This afternoon Lilly Mesa decided to post a comment on my post discussing her legislation (along with Susi Nord), HB404, that would make it illegal to ask anyone their immigration status here in NH. I have approved it entirely and without commenting upon it, as requested.
Again, I do not not agree with her legislation – at all. She does, however, have the right to sponsor such legislation. My feeling, however, is that ALL legislation is open for discussion including any reasons behind it. And it should be done with more speech, not less.
As she brings up more issues and reasons in her comment, and upon more contemplation, I’ve decided that it merits its own posting. Along with my comments.
I thought I will save you some time doing your homework and decided to send you my reply to your assumptions about me. My only hope is that you don’t edit it and post it as it is.
Which I have done here (scroll down to the Comments section) for those that wish to read it without my comments. All I have done is a cut and paste for her words - any grammer / spelling mistakes are hers. All of mine belong to me!
The rest of her comment (and it is long) can be found after the jump...
But before that, I did ask her one question:
Instead of not asking ANYONE what their immigration / citizenship status is, what about asking EVERYONE that status? Would this satisfy your concern of racial profiling, as if the police stop anyone (anyone of any color or not), they would ask and not just of some? And that would alleviate my concern of those that are here illegally would be found and dealt with appropriately?
A win-win solution, right?
Due to some controversy about me being a State Representative I decided to take out the Rep" title from my name because this is my personal space and I want to be free to manage it in any way I want.
I’m not sure that I agree that Ms. Mesa being a State Representative is all that controversial at all. What I DO find controversial is her legislation HB404. Frankly, I agree that she is free to do anything that she want in her MySpace area (which I assume she is talking about). What is important to understand, however, is that the same freedom that allows her to publish anything in a public space also allows others to comment upon it freely as well.
But it looks that even here we are not free at all. I always have people watching over me, and trying to find out about my privacy.
Au contraire! We are free. But let’s be frank…when someone runs and wins elective office, they have by definition put themselves into the public eye. Of COURSE, people are going to watch you. And when you sponsor legislation with which others do not agree, that will only intensify the scrutiny.
I have done so here in Gilford, and continue to do so with my radio show and this blog. She should expect no less, especially as she becomes more and more active in the community. After all, it was her who stated that she was becoming "a professional protester".
Doing that almost always will get other peoples’ attention.
I was pretty much unnoticed in NJ because I wasn’t part of any organization, or group at all.
Bingo. Being inactive allows you to blend into the woodwork. Your activism has put you directly front and center because most people don’t do that!
Besides that, I lived in a small town that there were hardly any Latinos.So, to say that I do speak a broken English is definitely not an accurate statement. I’ve been studying English since I was in 5th grade, and I haven’t stopped since then. I learn something new every day about the English language.
I’ve talked with Ms. Mesa. I listened to her on the podcast. Regardless of how long she has been here, nor how much she has studied English, there is one inconvertible truth – I find you hard to understand as you do have a thick accent.
This is neither good or bad, it just is.
As many of you now, I am Colombian (notice it is not Columbian),
My spelling mistake!
and very proud of my roots. Why would I be ashamed to say where I’m coming from. That is like denying my parents or family at all. I am an American citizen too, and I also feel proud of it. I love this country, and to say that I am anti-American is absurd. I have many American friends that have supported me throughout my life in this country and I am very grateful of that.
Ifeel a great appreciation for been here, and having been able to raise my kids here and for all the opportunities that that represent for me and my family.
And this is fine. My observation in my other post hangs on assimilation. Upon reviewing the information, I see a large affiliation with latino culture, but not much on American. Look at it from others eyes – why not have flown an American flag at MySpace instead of the Columbian one?
My family roots came from Sweden and Ireland – but being an American, I fly the American flag.
That doesn’t mean that I agree with the current government, and why would I? I cannot agree with the ridiculous war going on right now and the killings of thousands of people, including our youth and immigrants, in Irak based on lies.
