Immigration Reform-Arizona Law
I am an American … But what flows in my blood is thousands upon thousands of years old and it is a heritage that I will not abandon because Mexican am I .
T
oday a battle wages on that will divide our country . That will impact all Latinos and Americans alike .
It is a battle that is deeply rooted in race regardless of those who say it is about laws . But this battle will ultimately unite Latinos into one body as I witnessed in California when Proposition 187 was introduced in 1994 . The Arizona Immigration Law is the fuel for this battle that will ultimately rear its ugly head in Florida .
Fear is the fuel for hatred and we have witnessed this throughout the ages . Fear has destroyed both countries and families . One only need look at history to see this . The decline of the great Roman Empire was due to the undermining of dignity and sanctity of family as the basis of human society . Yet today , there are those who seek to wage a battle , against those who seek to bring a better life to their families . They seek to undermine the families of the undocumented worker . Yet they do not see that these actions will have a direct affect upon our country and its economics . Their anger , their hatred , and their fear will take us down a path that even the Roman Empire could not bring itself back from .
The decline and eventual destruction of the greatest democracy the world has ever seen was not due to what language was spoken , not because of what political party prevailed , not because of immigration problems or because each roman citizen did not love their country enough . One of the reasons for its decline was the undermining of inhabitants , regardless of race , that destroyed the 500 year old Roman Empire and its ability to sustain itself economically .
All news is old news happening to new people , History repeats itself ...
As in many times in history there are those who reign in the majority that will build portraits of fear for the masses to feed from . They wish to bond into a collective thought of fear . It [ fear ] is a parasite which we must not allow to take root .
By : Al Piña
Today it is the undocumented Mexican and other Latino immigrants that they use as the basis for fear . But at the core of this , it is really about the decline of the Anglo-American male domination . If we fully embrace the true values of our tenets as a country , which is that all men and women are created equal , regardless of race , creed or color , how can we create unconstitutional laws which will destroy not only the foundation of these families , but the foundation of our beliefs as a country ?
We must create laws that will unite these families . We must create laws that will bond the ever growing face of Americans . We must create laws that will embrace the true principals of the original undocumented immigrants-the founding fathers of the United States of America . We must create laws that will allow their families to become our families .
As with my father and dozens of my cousins and uncles , I served my country through service in the military . Many of my cousins and uncles have died to defend our great county . We have served our country with distinction , love and determination , because we believe in the premise and foundation of this great country , that all men and women have the right to pursue and seek happiness , even the undocumented workers in our country .
America is a country of immigrants and we are ALL immigrants here because somewhere down the line our ancestors were ALL immigrants at one time or another .
As we see in the premise of the Arizona Immigration Law , today we have those who wish to use fear of undocumented immigrants as a mechanism to herd us into one collective mind as if we were sheep . They use “ American or Patriot ” as their core principal . They use “ English ” as a core value . And those who do not follow in line with this collective thought are nothing short of being Un-American .
My message to them is short and was born of values , pride and community :
Your attacks upon those who wish nothing more than to provide for their families through hard work will not be tolerated by Latinos across our nation . An attack upon their children is nothing short than an attack upon us , for their blood is our blood .
You attack those who wish to pursue a better life . You attack those who wish to feed their families . You attack those who contribute to the economic well being of our country . You use words such as illegal to dehumanize and separate them into a common herd of beings that wish to tear apart the fabric of our society .
Your attacks upon these Latino ’ s shall unite all Latino ’ s in our nation . And more importantly , we shall not forget those who attacked our children , families and communities . We shall take this memory of attacks into the voting polls . This you can take to the bank .
God Bless you and all families in this time of strife . Al Pina , Chair of FMCRC