John Florez, activist, newspaper columnist, and Mexican, reiterated familiar rhetoric that is being bandied about across the nation since the Bush administration said they wanted to toughen enforcement of immigration laws. "Rhetoric" is defined in the World English Dictionary as "persuasive speech that communicates its point persuasively."

In his passionate rhetoric, Florez pointed out that racism is rampant for the Mexican and Latino people, that they contribute immeasurably to the economy of the US, that "Mexicans are not lazy," that employers employing illegal immigrants need to be accountable for their illegal activities, and that the Hispanic and Latino people must continue to fight for their rights in America.

With so much talk about "borders, fences, and amnesty," Florez said, "But lost in the talk is the human aspect."

Immigrant life was difficult. Florez recalls a scene on highway five in San Diego where migrant workers lived in boxes in ditches; he marveled how in the mornings they would be lined up on the road, all clean and ready to work. Among them at the turn of the century was his father who knew no English but "wanted a better life for his family." Someone had remarked, "I don't know how these people do it," to which Florez said, "If you're hungry and your family is hungry, you'll do anything to help your family." Working in America with a pick and shovel until he retired, his father had stressed to his children the importance of education and learning English.

Florez said his father was discriminated against, as was he. Recalling experiences at the Capitol Theater where Mexicans had to sit in the balcony with the blacks, Florez became so paranoid that when he went to the store Kress's, and the service bells rang, he thought that was a secret signal to others the Mexicans were coming.

Memories of his father are vivid. In 1941 when they went back to Mexico but then decided to return to the US "to get a better education," on the trip back, they were all hungry so stopped to get sandwiches. Returning to the car empty-handed, his father cried because he was unable to get those sandwiches as they would not serve Mexicans.

When the legislature said his people were illegal felons was when Florez said the "kids hit the streets. In this community are kids who have the same hostility as I did because of my father. These kids see their folks suffer, and that's enough. There is resentment, hostility, and racism." In the legislature are "off the table subjects, immigration and environment, that people don't want to talk about, and these are critical issues."

Florez continued, "Every time America has needed workers, they brought in immigrants, and this renews and energizes the American dream. Anyone can talk all about this nonsense but every time they bring in immigrants, they brought in new energy. And we're missing the whole boat on this because of many angry people."

"Congressmen and senators say go back," said Florez, adding that they are more concerned about being elected than doing the right thing. "We're in for a hard time, no more legislation this year until after the election…come up with something like the guest worker program, which is the ultimate solution."

"Lost in debates is the moral aspect and how this affects the country, and what it says about us that says we don't care about people in need and their suffering."

We have had Katrina, 9/11, and these people are concerned about border crossings because of the terrorists, Florez said. "Well, hell, the terrorists are not coming in from Mexico. They're coming in from Canada. Look at it, that's an open border…that's how all the terrorists are coming in so this is a racist thing, a fear thing, and any time Americans are fearful, you find scapegoats…we're the scapegoats."

"Let's be realistic that we do have problems. People coming here live in the shadows. They don't have access to health care, they don't have access to education...people now go to the emergency clinic, and Hispanics have a high incidence of diabetes, so we don't treat diabetes but we treat the gangrene that sets in and cut off the leg. They don't have prenatal care but we will deliver a child, and a child may have physical problems…they don't have front-end care. This flames a lot of anger here."

One question asked after Florez's speech was why an exception has been made for the Latino people about learning English, as much is bilingual now. Florez answered that he believes the common language should be English and Americans should not lower the bar for his people. "We all know we need to speak English, don't rub it in our faces, and we'll get there."

Another question was how many people can America assimilate and still make good use of everyone's talents and aspirations. Plus how can there be a long-term solution until the economic system in Mexico improves so there isn't such a large disparity between the two countries.

Florez answered that "it is a two-tier society, the haves and have nots." In a KUED series called "Shadow of Hope," Florez said, "In there, one of the priests…and this one mayor said that if we didn't have the escape valve of people coming over here for economic reasons to find a better life, we'd have a revolution in Mexico."

"The solution to immigration is really an economic issue and how do we really give Mexico the incentive to do something about It." We are enablers here. Florez's proposal is to look at this as a problem of the Western hemisphere; we need to "gather natural resources of this hemisphere," use natural talents of these people, use the World Wide Web, educate everyone…to solve this.

Author's Note:

FYI, Wikipedia states that although the United States currently has no official language, it is largely monolingual with English being the de facto national language.

On May 18, 2006 the Senate voted on an amendment to an immigration reform bill that would declare English the national language of the United States. The immigration reform bill itself, S. 2611, was passed in the Senate on May 25, 2006, and now has to go back to the House of Representatives in conference to make sure amendments are agreed upon.

--Sarah Smith