Convenient to hide behind that meme. If folks like Ms. Mesa truly believed that, he should have been impeached long ago. My feeling is that most Liberals find it far easier to use it as a rallying cry (or to get them out of illogical situations).
Neither I agree with the current foreign policies because it doesn’t benefit anyone, not the countries involved nor USA.
Really? Fifty million Muslims have been freed in Afghanistan and Iraq. Our policies made it possible for our military to act in relief operations in Indonesia after the tsunami. Our billions of foreign aid keep people alive, ma’am!
Truth in point? Cut that funding off and see what happens….have the US become an isolationist nation and watch the despair that will overcome the world. Face it, we are Pax America even though we did not seek out that role.
I am not against laws because obviously we need them to keep an order, but I am totally against any type of discrimination.
A wrong headed notion as there ever was one. I discriminate all the time – Doesn’t Ms. Mesa also discriminate against child molesters? How about those that steal from corner stores and elderly ladies? What about employers that break OSHA laws, or a hundred other things I could think of.
Extreme judgementalism is wrong but just as wrong is the other extreme which is a total lack of judgementalism. Level headedness is needed, especially when someone is given legislative power.
And lately, because of the whole immigration issue, there is white-supremacist campaign to blame Latinos and immigrants for everything that is happening in this country which is very unfair.
And now the real Ms. Mesa may be appearing. Either that, or trying to continue the sham of portraying this as a race issue (I really do hate that race issue – I tend to discriminate against those that use that to force their issue).
The issue of race is a non-starter. The real issue is two-fold:
- Following the law or not (legal or illegal)
- Where do most of the illegal immigrants come from?
If you are here illegally, I want everyone to be watching for them just like I would like everyone to watch out for all lawbreakers. That’s why the authorities issue alerts, that’s why Neighborhood Watch groups exist – to look for and inform the police when strangers seem to be up to no good near their home.
NOW, I get real politically incorrect – there is a statistic that Mexico has lost 1 in 10 of its workers to illegal immigration to the US. Thus, most of the illegal immigrants are from Mexico. Thus, many illegals will look Mexican and speak Spanish (and not English).
Many decry racial profiling on a strictly political correctness basis. In this case, if most of the illegals are coming from Mexico, doesn’t it make sense to to pay more attention to that fact? A similar notion would be that most lawbreakers in NH are white, as the population statistics show that they are the majority.
My job as a State Representative is to advocate for those in need no matter where they are from, which color of skin they are, what language they speak, which religion they practice, or what is their sexual orientation. Why wouldn’t I defend our civil rights? We all have civil rights, and we, as citizens of this country have freedom of speech.
You have the responsibility to see that our laws are followed (in a different way than the courts or law enforcement) and to make sure that ALL laws pertain and keep all citizens safe. Your responsibility is not to advocate for any one; it is to advocates for the legal citizens of NH
Not for illegal immigrants who broke our law to come here, continue to break that law to
stay here, and often break more laws while doing so.
Creating law that allows them to do that by handcuffing our law enforcement agencies is wrong.
t is when those rights are imbued without legal status upon those that should not have them that we have problem. Big problems.
I just would like to see respect and appreciation for other people towards all of us that are different, just the same as I practice to others. In the matter of how I support myself, I believe that is only something that concerns me because I haven’t received any monetary aid to pay my rent or my expenses from those that are always criticizing me. So, I do not believe they have any right to question that.
Suit yourself.
At the same time I hate the fact that some politicians, and media people use their power to try to intimidate me at the point that I got some threats for me and my family.
I have stated before that threats are wrong….I believe that this should be won in the public arena. And if it was politicians or media that physically threatened you, turn them in. However, it takes a thick skin to be in the public eye.
Anyway, no matter what, or how I say it they will always try to use it for their political game because that is how politics are.
I will say that sometimes, intimidation is used in the political arena. It only works if you let it. And that is how the game is played.
One more thing that I’ll add is that I promise that I will never take advantage of my position as State Representative for my own benefit because I ran solely to represent the people of New Hampshire.
Protect the citizens of NH, not those that are here illegally.
