NCLR Michelle Waslin on assimilation and patriotism

The April 4, 2006 editorial "An image problem" discusses an NCLR email that shows what they really think about that whole "assimilation" and "patriotism" issue:

Today in the letters section, the National Council of La Raza, which declares itself the "largest national Latino civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States," takes issue with our March 30 editorial, "'Room but for one flag'." Responding to our suggestion that Latino community leaders should condemn the radical reconquista movement, La Raza says that is like asking them to "prove [their] loyalty to this country."

...Leave aside for a moment how asking a Latino civil-rights organization to condemn an anti-American message being promulgated by "radicals" -- as we clearly identified them in the editorial -- "dishonors every Hispanic who has served" in the U.S. military...

...[An amendment to the Senate's amnesty from by Senator Lamar Alexander], wrote Michele Waslin, La Raza's director of Immigration Policy Research, is "very problematic." Of the three "big problems," she notes, is that "while it doesn't overtly mention assimilation, it is very strong on the patriotism and traditional american [sic] values language in a way which is potentially dangerous to our communities."

...Once the e-mail leaked, La Raza claimed its position on the Alexander amendment was "unclearly communicated," as reported by CNN...

Immigration · Sun, 09/10/2006 - 20:05 · · Importance: 1

Comments

We would have to be crazy to allow people who consider "assimilation", "patriotism" and "traditional American values" to be "potentially dangerous to {their} communities" within a hundred miles of the US border, let alone granting them amnesty and eventually citizenship.

Posted by: D Flinchum at Sep 11, 2006 3:13 AM

These Mexico-firsters do have good reason to fear any mention of American patriotic values in the context of immigration, and they admit as much.
In the hispanic organizations, completely naked hostility to the host country, is not a drawback, but a way to get ahead.
They are enemies of loyalty to America, whose enmity cannot be disguised by crying over dead soldiers.

Posted by: John S Bolton at Sep 11, 2006 12:48 AM

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