Happy Cinco de Mayo

Happy Cinco de Mayo everyone. Of late, all of us have been so deluged with negativity due to AZ's sb1070 racial profiling bill and the associated hate-fest on radio/tv claiming "illeegals, mexican drug cartels and Latinos" are to blame for every crime in America, the oil spill, cloudy days and the end of times.

I think it is time to shake off all of this negative kharma and remember who we are! We don't want your compassion! We don't want your pity! We are Latinos! We are talented, rhythmic, humanitarian, hard working, Christian Values, family oriented, humble, compassionate people! To celebrate, here is Thalia singing "Amor a la Mexicana!" (watch at minute 3:30 as President Obama dances with Thalia.)
English Lyrics:
Mexican-style love
I don’t want compassion, I don’t want pity
I want a solid love that moves me
I want to savor (your love)and your glisten
I want your passion to make me go delirious
pure (sugar)cane... pure love...

Mexican-style love, with cumbia, huapango and son (sorts of music)
horse, boot and sombrero, tequila, tobacco and rum,
Mexican-style love, hot and to the Sun’s rhythm
slowly and then he overwhelms me, my macho at heart

Mexican-style love...
Mexican-style love...
Mexican-style love...
Mexican-style love...

I want (your love) smoothly, I want it very rough
I want (your love) to touch the bottom of my heart
I want (your love) slowly, I always want more
I want it to overcome me till I lose my senses
pure (sugar)cane... pure love...

Mexican-style love...
Oh, I want your love from the bottom of my heart
Mexican-style love...
and within your passion I want to lose my senses
Mexican-style love...
I want (your love) smoothly, slowly
Mexican-love style
I’m overcome with your love and passion

BOYCOTT! Why it Works! Why it will work Fighting the White Nationalists who support SB1070!

Boycott! A Powerful Term! A Powerful Action. Ghandi knew it. Martin Luther King knew it. Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerte knew it. Boycott is a partner to Truth and Justice. Truth and Justice always outlasts Fear Mongering and Violence.

FEAR Mongering and Violence Never work long term. Occasionally, these tactics may make people back up, but they never last long term.

All Humanitarians and lovers of Freedom, Justice and the American Way realize the inhumanitarian and racial profiling SB1070 is wrong. It was wrong when Eisenhower imposed Operation Wetback in the 1950s and it is wrong today.

When I was a little girl, when my mom listened to the news, she always said a prayer. I asked her, "Mom, why are you saying a prayer?" She prayed that the name of the perpetrator was not Latino. I asked her why. She said, "Because for us, when the criminal is a Latino, then they make all of us guilty." That was in the 1950s. As a small child, I was not aware that Operation Wetback was going on in the Southern States.

Now, with SB1070, what many are calling Operation Wetback 2010, the same Fear Mongering environment is occurring. I can feel it. I can see it. It is happening all around us. The ANTI Immigration Reformers are utilizing their scare tactics to inhibit distrust and fear against ALL Latinos. When I listen to the news now and a Latino happens to be the perp, I get a chill and hear my mother's words in my ear. I myself am starting to say a little prayer, "Please don't let it be a Latino."

Do you know what I find interesting is, the same thing doesn't happen with Northern European ethnicity. The news announcer says, "Scott Peterson was just arrested for murdering his pregnant wife..." (Insert BTK, John Wayne Gacy, Ted Bundy, on and on ad naseum) and no one says, "Oh no. We gotta get rid of the White Guy." But insert a Latino name, like Gomez, Lopez, Medina, etc., then suddenly, heads are turning, whispers start whispering "....oh those illeegals. We need to get rid of them." The same thing is happening with the Robert Krentz murder and the deputy shooting: "Oh those illeegals. We gotta get rid of them."

It is TIME for that attitude to stop. We have to stop SB1070. We have to BOYCOTT. A Boycott works because you hit them in the pocketbook, where it hurts them most. I know Humanitarians and Latinos are traditionally "nice guys", quiet and humble. We hate to make waves. But we don't have to be silent. We need to join together and say STOP IT! when Racial Profiling laws are passed. WE need to say STOP IT when ALL Latinos are blamed when one person commits a crime. WE need to say STOP IT when even one citizen is humiliated and made to feel like trash in a Suppression Sweep.

