[Vision2020] {Longish] letter with facts of interest

[melynda at moscow.com]

I didn't write this letter, but I can confirm some of its facts, which 
makes it at least as useful a contribution as my unvarnished opinion.  
I've substituted new links for a couple of broken ones in the original.  
It's circulating widely, which is good reason to be cautious--but the 
little bit of research I've done on it checks out so far.  I highly 
recommend the Pew website, by the way; it's incredibly informative.

Melynda Huskey

P.S.  Mekt, was Stalin's government ordained by God? More to the point, 
was George Bush flying in the face of Providence when he ousted God's 
choice for Iraqi President-for-Life, Saddam Hussein?

**************************************************************

Open letter to CNN and other mainstream US media outlets:

1. The vast majority of Hispanics/Latinos in the U.S. (75 percent of us) 
were born and raised here, including many of us who have roots here that 
predate the arrival of the pilgrims. 

2. "Immigrant" is not synonymous with "Latino" and the media should stop 
pretending they mean the same thing. 

3. The CNN analyst who said today "Keep in mind, Latino voters are LEGAL 
immigrants, not illegal immigrants" should be FIRED for sloppy thinking. 
MOST LATINOS ARE NOT IMMIGRANTS AT ALL, PINCHE CABRON. 

4. Immigrants to contemporary USA come from EVERYWHERE. There are, for 
instance, 100,000 Nigerians in Houston 

http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?
article_id=2300a08eade42c71d2e7979e29ab8ff2

and tens of thousands of ILLEGAL Irish in Boston 

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/03/09/irish_immigrants_pre
ss_for_visa_reform/

and other parts of the nation. If this debate is truly about immigration, 
as opposed to racist portrayals of Latinos, please curb your coverage to 
be more responsible. 

5. Just because someone waves a Mexican or Colombian flag at a peaceful 
demonstration does not mean the demonstration is a "riot" or the people 
unAmerican. Lou Dobbs should get his panties out of a knot and realize it 
is no different than someone waving an Irish flag in Southie or an 
Italian flag on Columbus Day. These flags are not waved as proof of 
national allegiance; they are waved in solidarity with a person's 
cultural heritage. 

6. You can be a Mexican American and never have had an ancestor come over 
the US border; vast portions of the United States of today USED TO BE 
MEXICO or SPAIN. If you failed to learn this in high school, your 
teachers should be fired. 

7. The vast majority of Hispanics/Latinos in the US speak English as a 
first language. The Pew Center for Hispanic research 
<http://pewhispanic.org/> shows that by the third generation, all Latin 
American immigrant descendents - 100 percent of them - are English-first, 
English dominant. Zero percent speak Spanish as a first or primary 
language by the third generation. 

8. The US has TWO international borders, not ONE. To date, not a single 
terrorist has gotten to the US through Mexico; to date, at least two 
suspected terrorists have arrived here through Canada. In fact, I would 
not be surprised if, while the media and xenophobes are focused on the 
Mexican border, terrorists figure out that it might be a good idea to 
walk over from Vancouver to Seattle for a latte. Oh, and all 
international anti-American terrorists who have come to the U.S. so far 
have been *smart* enough to come with passports and other documents 
supplied to them by the deep pockets of their organizations. Do you 
really think a terrorist from Saudi Arabia is going to think it's a good 
idea to swim over the border to Texas or Arizona with a bunch of 
Mexicans? How stupid is that?!? Finally, please remember that the anti-
American terrorist Timothy McVeigh was not a foreigner, not brown, and 
not an illegal immigrant. 

9. Not all Hispanics/Latinos are Mexican or of Mexican origin in the 
U.S., and most people of Mexican extraction in the US were born in the 
UNITED STATES. 

10. Please check for plans to give Haliburton the contract to build a 
wall along the Mexican border before caving in to the right-wing 
propaganda about a "crisis" in immigration from Mexico. 

11. Please be careful when you discuss these issues not to stereotype or 
overgeneralize. The anti-Latino frenzy you're creating is leading to a 
racist backlash against tens of millions of native-born Americans who 
happen to have Spanish names. 

12. The following are also Spanish names: California, Arizona, Florida, 
Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego, Las Vegas. Why does CNN allow states, 
cities and rivers with Spanish names to be American, while disallowing 
American people with Spanish names the same right...? Mister Dobbs, you 
may no longer say the names of most states in the United States, because 
only thirteen U.S. states have English names; the rest are Spanish, 
French, or Native American. English-only, sir. Your rule, eh? Make up new 
names, change your ridiculous rhetoric, or stop talking about Los Angeles 
altogether. 

13. Please tell us what the problems are that are caused by illegal 
immigrants. Don't just say there is a "debate". Tell us in concrete terms 
what the risks and dangers are being brought to the US by "illegal" 
immigrants. Now tell us how these problems, if any, differ from the 
problems caused by U.S. citizens of all other backgrounds. Be precise. 
Control for economics and educational background. Can't find any? Thought 
so. 

14. Please remember that the least legal and least assimilable of 
American immigrants were...the English. And the only people who can claim 
to be true "Americans" are Native Americans. 

15. Most Mexicans are Native Americans. 

16. Shut up about this non-issue and get back to BEING JOURNALISTS, 
covering the REAL issues, like the illegal war in Iraq and the lies that 
got us there; the record-setting trade deficit; Bush's bankrupting of 
America; NSA's illegal wiretapping of American citizens; the fact that 
our public schools are MORE segregated than they were before Brown vs. 
the Board of Education; the fact that we as a nation have now slipped to 
having only the 27th freest press in the world; the Plame leak and the 
consequences of it being that Americans are much less safe than we were 
before Cheney and his friends played "revenge"; the disappearance of the 
American middle class and unions; the sorry state of the FAA; the rapid 
devaluation of the American dollar on the world market thanks to idiot 
leaders; the dismantling of the endangered species act by our 
administration; the rapid and unprecedented rise of a white underclass 
(the fastest rise in poor whites in American history has occurred under 
Bush); the enormous and growing gap between rich and poor in America. 

All best, 

Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez


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