Contact: Javier Herrera Arizona League of United Latin American Citizens, District 3 Phone 520.245.8124 lulacyoungadults@gmail.com

League of United Latin American Citizens

Press Release

Arizona LULAC District 3 Applauds Local Efforts to Oppose Arizona SB 1070

Top Officials in Pima County Make a Strong Stand to Oppose the State’s Controversial Measure to Stop Illegal Immigration

Tucson, AZ, May 8, 2010: Arizona LULAC District 3 applauds the recent efforts made by the Tucson City Council and Pima County Sheriff, Clarence Dupnik, to oppose SB 1070. These efforts stand as some of the first in the state and illustrates the growing negative sentiment toward the state’s policy makers. In his remarks on April 28^th, 52-year law enforcement veteran, Sheriff Clarence Dupnik characterized the law as being “unwise”, “stupid” and “racist” and went on to state that SB 1070 was a “national embarrassment. . . If I were a Hispanic person in the state, I would be humiliated and angered. From that point of view, I think it’s morally wrong.” This mounting disappointment with the state’s governor and legislative body was further iterated this week with the 5-1 vote by the Tucson City Council to seek a legal challenge to the law. In an interview conducted with Mayor Robert Walkup, the Mayor stated that he felt that the law a misguided as those who were proponents of it felt that illegal immigrants were “bad for the area's quality of life and economy.”

Referred to as the “papers-pleas” bill, SB 1070 will:

· Expose Latinos in the state of Arizona to racial profiling and will place the rights of regular citizens at risk.

· Allow regular citizens to pursue legal action against law enforcement agencies should they feel those agencies are not enforcing the law adequately which will only create more strain to an already financially-strapped system.

· Create greater ramifications to the State’s economy through less tourism by those who live out-of-state and less spending by Mexican nationals who come to Arizona to purchase items.

The League of United Latin American Citizens, the oldest and largest Hispanic membership organization in the country, advances the economic conditions, educational attainment, and political influence, health, housing and civil rights of Hispanic Americans through community-based programs operating at more than 700 LULAC councils nationwide.

Speech by Gabriel De La Cerda at the immigration rally 2010

!Ganas!

Why care about SB 1070? Why fight a law in another state so far from our worries or concerns? These are the questions that many Americans have asked themselves these past few weeks. Thinking on this, I came across the words of MLK, “An injustice anywhere is an injustice everywhere.” Let this poetry sink in. Witness the truth as politicians have announced their eagerness in attempting to pass similar laws in Utah, Minnesota, and Texas. “My fellow Americans, we are not gathered here today as an angry mob, No, we are gathered here today as an awakened people willing to stand up to an injustice anywhere!”

I came to this epiphany while debating this law on the internet. You see, I can speak the English language better than most Caucasian Americans and perhaps even better than some British. I know of one American who cannot though. She speaks only Spanish and calls me lovingly her Americano. The beautiful woman that I speak of is my grandmother, mi abuelita.

She was born in Gonzales Texas, she is 4 foot 8 and 75 years old. She is a legal citizen of this great country but has called the border town of Eagle Pass Tx her home. All along the US – Mexican border I have come to realize that there are grandmothers, grandfathers, parents and children who do not speak English as their native tongue. Many do not speak English at all. Does this make them any less American then you and I?

Recently a Texas state Representative has said that she will bring forth a similar immigration law in Texas. My grandmother’s birth certificate is 75 years old, I imagine she probably doesn’t even know where it is. She has no Drivers License because she never learned to drive. If this virus of a law is allowed to spread like it is trying to now, what will you tell my grandmother when she is arrested for being an American citizen who does not have the proper documentation and does not speak the proper language an officer wants her to speak? What will you tell all the grandmothers?

Let’s take a step away now and look at the immigrant. Stop and think, what drives a person to leave the land they grew up in, and go where they have no family or friends, or even more daunting, the likely hood that they do not speak the native tongue of English. What kind of crazy person would brave a desert; rattle snakes, drug runners, minute men, the Rio Grande, border patrol, and a society that largely does not want them or their children? I give you a simple word that defines these people, it was spoken often by a teacher I never met, but always Idolized, his name was Jaime Escalante. He was an immigrant from La Paz, Bolivia and his word was "Ganas!"

It has many meanings. Drive, Guts, Determination, I think even president Obama would agree that the word Audacity may even fit in its definition. Among the list of reasons immigrants attempt this journey, better paying jobs, better future for a family, escaping a war or persecution, famine, disease, the need for a better education, the binding term they ties these all together is, “ganas!” The individual that strikes out for America more often than not, comprises the same kind of values we as Americans, say we cherish. They all have "Ganas." They are all crazy brave with determination to make something of themselves. They are willing to claw through a 120 degree desert and say, "goodbye," to the life they are leaving behind.

These are the same kind of individuals who have been recognized by our American Government with our highest honor in battle. Since 1861 the Congressional Medal of Honor has been awarded to over 3400 people, 700 of these recipients where immigrants to this great nation. These are not the weak and downtrodden. These are the brave and fierce, the kind of human being that would be an alpha male or female in Aldous Huxleys, BRAVE NEW WORLD. They may speak with an accent and have dark skin and darker hair, but they are the kind of people any nation would take in a heartbeat to build up a foundation for the future.

Indeed that is much the same reason why their native countries remain in states of chaos. We have drafted the "Gana's," from the countries that have so little. We robbed these countries of their material wealth in the 20th century, now we take away from them there future by being the land of the free and the home of the brave. You who scoff at the immigrant and look down on them with contempt, ask yourself this, if America was a third world country that was riddled with Corruption and despair, would you have the "Ganas," to go and make a new beginning and become an immigrant yourself?

Questions, this is what we are left with, but today I have come to you with an answer. In my America I will not stand by while a blind few take away our liberties. In my America I will not stand by and watch hate and fear over power Hope and truth. I stand before you today as a child of the cockroach people, and I will speak out for those who cannot be heard. The sleeper has awakened and today we will show the American people what it means to be an AMERICAN, and remind them we may not look like you, we may not sound like you, but we have something you have lost, we will show them the meaning of the word “Ganas!”