Protesters Defend Carrying Mexican Flags

Protesters Defend Carrying Mexican Flags
Apr 06 10:17 AM US/Eastern

By AMANDA LEE MYERS
Associated Press Writer


PHOENIX


Hundreds of protesters gripped Mexican flags as they marched for immigration reform in the past few weeks, but they say a display of cultural unity is being mistaken as a lack of loyalty to the United States.

The displays turned off many Americans. Conservative talk show hosts admonished the protesters, while everyday people wrote angry letters to the editors of their local newspapers.

Some called for those carrying the Mexican flag to return to Mexico. Others questioned why immigrants demanding rights in the United States would wave symbols of Mexico.

But those who carried them, and scholars of the immigrant community, say that pride in their culture should not be misconstrued as a lack of patriotism in their adopted nation.

"Nobody gets upset with the Irish on St. Patrick's Day," said Gabriela Lemus, director of policy and legislation at the Washington, D.C.- based League of United Latin American Citizens, the group that organized most of the recent protests and is heading the dozens of marches and rallies scheduled across the nation Monday.

Critics of waving the red, white and green have questioned marchers' loyalty to the United States, but Latino activists deny the implications.

"The Mexican flag is like a symbol of dignity and identity and pride for the people who carry it," said Dolores Huerta, who co-founded the United Farm Workers of America with Cesar Chavez. "If people try to read more into that flag than what it is, they're wrong."

Hundreds of thousands of people have marched in Phoenix, Los Angeles, Denver and other U.S. cities since late March to protest a proposed federal crackdown on illegal immigration, and often the crowds have waved flags of Mexico, Guatemala and other countries.

"Pride and roots is what it is," said Huerta, who carried the Mexican flag during the farm workers' movement in the 1960s and, more recently, during rallies in Los Angeles and Tucson. "It definitely does not mean separation or nationalism in the sense that we want to go back to Mexico."

Isidro D. Ortiz, a political scientist and professor of Chicano and Chicana studies at San Diego State University, said the flag is primarily a symbol of Mexican pride. But, in the current climate of the United States, Latinos also wave it to express dissatisfaction with how they are treated, Ortiz said.

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OK here's the deal! You're visiting in someone else's home and you don't like how they run they're home. Now there are (3) choices open to you. (1) Bite your tongue and say nothing because you're a guest. (2) Leave the other person's home forthwith and never return. (3) Begin to rant and rave about how you don't like how the other person's home is run. Demand that the people who's home you are in change things to suit you.

If you go with (3) you're going to get thrown out on your ass at the very least and in some cases get your loud mouth ass shot off!

As for pride, that dog won't hunt now or ever. If you have so much pride in Mexico, what the hell are you doing in the U.S.A.? Go back to your squalid adobe hut in the hinterlands of Mexico and take your rug-rats with you. You can then be as prideful in Old Mexico as you want to be, while you starve to death.

I come from Scots/Irish/Norman French ancestry. I don't own a Scots flag, an Irish flag, or a French flag. I fly the Stars & Stripes and the Stars & Bars. The Stars & Bars isn't politically correct, however its still an American flag. You want to wave the flag of a nation that can't even feed you, then go the hell home and wave it!

Illegals are just that illegal and should be dealt with just like you would any law breaker. And I don't care if you been in this country illegally for 20 years, fine you and deport you ASAP!

Check out the below links. These people are really some great 'guests'!

On the Net:

League of United Latin American Citizens: http://www.lulac.org

United Farm Workers of America: http://www.ufw.org

Border Action Network: http://www.borderaction.org/