Few Grateful Dead fans think of Jerry Garcia as Hispanic.
Ditto fans of Cameron Diaz, Raquel Welch, and other actors such
as Martin Sheen et fils who've established careers that
de-emphasize any ethnic affiliation. Not so lucky are those with
classical Latino features in ordinary jobs who are increasingly
being regarded as noncredentialed whether they are or not.
While riding the no. 4 subway line uptown last week, a trio of
mariachi players entered the car, two with guitars and one with
an accordion. They started singing a lovely Mexican song in the
center of the car, but the passengers were stonefaced and ignored
the passing of the hat. Inside the train stations, it's hard to
find those once-familiar South American flute players anymore.
While it's illegal to beg on the subway cars, it doesn't stop the
black acappella singers who always manage to succeed with a
crowd-pleasing oldie. Wearing a sombrero, however, is not a
guaranteed coin-gatherer. Two years ago, riders would have been
charmed by the Spanish musical respite in the dreary subway, but
no longer.
Whatever sympathy one might have had for illegal aliens who have
risked life and limb to get to a country where the streets are
lined with gold has been effectively annihilated by protesters
who claim those streets as their own. But most native-born and
legalized Hispanics are far removed from the left-wing Marxists
who wave Mexican flags at pro-immigration demonstrations. In
fact, they've formed their own organization, You Don't Speak for
Me (dontspeakforme.org).
Maybe it's different here in New York, but I just can't imagine
local illegal aliens taking time off from their jobs at the
hotels, restaurants, construction sites, and private homes to
march in a demonstration waving mass-produced anti-American
signs. Some political leaders are determined to grant legality to
those living in the shadows, but not one of the shadow-dwellers I
know personally has asked for that exposure.
When Bill Perkins was a member of the City Council, he introduced
legislation for non-citizen voting rights because, he claimed,
those workers pay taxes. This lack of respect for the privilege
of citizenship is typical of Democrats who are forever seeking
new voters from those eager to bypass the difficult process of
naturalization.
In 1996, the Clinton administration managed to speed a million
new citizens through the naturalization process in time for them
to vote for President Clinton's re-election. Even though damning
memos to Vice President Gore from Doug Farbrother of the National
Performance Review detail how the citizenship process was
expedited as requested by the president, no one seems to care.
The newly naturalized citizens included more than 75,000 who had
arrest records and another 61,000 who were given citizenship
without submitting fingerprints. I wonder if any of these fine
new citizens were among those rioting in Los Angeles.
Now that a grassroots project has halted the ill-conceived new
immigration legislation, it's time for political leaders to get
back to the business of securing this nation from those who want
to divide it. Listen to the words of a Republican president and
former New York State governor, Theodore Roosevelt, who spoke at
a luncheon given by Vincent Astor's wife in 1916: "Let us
say to the immigrant not that we hope he will learn English, but
that he has got to learn it. Let the immigrant who does not learn
it go back. He has got to consider the interest of the United
States or he should not stay here. He must be made to see that
his opportunities in this country depend upon his knowing English
and observing American standards."
This is good advice for Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Joel
Klein, who are moving ahead with their ill-conceived plan for the
Khalil Gibran International Academy. I'm still getting hammered
and accused of being a bigot for a column I wrote calling it a
monstrosity. Apparently, the liberal readers of the New York
Times, which quoted out of context my tongue-in-cheek call to
"break out the torches," have no sense of the absurd.
Their ability to spew the vilest mail possible, however, goes
beyond the pale.
I stand by my opposition to having the New York City taxpayer pay
for an unnecessary multicultural project - an Arabic-language
school - that would be better served with private funds that are
readily available.
Unlike Jerry Garcia and the others I mentioned before, I'm
readily recognized as Hispanic but I speak perfect English
because I am an American and proud of it. Those who are just
passing through shouldn't expect the same privileges.