Posted on 04/27/2006 9:29:02 AM PDT by VU4G10
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Pro-immigration activists say a nationwide boycott and marches planned for May 1 will flood Americas's streets with millions of Latinos to demand amnesty for illegal immigrants and shake the ground under Congress as it tackles reform.
But while such a massive turnout could make for the largest protests since the civil rights era of the 1960s, not all Latinos, nor their leaders, were comfortable with such militancy -- fearing a backlash in Middle America.
"There will be 2 to 3 million people hitting the streets in Los Angeles alone. We're going to close down Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Tucson, Phoenix, Fresno," said Jorge Rodriguez, a union official who helped organize earlier rallies credited with rattling Congress as it debates the issue.
Immigration has split Congress, the Republican Party and public opinion. Conservatives want the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants to be classified as felons and a fence built along the Mexican border.
Others, including President George W. Bush, want a guest worker program and a path to citizenship. Most agree some reform is needed to stem the flow of poor to the world's biggest economy.
"We want full amnesty, full legalization for anybody who is here (illegally)," Rodriguez said. "That is the message that is going to be played out across the country on May 1."
Organizers of the May Day marches, which have strong support from big labor and the Roman Catholic church, vow that America's major cities will grind to a halt and its economy will stagger as Latinos walk off their jobs and skip school.
Teachers' unions in major cities have said children should not be punished for walking out of class. A spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Unified School District said school principals had been told that they should not try to keep students in class but instead should walk with the children to help keep order.
In Chicago, Catholic priests have helped organize protests, sending information to all 375 parishes in the archdiocese.
CRITICS CHARGE INTIMIDATION
Chicago activists predict that the demonstrations will draw 300,000 people -- compared to the 100,000 who turned out on March 10 to clog downtown streets. Minneapolis-based agribusiness giant Cargill Inc. said it will close seven meatpacking plants so workers can participate.
In New York, leaders of the May 1 Coalition said a growing number of businesses had pledged to close and allow their workers to attend a rally in Manhattan's Union Square.
But some Latinos have expressed ambivalence about the boycott and marches, saying they could stir up anti-immigrant sentiment amid an incendiary atmosphere surrounding the issue.
Cardinal Roger Mahony of the Los Angeles archdiocese, who has emerged as an outspoken champion of immigrant rights -- even calling on priests to defy laws aimed at those who would help illegals -- has lobbied against a walkout.
"Personally I believe we can make May 1st a 'win-win' day here in Southern California," Mahony said in a statement. "Go to work, go to school, and then join thousands of us at a major rally afterward."
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, the son of a Mexican immigrant who has long fought for immigrant rights, has taken a low profile on the issue. A Villaraigosa spokeswoman said the mayor expects protesters to be "lawful and respectful" and wants children to stay in school.
Critics have accused pro-immigrant leaders of stirring up uninformed young Latinos by telling them that their parents were in imminent danger of being deported and accuse them of trying to bully Congress.
"It's intimidation," Jim Gilchrist, founder of the Minuteman volunteer border patrol group, said of the May 1 events. "It's intimidation when a million people march down main streets in our major cities under the Mexican flag."
"It angers the people you are trying to impress," he said. "This will backfire just like the Mexican flag parades backfired."
(Additional reporting by Aarthi Sivaraman in Los Angeles, Dan Trotta in New York and Michael Conlon in Chicago)
Here's something to think about. Hit American companies that make money from Mexican products -- and are sold to Americans, where it hurts.
Anheuser-Busch is moaning that profits are down. Aside from being a corporate sponsor of the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF), they are big supporters of the homosexual agenda. They also own 50% of Corona brewer Grupo Modelo (and 27% of Tsingtao, one of China's top brewers).
Quit drinking Corona. It's a BIG profit maker. In Chicago, for instance, Corona is the numer one selling import.
Boycott Corona!
BTW, who's MALDEF? In 1998, MALDEF’s co-founder Mario Obledo had this to say: "California is going to be a Hispanic state, and anyone who doesn't like it should leave. They should go back to Europe."
That same year, Bill Clinton awarded Obledo a Presidential Medal of Freedom.
What about the mexican restaurants that are owned by Republican hispanic Americans? Baby/bathwater.
your sign up today just to post this??? sorry pal no mas
From http://www.grupobimbo.com :
Bimbo Bakeries USA
Bimbo Bakeries USA is leader in Texas and the Western region of the country. It has 13 plants and operations in more than 22 states of the American Union and also offers premium line products under the following brands:
Oroweat, Mrs. Baird’s, Entenmann’s, Thomas´, Boboli, Tía Rosa, Marinela and Bimbo, among others. It also has Bimbo Snacks, USA, and Dayhoff, Inc. to commercialize its snacks and confectionery products.
Hispanic is not a race. You are caucasian.
If you are here legally, then you above all should be upset with those who are here ILLegally.
And don't forget to spend money on May 1 if you can.
"You know I am not anti hispanic but this $hit is really beginning to piss me off, especially when I see Mexican flags & hear all the La Raza Bull $hit!"
They have pushed it farther than that in Arizona. They are openly advocating taking over, BY FORCE, the southwestern border states and returning them to Mexico.
When asked if they advocated killing American citizens, they responded that we (anglos) aren't the citizens, we are intruders. They are the citizens.
I love this line. (1) I KNOW I was born right in the borders of Arizona and (2) half of me is Mexican. By doing a little math, I am guessing my mom's family originally came over when New Mexico and Arizona were still a territory. So, what am I supposed to do about that one? Leave half of me here?
This May Day "boycott" is the dumbest idea imaginable.
Since most illegals don't care if they break U.S. laws why in the hell would they all skip work (and their daily pay) just because some self-serving Communists tell them too.
The U.S. already has holidays where *lots* of people don't work and American is not ruined by it.
If this boycott doesn't cause major disruptions, critics will say it proves the ecomony doesn't "need" illegals.
If this boycott does cause disruptions, then average American will get even more furious at illegals.
A really dumb idea for the pro-illegal side.
I reckon if they are open, they are OK.
I'm due for some Ninfa's or Molina's enchiladas anyway.
This attempt to shut down big cities (where the most liberals are) will indeed backfire.
Why do I believe that? Maybe some of you are too young to remember, but there were a series of years back in the 1960's that were marked by race riots in most all major American cities. Don't let the wistful baby boomer media freaks let you think that the protests of that era were all antiwar ones. That's just their drug-addled minds rewriting history.
The upshot of the race riots was to divide black and white America into fearful camps. The civil rights gained by African Americans during the Sixties were all enacted BEFORE the riots. The illegals are stupid enough to have their disruption before Congress has acted on so-called "guest worker" programs. Expect that this summer's activities will have an influence on the November elections.
Remember, after those Sixties' race riots, the Rats never elected a Democrat president who didn't come out of the old Confederacy.
I don't know about LA, but in NYC a lot of the Mexican places are run by Koreans.
"So, what am I supposed to do about that one? Leave half of me here?"
Of course, you are merely trying to obfuscate the issue.
NO ONE is advocating the deportation of LEGAL aliens. It is the ILLEGAL peoples that have to get out.
What are you?
So true, there was an incident where the President of SNAP (a support organization for Victums of Priest Abuse) tried to go to the Vatican to protest Cardinal Law's Mass after JP2's funeral and was removed from the Vatican and put on the streets of Rome!
I know, its unbelievable and what get's me is that 1/2 our population supports it. Again unfrigging believable.
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