Be the Change

Hard to Believe

A few weeks ago an illegal immigrant was beaten to death in a nearby town. Since then three teenagers were arrested and they've recently been released on bail, pending a trial which will probably happen next year.

Yesterday, in that same town, there was a rally/protest against illegal immigrant rights. My jaw dropped several times when I read an article about it in today's newspaper. Here's that article:

http://www.republicanherald.com/articles/2008/08/31/news/local_news/pr_republica...

Then I read this comment in another section of the paper (where citizens can submit thoughts & comments):

I stopped in the center of town for a red light in Shenandoah and two boys stopped right next to me and my husband and put a Mexican flag on a stick out the passenger-side window. They started laughing and waving it at us. We didn't want to start trouble, so when the light turned green, we drove away. These boys live in this country, so why aren't they waving the American flag out the window instead?

The commentator's reply (s/he replies to some comments) was: Maybe they were just celebrating Heritage Days?

See, the town just celebrated its annual Heritage Day. Which is almost a joke, really. I hear that comment a lot, way too much, actually. But the problem to me is that it's fine to wave some flags, but not others. I see cars with bumper stickers of the flags of Poland, Italy, Germany, etc., which make up for a lot of the heritage of the citizens here. But a lot of people here have a problem with celebrating Mexican heritage.

Two years ago, I covered the Heritage Day parade for the newspaper, and I remember the Mexican community (the legal immigrants) were afraid to participate.

This area is basically in a depression. Most people make slightly above minimum wage, and the cost of living keeps rising. They're stretched so far, and, to me, it seems like they've picked a scapegoat - immigrants.

The whole thing is so unbelievably sad and upsetting. I'm tired of hearing racist comments every single day.

Some highlights from that article I linked include a man at the rally who was wearing a Nazi flag, and a speaker telling people not to demonize the teenage murderers, saying the guy wouldn't have been murdered if he would have stayed in his own country.

It makes me ashamed that I grew up in this area full of such hatred and racism.