RRIES,
I will never take offense at anyone who pints out my wrongs.
You're right about most immigrants, they are hard-working and seek to improve their lives, things I admire.
What alarms me is that while a few spew hatred, it is the silence of the others that is deafening. As in the OJ case where a few rejoiced in a murderer walking free, it was the refusal of the overwhelming majority of blacks to condemn the racist verdict that alarmed me. Sure, there were a tiny few blacks who were outraged, but the overwhelming majority supported OJ's getting away with murder. The parallel in the immigrant debate is that I have yet to hear a single Mexican denounce Gutierrez. Moreover, I have yet to hear a single Mexican disavow "reconquista" and Aztlan. Thus, even the most hard-working immigrant from south of the border might just harbor an agenda that is antithetical to the founding of this country.
Finally, there is a great article in this issue of "National Review" that exposes many myths of the illegal immigrant debate. The fact is illegal immigration is destroying labor in this country, and they do not want jobs Americans do not want to do...they want high paying jobs and will demand they have a right ot them. This is causing a rift in relations between Hispanics and blacks in many urban centers because blacks believe that after they were fianlly able to attain well-paying jobs, Hispanics undercut them and destroyed their livelihoods. Please see the pasted article for more. The bottom line is that our culture will change and we have to be prepared to accept it.
Article:
A discussion at L.A.'s Leimert Park about illegal migrants and their impact
on blacks escalates into a shouting match over jobs, housing and schools.
By Teresa Watanabe, Times Staff Writer
April 24, 2006
Reflecting intense passions over illegal immigration, a Los Angeles outdoor
forum about its impact on blacks quickly became a screaming match Sunday
between those urging a crackdown on undocumented migrants and others
counseling tolerance.
The gathering at Leimert Park in South Los Angeles, which eventually
involved about 100 people, was aimed at publicizing what some blacks believe
has been illegal immigration's negative effect on their neighborhoods,
housing, schools and jobs, said Ted Hayes, founder of the Crispus Attucks
Brigade, an African American group newly organized to fight the influx of
undocumented migrants.
"Illegal immigration is the greatest threat to African Americans since
slavery," Hayes said, before stepping onto a park bench and leading about 30
people in chants: "We're fired up! We can't take it no more!"
But no sooner had Hayes begun to speak when a handful of other blacks
approached him with their own loudspeaker, yelling a counter message of
unity in Spanish and English.
"The people united will never be divided!" yelled Julia Wallace, an African
American member of the Progressive Alliance, as a handful of her supporters
waved signs urging worker unity. (organization probably funded by
Rockefeller foundation or Archer Daniels Midland or Home Depot to create
disinformation and misinformation as to how the black middle class is being
crucified by illegal immigration)
Hayes' supporters were later challenged by a few Latinos who wandered into
the park and ended up in face-to-face debates over jobs, lawbreaking, the
Mexican economy and a host of other hot-button issues.
When Terrance Lang, a 41-year-old African American, complained that Latino
immigrants were taking jobs from blacks, Jose Haro, a 21-year-old Mexican
American, retorted that maybe blacks weren't looking hard enough for them.
"It's so easy to find a job anywhere!" Haro said. "I find one in one day:
moving companies, offices, anything. These people are lazy," he said,
referring to blacks. (can it get any better than this---I have got to find
the video on the internet---wonder what the illegal thinks about getting 12
years of education for free---)
As the decibel levels rose and the two groups pressed closer to each other,
police separated them with yellow tape.
The raucous debate, coming as Congress returns this week from recess to
resume work on immigration reform and President Bush plans a speech on the
issue today in Irvine, underscored the growing tensions in some black
neighborhoods over the influx of immigrants. Some African Americans allege
they are being shut out of jobs and housing by Latino supervisors and
landlords; others say their children are shortchanged in schools that once
were predominantly black but now cater to Spanish speakers. Violence between
blacks and Latinos in schools and jails has increased.
Several studies have shown that the large influx of immigrants in the last
20 years has significantly expanded the nation's labor pool, allowing
employers to depress the wages of the least-skilled and least-educated
workers. (duh, wake up America)
At the forum Sunday, many blacks said they bore no ill will toward
immigrants in general but were alarmed by their seeming impact on their
lives.
When Sean Jourdan, a 33-year-old African American born in Los Angeles, began
work as a satellite TV installer in 1995, he said, most of his colleagues
were black and all made more than $1,200 a week. That was enough, he said,
to comfortably support a family.
