First of all, about the title...since I know someone will try to say that it is not true. The groups I could see present at the protest were the United Citizens of America and the Nebraska Minuteman chapter. I know someone will see the title of this post and try to say that those groups are not against immigrants in general, just against illegal ones, but I titled this based specifically on yesterday's protest. A small group of (mostly young) Latinos, and friends of Latinos did show up. I saw them, and spoke to some of them. During most of the time that I was there, not one person could have been an illegal. There were a couple of American girls, obviously married to Mexicans, as well as several students and young people. The protesters across the street kept yelling at them to "Go back to Mexico" and that they are "not welcome here" with their "drugs, diseases, etc." While their message was obviously meant for a wider audience, they were very directly yelling at this group of people. They were yelling all of these hateful things without even knowing what their legal status was. They saw a Latino, and assumed they were illegal, which infuriates me.Second, I know that one of the freedoms we have here is our right to protest, but please, people, be honest about what you are protesting about! Their rally was advertised as a "Protest for 2 Border Patrol Agents" (quote from the announcement on their website wakeupusa.net) Their website has a quote in bold letters saying, "This is NOT about race." If that is true, then why were the protesters holding signs saying things such as, "Go back to Mexico" and "La Raza, it should be La racist". One of the most shocking things to me though, was a defaced Mexican flag. This was a group of obviously patriotic people, carrying dozens of American flags, showing pride in their own flag. Still they had the unbelievable audacity to claim with their words that their protest was not about race, yet display a Mexican flag on which someone had painted a black circle with a line through it.
As I have said before this subject is quite close to my heart. I will probably post a few more of these photos in the next couple of days, not because I'm proud of them, but because it is something that is happening here in my city, whether I like it or not. If anyone is interested in commenting with their opinions about immigration, I would love to hear them. Just please keep the comments to the level of a healthy debate!
11 comments:
A veces este tipo de protestas dan un poco de miedo ¿verdad?
I don't understand the extremist way of thinking of that people... maybe they feel threaten by them?
I do not approve of illegal immigration or immigrants.
There is a way to come to this country that is legal.
I do not understand how breaking our laws makes anything right or acceptable.
If you think of this in legal and not legal terms then there is little to talk about.
I do not approve of President Bush's ideas about this problem as I don't think it is right to give anybody or any group some advantages over others.
These are just my opinions.
Abraham Lincoln
Breaking the immigration laws hurts the people who are trying to follow legal channels to come into America. Shutting down the border completely would do a great deal towards strangling off the meth and gangster problems mexico likes to export.
http://administrativeconfinement.blogspot.com/
http://theyshouldbedead.blogspot.com
Racism and ignorance is ugly, ugly, ugly.
While the title of the post is somewhat disingenuous considering the fact that the author was aware that at least one of the Minutemen was a LEGAL immigrant, sadly description of the event is fairly accurate. A single moron with defaced Mexican flag makes everyone who wants to have our laws enforced look bad. The problem is that even the police cannot remove that moron from the protest, since his actions are protected by the First Amendment. As for "La Raza, it should be La racist" sign, I suggest the author check out what La Raza organization stands for. It is a Latino version of modern Ku Klux Klan or Black Panthers. All three organizations are vehemently racist; the only difference is the race that they consider superior. Just because La Raza has better PR than KKK and Nazis, it doesn't make it any less racist.
I am deeply sadden by the ignorance that seems to be so common among anti-immigrant protesters. While I respect everyone's freedom of speach, I don't understand why any one would cross out a counrty's flag. I have seen it done more than once! Also the fact the everyone seems to think that all illegal immigrant are from Mexico. So please if someone has something to say do some research first.
Someone who doesn’t understand the difference between anti-immigration protests and anti-illegal immigration porters is not in the position to talk about ignorance. However, I would agree with the point that desecrating any flag is beneath contempt. And the fact that pro-illegal immigration protesters routinely deface American flags does not excuse defacing Mexican flags.
Not EVERYONE thinks that ALL illegal immigrants, but when estimated number is around 90%, ALL is not a big stretch.
Poll: Is it OK to desecrate Mexican flags?
http://www.tvclips.org/ipoll/
First of all, I adore your blog, very nice!!
Me and my friends actually went to protest the protest, we were the pro-immigration side, and let me tell you the other side got really nasty and started calling us traitors, while the pro-immigration repeatedly said they forgave the other side, and one man in particular shouted "Lord, forgive them, for they know not what they are doing." It was pretty powerful, because our side that was for the immigrants had a strong, united bond and we remained on the street corner until everyone of the anti-immigration peoples left, one by one. It just shows what the power of love can do against the power of hate.
We went again to the second protest, by the way these were this year 2007, unfortunately however we missed the majority because of school, and we didn't see many supporters of immigration, then suddenly a bunch of teenagers came running with signs that read about Love and welcoming our brothers and sisters, they didn't have one sign that accused people against of being evil, they simply stated that we should all love each other, and they received more honks and waves in 10 minutes than the anti-immigration people saw in five hours.
Again, very powerful blog.
Ooops, sorry about posting twice, I'm Brittney and Bob Dylan is awesome!
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