I'd like to draw attention to a post in the African American Group

[ContraBass Black]

About perception of Hispanics in America.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=post&forum=258&topic_id=3416&mesg_id=3416

[Cleita]

1. Although there has always been prejudice against those

who speak Spanish and who look different than the mainstream white American, it sure is being ratcheted up lately. I am dismayed to find so much of this animosity expressed on DU. It belongs on Free Republic, not here. It's framed in reference as them being lawbreakers for crossing the border and taking their jobs. Yet, when I and others have attempted to post facts that expose the lies, those who scream the loudest seem mysteriously absent when the truth is put out for all to see.

[EFerrari]

2. I have been asked if I "have papers" here at DU and one poster

actually theorized that I employed "illegals" and hoped that I would be "busted". It was pretty nauseating. All I can say is, my ignore list must be pushing the limit. And, that's very sad for me.

The Republican party is fanning racial hatred in this country nakedly, in a way I haven't seen in my lifetime. Against people of color, against the poor, against anyone they can think to cut off from the herd. They need that Other in order to consolidate their hateful base.

My dear friend Rolando owns a small grocery store on my block. He's a neighborhood treasure. He knows who among our homeless neighbors is ready to accept help, what family is struggling on the block, what elderly person could use a hand taking their stuff home. He's everything you'd ever want in your wildest dreams in a good neighbor -- and he doesn't live here.

Well, the racists are harassing him. The SS administration misspelled his wife's name on her card and some racist there tried to send him to Immigration instead of just correcting THEIR error. People are now openly condescending to him and sometimes, plain ugly, while they are in HIS store.

Rolando spent a year as a prisoner of the US backed death squads in El Salvador. Because someone thought his brother in law was a guerrilla or because they could. I guess if he survived that, he can survive this.

I have a really bad feeling about this situation. It's going to get worse before it gets better. I really worry about my cousins who can't "pass" -- for them, their families and their careers. They're all younger than I am and have no experience being kicked around. And, they will be. :(

[Cybergata]

3. This is almost gut wrenching...

This man is a saint, and yet is treated like dirt. If you see him, give him a big hug from Nancy in New Mexico. Tell him he is a person that proves immigrants make the U.S. a better place.

I know people like Rolando in my city, but I'll see no more since I don't want the Fed reading to send any more of them to Mexico whether they are citizens of the U.S. or not. I'm back to Born in the U.S.A. It is one of the funniest movies around, and I always cry at the end. Cheech Marín is so adorable.

[EFerrari]

4. Will do! Have you ever seen "The Milagro Bean Field War"?

I love that movie for its love and humor. It's ruthless and hilarious.

[Cybergata]

5. Hey, we live the Milagro Bean field War in NM

When I first saw the movie, I was disappointed because I had just read the book. The book was amazing. I've watched it again many, many times since and have grown to love the movie. It is amazing to see people on screen just like the people I grew up with. That is almost literal since there were many faces of people I crossed paths when I growing up in Santa Fe who were extras.

There were also many insider bits and pieces sprinkled through out the movie. There was a bumper sticker for a woman I know named Judy Pratt on the VW bus. Everyone in the theater I saw the film at clapped at the sight of it. I wish they had all voted for Judy when she ran against our present U.S. Bush loving Senator. Judy now teaches, but in her time in the state congress she sure was liberal and I loved her for it. Even that dashing fellow, Ruben Blades, looked like he fit in. I love Sonia, but she isn't like anyone I've know from Northern New Mexico, but it doesn't matter, she is wonderful anyway.

The peace corp worker or whatever he was, played by Daniel Stern at any rate, is the character who wrote the book, John Nichols. It is wonderful how someone from a very different part of the country could understand the people from my home so well. The whole peace corp worker is not a joke BTW. My husband lived in a small Northern New Mexico mountain community. He isn't Hispanic, but he grew up living among the Pueblo People and Hispanics. When he lived in Peñasco it was a very poor area as most Hispanic communities were at the time. His baseball coach was a peace corp worker. The peace corp sent workers to areas such as the one in the Bean field war in New Mexico to give them first hand experience with working in what was area almost identical to third world countries. Poor yes, but they were rich in community, culture, family and love. And most of them have been displaced by the ricos who moved into the area because it is so beautiful.

[EFerrari]

7. So Nichols was the gringo? I saw before I read.

And I still crack up over some lines, by myself like a lunatic.

"I don't like beans. I like steak."

:rofl:

[ContraBass Black]

6. Did I link to the reply button?

:blush:

[EFerrari]

8. What happened? Did we screw up somehow?

I was grateful to you for posting that because every livingroom elephant needs a walk now and then.

[ContraBass Black]

9. I made the link in my post to the "reply" button instead of the "view"

Button.

[EFerrari]

10. Well, I must have screwed up clicking on your link

because it worked fine for me.

Thanks.
:)