Today, he said, only two of 75 workers at his firm are black - the rest are
Latino - and wages have plunged. Desperate for supplemental income, Jourdan
said, he recently bought a hot dog cart. (I am surprised the LA TIMEs has
printed factual statements)
"I don't hate Hispanics," he said, "but I shouldn't have to compete like
this when my people fought and died for this country. This is my birthright:
to work, not to beg, for a living wage. They tell you to go to school and
follow the laws of the land and you'll rise up. I've done that, but I'm
being undermined."
As he listened to Jourdan's laments, Juan Santos, a self-described Chicano
activist and writer, said he was sympathetic. But he said the problem was
not Latinos, it was the nation's "capitalist class" that had shipped good
jobs overseas, imported cheap labor and was now trying to pit workers
against each other.
"It's the system that's at fault, not Mexicans," Santos said. (look how the
rabble rousers always turn it back on the white male---it's a joke)
Hayes said his new group plans to organize a protest march through downtown
Los Angeles to City Hall on May 21, invite gang members to join border
patrols to stop illegal immigration and visit African American elected
officials to demand to know how they plan to address the issue.
He added that he has written to Pope Benedict XVI, asking him to "rein in"
Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, the Roman Catholic archbishop of Los Angeles, who
has actively advocated for legalizing illegal immigrants and other reform
measures.
Hayes is also an advocate for the homeless and helped to found Dome Village,
a downtown experiment in alternative housing.
The forum drew an eclectic crowd that included African American members of
the Minuteman Project, which sends private citizens on border patrols to
stop illegal immigration; a Latino carrying a sign saying that America was
actually Mexican territory; and one man wearing a Malcolm X cap and a
"Bush-Cheney" political button.
When Hayes and others praised the Minutemen as patriotic Americans, other
blacks screamed back that they were similar to the vigilantes who hunted
down escaped slaves.
"Shame on you!" yelled Betty Jones, a Los Angeles resident.
But as the debates raged on, at least one person seemed pleased. Surveying
the crowd, Santos, the Chicano activist, smiled and said:
"This debate is beautiful. These people are honestly trying to sort through
all of these conflicts and contradictions."
I will never take offense at anyone who pints out my wrongs.
You're right about most immigrants, they are hard-working and seek to improve their lives, things I admire.
What alarms me is that while a few spew hatred, it is the silence of the others that is deafening. As in the OJ case where a few rejoiced in a murderer walking free, it was the refusal of the overwhelming majority of blacks to condemn the racist verdict that alarmed me. Sure, there were a tiny few blacks who were outraged, but the overwhelming majority supported OJ's getting away with murder. The parallel in the immigrant debate is that I have yet to hear a single Mexican denounce Gutierrez. Moreover, I have yet to hear a single Mexican disavow "reconquista" and Aztlan. Thus, even the most hard-working immigrant from south of the border might just harbor an agenda that is antithetical to the founding of this country.
Finally, there is a great article in this issue of "National Review" that exposes many myths of the illegal immigrant debate. The fact is illegal immigration is destroying labor in this country, and they do not want jobs Americans do not want to do...they want high paying jobs and will demand they have a right ot them. This is causing a rift in relations between Hispanics and blacks in many urban centers because blacks believe that after they were fianlly able to attain well-paying jobs, Hispanics undercut them and destroyed their livelihoods. Please see the pasted article for more. The bottom line is that our culture will change and we have to be prepared to accept it.
Article:
A discussion at L.A.'s Leimert Park about illegal migrants and their impact
on blacks escalates into a shouting match over jobs, housing and schools.
By Teresa Watanabe, Times Staff Writer
April 24, 2006
Reflecting intense passions over illegal immigration, a Los Angeles outdoor
forum about its impact on blacks quickly became a screaming match Sunday
between those urging a crackdown on undocumented migrants and others
counseling tolerance.
The gathering at Leimert Park in South Los Angeles, which eventually
involved about 100 people, was aimed at publicizing what some blacks believe
has been illegal immigration's negative effect on their neighborhoods,
housing, schools and jobs, said Ted Hayes, founder of the Crispus Attucks
Brigade, an African American group newly organized to fight the influx of
undocumented migrants.
"Illegal immigration is the greatest threat to African Americans since
slavery," Hayes said, before stepping onto a park bench and leading about 30
people in chants: "We're fired up! We can't take it no more!"
