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<DIV class=body><I>From the Los Angeles Times</I></DIV>
<H4>EDITORIAL</H4>
<H1>Primero de Mayo</H1><BR>May 2, 2006<BR><BR>IT'S HARD OUT THERE FOR AN
anti-illegal immigration activist. Just when you think the long-awaited
middle-class "backlash" against the immigrant rights movement will kick in, the
hundreds of thousands of peaceful and mostly joyous protesters refuse to live
down to your low expectations.<BR><BR>Instead of being dominated by aggressive
anarchists bent on "<I>reconquista</I>" and violent confrontation, even Monday's
first march — the one frowned upon by Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, Mayor Antonio
Villaraigosa and other members of the pro-reform establishment — was yet another
passionate and upbeat street party. <BR><BR>We don't believe students should
skip school, and we shared the concern of those who felt a labor walkout might
come across as economic blackmail, but the tenor of the day was overwhelmingly
positive. Sure, there were a handful of Che Guevara flags sprinkled in the sea
of Old Glories, and some protesters tried their best to interest passersby in an
upcoming conference on socialism. But those messages were overwhelmed by
40-piece mariachi bands, infectious drum corps and beaming 4-year-old girls
sitting on their daddies' shoulders and waving U.S. flags.<BR><BR>L.A.'s
invisible workforce emerged not in a spirit of anger or defiance but with pride
and exuberance. It was all so, well, American. <BR><BR>The scale and tenor of
the demonstrations have had the salutary and corrective benefit of marginalizing
those who conflate Latino immigration with crime, a lack of patriotism, a
security threat or any other ill under the sun. Six months ago, opponents of
reform drove the political debate. No more.<BR><BR>None of this makes
immigration policy easier to concoct. When the world's leading economy shares a
2,000-mile border with a poor country, it's a challenge. Even though the United
States benefits from immigration as a whole, cities and counties on the front
lines can groan under the strain. From the deportation of felons to in-state
tuition for undocumented students, the legal to-and-fro of 12 million humans
illegally residing in the U.S. presents serious policy issues about which good
people can and do disagree.<BR><BR>But when this issue has reared its head in
the past, too often debate was driven by an irrational fear and dislike of The
Other, leading to policies that represented the darker angels of Americans'
nature. The singular triumph of this spring's protests is that they have
indelibly attached a human face to a debate dominated by dehumanizing words such
as "illegals" and "aliens." And that face brings a message resonant across 230
years: "We want to be one of you."</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>