According to the most recent studies, Hispanics now constitute the majority of the population of Waukegan, Illinois. Nonetheless, the Waukegan City Council, continuing its history of hostility towards the Hispanic community, decided recently to implement a new policy of aggressively seeking to deport people.
Please read on...
The new policy empowers the police to initiate deportation proceedings on their own, without help from federal authorities. It allows them to deport people who are legally in this country if they are convicted of crimes, in addition to deporting undocumented residents. In other words, people will be punished because of where they come from, not just because of the crimes they commit. The motivation for this policy appears to be a desire to intimidate, displace, and harass Hispanics, and to generate revenue for the city from fines, forfeitures, and federal Homeland Security grants.
If the City Council goes ahead with its plan, families will be torn apart and great hardship will be visited on a group of people for no reason other than that they came here for a better life. Those who remain here, either legally or illegally, will see their communities deteriorate as people succumb to fear. People will be afraid to call the police when they need help because they will know that the police may decide to arrest the victims and not just the criminals.
A few days ago, more than five thousand people rallied in Waukegan to protest the City Council’s action. Two opposing boycotts have also been organized. Hispanics are boycotting Waukegan businesses that support the new anti-immigrant measure, and people who support the City Council are urging people to boycott businesses that support Hispanics.
Lee Goodman, a local peace activist, attended a conference over the weekend, to find out more.
In order to find out as much as I could about the plan to deport Waukegan’s Hispanics, on Saturday afternoon I attended a conference sponsored by the people who support the plan. Among the extreme right-wing organizations represented were the John Birch Society and the Minutemen. (Members of local Minutemen chapters in the Chicago area and around the country spend their vacations along our border tracking and hunting Mexicans like animals.) The main feature of the conference was the screening of a movie that stated our border with Mexico should be closed because Mexicans bring diseases into our country, take our jobs, and frighten our womenfolk.
I interviewed the producer of the movie and he told me that people from terror-sponsoring countries are getting into the U.S. from Mexico. I asked him how he knew this, and he said because people have found "Arab stuff" along the border. Although in public they profess to be concerned about Mexicans and not to be racist, in their blog, they refer to our Hispanic neighbors as "illegal scum."
After talking with a number of the people at the conference, it became clear to me that their aim is to run as many Hispanics out of Waukegan as possible. They are very angry, frustrated people who seem to think that Hispanics are the cause of their personal financial problems and a great many of our country’s problems. What I heard was mean, ugly, and repulsive. Basically, these people seek what in other countries has amounted to ethnic cleansing.
Because of the enormous outpouring of protest, the City Council has agreed to reconsider its decision this Monday, July 16, 2007.
A rally will be held outside the Waukegan City Hall beginning at 5:00 pm. If you cannot get there by 5:00, come later. The rally will continue through the City Council meeting, which starts at 8:00 pm. The Waukegan City Hall is located at 100 N. Martin Luther King Jr. Av. in downtown Waukegan. The Metra train station is just a couple of blocks east.
The rally will, of course, be peaceful. You can bring a sign if you like.
Our Hispanic friends and neighbors have asked for our help. They would like as many people as possible to attend the rally and show their support. They believe it is important for the City Council to see that this is not a dispute between Hispanics and non-Hispanics; it is a disagreement between people who respect Hispanics and people who resent them and would like them to go away. Our Hispanic neighbors believe it is important for the City Council to see that people in neighboring towns support the Hispanic community.
If you were going to visit friends, you would be willing to drive a half-hour. Will you drive (or take the train) to Waukegan to protect your neighbors from discrimination and oppression? Lee Goodman has spoken with some of the organizers in the Hispanic community and says, "It is hard for me to express to you how touched they were with the thought that you might help them, and how important it is to them that you do."
Please recall times in history when people needed help from their neighbors. The difference is always made by people who decide to act upon what their conscience tells them to do. Tragedies occur when people turn away from those in need.
Lee has been in touch with the Hispanic organizers of the rally that is scheduled for Monday evening, and they are very hopeful that we will bring a lot of people in from neighboring towns to support them. He has also been contacted by one of Chicago’s major newspapers, and they will be watching to see how much support there is from the non-Hispanic community.
We need to turn out hundreds of people, not just a few dozen. Please, if at all possible, come to the rally. Although the pro-deportation folks like to sound tough, they promise a peaceful rally, and the Waukegan police will be out in force to make sure everyone is safe. You have nothing to fear at the rally. The scary thing is what could happen if we don’t stand up to these folks who would take our country down a frightening path.
Please respond in this diary if you need more information.