Illinois Congressman Luis Gutierrez flew in for a Comprehensive Immigration Reform rally held at the Pasadena Convention Center. A large pro-migrant crowd enjoyed a powerful speech from the Congressman. Here is a video of the speech. (Translation Below the Fold.)
When I first made a call in Los Angeles for to all our pro-migrant friends and allies to go to Washington DC on March 21st, some said, “Is it possible?”
It is no longer something that is possible, it is going to happen, and it’s going to be huge.
And we’re going to do it with friends like Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, let’s give her an applause for her kind words earlier (she called in her introduction of Gutierrez–very nice.)
And we’re going to go because we are tired of being treated as if invisible. We are human beings and we want to guarantee our human and civil rights in this country. We work hard, we contribute much, and we demand the respect that the work, that sweat, and the love we give deserve.
And let me tell you, your leadership have given thanks to our President this week. All of a sudden…Do you all recall in Janurary, the State of the Union speech? All the news stations had the President on for this information message. The Senate, The House are seated, the Supreme Court–all the powers that be sit before the President to listen to his priorities for the coming year.
And let me tell you how disillusioned I was after the speech when only 28 words were given, without love, without enthusiasm, and without direction. They were not words that gave priority or gave a feeling of the real suffering that is occuring in our community. And that is why we made the call that on March 21st, so that when the President awakens, he will see thousands of us demanding that we be a priority.
And some may ask, “Luisito, what will we get out of this?” Let me tell you, things are coming together. We have yet to arrive in D.C., and this past Thursday The White House didn’t have one, not two, but three high-level meetings on immigration reform.
The White House called Senators Lindsey Graham and Chuck Schumer and the President met with them for over an hour on the process toward reform. Then 15 national leaders of the pro-Migrant movement met with the President to discuss the future programs and process on the issue. Then at 6:30 PM, the Hispanic Caucus met with President Obama and we were clear: We want immigration reform, and we want him to come through on his promises…
If we have the faith that we have good reasons and that the moral compass is pointing to us, that the unnecessary abuse is intolerable, and that if we do our part and educate the people that all we want to do is to give our work and our love to this country and our promise to make America better we will win like the Union workers, the Women who got the right to vote, and the African Americans who earned their civil rights. We will win, too.
And that’s why we must go to Washington DC to show that we are not invisible. They must hear our voices.
I understand that there is great frustration, but we don’t really have a right to be frustrated. You don’t have that possibility. It would an irresponsibility for us to give up. It is irresponsible. You don’t have that right, none of us do. Why? Because there are families that suffer greatly in our community because there are children who cry every night because someone took away their parent. Because there is a wife whose husband was sent to Iraq to defend our country while she receives a deportation letter. That is immoral and it must end. There are millions of CITIZEN children in this country–four million–whose parents do not have papers–what will we do with them? When we deport a mom and dad, those AMERICAN children are deported too and that is injust and must end.
You know, when they say “Those People,” they are referring to me, too. They are referring to those with and without papers. Because in reality, theirs is a movement which is anti-Hispanic. And I will tell you that when I was young, my parents came to Chicago from Puerto Rico. And I remember there were apartment complexes with signs that said, “We do not rent to Puerto Ricans” and jobs that did not hire Puerto Ricans. I remember the segregation in which we lived. I remember in first grade of school when little kids would arrive, they would say, “Those Hispanics can’t learn,” and they’ve put them off to the side to play with toys instead of teaching them, Yes, in 1960, this was happening.
Everything was about hate and discrimination. They would call me “Spic”. Today they say “Wetback” back then it was “Spic” but it’s all the same. I remember. But I also remember that there was no one to defend us…in defense of an indefensible community, one without a voice. We must not allow this community to not have a voice. That we have no defenders. We cannot let history repeat itself again.
And that’s why we’re going to Washington DC.
We want that great presidential candidate who filled us with enthusiasm and energy and passion…who made us come out in unprecedented numbers to vote for him…the one who would fill arenas like this one and who would speak to us would almost blow the roof off of the place after promising us immigration reform and understanding our plight…I want that candidate to return, i want to see him, return to us–we love you…be our leader. Even if we lose because the other side is better organized, be with us and tell us you’ll fight with us. That’s what we need.
