Freedom Folks

Monday, April 09, 2007

Pulling The Race Card: Not smart!

Source: PilotOnline

One of our major pet peeves is the incessant use and abuse of the race card by those lunatics who support illegal immigration and open borders. Listen closely to this article and ask yourself: Whose making this a racial issue?
VIRGINIA BEACH - Because one Hispanic person is accused of causing a tragic accident, Monica Restrepo said, she now frets that many will be judged and be the brunt of insults.

“We’re very worried about what’s going to happen to all of us in the community,” said Restrepo, who owns the decade-old La Tapatia, believed to be one of the first Latin American grocery stores in the city.

Restrepo and other local Hispanics this week expressed their sympathy for the families of two Virginia Beach girls killed in a car crash March 30. But they also couldn’t mask their concern over a possible backlash against both legal and illegal immigrants.

They fear that because of Alfredo Ramos, people will categorize all Hispanics as drunken drivers and unauthorized immigrants. Ramos, 22, is charged with aggravated involuntary manslaughter in the deaths of Alison Kunhardt, 17, and Tessa Tranchant, 16. He had a record of three alcohol-related convictions in Virginia Beach and Chesapeake and had entered the country from Mexico illegally.

Many Hispanics said the public response to the incident has been incorrectly centered on Ramos’ immigration status instead of on drunken-driving laws and penalties.

“When someone has committed a crime, it doesn’t matter what legal status they have, what ethnic group - you’ve committed a crime,” said Mavel Velasco Muñoz, chairwoman of the Hispanic Leadership Forum of Hampton Roads. “We are not condoning it,” but, she said, the public is wrongly lumping together immigration issues and DUI laws.

Beatriz Amberman, a Virginia Beach resident and vice chairwoman of the Virginia Coalition of Latino Organizations, agreed.

“I wonder how many people are driving under the influence of alcohol and have been let go with a slap on the hand… and whether the system is actually working in that regard,” she said. “Rather than that… because of this one individual, we’re judging all undocumented workers.”

Junior Garcia, owns La Tienda International Foods and Mi Tierra Restaurant. Garcia said that since the incident, he has also noticed more police in the area and suspected that “we’ll probably have more police officers stopping Latinos on looks.”

Like others, Garcia was concerned about the response to the tragedy.

“I haven’t heard once that it was an accident,” he said. “White people also drink. I feel people have blown out of proportion his status and where he’s from. It could have been anybody.”

While he and his friends talked about the Ramos case at Mi Orgullo Latin Accessories in the same plaza, Jonathan Rodriguez wondered whether there would be such a public outcry had an intoxicated white citizen been accused in the girls’ deaths.

“Now they want to punish every Latin person out there,” he said. “Now it’s going to be harder for us…. You could be a citizen, but they’re still going to hate you.”

Local Hispanic leaders say they hope to turn the tragedy into an opportunity to educate more people about the dangers of drunken driving, push for tougher penalties for it and work for immigration laws that can be respected as fair.

Amberman, of the Coalition of Latino Organizations, said she is worried that “people want to look at only one side of the picture.”
Who makes this a racial issue? Is it those who demand our laws be enforced? I don't think so, in fact I have been following the coverage on this pretty closely, who exactly has mentioned anything other than immigration status?

Did O'Reilly mention race? Nope, but race baiting whore Geraldo did.

Also, this one really has me scratching my head...
But they also couldn’t mask their concern over a possible backlash against both legal and illegal immigrants.

Many Hispanics said the public response to the incident has been incorrectly centered on Ramos’ immigration status instead of on drunken-driving laws and penalties.

the public is wrongly lumping together immigration issues and DUI laws.

“Rather than that… because of this one individual, we’re judging all undocumented workers.”

I feel people have blown out of proportion his status and where he’s from. It could have been anybody.”
I'm genuinely trying to understand this point of view. Was he not illegal? Wouldn't this tragedy have been averted by the simple expedient of deportation? Is it somehow illegitimate to mention that this individual is illegal?

The true irony is that this is racism, they are asking that we not notice his status, why? Because he is crispy, delicious and might I add...brown baby!

Which of course is nonsense! This is an illegal immigrant who broke into this country, stole a job and most likely committed identity theft to hold that job, drove illegally every time he got behind the wheel, had several brushes with the law and ultimately had absolutely zero right to be here.

By trying to make it seem unfair to discuss his legal status all these folks really accomplish is revealing their own ethnic supremacist attitudes. That he had a right to be here, above the law, because he was brown.

H/T immigration watchdog

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