Immigrant 'Freedom Ride' celebrates crime
Terry Anderson
Los Angeles
October 4, 2003
AS A PATRIOTIC black American, I regard the so-called "Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride" as a slap in the face and an insult to the real Freedom Riders of the 1960s. The people on this bus caravan are not immigrants -- they are illegal aliens. Yet they have the nerve to gather in the hundreds and demand "rights" that belong to citizens alone.
Their goal is to erase the legal basis of citizenship and allow the free flow of tens of millions of Mexicans into this nation with no controls at all. To hear these bus riders talk, you would think that they were on board with the heroic black and white Americans who struggled to get constitutionally guaranteed rights for blacks that we were supposed to have, but didn't. Not that Latinos weren't asked to help -- they were. But do you know what they told us? "No, we're not going. We're white."
When the affirmative-action goodies started getting passed out, the tune changed to, "Guess what, America, we're minorities too! We want some of that affirmative-action stuff." They jumped on the train and have been piggy-backing ever since.
The whole idea of affirmative action was that it would help make up for the historical hurt from slavery, a burden no other group has had to bear. I no longer support affirmative action because I think that we should all compete on a level playing field. But those of you who are for affirmative action -- some black folks out there -- you should be mad as hell that illegal aliens are getting advantages that were supposed to be for blacks only.
You should be seriously irate that Julio can walk across that border and get affirmative action the next day or Kim can fly in on Korean Airlines and immediately receive preferential treatment.
What persecution did they suffer? When were they discriminated against? What dues have they paid in America? The answers are none. But still they get in the affirmative-action line with those of us who have endured generations of hardships and mistreatment and demand to get what was set aside for us. Where is the outrage over this?
Let me tell you about this bogus bus event, which should be called a "criminal freedom ride." National chairwoman Maria Elena Durazo described it this way: "The struggle continues because the government is trying to deny a different group of people their basic civil and human rights. They are trying to deny them on the basis of the color of their skin, where they were born, and the language which they speak. This is wrong."
Yeah, you're right about that, lady. This is definitely wrong. But it's what you said that's wrong. This issue is not about skin color, not about what language they use or where they came from. This is about legality -- period.
Here's the organization's mission statement: "Just as the freedom rides of the early 1960s exposed the brutality of legal segregation in the South, the immigrant workers freedom ride will expose the injustice of current policies toward immigrants."
That's another reprehensible lie. There is no injustice toward legal immigrants. When illegal aliens choose to take American jobs -- which is clearly prohibited by law -- and voluntarily work for slave wages, then whose responsibility is that? They are wrapping themselves in the civil-rights movement, hoping the American people won't notice that the real agenda is a massive amnesty. The anti-borders extremists know that an undisguised amnesty won't fly, certainly not in this economy.
What has happened to our country when the whole basis of fairness -- laws -- is being shredded? What if burglars organized themselves into a union to demand tax deductions for their loot? It's that bad.
This group has nothing to do with civil rights. In fact, illegal aliens hurt the black community the worst, as in my South Central neighborhood, where a pleasant district of lower-middle-class black families has been turned into a Mexican slum. Jobs, schools and crime -- all are much worse since the invasion began. Believe it when pundits say that California shows the rest of America its future. From here -- Ground Zero of Mexifornia -- the road ahead looks dangerous and potentially violent.
All citizens who care about this nation must insist to their public officials that all immigration laws be enforced. We must get a handle on this chaos while we still can.
Terry Anderson is a radio-talk-show host living in South Central Los Angeles. The Terry Anderson Show airs on Sunday nights on KRLA and can be heard in nine cities, as well as online. The show Web site is http://theterryandersonshow.com .