The National Council of La Raza (NCLR)held its 2007
Annual Conference at the Miami Beach Convention
Center, July 21-24. At that conference, challenged
Latinos to "Stand up and reaffirm the best of
America."
Her powerful words are below. They serve as a wake-
up call for Latinos and non-Latinos alike.
Miami has been quite a host, wouldn’t you say?
Coming here always reminds me of what is possible
with hard work, opportunity, and the sheer
determination to make it. Your experiences tell me
there is great promise. The American Dream is not
only alive here . . . it’s in
Technicolor.
When I’ve talked with you over the past couple of days
I am reminded of one thing: our destiny is in our
hands – and no one else’s. This gathering
represents our Hispanic
community. While many of us are newcomers, the
majority of us
were born here – citizens, with deep roots in the
United States.
We have families like the Lozanos from California
who started a newspaper in 1926 which became the
largest Spanish language paper in the country.
We have sons and daughters like Luis Gutierrez-
Rosales and Daniel Gomez who gave their lives last
week fighting with distinction in the defense of our
country.
Not only are we deeply part of the fabric of
America ... we are America. I know this. You know
this. We all know this.
So why am I saying it? I’m saying it because I’m
troubled by what’s
happening in our country. There is something so very
wrong when the notion of
America itself – generous, hopeful, diverse – is under
siege. There is an illness in America, an attack on
who we
are as Latinos that demeans not only our community,
but our entire country.
We all know the Senate voted three weeks ago to kill
the immigration bill. It’s horrible that despite a
national consensus that our
immigration system is broken, a majority of senators
wouldn’t even proceed with a debate on
comprehensive immigration reform.
What bothers me more is how, and why, it happened.
There is simply no way to avoid some stark, simple
truths.
When the Senate voted to deny a path to citizenship
for the twelve million, it also voted to cave in to
bigotry.
When the Senate voted to reject hope, it voted to
embrace fear.
One Senator told us that he supported reform, but
voted against the bill because he felt that the country
wasn’t ready. He called his own vote “a profile in
cowardice.” Another senator, from the South,
said: “This vote was
not about policy, it was about race.”
A vocal minority, pushed along by an angry mob,
aided and abetted by well-known talk radio shock
jocks, made the United States Senate – the greatest
deliberative body in the world – its pawn.
This cowardice has a message for us: It says, “You
cannot rely on politicians, or opinion leaders, or the
media, or even the large silent majority of Americans
who support immigration reform to protect you.
Your fate is up to you
Your fate is up to you. You – and no one else –
must provide a cure.”
Since then, many of us have shared with each other
our shock, our anger, and our pain.
The level of anguish in our community is as severe
and palpable as I’ve ever seen it. We can’t believe we
are hated because our families
have names like Rodriguez, or because of our
accents, our skin color, or where we were born.
We know what this is. Our country has gone down this
road before.
It’s hatred and bigotry. We thought we were having a
debate on immigration policy. But it was really a
debate about who decides what it means to be an
American.
My friends, while we have been trying hard to be civil
and fair, some of our opponents have taken a different
tack. We’ve been playing by the rules – you know,
wearing
gloves, no blows behind the back or below the belt.
But some of our opponents have been streetfighting –
kicking, scratching, and clawing, no holds barred.
Learn more about the issues facing Latinos and the
advocacy being done by NCLR by clicking the link
below.
