New Haven Independent

Posted by: molly | October 15, 2008 3:43 PM

lets not forget...the mexican flag was up more then a week..just recently took down...the italian flag will be up for a week ....

Posted by: Ezcuinkle | October 15, 2008 5:17 PM

Flags...and Colors New Haven is A Model city. City of diversity, city of understanding any relations in ther Community. A City who care about everyone. Que Viva New Haven.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJWBxfl-kKk

Posted by: Unidos somos mas.. | October 16, 2008 9:58 AM

I'm completely agree with EZCUINKLE and with this independent and objective report of Melinda Tuhus..

Posted by: winfield | October 16, 2008 10:29 AM

As someone who objectively considers uncontrolled, illegal immigration to be a bad thing, it is frustrating that the most vocal opponents have to keep proving their anti-hispanic racism. Like so many other governmental functions these days, the immigration system is disfunctional and needs to be repaired. I wish we could focus on that rather than where the immigrants come from. Years ago, the illegals I met tended to be from Ireland or Portugal. No one ever called the St Patrick's Day parade an act of treason, though.

Posted by: I'm a bigot | October 16, 2008 2:26 PM

"Like I said before, and I stand by my statement. . ." I am a bigot.

Posted by: To Winfield | October 16, 2008 2:46 PM

Mr. Winfield,

You make a good point that Gold and his ilk keep proving their anti-hispanic racism.

You should be comforted that no major Latino civil rights organization supports "uncontrolled, illegal immigration." They tend to support a line for immigrants to get on who want to immigrate, a reasonable waiting time, a mechanism to reunite families and a way to bring the undocumented out of the shadows with a clear path to legalization.

There is actually very little disagreement about these principles by anybody serious about immigration reform on the left or the right. For instance the National Council of La Raza, the Congressional Black Caucus, the US Chamber of Commerce, Barack Obama and John McCain all agree on this.

Unfortunately the whole debate has been hijacked by Know-nothings and bigots like Gold and his supporters at national organizations like FAIR and their Immigration Reform Law Institute which bankrolled his legal fight with the city. (FAIR has rightly been called a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center which did not stop Gold from joining up with them).

But these things come in cycles in American history. Know-nothing eras come and go and they always involve an attack on immigrants. But then there is a period where immigrants are integrated and the bigots get pushed to the background for a generation or two. This usually corresponds to both political parties fighting like heck to bring the new Americans on board.

Of course right now there is virtually no way for the average person to the south of the United States to immigrate here legally. There is no line to get on. We need to fix this.

There does need to be an orderly process which ends the immigration problems we have now and that is definitely not an "open border." Instead it is creating an honest path to immigrate as well as restrictions that keep out people who would do us harm. Our policies should consider family reunification, the needs of our existing workforce, and the values we hold dear as well as our place as a beacon in the world.

As you note, hate should have no place in figuring out the solution.

With Mr. Gold it is less clear whether his hatred for Latinos or his enormous ego drives his efforts (check out the CWP website -- it has his picture in the logo -- no joke). But either way, one can only hope he stays around long enough to see the next wave of integration and round of new citizens.

Posted by: Alan Felder | October 18, 2008 7:45 AM

New Haven illegal immigration ID is an anti-Black policy. What has the City of New Haven done for Blacks, all I can think of is a Black Tax. Since the proponents of illegal's keep calling people racist, why don't they mention Racial Identity Theft?

Posted by: Carlos Verde | October 18, 2008 1:47 PM

This whole thing about flags flying on the city green is totally crazy.

Just because some Mexicans are not legal citizens that doesn't mean they all are illegal. If you think back to the 1900's there were many Italian, Polish, Irish and others living in New Haven who were not "legal citizens". But some how we all got over that. The reason was that we all needed to focus on our future as a nation.

Are we no longer thinking about our future? We should be looking into how to fix a system that has failed those imigrants. Look at how we can fix the system so that we ALL can prosper, together.

Let's put it all in prespective. There is no single country that makes this country great. Columbus day is coming up. Let's look at that. Christopher Columbus couldn't get money or support from his own country to make his journey to India. We won't mention the fact that he went the wrong way! He asked the Kings of England, France and Protugal. None of them would support him. It was the King of Spain who,after a 2nd request, agreed to give good ole Chris the ships, supplies and staff to make his journey. The ships flew the Spanish Flag. Christopher Columbus became a hero. And admittidly served the King of Spain. Oh did I not mention that his is an Italian hero and not a Spanish hero? Why is that?

So we started kicking the hispanics to the curb way back in the 1400's and haven't stopped yet. For those who can't relate, Mexican is a hispanic culture. And by the way, there are more countries around the world that exist because of Spains involvement than any other nationality.

Maybe next year we can fly the Cape Verdean flag for their independence celebration day, July 5th. Even though most of them moved out of New Haven, we still have Cape Verdean leaders like a Police Commissioner and an Alderman.

Let's all work together.

Posted by: winfield | October 20, 2008 3:48 PM

Thanks to the person who responded to my post. You very eloquently expressed my position. It is a relief to see that there is indeed rational discussion of the immigration issue. Unfortunately, only the wingnuts get the press.

Mr. Felder objects to my calling the belief that all illegals are hispanic "racist." OK, a better term is "bigoted." So, to restate what I have been trying to say: we need to get the bigotry out of the discussion of immigration policy if we're going to develop a realistic solution.