Immigration Protests

[coolbeans326]

So anywas, being around the LA area in a high hispanic populated area, there were walk outs of my school and now they're running around neighborhoods protesting and junk. Your opinions....

Weird?

[Oscar]

yay! no school this entire week, let's go protest

[jayman]

the "blow outs" worked very well in the 1960's..... mexican kids were being negleted in l.a. schools and finally the said "F*** you if you aren't gonna teach us anything then we're outta here.." viva mi amigos de la raza de americas norte" ...my spainish is bad , but i'm a total hippie when it comes to this kind of poop.. these protests are not about not having to go to school, but about putting a stop to the racist (yes racist, no matter who says what) rhetoric about "illegals"
i live in san diego, and i work as a small engine mechanic in a lawnmower shop. many of the big landscaping companies here, that keep the lawns and golf courses looking nice for the tourists, are maintained by my mexican friends who send their equipment to our shop to be fixed.. these are big companies, not "blow and go" guys, but i work on their stuff too..
these protests warm my heart, which has become bitter since the iraq war. and all the b.s. that was conjured up to get us into it.
sure i don't want "terrorists" to enter my country from the south.. but anyone with half a brain knows that that's just an excuse for rednecks to try to keep "them evil mexAcans " out.. like i said i'm just a mechanic , but i can assure you that the typical "latino" living in the united states "illegaly"
is not here to rape your daughter, take your job, and destroy our economy.sorry if i sound crazy....j.....

Amen Jay

[jayman]

whoa.. didn't mean to sound preachy...

I guess you could relate this to all the Asians living in the UK at the moment. Some towns are just completly overrun by muslims and what not, I just do not understand what there buissness is over here in the UK, they seem to get constant racial abuse, awful pay rates and generaly abused by everyone in the UK. They are like that annoying kid in school who thought he was popular and just would never go away, not matter how hard you'd kick them in the face. It's not like any of them are stealing any of the white women over here anyway, so i'm not too bothered and they only take up the crappy jobs that no one wants, so I really dont mind

^^^ True dude, i got gripped by an Asian becasue he thought i threw a Snowball at him. Wasn't me who threw it and so what if i did, its only snow.
I was really annoyed with hid reaction, he bleeded racial abuse all over me, calling me Milky as such.
I wouldnt mind them immigrating if they suited to the english way of life. But they dont, they have ruined Bolton town center for sure now.
Not being racist but they have taken it too far now, and they should go back where they belong.

People may have other opinions, but thats mine and im sure im entitled to it.

I personally think protests are whack.

A protest is supposed to be a showing of public outcry to support a theory or idea. However, most protests even though they seem to be full of passionate people are full of followers reacting to a few who are passionate. Most people are just drawn to protests because it gives them an identity. It allows that person to join something and be a part of something - often without even knowing what the cause is.

A second gripe I have with protests being useless is they never do much. Its supposed to change things or at least influence based on a large public outcry but thats usually not the case. Infact, I think protests work counter-intuitively and work against the protesters.


My major problem is that why do people go out and protest a problem instead of being the solution? The solution is never to protest. All the time that has been spent over the years protesting could have been spent getting to the root of the problem and probably making more ground than they ever thought possible.


Lets take the Racial protests. Do minorities have something to protest about? Yea, probably. However, instead of protesting, why not spend that time making friendships and working within your communities and neighborhoods to break stereotypes and to establish relationships?



Protests divide people/nations. They do not unite - which is what we need. Sure, they unite some people or a large number but they WILL divide since they are opposing some people/ideas. Why not take it to a more personal level and get to know those people? Love those people?


You'll never catch me in a protest. Instead youll find me getting to the heart of the problems in real life. Ill leave the protesting to the people too afraid to hit the problem head on.

[jayman]

what!!!!???? what the hell are you talking about... was the boston tea party a bunch of people who were afraid to hit the problem dead on? and that wasn't even simple civil disobedience, that was deliberate destruction of property...
were my ancestors supposed to learn to love king george? no NO NO NO.....
was dr. king suposed to say.."wait a minute people, lets learn to love the kkk, and the bigoted state governments that support them , and the laws that segregate"?
now to be fair , the opportunism that surfaces at these events has turned me off too, BUT while they might not be doing the BEST thing i cannot help feeling like they are doing the right thing..
illegal immigration is a problem, even a "bleeding heart" like mine cannot ignore this, but is throwing a bone to the racist right the way to fix it?

[jayman]

oh, and as far as people joining something to gain an identity .. there's this thing, called.. religion.... .................

I dont really get what you mean by the Boston Tea Party. It didnt really acccomplish anything other than started to rally people together. But was that needed? Was a deliberate destruction of property needed? I dont think so. Violence shouldnt bring people together...thats so primal and inhuman.

