When is a progressive not a progressive? When she pulls crap like Morgan Carroll did yesterday at the Colorado Senate by killing SB170, also known as the tuition equity bill.

I attended her early-morning town hall yesterday, when she told the assembled crowd that she was voting no because she was “certain” that federal immigration law would override any law that Colorado passes to confer “benefits” to undocumented residents. So that was reason one.

Senator Jennifer Viega argued over and over on the Senate floor yesterday that Senator Carroll’s reason for her no vote was completely unfounded. Ten of the eleven federal court challenges to state laws offering similar “benefits” to undocumented youth have been thrown out of court, and the eleventh is pending in California. And yet, even though her weak reason for the no vote was thrown out handily by Sen. Viega, she still voted no.

Fast forward to today, on her blog. Today’s reason for voting no is now because she feels it would be unfair in the current economic climate with the current budget shortfall.  Here again, she is lying.  She is making it sound as if the legislation would have given money to undocumented students for school, when she knows  that this is not true.

I have to give her blog team props for actually posting my comment, which was:

Let’s be clear, folks. This bill was a net ZERO financial commitment for the state. It would have cost the taxpayers NOTHING.

Second, Sen. Carroll’s reason for not supporting the bill yesterday was that there was federal law that would override the state law. However, Jennifer Viega stated over and over that this was a false premise; that in every case except one, the federal action was overturned in court. The one that hasn’t is still pending.

Sen. Carroll’s reason for not supporting this, therefore, is false. She knows it. The reason she states on this page is not the reason she stated in her town hall yesterday. Which one is it, Senator?

A progressive that cannot understand basic justice and votes with xenophobic right-wingers is no progressive. If you cannot understand how this situation is just like women who cannot vote through no fault of their own, or people of color who are blocked from voting through no fault of their own, then you really are a bigot at heart.

You have a chance to make this up in your heavily Hispanic district, Senator. It will be back next year. Your ambitions for Attorney General will be fruitless if you cannot see basic justice.

As of right now, Hispanics are mobilizing, and Chris Romer has vowed to fight another day.  We will definitely see similar legislation back in next year’s session.  Anyone who is truly a progressive needs to keep a long memory of this bigoted action and vote accordingly.  The Hispanics of this state vow to help you remember.  As my home boy Rodolfo Martinez says, “despair is not an option.”

It’s on!

Posted: April 7th, 2009 under Tuition Equity, civil rights, immigration.
Comments: none

One of the most disturbing realities of today’s struggle for comprehensive immigration reform is the lack of support that comes from native-born Hispanics here in the United States. I have heard some of the most racist, anti-immigrant vitriol coming out of the mouths of people who are just as dark-skinned as the very migrant workers they villify. I often scratch my head about this.

I used to think that this behavior was a way to forget the racism we native-borns have felt here, to distance ourselves from being relegated to second-class status. I have heard so many stories from older folk from Colorado’s San Luis Valley about how their troubles in the school yard, when they would be punished if they let some of their household’s Spanish slip. It always seemed to me that we were trying hard to put our painful past behind us, using the newer Hispanic immigrants as the objects of scorn, as a way to leapfrog away from our pain.

But you know what I think it really is? While I think leapfrogging has something to do with it, I also thing that this is related to the fact that our education flat-out stinks.

Case in point: I just finished watching PBS’ production of American Experience: A Class Apart, a show about the landmark Hernandez v. State of Texas case in the 1950s, that declared that Mexican-Americans were a protected group under the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Now, let me ask you. How many of you knew about this? Now, I was a great student in school, but NO ONE ever taught us about this landmark ruling that made life completely different for our people. I can imagine that today’s kids are not learning about this either, since CSAP is really the name of the game.

The philosopher George Santayana said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

It’s my job as your sister in the journey to give you a link to this program’s page on the PBS website. Watch, learn, read…and teach your children. Maybe by remembering our past we can be better allies to our brothers and sisters that are here now, that need our support. See if you hear anything familiar to the conversation about immigrants we hear today.

Let’s not so easily forget our past.  Click here to watch the episode online, then come back and tell me what you think.

Posted: March 28th, 2009 under civil rights, immigration.
Comments: none