First, let me say that usually I think Ruben Navarette has things pretty well thought out, and it is rare that I disagree with him as fervently as I do now. This is a good thing, really. I would hate to think I might be a clone of someone else and not a free thinking American.
This is the second time Ruben Navarette has taken an uncharacteristic anti DREAM Act stance in the past few months. Today’s article titled, “DREAMers are pushing their luck just had me fuming. I wonder how many social causes were hobbled by this kind of sentiment. In his column for CNN he wrote:
I know just what a lot of those so-called DREAMers deserve to get for Christmas: a scolding. There are good and bad actors in every movement, and the bad ones — if not kept in check — can drag the good ones down with them.
The bad actors he claims are the ones who protest, stand up against injustice, get arrested, and the like. Sorry for bringing the others down, but from where are they being dragged down from? Oh, yeah, from being discriminated against because they were brought here as babies and now learn they have no rights, no job or educational futures and could get sent back to a country they know very little about. Yep, shame on them.
The thing that really galvanized my position about his article and led me to write this one, was when I put today’s article in perspective of other freedom fighters.
“Don’t speak up too loud, you’ll get us all into trouble.”
I’m sure Martin Luther King heard that on more than one occasion, and from well-meaning members of the cause he was defending. But he stood up against injustice anyway. He led marches, peaceful protests, and let’s not forget, he was arrested too. Should he have listened to those fearful of losing what little they already had? Should he have toned down his rhetoric and fade into the scenery, leaving the civil rights movement to others like Malcolm X? Should he have delivered a speech called, “I have a little question I’d like to ask, if that’s alright with you?”
Ruben, I mean no disrespect when I say that I think you may need a vacation. Your earlier articles surrounding the DREAM act lit the way for discussion toward real social justice. Lately, I think you may be, well. . . who cares what I think. I’m nobody. But you are someone Mr Navarette. Your voice is heard by millions of people and the Latino community is looking for their MLK. I can appreciate it if you’re not up for that role. Few people are.
Rep. Louis V. Gutierrez is probably going to be the Latino MLK, that is, if one of the brave young members of the “United We Dream,” organization you disparaged in your article doesn’t beat you to it.
To me, DREAM Act advocates speak of the future that Americans want to see. They are willing to sacrifice to get their cause NOTICED and not forgotten. Blending in to the background is not what this movement, nor any other movement needs. There will always be some other issue more important than immigration to focus on. Immigration seems like a topic that is destined to forever be pushed aside and given to future leaders to fix.
I say it’s time we stop pussy-footing around this issue. It’s time to man-up and lead the way, or hang up your keyboard and go fishing.
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