During the Civil Rights boycotts, the bus boycotts lasted over a year. The boycotts were met with violence and harassment. Dr. King's home was bombed. But he responded with, "We must learn to meet HATE with LOVE." The bus boycotts lasted over a year. It eventually took the United States Supreme Court to support Civil Rights and end the boycotts.

Boycotts work! When Arizona refused to recognize the Martin Luther King holiday in the 1990s, it was a BOYCOTT of the state that convinced them to approve the holiday.

A Peaceful Boycott of Arizona WILL Work! All opposers to the racial profiling bill should BOYCOTT Arizona. Join the Facebook Groups Boycotting Arizona. "1 MILLION Strong AGAINST the Arizona Immigration Law SB1070" and other like groups. Stop visiting Arizona. Stop spending in Arizona. Do not spend your dollars with any Arizona company. Do this for the world to see. If we Boycott Arizona, the world will see the impact on their economy. Perhaps then they will realize that they cannot racially profile Latinos. They cannot treat us like 2nd class citizens. They cannot treat us with disrespect.

One more thing. Tomorrow, on Cinco de Mayo, BOYCOTT ANHEUSER BUSCH (Cindy McCain's beer; number 1 business in AZ), especially Bud and Bud Light. For tomorrow at least, if you must drink beer, drink Dos Equis or Miller or some other beer or wine.

I love the United States and I am a believer in the Declaration of Independence.
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men/women are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." TO ALL YOU ANTI'S I SAY -- THIS INCLUDES ALL LATINOS!!

God Bless America!

Breaking News: AZ Newspaper Receiving Tips that Deputy's Shooting is Very Suspicious! Self Inflicted?

By now, most people have heard about Sheriff's Deputy Louie Puroll being shot by an AK-47 type weapon around 4pm last Friday afternoon just South of Phoenix. Puroll suffered a flesh wound on his left side that tore off a small chunk of skin. He was treated and released on Friday night.

The Arizona National Guard said reports that one of its helicopters came under fire during Friday's search-and-rescue operation were not correct. A helicopter assigned to the state's Joint Counter Narco-Terrorism Task Force diverted from its mission on Friday after hearing radio calls to help Puroll and was first to locate the deputy. At that point, a clipboard or other metal object within the aircraft apparently fell to the floor, causing a clattering noise. Crew members were at first unclear about the source of the noise and put out an alert that there might be gunfire in the area. During a debriefing, Castillo said, the crew realized the falling clipboard caused the confusion. Villar said the clarification never reached Sheriff Paul Babeu, who told the media of a helicopter coming under fire during news briefings.

According to the sheriff, the incident began when Puroll was on patrol in an off-road area about 5 miles south of Interstate 8 around 4 p.m. Friday when he came upon five men, at least one of whom opened fire with an assault rifle. Puroll suffered two minor wounds as he ducked for cover and returned fire. Puroll believed he may have wounded one of the suspects. About 200 law-enforcement personnel scoured 10 square miles of the desert for more than 12 hours, using multiple helicopters and night-vision equipment. They arrested 17 people, none of whom were any of the five suspects. Today, four days after Puroll reported being ambushed and wounded by marijuana smugglers in the southern Arizona desert, investigators appear to be stymied in their search for suspects.

Today, maricopa.com said: Despite capturing 17 illegal immigrants during a two-day sweep of a 10-square-mile stretch of desert near Stanfield, 20 miles south of Maricopa, five suspects in the Friday shooting of a Pinal County deputy remain at large, according to Pinal County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Lt. Tamatha Villar.
Villar claimed three of the suspects the sheriff’s department picked up were key witnesses in the investigation. Villar claimed one of the shooters is a light-skinned Mexican male, with a Sinaloan accent (central Mexico..how could he recognize the accent so specifically while under fire????) who was wearing a green-brown, army fatigue-type long-sleeve shirt, tan-colored pants, ball-cap style hat and black hiking boots. The other suspect is a darker-skinned Mexican male last wearing a grey long-sleeve "hoodie" sweatshirt, green-colored pants and black-and-white tennis shoes. The only information available on the other three is that they were longer-haired Hispanics. (All these clothes, outside, in 100+ temperatures, in the middle of the desert, no vehicle, carrying 5 bales of MJ, assault weapons and rounds of ammo. And they got away after a 2 day search. Wow!)

