Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Freeloaders. "Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride" insults all Americans.
NRO ^ | October 03, 2003, 9:02 a.m. | By Mark Krikorian

Posted on 10/03/2003 6:28:46 AM PDT by .cnI redruM

If you wanted a way of persuading Republican congressmen to support something, the last thing you'd do is have the AFL-CIO organize a bus convoy of illegal aliens appropriating the rhetoric of the civil-rights movement, endorsed by the Communist party.

And yet, this is just what the open-border crowd has done. Busloads of "Freedom Riders" converged on Capitol Hill Thursday and are now headed for New York. The group will meet at Liberty State Park in Jersey City today and go to Queens on Saturday to press its list of demands, including amnesty for illegal aliens, higher levels of legal immigration, and an end to the distinction between citizens and non-citizens.

Now, Democrats already support these demands, as you can see from the list of endorsers, which encompasses all the usual suspects including: Howard Dean, Dennis Kucinich, Joe Lieberman, Charlie Rangel, the ACLU, MALDEF, the Service Employees International Union, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, Noam Chomsky, Martin Sheen, Susan Sarandon, and the Communist Party USA (note the helpful link to the CPUSA at the Freedom Ride site).

Apparently, this was too far-out even for the Republicans in Congress who have sponsored various illegal-alien amnesty bills — including senators Larry Craig, Orin Hatch, and John McCain, and representatives Chris Cannon, Jim Kolbe, and Jeff Flake; none of them appears to have openly endorsed the Freedom Rides or appeared at yesterday's Capitol Hill rally.

Clearly, this stunt was aimed at garnering sob stories from a sympathetic media and recruiting labor-union members, not actually moving legislation. The success of the second objective is unclear, but the first goal has clearly been met; a Nexis search of "freedom rides" turned up more than 200 stories just in the past week, with gems like "On they go, so they can stay," and "Immigrants Ride for Rights."

What no reporter seems to have asked is what black Americans think of this hijacking of one of the most powerful images of the civil-rights movement. Now, the black political elite has endorsed the rides, including the NAACP, the Congressional Black Caucus, and the Southern Christian Leadership Council. (Interestingly, the sponsor of the original Freedom Rides in 1961, the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) is not on the list of endorsers.)

But the disconnect between the black political elite and the people it claims to represent is nowhere wider than on immigration. A Zogby poll taken shortly before 9/11 found that blacks opposed an illegal-alien amnesty at about the same rate as whites and Hispanics. And a September Field Poll in California found that a majority of blacks opposed driver's licenses for illegal aliens.

But apart from the policy gap, the very fact that illegal aliens are hijacking the terminology of a brave struggle for liberty by American citizens is an abomination. The real Freedom Riders traveled the South to challenge Jim Crow segregation in restrooms, restaurants, and other public facilities; a mob in Alabama attacked them, set one of the buses on fire, and beat some of the fleeing passengers. Other Civil Rights protesters, of course, faced police dogs, high-pressure hoses, and firebombs. The idea that lobbying for amnesty is in any way comparable to this is ludicrous, and yet Rep. John Lewis did just that in the Washington Post, describing the current effort as "a movement that carries the struggle for civil rights for all forward into the new century."

But defending the interests of black Americans is not on the agenda of the open-borders movement. An op-ed by Harold Meyerson in Thursday's Washington Post spelled out quite clearly that the Left sees mass immigration as a way to promote more socialism:

. . .the transformation of California politics unleashed by the entry of immigrants into politics — a transformation that a Schwarzenegger victory can delay but not deny — is already responsible for enactment of the first paid family-leave program in the land and the likely enactment (if, as expected, Davis signs the bill this week) of mandated employer-financed health coverage. In this, California's new immigrants are following the path laid out by the immigrant activists of the last century, who provided much of the vision and support for the policies that became the core of the New Deal.

Unless immigration policy is changed soon, the next Freedom Ride won't have to worry about persuading Republicans — because they will no longer matter.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Editorial; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: criminals; handouts; illegals; immigrantlist; liberals
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-28 last
To: DustyMoment
If we know that illegals are in this "freedom ride", why hasn't the INS stopped the buses, arrested the illegals and sent them back where they belong? There's something else at work here.

Yes! The Border Patrol already stopped them, but some as yet unidentified Congressmen, alerted by the communist activists, went and leaned on the administration after which the order came down to all law enforcement to let the illegals through. Then they were released (to create mayhem). Are we to go as far as to charge this is comparable to the NAZI Reichtag Fire brought on via political correctness? We'll see what damage this will sew in the country soon enough.

Just think how ludicrous this is.

Foreign invaders having the gall to seditiously petition our Congress with demands, and the White House says let them through. Insanity of the highest sort.

The fish rots from the head down.

21 posted on 10/03/2003 10:44:21 AM PDT by flamefront (To the victor go the oils. No oil or oil-money for islamofascist weapons of mass annihilation.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Indict Davis
You got it.
22 posted on 10/03/2003 10:46:31 AM PDT by flamefront (To the victor go the oils. No oil or oil-money for islamofascist weapons of mass annihilation.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

Unless immigration policy is changed soon, the next Freedom Ride won't have to worry about persuading Republicans — because they will no longer matter.
23 posted on 10/03/2003 2:18:05 PM PDT by sarcasm (Tancredo 2004)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: .cnI redruM; mhking; FoxFang; FITZ; moehoward; Nea Wood; CheneyChick; Joe Hadenuf; sangoo; ...
Mark Krikorian really hit home hard on this last one, especially his last line!
MH? SOS!
24 posted on 10/03/2003 9:42:17 PM PDT by JustPiper (18 out of 19 HiJacker's had State issued Driver's License's !!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: .cnI redruM
Question for Booze Crustamonte: If groping a woman against her will is a misdemeanor, what type of criminal offence is aiding and abetting illegal immigration?

To quite a few politicians illegal immigration is no more serious than a traffic violation, so aiding them would most likely be no big deal either. And it probably explains why we have 10+ million of them running around without a worry of being deported.

25 posted on 10/03/2003 9:54:09 PM PDT by Reaganwuzthebest
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DustyMoment
"If we know that illegals are in this "freedom ride", why hasn't the INS stopped the buses, arrested the illegals and sent them back where they belong? There's something else at work here."

There certainly is. And it's more than simply being politically correct; it's more sinister than that.

26 posted on 10/04/2003 9:54:41 AM PDT by Paulie
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Paulie
My, What Big Teeth You Have Grandma...
27 posted on 10/04/2003 10:03:02 AM PDT by Veracious Poet (Cash cows are sacred in America, just in case you didn't know. ;-)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: HiJinx
Thank God its over.
28 posted on 10/04/2003 5:08:41 PM PDT by 4.1O dana super trac pak (Stop the open borders death cult)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-28 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson