For "Thunder on the Border," click the picture:
Into the ground like the countries of their birth.
Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., likened the rallies to the civil rights movement in the 1960s led by Martin Luther King Jr.
"It is time for Americans to lift their voices once again — this time in pride for our immigrant past and in support of our immigrant future," Kennedy told a rally in Washington, D.C.
Crowds at rallies in Boston, Phoenix, Washington and other major cities heard speeches in Spanish and chanted, "Si se puede," a slogan that translates to "Yes we can" and was used by Cesar Chavez in the struggle for rights for farmworkers in the 1960s and 1970s.
Born in Mexico, Alex Vega has been in the United States, undocumented, under the radar more than half his life. But in April he defiantly showed himself. He marched through downtown Los Angeles for immigrant rights, one of millions nationwide who understood what it meant to be seen and counted for the first time.
"I'm a ghost. I'm a ghost. I don't——I'm 45-years-old, I got 10 children, I have a business, I own a house, but nothing is in my name," Vega says.
Within five years, all 10 of Vega's children, born here, U.S. citizens, will have reached voting age.
"In 20 years then we gonna run the country. Right now we running the cities. So little by little, we are running the show. Little by little——so the sleeping giant, it's already awakened," Vega says.
Bill Whittaker championed "Alex Vega...a father of ten. He owns a business and a house in Orange County. He entered the U.S. illegally 28 years ago. He's marching today because he says he's tired of living in the shadows." From Washington's Mall, Jim Axelrod saw "tens of thousands of Americans" marching though many were illegals. Over on NBC, the least celebratory, Lester Holt heralded: "From border states like here in Arizona to unlikely places like South Bend, Indiana, and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, illegal immigrants alongside their supporters stepped from the shadows. Marching under the American flag, they demanded a place at the American table."
Vega: "Even though I have a business and I have a house, nothing is in my name. I don't exist. I'm a ghost."
Whittaker: "So his children, all American citizens, made signs ["WE ARE NOT CRIMINALS MR. SENSENBRENNER"] and raised their voices with their father's today. He says the usually quiet Latino population, what he calls 'the sleeping giant,' has finally awoken."
Vega: "The sleeping giant is getting bigger in numbers. And not just numbers, but voters and for my kids, they know how important it is to vote."
Whittaker walking with protesters: "There's been talk of rousing the sleeping giant for decades, but the giant's power has never been fully realized. But people here say this time it's different, that immigration is personal, affecting almost every family. And this time they're supported by unions, churches, the Spanish language media and the Internet reached nationwide and Latino political muscle is growing. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa calls immigration a galvanizing issue."
Juan Jose Gutierrez, Latino Movement USA: "It will energize millions of people across America. And the public should know that the genie is out of the bottle."
Whittaker: "And Alex Vega says their voices are getting louder."
Vega: "Whether they give us papers or not, we still going to be here."
If the Administration doesn't start enforcing the law very quickly, he just might be right. Barring no law enforcement they could be running Texas in 3 or 4 election cycles.
BUMP
Yeah, they're just wanting to run the nation U.S. Citizens have refused to.
Okay, that's it. I've had it with them. Send them all back -- NOW. I volunteer to drive.
For "Thunder on the Border," click the picture:
How would he feel if we barged into Mexico by the millions, demanded everything including kitchen sink and uttered similar threats?
It won't take twenty years. Mexico is 'integrating with the US', according to their own ministers...and 'there's nothing the US can do about it'. Mexico dumps its lower class over the border, ethnically cleansing itself of the poor, unskilled, and mostly illiterate. (The very people who, if they stayed home and worked for change, could turn Mexico into a paradise.) Mexico is already telling them to head for Canada, too...'Canada needs cheap labor' -- the implications of that remark are profound and shameful. (How Mexico feels about its own people.)
Fox has an alternative for the US, however. We've been invited to 'invest in rebuilding Mexico's infrastructure' from soup to nuts, so Mexicans will want to return home.
The illegal jerk is right. What's stopping them from taking over? Americans will simply continue to do what they have been doing...namely, MOVE...farther and farther out into the suburbs to escape the invasion. Those who can afford it will move to gated communities. And by the time there's no place left to flee, everybody who remembers what America used to be like will be either really old or dead.
If we can get past the hyperbole, this guy could be correct. Look how hard certain forces in our body politic are working in the interests of illegals. If they somehow wrangle themselves into actual voting status, they very well could call the shots. Especially if the politicians are consistent in their behavior.
It's the plan, the plan is in play and the plan is working.
And Dubya is doing everything he can to make sure it happens.
No they won't. They are not economically or intellectually up to it.