The shooting occurred late Friday afternoon around 5 p.m. when Deputy Louie Puroll, 53, was patrolling the area near Interstate 8 and came across a stash of marijuana bales and five suspected smugglers. A firefight between the deputy and suspects ensued with at least 30 shots being exchanged, Villar said. At one point, the deputy discarded his pistol because it either ran out of bullets or jammed and began to fire with his tactical rifle. (Phoenix New Times article indicates no bullets found; no AK-47) During the fight, the deputy was hit in the back, the bullet ripping out a sizable piece of flesh (AZ Republic said flesh wound on left side; out of hospital same night). Puroll used his phone to call for help, setting off a frantic hour-long multi-agency search for the deputy in the remote desert, Villar said. Hundreds of both federal and state law enforcement officers, including those from Maricopa Police Department, took part in a two-day search for the suspects. Villar said Puroll was treated and released from the hospital, and he is home doing well.

Phoenix New Times is reporting about a dozen current and former local cops in the last few days (most of them initiated the contact), when mentioning Purcoll's highly publicized (and highly charged) incident near the intersection of Interstate 8 and Arizona Route 84 last Friday afternoon, every last one of them brought up the name Franklin Brown. (a previous Phoenix cop that staged a crime for his own purposes)

The Sheriff's Office is conducting an internal investigation into the shooting. They say this is standard procedure.

Readers: I make no judgement on this incident. I will wait until the internal investigation is complete. But you can see that the coincidences are mounting up, all surrounding the passage of racial profiling bill SB1070. Incidents like this are meant to instill FEAR in Arizonians in hopes they will support the racial profiling SB1070.

POLICE ASK ANTI's TO STOP EXPLOITING THE DEATH OF RANCHER ROBERT KRENTZ! MURDERER MAY BE AMERICAN, IN U.S.A.

As I previously reported,Russell Pearce, Arpaio and other like minded, white supremist supported extremists are promoting the death of rancher Robert Krentz as the reason their xenophobic and restrictionist laws should be passed. This is an aberration.

Two reports came out yesterday indicating the Cochise County Sheriff's Department has NO IDEA of the murderer's Nationality or Gender and the perpetrator is IN the United States. They made this announcement to QUELL THE FURY initiated by SB1070 supporters who are exploiting the murder as being committed by an "illeegal immigrant" in order to promote their racial profiling bill.

The two reports said:
1. Arizona Daily Star reported: The killing of a Southern Arizona rancher that sparked an outcry to secure the border was not random, and investigators are focusing on a suspect IN the United States. High-ranking government officials with credible information spoke to the Star, citing a desire to QUELL the FURY over illegal immigration and drug smuggling set off by the shooting death of longtime rancher Robert Krentz on March 27. They said Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever is investigating a person in the United States, not in Mexico, in connection with the shooting.
2. AZ Central reports: Carol Capas, a spokesman for the Cochise County Sheriff's department said, "detectives have no leads on a suspect - not even the person's nationality or gender. "The information that we have is still the same as what we released early on," she added. "The investigation is active and ongoing."

THE BOTTOM LINE IS, THE POLICE DO NOT KNOW WHO COMMITTED THE MURDER; THEY ARE NO CLOSER TODAY TO FINDING THE MURDERER THAN THEY WERE THE DAY OF THE MURDER; THEY BELIEVE THE MURDERER IS IN THE U.S., NOT MEXICO; THEY WANT ALL SPECULATION TO STOP AND ALLOW THEM TO DO THEIR POLICE WORK.

I BELIEVE WE SHOULD HONOR THEIR REQUEST AND THE ANTIs SUPPORTING THE RACIAL PROFILING BILL SHOULD STOP EXPLOITING RANCHER KRENTZ'S DEATH!

ITWAMA: Upcoming Blogs for Tuesday, May 4

Immigration Talk with a Mexican American (ITWAMA)
Upcoming Blogs for Tuesday, May 4, 2010

1. Police say Good Samaritan Robert Krentz was NOT murdered by an illegal immigrant as previously suspected. Clues lead police to believe the murder was committed by an American.

2. BOYCOTT: Baseball is boycotting Arizona! Latinos are superstars in Baseball, yet these superstars are in fear of walking the streets of Phoenix for fear of being racially profiled. See why these athletes are Boycotting Phoenix and insisting the All Star Game be moved OUT OF PHOENIX in 2011.

3. Arpaio and his masked goons refuse to lay low and last Friday/Saturday, continued Racial Profiling sweeps in W. Phoenix and racial profile 25 American Citizens. Refuses to release stats on those in custody. With such controversy in AZ, now backpeddling off running for governor.

Arizona's Leading Newspaper Speaks Out Against Xenophobic Arizona Politicians, SB1070 and Calls for National Comprehesive Immigration Reform!

The Arizona Republic, Arizona's leading newspaper, has come out AGAINST sb1070 and against Arizona's pandering politicians! They are also speaking in favor of National Comprehensive Immigration Reform!

Our friend, the Arizonian, a native of Arizona and usually "ANTI" leaning, says this:
"The sad part Dee, is that it wasn't like this 15-20 years ago. Not until all these idiots moved here from Cali and the Midwest. Most of us "Natives" don't agree or believe in this law."
It is CLEAR that the majority of Americans and the majority of Arizonians DO NOT SUPPORT THIS HEINOUS RACIAL PROFILING bill SB1070. Now is the time for our President and Congress to act and pass National Comprehensive Immigration Reform! God Bless America and our President as they move forward to support our Nation in this difficult cause:
Editorial from the Arizona Republic:
We need leaders. The federal government is abdicating its duty on the border. Arizona politicians are pandering to public fear. The result is a state law that intimidates Latinos while doing nothing to curb illegal immigration. This represents years of failure. Years of politicians taking the easy way and allowing the debate to descend into chaos.

The Arizona Republic has been calling for comprehensive immigration reform continuously since 2002. For a brief time, our congressional delegation led the nation on this front. But no more. Now, it seems our elected officials prefer to serve political expediency instead.

Those who failed Arizona:
JAN BREWER was looking out for her own political future, not Arizona's best interests, when she signed the anti-immigrant law that ignores Arizona's Latino heritage and creates a backlash that will hurt the state's economic development. The governor's GOP primary race would have been tougher if she'd vetoed the bill, so she ducked her responsibility to the people of Arizona. Now, she gets a bump in the polls, and Arizona gets beat up on the international stage.
JANET NAPOLITANO came down with amnesia after she abandoned her job as governor of Arizona and moved to Washington, D.C., to be Homeland Security secretary. Ensconced in a Democratic administration, she forgot all the arguments she once used to demand that the Bush administration address immigration reform and reimburse Arizona for the costs of the broken border. Put in charge of Obama's effort to craft immigration reform, she couldn't get the thing out of neutral.
JOHN McCAIN, the one-time maverick and former champion of comprehensive immigration reform, also came down with a convenient loss of memory and principle. Facing a primary race against J.D. Hayworth, whose demagoguery on this issue is practiced and predictable, Sen. McCain became a man afraid of his own record. He locked himself behind a door marked "Do not disturb until the border is secure." Here's some straight talk the senator should understand: The border cannot be secured as long as the current irrational border policies remain unchanged.
JON KYL was also brave enough - once upon a time - to work across the aisle for the sake of achieving comprehensive immigration reform. Now, he has linked arms with McCain in stonewalling. There may be little political advantage in helping a Democratic president and Congress achieve what Republicans could not, but Sen. Kyl's role in GOP Senate leadership should not be more important than fixing what's broken in his own state.
J.D. HAYWORTH is the mouth that spewed when it comes to illegal immigration. The former congressman used his seat in the House and his radio show to pound his chest and shout down every attempt to discuss the genuine complexity of this issue. He hasn't changed. Fear and anger are his sidekicks. Self-promotion is his noble steed. His diatribes helped validate a wickedly distorted image of all migrant workers as heinous criminals.
PHIL GORDON lashed out against the law in shrill tones that did not serve his state or city. The Phoenix mayor made a flamboyant call to challenge the new law in court without first consulting the City Council, then vowed to go around his fellow elected city officials when they disagreed with him.
RUSSELL PEARCE probably has done more than anyone in the state to turn this from a complex public-policy discussion into what seems like law sketched on a cocktail napkin. This legislation, his brainchild, shows how a narrow focus on persecuting illegal immigrants blinds him to the consequences of what he is doing. We wonder if state Sen. Pearce even considered rights of legal residents and Latino citizens. Or if he cares how his law introduces real fear into real people's lives.
RAÚL GRIJALVA also fails to see beyond a narrow band of self-interest. As a representative of a heavily Latino district, he faced no political risk in responding to a divisive law with an equally divisive call for a national boycott of Arizona. Grijalva, a U.S. representative, must know that lost convention business will hurt Arizonans who are struggling to keep their jobs in these tough times. For a congressman to call for destruction of his own state's economy is irresponsible and beneath contempt.
JOE ARPAIO and ANDREW THOMAS, a showboat tag team as sheriff and county attorney, were responsible for ratcheting up the heat and dimming any light on this issue. Arpaio's immigration sweeps stirred anti-immigrant sentiment and made "driving while Latino" a suspicious activity. Thomas' decision to use a law aimed at criminal smugglers to prosecute illegal immigrants was a perversion of that law-enforcement tool.

