Gutierrez Eyeing Chicago Mayorship?

I read this in the Chicago Tribune yesterday.

More than 500 Latinos waving Mexican and Puerto Rican flags chanted loudly Monday night that they want U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) for alcalde--the Spanish word for mayor.

Yet in announcing that he would seek an eighth and final term in Washington next year, Gutierrez came no closer to indicating whether he would run for mayor when Richard Daley's term ends in 2007.

Gutierrez is currently my rep in the House. Not fond of him, mostly because we are about as far apart as you can get on the issues of illegal immigration and immigration reform. I blogged this about him previously.

But there were a couple of things that jumped out at me when I read this brief piece: his supporters were "waving Mexican and Puerto Rican flags" and "chanted loudly...that they want...Gutierrez for alcalde..."

First, where were all the American flags? Gutierrez is, after all, a U.S. representative. Not a Mexican or Puerto Rican representative (although, come to think of it, that may be debatable). I'm completely down with having pride in your heritage. I'm certainly fond of mine. My dad was a legal immigrant from another country, but I'm 100% American. That's the flag I wave. That's the government I support. That's the country I love.

I find it disturbing that people would show up at a political rally for a U.S. representative waving the flags of other countries, and chanting for him to be the mayor of an American city in Spanish.

(Slight pause inserted here for some readers to fling words like "racist" and "fascist" at me through their monitors.)

I'm actually neither. I'm a huge fan of the melting pot, as long as all the ingredients get here legally. But let's examine that term, "melting pot," shall we? It means that lots of different things are put together, then they melt, becoming one smooth amalgamation of all the different stuff. That's America, baby.

But things like rallying American politicians by waving other countries' flags seems a lot like not wanting to get mixed into the pot to me. And you don't have to remember back very far -- France, riots, burning cars -- to see how well that can turn out.

As for me, if Gutierrez were to run for mayor of my fair city, I'd need to see a whole lot more working toward fixing illegal immigration and immigration reform, and a lot less that looks like open borders and amnesty.

And wave some American flags, for cryin' out loud.

As seen @
Cao's blog (We love Cao!)
Adam's blog
Is It Just Me?
Stuck On Stupid
TMH's bacon bits
third world county
Diane's stuff
Rempelia Prime
NIF
Macstansbury
Right Wing Nation
-----
Immigration Reform
Illegal Immigration
Luis Gutierrez
Patriotism
Chicago
America