First Person:
By Al Carlos Hernandez
Hate to say this, but something Kat Williams said a few weeks ago rings true for me: if you are not loyal to this country and your allegiance is to somewhere else, then get out and stay out…
It is clear, even from an Ivy-League-limousine-liberal point of view, that people from around the world come to our country because the “mother-land” has failed them in some way. Most focus today is on Mexican immigration.
The reason there is such a glaring problem in Mexican immigration is because Mexico is within walking distance and there is no reasonable policy to address that issue. However, recent statistics prove that there has been less illegal immigration over the last few years – and the border patrol has little to do with it. Mexico’s economy is getting better. Still, it is rare to hear an undocumented person talk about had badly America sucks. Maybe if bleeding heart enablers understood colloquial Spanish rather than Rosetta Stone, they would know that folks who come here want to work and participate in the “American Dream.”
Freedom for this country has been won, and is currently maintained, on the backs of ethnic minority men and women who make the ultimate sacrifice out of love for a country that misunderstands them. Some of the proudest people I have ever seen were those who were participating in a San Franciscan citizen swearing in ceremony. Wonderful people, from almost every country in the world, willfully pledged allegiance to our flag. How many of our citizens are willing to do the same, given today’s attitude of entitlement?
Okay. So I sound like a knee-jerk Republican (emphasis on “jerk”). However, I am equally proud to say that I have been given the title of Minister of Information Emeritus by Brown Beret Prime Minister Dr. David Sanchez – an honorary title that I wear with pride. This is what I experienced: during the late 60’s and early 70’s, courageous young Latinos (when Hispanics were not yet invented) gave it all to help stop the Viet Nam war and to make sure that colleges and universities afforded Latinos equal opportunities for education. Because of this overt and unabashed political action by the Brown Berets and the Young Lords Party, Latinos have made many important strides over the last 30 years. Hey, there is a Latina on the Supreme Court!
Illegals, on one hand, make American-born Latinos look bad. On the other hand, everyone thinks that every Latino speaks Spanish and watches Univision. Spanish speaking foreign nationals have stolen access to the airwaves from those of us born here. And those of us born here, many of whom are talented artists who fought the hard battles to get those rights, are cut out of the action. Watch any Latino award show. No homegrown representation . . . ever.
Artists like Willie Colon, Little Joe, The Bands Tierra and Malo have been systematically excluded by monolingual Spanish speaking nationals. Master TV directors Dennis Leoni and Jesus Trevino, both of whom cannot get a network show, are leaving tens of millions with their stories untold while whack job tele novellas get top national ratings.
If you respect the country, then you have to respect the law. This is not to say that there is not selective enforcement. There is. Those who come to our country illegally know that they are breaking the law, but are willing to take the risk to feed their families. To grant blanket asylum for those who do not respect our laws sets a bad precedent.
Seems to me that the simple solution is to keep the people who are willing to become loyal citizens and send back people who have no respect for this country; a country that we love and have died to maintain.
I wish there was a place we could send welfare recipients, convicts, senators, and congressmen who refuse to work. They should be drug tested every week. My Bible says, “If a man doesn’t work, neither should he eat…” Every welfare recipient, irrespective of race, should be required to pass the citizenship test. I am most certainly qualified to comment on this issue. As a child, my family grew up on welfare when the system worked for those who couldn’t. And also for those that wouldn’t.
I am so tired of hearing about how great other countries are. I’ve gotta say, they are not as great as this country I live in. People wishing to be somewhere else live in a world that doesn’t exist. Other countries fail. That is the reason these people are here. People need to channel that love of “country of origin” to this country – a country that is giving them a quality of life they could never have back “home.”
We need to engender a new patriotism. America is like a baseball team with players from all over the place who have one goal: to win and to keep on winning. How are you going to play for a team wearing some other team’s jersey? United we stand. Divided we fall.
It is time for America to stop apologizing. We need to stand up and take back the dignity that we deserve as the greatest country on Earth. Acknowledge the fact that “we” are all the races which make up the American landscape: the bilingual, bicultural, bisexual, bi-ignorant…
America needs to get back to work. Kids need to study hard and get a good education. The days of entitlement are over. Only those who are willing to put in the time to do the work should be eligible to reap the fruits of the harvest. And when sojourners fondly remember the country they came from and sing its songs while eating its popular foods, I hope they never forget the reason they came here and why what they have now is so much better. Thank God for it.
On the real, if you really don’t like it here, there are buses that leave every hour. It would be so easy to do a fundraiser for one way tickets. I would be willing to chair such a committee.
Edited by Susan Aceves