Dallas’ LGBT chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens will be among the groups participating in this Saturday’s Mega March for Immigration Reform in downtown Dallas. The previously scheduled march is expected to draw up to 100,000 people in the wake of Arizona’s recent decision to racially profile crack down on suspected illegal immigrants.
LULAC Council 4871-The Dallas Rainbow Council will discuss plans for the march at its regular monthly meeting tonight, which will also feature State Rep. Lon Burnam, D-Fort Worth, executive director for the Dallas Peace Center; and Shawn Amoei, a student leader from the local Iranian-American community. The meeting is at 6:30 p.m. at hung*ding*er, 4000 Cedar Springs Rd., Suite E.
From a note on posted on LULAC 4871 President Jesse Garcia’s Facebook page this morning:
“Ten years ago, the hate toward different went after the gay. That feeling of seeing two men or two women sharing love was just too much to bear by those in the majority. State by state, laws against same-sex marriage were passed. They took away the right of consenting adults to share a home, a life. After devastating a community that only makes up 10 percent of the population and sending a nation of states backwards, the majority looked elsewhere to express their frustration that their numbers were not growing. Their rage inside had not subsided. Now the majority has gone after the immigrant. Even though immigrants come from every part of the world and in every color, the ‘browning’ of America was too much for the majority in power. Slowly, communities and states are now masking their racial hatred by coming up with their own immigration enforcement. …
“These scenarios have been played out before. Different characters in different times. One only needs to look at how Nazi Germany started to see parallels of where our society is going.”
UPDATE: I just got off the phone with Garcia, who had this to say:
“In 2006, there were a lot of gay people who participated, so I’m hoping to replicate that. I just think it’s important that the gay community reach out to a fellow community that’s under attack, and that we need to realize it’s not just a Hispanic issue. Immigrants come from every part of the world.”
Garcia said marchers are being asked to wear white T-shirts in a show of solidarity. American flags are also encouraged. He suggested that people carry signs that say, “The LGBT community supports our immigrant brothers and sisters.”
After the jump, the full text of Garcia’s Facebook note, as well as a map of Saturday’s route and a photo from the 2006 march.
By Jesse Garcia
It must feel awful to feel such hate, a hate against people who don’t look like you. So much hate that you internalize it and let it change your heart. You preach it to your children. You legislate it to marginalize your victims. You are consumed by it that you start confusing it with a moral right.
Ten years ago, the hate toward different went after the gay. That feeling of seeing two men or two women sharing love was just too much to bear by those in the majority. State by state, laws against same-sex marriage were passed. They took away the right of consenting adults to share a home, a life.
After devastating a community that only makes up 10 percent of the population and sending a nation of states backwards, the majority looked elsewhere to express their frustration that their numbers were not growing. Their rage inside had not subsided.
Now the majority has gone after the immigrant. Even though immigrants come from every part of the world and in every color, the “browning” of America was too much for the majority in power. Slowly, communities and states are now masking their racial hatred by coming up with their own immigration enforcement.
For years laws on immigration have existed on the books, but governments turned a blind eye to them in order to get the workforce needed to build an America for the 21st century. Now that America has gone through its worst economic crisis in a generation, the majority turned their backs on these workers and their families. Rather than blaming greedy bankers and consumers who ruined our economy, they blamed the undocumented who don’t make a living wage and still pay taxes.
After the immigrant is gone, the majority will come after the woman. Laws are currently being introduced and passed restricting her reproductive rights at the local and state level. With the majority’s win of five conservative justices on the Supreme Court that will last for a decade more, they will have the numbers ready when one of those laws challenged gets upheld in the highest court in the nation.
Regardless of how you feel about a women’s right to choose, any successful nation on this planet earns that status when the quality of life for a woman and her rights are upheld and protected.
After stripping the reproductive rights of women, they will go after protections in employment. What we call affirmative action and equal opportunity, they call quotas. The majority will allow the ability for any person of color who wants to live to his or her fullest potential through economic independence to simply go away. Once that economic power is gone, a segregated class system will emerge defined by racial lines.
You would think that by this time the majority would have had enough. But absolute power corrupts. The masses are led by fear. Their human nature to divide and conquer will fester and they will turn their hate toward those who worship different. If you don’t worship the same God with the majority, you don’t stand a chance to ever be welcomed in society and you will be ostracized.
These scenarios have been played out before. Different characters in different times. One only needs to look at how Nazi Germany started to see parallels of where our society is going.
Sadly, the “majority” referenced throughout my story is not about one domineering race. It may have started with just one race and/or one political ideology, but it grew by leaps and bounds when people from different backgrounds remained silent, ignored the signs, got scared and did nothing.
The “majority” is the apathetic voter. The “majority” is the citizen who felt it was more important to vote for an American Idol than to write a letter to a Congress member to protect human rights in America.
The “majority” are self-haters who want to blend in order to confirm to what they see as being ideal. The “majority” are people who place wealth above human dignity. The “majority” are people who read about a movement, but rather TiVo it and watch it unfold in the news.
The “majority” are people who are reading this last sentence, but will forget about the message of this post an hour later.