These politicians - Republicans and Democrats - used this issue to bait voters. Voters should get wise and demand leadership and solutions. Despite the turmoil and passion surrounding this issue, there is a broad consensus that immigration is a federal responsibility and it demands federal action. State laws cannot fix it.
There is also agreement that Arizona suffers disproportionately because of federal border policies, as was seen Friday when a Pinal County sheriff's deputy was ambushed and shot by suspected drug smugglers.

Arizona can no longer afford to tolerate elected officials who show so little interest in solving one of the state's most pressing issues. We need leaders who will push to enact comprehensive reform. We need Arizona leadership - as a delegation all working together -sponsoring and spearheading federal legislation to fix immigration. Reform must secure the border so that the people entering this country are doing so legally and we know who they are. It must eliminate the access to jobs that migrants are willing to risk their lives to reach. It must include an efficient system to verify worker eligibility and tough sanctions for employers who hire the undocumented.

It must provide a path to legalization that has to be earned by the current undocumented population. If they choose not to earn it, they choose not to be citizens and live in this country. Reform must create a legal pipeline for future workers that is demand-based and temporary. With a legal framework in place, there will be no reason to be in this country without permission. Foreigners who break our laws will be prosecuted, punished and deported.

Comprehensive reform will make the border safer. When migrant labor is channeled through the legal ports of entry, the Border Patrol can focus on catching drug smugglers and other criminals instead of chasing busboys across the desert. Real leaders will have the courage to say that. Real leaders are what we need.

Arizona, our time for excuses is over.

Peaceful Dallas Immigration Marchers Protests Arizona's Racial Profiling; Calls for CIR

Today in Dallas over 20,000 marchers met at Cathedral Shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe. The march began at the church and was led by Bishop Kevin J. Farrell of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Dallas, flanked by state Sen. Royce West and former state Rep. Domingo Garcia.

There were so many people. Everyone marched for about a mile starting at the church and going to Dallas City Hall. Most marchers were concerned, and rightfully so, about Arizona's racial profiling law against Latinos. It was good to see so many people of many colors, of many races, of many cultures and ethnicities, joining so peacefully and all in protest against the racial profiling law. All agreed it violated the constitution and violated the civil liberties of all who are racially profiled.

On the podium, former legislator Garcia said the large turnout at rallies across the country "sends a powerful message to Washington that we need immigration reform now."

Garcia, an attorney for the League of United Latin American Citizens, said later that his group would target companies that do business in Arizona. He said he planned to meet with Plano-based Frito-Lay next week in an effort to get the snack company to drop its sponsorship of the Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Ariz.

The Houston Chronicle reported that about a half dozen counter-protesters stood behind a police barricade at the start of the march, with one man holding a sign that said "Shut Your Mouths and Start Headin' South." Another 100 counter-protesters waited at City Hall, chanting "Viva Arizona" at the marchers and asking them to show their identification. Police held them back from committing any violence against the peaceful marchers.

News reports across the nation indicate Immigration Marchers marched peacefully in cities across the U.S.; most notably, Los Angeles had over 60,000 (some say 250K) peaceful marchers rally with Mayor Villaraigosa leading the march. Their message to President Obama: We Need Comprehensive Immigration Reform NOW!

In Washington: Thousands of Marchers peacefully protested. As Congressman Gutierrez was speaking to a group of May Day protesters in Lafayette Square, he decided to cross the street and join a group in front of the White House. He joined the group at the fence and sat down, waited on police to ask him to move which he refused to do. He was then arrested. Rep. Luis Gutierrez, joined the peaceful group of about 35 that would not move unless either they were arrested or immigration reform was signed. As the Congressman was led away in handcuffs, he wore a tee-shirt that said “Arrest me, not my friends.” Others wore shirts that read “Arrest me, not my family.”