Posted on 11/23/2007 11:45:12 AM PST by Dubya
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- A local TV crew was shooting a live morning report about Lisa Dupre's Sacramento preschool, where toddlers can learn yoga, etiquette and Spanish as a second language.
The phone rang -- the first response, Dupre thought, to an on-air invitation for parents to get more information. She let her answering machine pick up.
"I thought this was America, not Mexico. This is English only," a voice growled when she listened later. "That's why we've got a problem with illegal aliens -- because people like you are trying to change California into Mexico."
A stunned Dupre -- whose school also offers French -- said she remembers thinking, "This guy is not the sharpest tool in the shed."
Several more callers complained to her after the August TV report that she was catering to Mexicans, and a neighbor struck up a conversation with her to blame Mexicans, Dupre said, for everything wrong -- including grocery prices.Whether it's in conversation, on Web sites or flowing from cable TV and radio talk shows, the shrillness of the anti-illegal-immigration debate has become disturbing, say groups that monitor hate speech.
The Alabama-based Southern Poverty Law Center has produced reports on anti-Latino rhetoric, and the Anti-Defamation League, founded to expose anti-Semitism, issued a report in October called, Immigrants Targeted: Extremist Rhetoric Moves Into the Mainstream.
Their point is that rational debate over immigration has been drowned out by the noise of unfounded accusations that illegal immigrants are the driving force behind problems such as identity theft and rising health insurance costs.
Activists who oppose illegal immigration say they are just holding the line against opponents they accuse of wanting "open borders." And they believe they represent the will of the majority.
"There is no doubt that immigration is a necessary debate," said Deborah Lauter, the Anti-Defamation League's civil rights director. "But it must remain civil."
ADL researchers reviewed Web sites, news reports and activists' media appearances for the report.
CNN's Lou Dobbs comes under fire for what the group calls "false propaganda" about illegal immigrants and disease that he refused to recant. TV pundit Pat Buchanan is criticized for spreading xenophobia in his book, State of Siege, in which he describes Latino immigration as a mortal cultural threat.
Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, is cited by the ADL for calling illegal immigration a "slow-motion terrorist attack."
The ADL cites comments by D.A. King of Georgia, who founded an anti-illegal-immigrant group called the Dustin Inman Society. He has appeared on CNN and testified before a congressional committee.
In April, a newspaper report said, King told a gathering of Georgia Republican Party members that illegal immigrants are "not here to mow your lawn -- they're here to blow up your buildings and kill your children, and you and me."
Online: Southern Poverty Law Center, www.splcenter.org
Anti-Defamation League, www.adl.org
Dustin Inman Society, www.thedustininmansociety.org
ping
What the hell is this shill smoking? We don’t need a “rational debate over immigration,” we need these lawbreakers deported. Pretty basic logic.
Both he and his son freep so they may see this.
Illegal immigration will destroy America if gone unchecked.
“....but that is just me”
70% of America is behind us.
B T T T
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The article says it was advertised as spanish as a second language. You are right, and the best time to learn a language is while you are very young. After 9 or 10, it becomes much more difficult.
The ADL cites comments by D.A. King of Georgia, who founded an anti-illegal-immigrant group called the Dustin Inman Society. He has appeared on CNN and testified before a congressional committee.
In April, a newspaper report said, King told a gathering of Georgia Republican Party members that illegal immigrants are "not here to mow your lawn -- they're here to blow up your buildings and kill your children, and you and me."
Even for the Destroy-Our-Sovereignty Media, this is slimy. Do you see what they're trying to do to Steve? They've quoted another man named King in paragraph two to give those who don't pay close attention the idea that Steve King made the comment in paragraph three. Unreal.
You should show this to him.
The Republican Party leadership (president and a small number of Republican senators like McCain) needs to be changed, or the Republican Party is done for.
Post 40 is a good one, thanks.
I don’t see what any of this has to do with a preschool offering to teach 4 year olds how to speak Spanish. Does this somehow equate with terrorists?
I saw it but didn’t read too much into it. We’ll keep an eye on it.
I think both sides sound like retards. The difference is the pro-illegals sound like fools 100% of the time, while the antis sound like idiots 85% of the time.
Bttt!
That’s where I stopped.
Facts not included under the definition of “rhetoric.”
“I think the pro-immigration rhetoric is far more disturbing.”
I’m pro-immigration...
What is it that you consider disturbing about my “rhetoric?”
It will become even more "disturbing" if some thing is not done soon. Americans are slowly waking to the fact that their government, with the help of bleeding heart groups, have sold them out.
BTTT!
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