A New Era of Nativism....

Please take a look at a recent television ad that evidently over-confidently targets immigrant and non-native English speakers:




As the above ad demonstrates, it seems the anti-immigrant lobby is feeling empowered. Perhaps it is long overdue for the Latina/o community as well as other members of this society to express their views at the ballot box? Much like the very first post on the blog, now is the moment for the silent majority, along with the largest minority group in this country, to proclaim "Basta Ya." In other words, to proudly state "enough already" and respond to hateful laws such as Arizona's SB 1070with our voices, votes, and pocketbooks. We must be prepared to quickly respond when we witness bold anti-immigrant statements such as the one above. We must use the rights this great land provides us and challenge narrow-minded and hateful rhetoric. This great land has benefited much by the promise of the beautiful and welcoming words of THE NEW COLOSSUS by Emma Lazarus, which are embedded on the Statute of Liberty.

The powerful words are reprinted here to remind us of the promise of this land and not the hate we all-too-often hear:

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,

With conquering limbs astride from land to land;

Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand

A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame

Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name

Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand

Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command

The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

"Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she

With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Instead, these new nativists, obviously sons and daughters of immigrants, must be shamed here and elsewhere, and eventually voted out. We must exclaim "Presente," asserting "we are present, we write (indeed, many of us are prolific), we vote, and we control significant economic power. We must not continue to live in shame or with mistreatment. We will no longer be made to feel like outsiders in our own homes. I applaud the attorneys, activists, students, and other like-minded souls that are not-so-quietly creating a civil rights revolution of this era. No matter how much the nativists try, their math simply doesn't add up. Let's continue to be heard in Alabama, Arizona, and everywhere else.