Incase your facts on the party are wrong:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_tea_party

It was nothing more than a bunch of people breaking onto ships, throwing lots of tea over in the middle of the night then telling the shipmates what to say then leaving. It wasnt some huge jamboree like most think it was. It did serve in a larger purpose but lets not compare the 1700's to the 2000's. Its quite a different scenario considering we were owned by another country at that time


As for Dr. King, he was a GREAT man. He did more through love than he ever did through a protest. All the protest did was get him airtime but it was what he did with the airtime that mattered most. He spoke of love and was a devout Christian. You speak of King as a great man but then your last comment on religion seems to contradict all that King said since.


I never said to love laws or love governments etc. I said to love people. Dr. Kings message was one of love, acceptance and peace. Which sounds alot like what I said up there.


As for illegal immigration - of course its a problem. But I dont see how a protest (which often turns violent - I should know - my city made national news when the Nazi's came here) goes about fixing that or even moving that in a good direction.

What would be far better would be to work with these people. I agree - alot of them are not here to ruin the economy or rape our daughters (never heard that one). Quite frankly, illegal or not, we will still have people working under the table and doing the same things that illegal aliens do. However, I think more of a push should be made to accomodate and make these people US citizens if they so wish. If they do not, then I think they should be returned to their home country.


Religion only gives identity to the weak minded and feeble hearted who are in it for the identity. If thats your motive than you will be as transparent and hypocritical as the next person. Just as I said with protests - many people use those for identity.

Anyways, why on earth would anyone then be a part of a religion since the world hates religion?? Comments like yours solidify the worlds hate for those in connection with religion. So why put myself through harms way unless it were about something else and not what people thought?

i am mexican

and i go to an LA school...

i myself didnt walk out of school i am not that stupid. Getting out of school wont do anything. about 40 people from my school walked out on monday they got truacy tickets for 300 dollars and they have to go court.

[jayman]

no.. religion is not a BAD evil thing.. it can be perverted into such, and in some cases concieved to do evil.... but many people join religious groups to find identity. all of them? of course not. many believe that they hold the truth and that others should be shown.
the same goes for activism.. i'd be willing to say that many of the people who participated in these and other protests did so because the felt the need to belong... and others because it looked like fun.. but , like you said about the boston tea party, (no not the disney version..) it had an effect.. it raised the awareness that we were getting screwed... in any case.. it was a "protest" and many many of the participants in these protests today, though young, are capable of understanding what's going on...
as far as dr. king's faith .. he was a christian, and THAT as much as any thing motivated his work, i'm sure of it. in my opinion it shows that his involvement in his religion was for far more than to find identity.
my statement was not to imply that the ONLY reason people choose religion is to find identity, but to point out that the same could be said about parts of the "establishment" as could be said about demonstrations .... while many of the participants might seem like mindless, following zombies, at the core of it all is something truly important...i don't like opportunism, i get truly disgusted when i see people treating a protest like a party, or a game. that's MY reason for never having gone to one. but people have chosen to do this, for what ever reason, and their numbers are what's getting their point out there...

^The theory of a protest is great. But I think that in alot of cases the majority of the people in a protest are out there because its "fun", "new" or something to do.

Which is sad because it could ultimatly end up starting a movement they wanted nothing to do with.


Like you said with religion, thats how I feel with protests. Far too often (not always) it ends up being perverted in the fact that lots and lots of people start going "Hey, theres a protest! Lets join!" with some blind idea that because its a protest, it must be good.


But I did say that the core of a protest is usually something important. Its just that by the time it reaches a protest point alot of bandwagon jumpers have jumped on just for the sake of being part of something. Especially because if it ends up going somewhere, it allows them later to say "Yea, I was part of the protest that started it all." Humans have a sick fascination with being that self centered.


But the things that are of utmost importance right now, like racism and the likes - these things need to be taken care of on a daily basis by our actions and our words of love.

[jayman]

very true, i've been invited to many many rallies, and i've never gone. the people who's invitations i've declined think it's because i don't care.. i've told them outright that while it's for something i believe in, i don't wish to aligned with the sort of crackpots that get all the attention, thus bringing shame on the whole movement, and may, like you pointed out, be detrimental to the acheivement of goals.
and yes the "i was there" bragging thing sucks...it's almost like "i'm glad something sh*tty is happening because i got to go to a demonstration" ..... these are the opportunists i refer to.
in this case though i still have faith in the concept of civil disobedience... on teusday i watched two groups of teenagers, big groups , march by the back fence of my work.. one group had come from a school about 6 miles away, and the other from about 5 ... their destination was 5 miles away. they stayed on the sidewalk, and when i waved to them they cheered,and waved back, never once did they say anything negative or racist to me. they were loud, but not unruly, and they seemed organized.... i believe in civil disobedience, and i beleive that some of this new law is b.s., i felt as if they kinda represented my voice, somewhat.