Now this is an great analysis of the stupid anti-immigrant protest held by Connecticut's favorite hate-group the Connecticut Citizens for Immigration Control (CTCIC) last Saturday at Kennedy Park.
Why did it take a columnist from Hartford to accurately write the tone of this silly and senseless event? From the Hartford Courant
Day One of the Connecticut Citizens for Immigration Control's call to crack down on employers hiring undocumented day laborers, and all is quiet at Danbury's Kennedy Park.
Pito arrives first, bundled against the predawn cold in a thrift-store parka.
A few minutes later Juan walks up with a smile that defies the cold and the unkind hour.
They knew even then, just past 5:30 Monday morning, that the prospects for a day laborer weren't good. Not because of the protest that took place in the park Saturday, but because there's never much work when the weather's cold - unless, of course, it's snowing and people need workers to shovel.
But they came anyway, hoping that talk of police arresting day laborers and employers was just a rumor. By daybreak, dozens of men were competing for one job, rushing a prospective employer's car as if it were the last lifeboat on a sinking ship.Work is the reason they are all here. It's why Juan and Pito made the long and dangerous trek from Ecuador, Juan a year ago and Pito just two months ago. "We walked, we ran, we prayed," Juan said. And so, better to be out looking for work, elusive as it often is, then home watching TV.
[...]
Usually the men come to the park during the week, but Juan came out Saturday to watch the protest arranged by CCIC's Paul Streitz. The so-called "Stop the Invasion" protests were organized in 19 states, but attendance by opponents of illegal immigration was sparse. About 50 showed up in Danbury.
It wasn't the first time he'd heard the anti-immigrant rants. But he got a kick out of the folks who came out in support of the immigrants; must be nice to be able to speak out without fear, he said. And he had to laugh at the talk of immigrants taking jobs from Americans. Never once has he competed against an Americano for a job. Would they really want this one, he asks?
[...]
What kind of people would we be if we turned away a newcomer? Juan asks.
Oh, that's an easy one, Juan - people like Streitz and his followers, whose ignorant rhetoric has the fortunate effect of turning off just about everyone. Even Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton, whose call for state police to enforce immigration law in his town stirred controversy last year, seems to be finding CCIC hard to stomach.
"I think there is an element out there that can be racist in tone, that can project the very worst in human nature," Boughton told WTNH-TV about Saturday's rally. "I think that there are people that are involved in this particular rally that are doing that."
What they aren't doing is stopping the supply or demand of jobs that the men gather for. By 7 a.m., the two men are joined by 20 more. An hour later, the number doubles. When a truck pulls up, its driver holding up one finger, a crowd of men push to make it into the passenger seat. And even after some start shouting that the man doesn't pay - Juan worked 16 hours for him once and got only $50 - more than a few fight to get picked. Not an Americano among them.
Now this WAS the tone of the event and Helen Ubiñas nailed it in her piece. You see, the majority of Danbury residents ignored this racist hate rally and the people who were quoted in the other newspapers who supported the CTCIC wackos were either CTCIC members themselves, or people who DIDN'T even live in Danbury (the best the Danbury News-Times could do was quote a 19 year old brat who's barely able vote and smoke cigarettes...and also NOT from Danbury).
Ubiñas was smart enough to give you the real the story because she did what no one else cared to do...get the viewpoint of the people MOST effected by this hate-speech...the immigrants and day-laborers themselves.
Newsflash CTCIC members: not ALL day laborers are illegal (that goes for people who work at McDonalds, or what you describe as MexDonalds). No one in Danbury is buying you line of garbage but the wackos whose grandparents would be the ones with the white hoods.
Hopefully there will be more columns and articles like Ubiñas’ which not only exposes the stupidity of the CTCIC, but the ridiculousness of the whole issue regarding illegal immigration in Connecticut which unfortunately has been blown out of proportion.
04.25.22 (RADIO): WSHU Latino group call on Connecticut lawmakers to open a Danbury charter school
06.03.22 (OP-ED): KUSHNER: "Career Academy ‘a great deal for Danbury"
On September 26, 2007, ten plaintiffs filed suit in response to an arrest of aday laborers at a public park in Danbury, Connecticut. Plaintiffs amended their complaint on November 26, 2007.
The amended complaint states that plaintiffs sought to remedy the continued discriminatory and unauthorized enforcement of federal immigration laws against the Latino residents of the City of Danbury by Danbury's mayor and its police department.
Plaintiffs allege that the arrests violated their Fourth Amendment rights and the Connecticut Constitution because defendants conducted the arrests without valid warrants, in the absence of exigent circumstances, and without probable cause to believe that plaintiffs were engaged in unlawful activity. In addition, plaintiffs allege that defendants improperly stopped, detained, investigated, searched and arrested plaintiffs. Plaintiffs also allege that defendants violated their Fourteenth Amendment rights when they intentionally targeted plaintiffs, and arrested and detained them on the basis of their race, ethnicity and perceived national origin. Plaintiffs raise First Amendment, Due Process and tort claims.
Plaintiffs request declaratory relief, damages and attorneys fees.
On September 26, 2007, ten plaintiffs filed suit in response to an arrest of aday laborers at a public park in Danbury, Connecticut. Plaintiffs amended their complaint on November 26, 2007.
