PHOENIX (By Jon Garrido, Hispanic News)
October 31, 2007 — We are not winning!
Immigration reform was killed by the
U.S. Senate on June 28. On October 24,
the DREAM Act fell short of the required
votes. Everyone with a brown face is
suspect as someone who arrived here last
night from Mexico. Anti Hispanic
sentiments are being felt by all
Hispanics across the United States. For
migrants, the fear of being arrested is
forcing people further into the shadows.
Some migrants are forced to relocate to
friendlier communities — sometimes to
another state. Frequent ICE raids and
arrests are happening in the work place
often times into private housing.
Students are being forced from attending
higher education for lack of being able
to pay in-state tuition. 1500 Laws
against migrants across the United
States have been approved. This is a
horrible time for migrants forced to
leave purchased homes at great losses.
Gains made by Hispanics in recent years
are now being lost. The American dream
has come to an end. Out of this
festering turmoil, Hispanics are even
falling prey to other Hispanics witness
predatory home loans enabled by hidden
loans to boost down payments to qualify
all arranged by Hispanic real estate and
mortgage brokers. This is not a good
time for Hispanics who bought homes
before the sub prime market bust. Now
they are loosing their homes because
they can not afford their monthly
payments with the increased changes.
It is almost impossible to make
gains.
Some Hispanic organizations even
collaborate with those that would do us
harm. We are selling our souls and
making irrational unjustified linkages
that would be used against us. In
Phoenix, many Hispanics are fighting
Republican talk radio which was
instrumental in defeating immigration
reform and at the very same time,
another Hispanic organization is
bestowing honors on the sponsor that
pays for advertising on Republican talk
radio that killed immigration reform.
How is it we are so blind to these
collaborations? How is it we are so
readily available to prostitute
ourselves for a few token dollars?
One way of beginning to fight back is
to unify but too often we are blind and
oblivious to those that would hurt us.
Unity or least a shared understanding of
who the villains are will not stop the
downward spiral but at least we can slow
the hemorrhage.
We begin by identifying those that
have betrayed us — those that have done
us harm.
Conservative Talk Radio Killed
Immigration Reform
On October 4, Arizona State University
held a national conference on
Immigration and the Public Sector.
National immigration experts and
academic leaders were in Phoenix to
share research, insight and address
questions on the impact of immigration
and immigration policies on people
working in the public sector.
The key note speaker was Linda Chavez,
chair for the Center for Equal
Opportunity, author and commentator who
talked about immigration reform.
On Horizonte, Linda Chavez, was asked:
"How would you describe what had
happened with the bill that went down in
the senate that was supported by
President Bush, sponsored by senators
McCain and Kyl? And yet members of the
Republican Party helped to sink it."
Linda Chavez responded, "I think it
really was a reaction to talk radio. I
think you've got a lot of people out
there speaking very loudly with very
large megaphones, and they're shedding
not much light on the issue, but they're
generating a lot of heat. I take a look
at some of the cable news shows. Lou
Dobbs virtually every single night is
campaigning against illegal immigration
of the United States. And I think what
you saw were Republicans being scared by
a fairly small segment within the
Republican Party who feels very
strongly. I think it's probably around
10% of the Republican base who feels
very, very strongly we cannot have legal
immigration in the United States. That
we ought to roll back immigration, send
people home, et cetera. But they reacted
to that, and I think they did so in ways
that, in the long run, are going to be
very harmful for the Republican Party.
The demographics of the United States
are very clear. We are becoming
increasingly a society that has lots and
lots of Hispanics in the society, and I
think, if you convince Hispanics that
they're not wanted in the Republican
Party, then the Republican party is
going to look to being the minority
party in this country and could end up
going the way of the Whigs."
On September 5, I wrote
Racism Killed Immigration Reform.
The recent immigration debate in the
Senate, which ended with the defeat of a
bill that would have given a path to
citizenship to many of the 12 million
undocumented workers, has given way to
the biggest explosion of anti-Hispanic
sentiment we have ever seen in America.
