Romancing The Road...

Pro-immigrant rally in Miami a bust!

IMG_0417.JPG, originally uploaded by Senor Adventure.

Today while sitting in my doctors waiting room I picked up today’s edition (May 1, 2008) of the Miami Herald. On page 2B I came across an article about the day’s MARCH/CELEBRATION “demanding immigration legalization and an end to raids targeting the undocumented.” Cool. A pro-immigration rally. Unfortunately for immigrants in this country seeking the American dream that’s not what today turned out to be. Most unfortunate is that for those Americans undecided about immigrants and immigration, today’s rally would have them think that immigrants and their friends support convicted murderers, spies, socialism and some other causes that they may not even be aware of – guilt by association.

I am going to keep this simple and write bullet style. This is the key to my code:
r1 p1 = row 1 picture 1
r1 p1,2 = row 1 picture 1 and 2
And so on.

r1 p2: Kudos to this reporter for showing up, he was the only one, and interviewing those that came for a pro-immigration rally. However, he did avoid the fringe elements at the rally.

r1 p3: These two knew why they came and stayed on message. Sadly they were in the minority.

r1 p5: The Miami May Day Coalition had this table stationed outside of the Haitian Community Center, Jacques Dessalines Center, the official staging point of the rally. By allowing this group to do business in front of the center - handing out socialist literature, books, communist red flags and red t-shirts – the center gave them their blessing. Let me state for the record, I personally do not care what the political beliefs of the Center or the Haitian community are. My beef is that with the help of the - too complacent to do their research - staff at the Miami Herald, people like myself and others were duped into attending this rally.

A look at The Miami May Day Coalition’s mission statement and it’s clear that pro-immigration is only a side show for this organization. Although I too am a critic of the war in Iraq that is not what this rally was billed as in the Newspaper. It is also clear throughout the photos that between the communist red t-shirts, red flags, and bullhorns that theirs was the message of the day.


*** IF YOU READ ONLY ONE THING READ THIS***

r3 p2,6: In picture TWO of row THREE you see five white faces superimposed on the Cuban flag. In picture SIX you see the same five white faces and the image of a black man in chains with the words JUVENTUD BOLIVIARIANA in the lower right hand corner.

I’ll begin with picture TWO of row THREE. Those FIVE Cuban nationals were part of the Castro spy ring - Red Avispa (Wasp Net) - that was caught, tried, and convicted in US courts of espionage against the USA. The implied message here is that Cuban-American’s support Cuban spies, but they do not.

In picture SIX of row THREE those same five Cuban national’s appear super-imposed in a brotherly ring around a man named Mumia Abu-Jamal who was convicted and sentenced to death for the 1981 murder of police officer Daniel Faulkner. Again to the uninformed the unspoken message is that Cuban-Americans support cop killers, but they do not. In the bottom right hand corner of the poster are the words, JUVENTUD BOLIVARIANA, the far left Latin American socialist group that does support foreign spies and cop killers.

Thankfully the local media ignored those extreme left elements and the national media doesn’t recognize them, otherwise less informed people would think that immigrants and their friends support all of those far left socialists fringe groups, foreign spies, and cop killers, but we do not.

r5 p3: An upside down American flag. How unoriginal. Again, I don’t know of any immigrants that fly the flag upside down. That man btw is with the Miami chapter of the Socialist Party.

So you may be thinking, so what? The Miami chapter of the US Socialists Party held a rally. So what? The so what is that those people do not represent the immigrant community, and yet they were clever enough to co-opt the day’s advertised message with their off issue politics.

Pro-immigrant rally May day 2006.

MAY 1006, originally uploaded by Man of Adventure.

This photo was just included in an online Miami neighborhood guide for the area known as Little Havana. Follow this URL to see more.

Pro - Immigrant Rally on May Day 2006.

MAY 1057, originally uploaded by Victor L Antunez.

Click on the photo to go to my May Day rally photo stream. I shot the photo's at Miami's Jose Marti Park in Little Havana on May 1, 2006.  Enjoy.

MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR., En Espanol.

IMG_2202, originally uploaded by Victor L Antunez.

I came across this mural of MLK and friend's in MAZATLAN.  MLK's QUOTE is this: "He who accepts evil without protesting it is really cooperating with it."

I decided to blog this mural today because in the last few days there has been an ANTI-IMMIGRANT backlash including a comment from our IDIOT PRESIDENT, COKEHEAD George W. concerning the NATIONAL ANTHEM being SUNG in SPANISH.

When I first sall this mural in Mazatlan, Mejico I thought, that's great.  MLK's message has been translated for all Spanish speaker's to read.  I can only hope that his message of love is translated into every language of this world.  Wouldn't that make for a better world. 

In the past few days there has been an uproar over the National Anthem being sung in Spanish.  The ARTISTS that sang the translated version did it as a tribute to this great country of ours for accepting us with open arms.  In my view this uproar isn't about the National Anthem.  That's just a rallying point that the RACIST FORCES in our country are using in order to hide their real discontent.  That we are here at all.  That we are now the single largest ETHNIC minority in the US (14% in 2005).

All of this much ado about nothing reminds me of a conversation I had with some guys at a mechanic's shop a few years ago.  The guys at this shop were all white Americans and being white skinned myself they all just assumed that I was American (white) like them.  That happens to me a lot and because of that I have been privy to the inner thoughts of white men that my dark skinned Latin brother's are not.  At that time the Census bureau had just released it's finding's.  One of them was that Latinos had now jumped ahead of blacks as the Nation's largest minority group.  In South Florida Hispanics have been the biggest population block for many year's, but that we are now National was just too much for one of those guys.  He made a comment about that in order to get a negative reaction from the group.  I stepped right in and said, "Isn't that great, me and my cousins are taking over."  He looked at me shocked and asked, "Are you Latin".  "I'm Cuban".  That was the end of that line of conversation.   

Another misconception that White's have about Cubans in particular is that we are all waiting for CASTRO to die and then we are all going to leave this country, our home.  On the one hand many people in this country would love that.  On the other they use that misconception as a cheap jab at our patriotism and as a sign of our lack of gratitude for what this great country has done for us.  Let me be the one to tell you all, DON'T GET YOUR HOPE'S UP!  We are not leaving.  This is our home.  We love it just as much as you do. 

I'll close by adding this: were here, were staying here, and we are going to bend this American culture in a whatever way we want to.