Tengo Un Sueño – I Have A Dream

Love is a transcendent language.

True heroes are born not because they possess power on their own, but because they call on all people to recognize the greater good that lies within us – like seeds awaiting the waters of justice and peace to bring it to life. Today I pause not only to honor Dr. King, but also to examine the ways his Dream gives me hope in these dark times.

We may always be on the road towards equality instead of resting at our destination – but as Dr. King and his wife Coretta alongside him teach us – Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children.

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La maravillosa nueva militancia que ha envuelto a la comunidad negra, no debe conducirnos a la desconfianza de toda la gente blanca, porque muchos de nuestros hermanos blancos, como lo evidencia su presencia aquí hoy, han llegado a comprender que su destino está unido al nuestro y su libertad está inextricablemente ligada a la nuestra.

No podemos caminar solos.

Y al hablar, debemos hacer la promesa de marchar siempre hacia adelante.

No podemos volver atrás.

The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.

We cannot walk alone.

And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead.

We cannot turn back.

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Hoy les digo a ustedes, amigos míos, que a pesar de las dificultades del momento, yo aún tengo un sueño. Es un sueño profundamente arraigado en el sueño “americano”.

Sueño que un día esta nación se levantará y vivirá el verdadero significado de su credo: “Afirmamos que estas verdades son evidentes: que todos los hombres son creados iguales”.

Sueño que un día, en las rojas colinas de Georgia, los hijos de los antiguos esclavos y los hijos de los antiguos dueños de esclavos, se puedan sentar juntos a la mesa de la hermandad.

Sueño que un día, incluso el estado de Misisipí, un estado que se sofoca con el calor de la injusticia y de la opresión, se convertirá en un oasis de libertad y justicia.

Sueño que mis cuatro hijos vivirán un día en un país en el cual no serán juzgados por el color de su piel, sino por los rasgos de su personalidad.

¡Hoy tengo un sueño!

And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today!

Tengo Un Sueño – I Have A Dream

I’m also mindful that Coretta Scott King joined her soulmate in heaven on January 30, 2006. Even though he was assassinated by hate and fear nearly 40 years ago, she continued to walk that path of the Dream until the end.

That journey proves that against all odds, against all blatant injustices and inhumanities – there is always hope.

“I think, on many points she educated me. When I met her she was very concerned about the things we are trying to do now. I never will forget the first discussion we had when we met was the whole question of racial injustice and economic injustice and the question of peace. In her college days she had been actively engaged in movements dealing with these problems. I must admit—I wish I could say-to satisfy my masculine ego, that I led her down this path; but I must say we went down together, because she was as actively involved and concerned when we met as she is now.” – Excerpted from “Martin Luther King, Jr. A Personal Portrait“, interview with Arnold Michaelis, 1967.

Rest in Peace, Dr. and Mrs. Martin Luther King, Jr. – I am honored to honor you today – and will carry your message, your spirit, with me in Washington, D.C. at the end of the month. Paz.

 

From the mailbag re: last week’s immigration raids

For a bit of background, see my earlier post on the raid in nearby Cactus, TX. One thing that’ll jump out is the discrepancy between the official spin and what average folks actually saw going down. Now let’s see what Roberto Lovato, writing for TomPaine.com has to say:

Last week’s controversial immigration raids at Swift & Company meatpacking plants in six states, which federal officials have characterized as the largest sweep of its kind in U.S. history, should send waves of fear among citizens and non-citizens alike. The very high profile arrest and detention of almost 1,300 workers marks a major move to further erode all of our rights.

Merely viewing “Operation Wagon Train” as another in the lengthening line of dehumanizing and brutal attacks on immigrant and labor rights—as most analysts do—falls short. That’s because in the so-called War on Terror immigration and immigrants have become the justification of choice in the ongoing erosion of labor, privacy and other rights under the Bush administration.

We see for instance, that those rounded up have been disappeared:

For example, a statement about the status of the Swift workers by John Bowen, the attorney representing the workers on behalf of the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7, was indistinguishable from those of attorneys representing detainees in Guantanamo or in secret CIA facilities. “We don’t know where they are and we don’t know what’s happening,” he said. “We don’t know if they are being pressured to do something or not. We can’t provide them or their families with information until we know where they are.”

The official spin is that the raid had to do with “identity theft”, and immigrant status was only secondary:

One of the distinguishing characteristics of the recent raid is the effort by Department of Homeland Security head Michael Chertoff and Immigration and Citizenship Enforcement chief Julie Myers to frame it as a crackdown on “identity theft.”

When I called to find out more about the raids, ICE public affairs officer Richard Rocha was anxious to talk about how the need to protect “victims of identity theft” prompted the Swift & Company raid. The investigation “began as an identity theft investigation and we only later learned about the illegal workers at the plants,” he said.

Sounds nice, but, something just ain’t adding up, as Lovato goes on to note:

“OK, sure. You discovered that there were undocumented workers after the fact,” I thought. Having covered privacy and electronic surveillance issues a few years ago, I asked Rocha what sorts of traditional identity theft practices ICE found. Rocha only cited the case of a man who was stopped because his driver’s license had violations which he was later found not to have committed.

“Are there any instances of credit card scams?” I asked. “Not that I know of” he responded. “Bank fraud?” I asked. “I have no specifics” he answered. “Terrorism links?” I asked. “We have not been told of any links to terrorism regarding the identity theft cases tied to Swift employees,” he said.

So much for the official spin. The identity theft angle falls apart at the seams. Furthermore, let’s get a look at how the language of militarism is used:

At a press conference, Myers used the increasingly militarized language of immigration policy to describe the Swift & Company raid:

This investigation has uncovered a disturbing front in the war against illegal immigration. We believe that the genuine identities of possibly hundreds of U.S. citizens are being stolen or hijacked by criminal organizations and sold to illegal aliens in order to gain unlawful employment in this country. Combating this burgeoning problem is one of ICE’s highest priorities.

So this is “war” apparently in the minds of the Feds. Add to that check out the exaggeration used:

“Hundreds of U.S. citizens” refers to alleged and potential cases. Of the nearly 1,300 grabbed and detained without legal recourse (including U.S citizens) only 65 were charged “identity theft” and ICE representative Rocha could only provide one concrete case after repeated requests for other examples besides the drivers license case he cited. Victims of identity theft are people who generally have some personal identity document—Social Security number, credit card number, bank account—stolen or lost and then used for fraud, deception or economic gain.

But there is an agenda that should concern civil libertarians:

Chertoff also used the discussion of the Swift raid to highlight the guest worker program and a national ID card, a high Bush administration priority. The best way to deal with the issues raised in the raid, Chertoff said, “would be a program that would allow businesses that need foreign workers—because they can’t otherwise satisfy their labor needs—to be able to get those workers in a regulated program that gives us visibility into who is coming in, has a secure form of identification and makes sure that the federal government is able to collect and promptly allocate all the necessary taxes.”

This is what Bu$hCo wants: a national ID card. Big Brother wants to watch us all. Not only was the raid designed to strike terror in the Hispanic community (a very sizable community in the “high plains” region which includes the Texas & Oklahoma panhandles and southwestern Kansas), but to strike sufficient terror more broadly in order to get us all to clamor for “protection” we don’t need at the expense of our rights.

Cross-posted from The Left End of the Dial v2.0.