Spearheaded by
Numbers USA which daily lobbied the
United States Senate that Americans did
not want immigration reform much less
"amnesty" and fueled across the United
States was
conservative Republican talk radio
which provided the grass roots support
for Numbers USA to lobby the United
States Senate to kill immigration
reform.
Valle de Sol
On September 7, 2007, Valley del Sol at
its 17th annual Profiles of Success
Hispanic Leadership Awards banquet
honored Eddie Basha for work in the
Hispanic community.
The Phoenix-based community organization
used the event to spotlight individuals
who have been active community leaders.
"What we're looking for is a commitment
to improving the community, especially
making an impact on the Hispanic
community," said Luz Sarmina, Valle del
Sol's president and CEO.
Eddie Basha was inducted into the Hall
of Fame for his work as a Hispanic
community activist.
Could this possibly be the same Eddie
Basha who bought advertising to promote
conservative Republican hate talk radio
in Phoenix who according to Linda Chavez
was responsible for the defeat of
immigration reform?
I tried to give Luz Sarmina the benefit
of the doubt so I visiting the Valle de
Sol office not once but twice asking for
an interview and each time requested a
telephone call from Luz — there was no
response. I think the right call for
this treatment — arrogance.
Reluctant to take a Hispanic to the
woodshed, I made a vow to myself to
contact 20 prominent Phoenix Hispanic
leaders to ask them what they thought
about Valle del Sol honoring Basha with
induction into the Hall of Fame. I
initiated each conversation by stating I
was in the process of writing an
editorial condemning this tribute. I
told each person if just one person
tells me I should not do this, I will
not write the editorial condemning Luz.
Not one person defended Luz. All agreed
the tribute to Basha was
an
abomination, callous and
hard-hearted.
When I asked someone why no one had
question the tribute to Basha, I got the
following response: "No one dares to."
One of the 20 Hispanic leaders suggested
Luz was unaware it was talk radio that
killed immigration reform which brought
a livid response from me: This is
comparable to continuing to provide
cough syrup to
toddlers after the entire United States
has learned giving cough syrup to
toddlers
is deadly.
If Valle de Sol has its head in the sand
like an ostrich and does not supposedly
know what the entire United States
knows, then they are not serving the
best interests of their clients nor the
entire Phoenix Hispanic community.
Another classic example of not being in
touch with what is happening all over
the United States as symbolized by
arrogance on the part of Valle del Sol.
Their way of dealing with the plight of
the undocumented without immigration
reform is to have another banquet.
Not a banquet for the undocumented but
for the Anglo community as evident by
its sponsors made so visible by Channel
12. Not Univision but plenty of glitz
and glamour showcasing Anglo
connections. Take a look at their board
of directors and notice the abundance of
non Hispanic names. Should not a
Hispanic organization who portrays
itself as a Hispanic organization have a
Hispanic board of directors?
Maybe it is time the Hispanic community
should take a harder look at Valle del
Sol. On each visit, I did not see
Hispanic professionals. Should not this
Hispanic organization be flying the
banner for hiring Hispanic
professionals?
If Valle de Sol has no concern with
current events adversely impacting the
undocumented community, with their only
concern being providing parochial
services to their client base, this is
shallow thinking for by January 1, 2007,
500,000 undocumented may be forced to
leave Arizona because of the
hypocritical stance taken by Janet
Napolitano in approving legislation
terminating the undocumented without
proper documentation to leave Arizona.
When this happens who then will Valle de
Sol serve? Their community base will be
depleted of clients and then maybe they
will emerge out of their cave to see the
consequence of supporting the sponsors
of conservative talk radio: Namely Eddie
Basha.
The Valle de Sol recipients also had a
responsibility to turn down their awards
instead of receiving tainted awards.
They all knew who the recipients were.
For not speaking up to defend migrants,
they went along with Valle de Sol and
so, they too are guilty. They should
have refused the awards and boycotted
the presentations.