But no sooner had Hayes begun to speak when a handful of other blacks
approached him with their own loudspeaker, yelling a counter message of
unity in Spanish and English.
"The people united will never be divided!" yelled Julia Wallace, an African
American member of the Progressive Alliance, as a handful of her supporters
waved signs urging worker unity. (organization probably funded by
Rockefeller foundation or Archer Daniels Midland or Home Depot to create
disinformation and misinformation as to how the black middle class is being
crucified by illegal immigration)
Hayes' supporters were later challenged by a few Latinos who wandered into
the park and ended up in face-to-face debates over jobs, lawbreaking, the
Mexican economy and a host of other hot-button issues.
When Terrance Lang, a 41-year-old African American, complained that Latino
immigrants were taking jobs from blacks, Jose Haro, a 21-year-old Mexican
American, retorted that maybe blacks weren't looking hard enough for them.
"It's so easy to find a job anywhere!" Haro said. "I find one in one day:
moving companies, offices, anything. These people are lazy," he said,
referring to blacks. (can it get any better than this---I have got to find
the video on the internet---wonder what the illegal thinks about getting 12
years of education for free---)
As the decibel levels rose and the two groups pressed closer to each other,
police separated them with yellow tape.
The raucous debate, coming as Congress returns this week from recess to
resume work on immigration reform and President Bush plans a speech on the
issue today in Irvine, underscored the growing tensions in some black
neighborhoods over the influx of immigrants. Some African Americans allege
they are being shut out of jobs and housing by Latino supervisors and
landlords; others say their children are shortchanged in schools that once
were predominantly black but now cater to Spanish speakers. Violence between
blacks and Latinos in schools and jails has increased.
Several studies have shown that the large influx of immigrants in the last
20 years has significantly expanded the nation's labor pool, allowing
employers to depress the wages of the least-skilled and least-educated
workers. (duh, wake up America)
At the forum Sunday, many blacks said they bore no ill will toward
immigrants in general but were alarmed by their seeming impact on their
lives.
When Sean Jourdan, a 33-year-old African American born in Los Angeles, began
work as a satellite TV installer in 1995, he said, most of his colleagues
were black and all made more than $1,200 a week. That was enough, he said,
to comfortably support a family.
Today, he said, only two of 75 workers at his firm are black - the rest are
Latino - and wages have plunged. Desperate for supplemental income, Jourdan
said, he recently bought a hot dog cart. (I am surprised the LA TIMEs has
printed factual statements)
"I don't hate Hispanics," he said, "but I shouldn't have to compete like
this when my people fought and died for this country. This is my birthright:
to work, not to beg, for a living wage. They tell you to go to school and
follow the laws of the land and you'll rise up. I've done that, but I'm
being undermined."
As he listened to Jourdan's laments, Juan Santos, a self-described Chicano
activist and writer, said he was sympathetic. But he said the problem was
not Latinos, it was the nation's "capitalist class" that had shipped good
jobs overseas, imported cheap labor and was now trying to pit workers
against each other.
"It's the system that's at fault, not Mexicans," Santos said. (look how the
rabble rousers always turn it back on the white male---it's a joke)
Hayes said his new group plans to organize a protest march through downtown
Los Angeles to City Hall on May 21, invite gang members to join border
patrols to stop illegal immigration and visit African American elected
officials to demand to know how they plan to address the issue.
He added that he has written to Pope Benedict XVI, asking him to "rein in"
Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, the Roman Catholic archbishop of Los Angeles, who
has actively advocated for legalizing illegal immigrants and other reform
measures.
Hayes is also an advocate for the homeless and helped to found Dome Village,
a downtown experiment in alternative housing.
The forum drew an eclectic crowd that included African American members of
the Minuteman Project, which sends private citizens on border patrols to
stop illegal immigration; a Latino carrying a sign saying that America was
actually Mexican territory; and one man wearing a Malcolm X cap and a
"Bush-Cheney" political button.
When Hayes and others praised the Minutemen as patriotic Americans, other
blacks screamed back that they were similar to the vigilantes who hunted
down escaped slaves.
"Shame on you!" yelled Betty Jones, a Los Angeles resident.
But as the debates raged on, at least one person seemed pleased. Surveying
the crowd, Santos, the Chicano activist, smiled and said:
"This debate is beautiful. These people are honestly trying to sort through
all of these conflicts and contradictions."
