> A few blocks where I live there is a large Hispanic
> area and an open job market where about 200 people
> congregate daily, waiting to be offered a job. We
> recently had a community meeting about that and things
> get really ugly, especially from the nearby public
> housing residents. The amount of in-your-face racist
> tripe these people threw on the Casa of Maryland
> speakers invited to the meeting would make the KKK
> swell with pride.
One of the most valuable lessons I ever got in the hypocrisy of racial politics happened several years ago when I served on the Arlington County Community Development Block Grant Committee. The committee was comprised of mostly white liberal women, some black neighborhood activists and a few white guys like myself. I was there as a representative of my neighborhood's tenant organization, which was mostly comprised of working class Latinos. I was asked to represent the neighborhood because I was an activist and I speak English.
What really shocked me about the meetings of that committee was the amount of anti-Latino rhetoric coming out of the mouths of the African-American committee members. I actually found myself defending my neighbors and the rights of undocumented immigrants. There was lots of hostility towards "those law breaking illegals" who were seen as mooching off of county public services.
> So once again, cultural perceptions seem to be
> trumping ideology and objective material interests
> here. I think immigrant activists need to do some
> serious work in this respect to improve their image.
I see no reason why immigrant activists need to change their image. The people who are fucked up are the assholes who have problems with "illegals" and Latino people in general. There should be no borders and people should be able to travel freely. Fuck progressives who aren't supporting the current pro-immigrant campaigns.
Chuck