Posted on 04/25/2006 7:37:44 AM PDT by Millee
The May 1 national strike - dubbed "The Great American Boycott" - is less than a week away.
Organizers are urging Latinos, immigrant workers and their supporters to skip work and not spend money that day.
The stakes are high. What happens that day could alter public opinion for better or worse.
It has the potential to raise awareness of immigrants' collective contribution to the national economy and persuade Congress to offer a path to citizenship.
Or it could go another way: It could anger the owners of businesses that already support these workers, and turn off people who might have taken their side.
It's up to the demonstrators.
How do they want America to view them?
Do they want to be seen as courageous, industrious people who love America and are working to make this country a better place? Or as foreigners not willing to assimilate?
Here's the advice political strategists offer to protesters:
Next Monday, if your boss needs you, don't skip work. As a compromise, urge him to let you circulate letters to workers addressed to key members of Congress.
Those of you who plan to march or attend a rally, dress in white, but leave the Mexican flags at home. Ditto on Salvadoran, Peruvian, Guatemalan, Honduran or any other foreign flags.
Carrying foreign flags hurts the cause. It turns off many Americans who view it as a sign of disrespect.
AM radio talk show hosts seized on it during earlier rallies, branding protesters as anti-American. Paranoid extremists, who foolishly think there is some master plan to "reconquer" the Southwest, are forwarding e-mails including photographs of marchers carrying Mexican flags as proof.
Americans who have been here several generations don't have a connection to their ancestors' homeland and therefore don't understand why Latinos wave foreign flags. They don't view it the way you do, as a way to display cultural pride. The see it as allegiance to a country you left.
It explains why Congressman Tom Tancredo told a Denver Post reporter earlier this month he wishes the rallies would continue: "Nothing that I've seen in the recent past could have helped our cause more than the display of hundreds of thousands of people waving Mexican flags."
Instead, drape yourself with Old Glory. Sing "The Star Spangled Banner." Carry banners that say "I love America!" not "América, te amo."
The signs must be in English.
This is not a day for confusing Americans who might assume you don't know English. They feel threatened by that.
They don't understand that a majority of the marchers are bilingual but prefer communicating in their dominant language. How could they understand, considering most of them are monolingual?
Keep your chants in English. Drop the "Sí, se puedes."
You have to think about what images will flash on the evening news. Will it be marchers chanting in Spanish? It's smarter to show America that - just as Latinos were forced to learn Spanish after Spain colonized our countries - you are mastering English.
If César Chávez were alive, he'd tell rally organizers to come up with new chants and new strategies.
Also, reach out to other groups so this isn't portrayed as a Latino rally. Latinos may make up almost 15 percent of the U.S. population, but less than half of that population votes. To succeed, these rallies must be multi-ethnic.
If you decide to rally, ask your non-Latino friends, co-workers and even bosses to join you. Tell them that you need their help.
They have as much of a stake in helping you and fixing America's impractical immigration policies.
I'd be more impressed if they decided to boycott social services so we could see what they are costing us.
There is a 3rd potential outcome of their boycott...
They won't be missed.
Millions marched first of the month and the economy and most people didn't miss a beat.
They are not "essential", they and the illegals just don't count. Send them back.
We need to be ready this time with buses when they gather in groups on Monday and start trucking them to the border.
Baby...that is SO wrong...and so completely hilarious!!! I love it!
Well, they changed my mind.
At first, I wanted the ILLEGAL's out of the USA.
Now, I want the F'n ILLEGAL's out of the USA....NOW!
I'm sick of hear it can't be done....it's not possible, etc. BS.
If they give these lawless 3rd world criminals a friggin green card, I will NEVER, EVER vote for a Repub again. It appears there is little difference between a Repub and Dem. So why bother to vote liars into office.
...just this AM, I went to my local coffee shop for the daily breakfast and newspaper read and the waitress leans over and whispers to me.."see those guys by the door?, one just asked me if I spoke spanish, they wanted to order breakfast"
I said what'd ya say?"
She said I told them no
I said the answer you should use from now on out is.. Why?
Doogle
Cindy Rodriguez is one of the worst writers at that paper, incapable of rational thought, let alone critical analysis, obviously an equal opportunity hire that couldn't have gotten a job stuffing Parade magazine in the Sunday papers if she wasn't of the proper ethnicity. I have heard that the editors have to correct her English grammer on a continual basis: sorpresa! On a positive note, at least we know whose side she's on, that of the illegals. She was curiously quiet when that illegal killed a Denver policeman and Colorado couldn't get him extradited from Mexico, where he was hiding. Apparently her loyalty to la raza always takes precedence over her commitment to the rule of law. Cabrona sinverguenza.
priceless .....
In mexico they won't be buying at WalMart, and Wal Mart is being fined in the US because they hired illegals. Here in Mexico they predict a big drop in the Stock Market. They hope for a big dent.
Good...It's good to for Americans to see the numbers of jobs lost to illegals...I can't imagine too many legal mexicans being there...What would be their point???
Big Dent. How big a dent you talking hombre'? Big enough that closes down all the Wal Marts in Me-hee-co? Then what? You jump the fence into Texas and start demanding days off so you can yell and scream at the United States for screwing up your pathetic little life?
Someone please stop this circle jerk......
Illegal aliens are nothing but law breakers who have total contempt for our constitution!
Send all of these illegal immigrants to Vermont and Massechusetts and let them pay all of their expenses!
Back when I was a factory foreman we ended up with some guatemalans in the shop who didn't speak english. I asked one of our American hispanics to helpout because he spoke "a little" spanish.
After talking to them, he came back and said "They speak english, just not to you". A few days later the guatemalans disappeared and my hispanic friend said "Somebody called the INS" and he walked away chuckling to himself.
That's actually not correct - Welsh flags on St. David's Day, Irish flags on St. Patrick's Day, Mexican flags on Cinco de Mayo, French flags on Bastille Day, Italian flags on Columbus Day, whatever-your-heritage flag on source-of-heritage national day are perfectly legitimate expressions of cultural pride. Foreign flags at a rally demanding citizenship for invaders is JUST A TAD different.
Who are the organizers? I thought LULAC, LaRaza and the other usual suspects decided that the marches on May 1 weren't a good idea? Maybe ANSWER and Commies are running it. I wonder what flags and signs they will hand out?
They don't understand that a majority of the marchers are bilingual but prefer communicating in their dominant language. How could they understand, considering most of them are monolingual?
The snotty tone of this article is classic liberal condescension, referring to Americans in the same way that a researcher might discuss the eating habits of a jungle ape.
I don't think she's uninformed-----I think she's just a propagandist who will say what she thinks needs to be said to best help the cause of illegal immigration.
Drop the "Sí, se puedes."
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