future impacts to devise an immigration policy that will benefit America. We just need to remember that what’s best for America is not always what is best for politicians.

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By: exportlaw on 07-28-2006
Tennlib: It is the pro-immigrant bourgeiosie who are both class and race bigots, not incidentally for their own economic self-interest. Increasing the labor supply of unskilled workers has had and can only have the effect of deflating wages for the poorest, the most vulnerable native born, to the benefit of of capitalists and their bourgeois white collar lackeys. Your class and ethnic bigotry is readily apparent from your remarks denigrating the views and speech patterns of working class native born. You're living proof that a yuppie with a sheepskin can be as much of a bigot as a cracker with a sheet.

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By: skeptic1 on 07-28-2006
This influx of illegals is not a visitation of angels in disguise. As JeffF pointed out, the billboards do not depict the people standing around the MAPCO on Murfreesboro Pk and Thompson LN? How many of these people were thieves, murderers, and child molesters in their own country? We just don't know...because they are ILLEGALS.

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By: Time for Truth on 07-28-2006
'anti-war nuts'? 'Communist Party nuts'? We certainly have some brilliant thinking going on here. The idea that the home builders might have kicked in some money is interesting, though and somewhat surprising coming from someone who constantly supports land rights over the public good. Another source listed right in the article-the billboard company that donatd their space.

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By: Time for Truth on 07-28-2006
'donated'.

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By: Diva4ev on 07-28-2006
The issue is not legal immigrants; the issue is the illegal immigrants. They should be sent back to their country, and march in Mexico's streets for their rights. That is the country where they are legal citizens. Its also the country where they have no rights!! YOU Illegals steal your way over here and Pimp the system. And the shame has to be share also by the greedy employers who hire them too!! Plus what does they say to the legal immigrants who come over, learn English and do the right thing to become citizens?? Diva ...against Illegals.

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By: JeffF on 07-28-2006
I am just able to separate land ownership and its rights from the developers and builders. People here spend all their time attacking builders and developers and it is the land owners who are causing the issues the history wackocs perceive. But that is off the topic. I think the use of the term anti-war nut" was very accurate. Just becuase they have crawled back under their rocks and quit throwing metaphorical rocks at the population which is actually doing something does not make them less of fringe nu jobs. Remember the crazy "Women in Black" people? Man they were out there next to Pluto. You could smell the tofu on their breaths and the underarm hair. Even the older ones never quite left the 60's. You could talk to them and each believed that the Rosenbergs were innocent and there were not communist infiltrators in the US govt in the 40's and 50's. Dumb, dumb, dumb beyond words. And apparently gullible to what the C-party told them.

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By: Time for Truth on 07-28-2006
Wow, that was revealing. But waaaay off topic.

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By: greenwoodd on 07-28-2006
by ActiveCitizen: "We just need to remember that what’s best for America is not always what is best for politicians." The most true statement on this post today.

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By: Sean Braisted on 07-28-2006
"This influx of illegals is not a visitation of angels in disguise. As JeffF pointed out, the billboards do not depict the people standing around the MAPCO on Murfreesboro Pk and Thompson LN? How many of these people were thieves, murderers, and child molesters in their own country? We just don't know...because they are ILLEGALS." That is a good question, and if the House of Reps would get off their ass and pass a real comprehensive immigration bill, like the one passed in the Senate, we could finally get somewhere with sorting out our immigration problem. Unfortunately, we have a handful of politicians, Democrat and republican, who would rather pander to a xenophobic base, than do what is right for America.

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By: gonzalo_diaz on 07-28-2006
For once this paper reports something remotely in favor of immigrants, and here we have the sorry collection of Bubbas cranking each-other up with the "I don't care as long as they are legal" son. Hypocrites! Gonzalo Díaz gonzalo_diaz@yahoo.com

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By: tennliberal on 07-28-2006
They certainly are hypocrites. Anyone who saw the news coverage, with the twisted hate-filled faces of the racist anti-immigrant bubbas would have no doubt what is going on. You can rationalize it all you want, use all the code words you want, deny up front your xenophobia all you want, pay lip service to legal immigration all you want -- but you are as transparent as glass. Racists to the core. What a disgusting bunch. All Valentine failed to do yesterday was pass out sheets and burn a cross.

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By: bfra on 07-28-2006
gonzy - What part of illegal do you not understand? Illegals are criminals, they are here illegally, they are not wanted and are breaking the law every day they stay.

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By: bfra on 07-28-2006
tennl - When did you get appointed to analyze or "read" faces of people that want illegal immigrants, criminals, law breakers out of our Country? It has nothing to do with racism, it has every thing to do with abiding by the laws of our land. If you want to uphold lawbreakers, against lawabiding citizens, then you are the racist on the other side, where I definitely don't want to be.

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By: aten on 07-30-2006
Employing an illegal alien is criminal.Referring to an illegal alien as an immigrant is foolish.

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By: bfra on 07-30-2006
aten - Check the dictionary and then you can post with more knowledge of what an immigrant and immigration means. If they are not here legally, then they are illegal immigrants, which means breaking the law, which means they are criminals.

How I wish the illegals from CA could go to Tennessee then. See how welcoming they are then.

Link to news article with comments please.

W

Written on the signs is a verse from the New Testament: “I was a stranger and you welcomed me.”

How about "when in Rome, do as the Romans do"? You know things ike obeying our immigration, employment and tax laws; obey housing, animal cruelty and domestic violence laws; stop raping, molesting and impreganting 12 year olds; stop waving Mexican flags and learn to speak English; quit having 16 kids on welfare you can't afford to care for; stop spreading graffiti, filth and grime everywhere; pay your medical bills and stop flooding ERs everytime you get a hangnail; stop driving drunk and fleeing the scene after you kill someone. You know simple things like that.

Just come here legally, obey the law and try a little thing called assimilation and I'm sure you'd be more than welcome in our communities.

Sorry W, I missed that...

http://nashvillecitypaper.com/index.cfm ... s_id=51239

Originally Posted by ALIPAC

Link to news article with comments please.

W

http://nashvillecitypaper.com/index.cfm ... s_id=51239

I guess it's true what I've heard about all the married first cousins in Tennesee.

I guess it's true what I've heard about all the married first cousins in Tennesee.

How about "Welcome the law enforcement that once existed"?

Sounds like another fine use of taxpayer $$$$.