- Editor's Note - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's on-air remarks
about an armed, volunteer group searching for illegal aliens along the
Arizona border -- a project he called "terrific" -- have shocked
Latino officials and media workers. At least one editor, however, thinks
the governor's words have been taken out of context.
-
- SAN FRANCISCO - -Latino
media, community activists and elected officials are outraged over comments
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger made yesterday in support of the Minutemen,
an armed group of citizens patrolling the Arizona border in search of illegal
immigrants.
-
- In an interview on the "John and Ken Show,"
a conservative talk-radio show on KFI in Los Angeles, Schwarzenegger said
the Minutemen "have done a terrific job and they have cut down the
crossing of illegal immigrants by a huge percentage, so it just shows that
it works when you go and make an effort and when you work hard. I mean
it is a doable thing and it's just that our federal government is not doing
their job."
-
- The governor's comments came just one week after he apologized
for saying that the solution to California's immigration problem was to
"close the borders." He said he meant to say "secure the
borders" and jokingly attributed the mistake to his limited English
ability.
-
- The governor's radio interview, which followed an appearance
on the conservative television news channel Fox News the night before,
coincided with an announcement that his approval rating had dropped from
60 percent to 47 percent in the last three months.
-
- "It's not a coincidence," says Pilar Marrero,
political editor for the Spanish-language daily La Opinión, that
Schwarzenegger made the comments on "the same day his numbers are
going down. He's trying to distract attention from the fact that he's losing
steam.
-
- "I heard it yesterday and it made me sick to my
stomach," Marrero says.
-
- "This isn't the Wild West," says Assemblymember
Hector De La Torre. "This isn't one of his action movies. The intent
of that inflammatory rhetoric is pointed right at us.
-
- "Sir Edmund Burke said, 'Patriotism is the last
refuge of a scoundrel,'" De La Torre continued. "I think scapegoating
and immigrant bashing is the last refuge of the wounded politician."
-
- In the same interview, Schwarzenegger criticized a billboard
advertising Spanish-language KRCA Channel 62. The billboard reads: "Your
news, your team. Los Angeles, CA" but "CA" is crossed out
and replaced with "Mexico." The governor, who called for the
advertisement to be taken down, said it "promotes illegal aliens to
come in here, and it's the last thing that we need."
-
- The Controversial Billboard
-
- Andrew Mars, corporate vice president of KRCA Channel
62, says his station's billboard is a marketing campaign that people have
reacted against "out of fear."
-
- "Our position with the billboard was to tell the
7 million Hispanics in L.A. that we support them," Mars says. "What
the governor didn't understand is that the billboard was geared toward
the people in L.A., not Mexico."
-
- Schwarzenegger has emphasized his own experience as an
immigrant in speeches, including his address at the Republican National
Convention.
-
- "He uses that immigrant myth of his personal life
when it suits his purposes," says De La Torre.
-
- With yesterday's comments, the governor has placed himself
to the right of President Bush on illegal immigration and the border. Bush
has criticized the Minutemen as a group of "vigilantes." When
asked why Bush used that term, Schwarzenegger paused. "I don't know,"
he said on the radio program. "I have not had that conversation with
him, but the next time I see him I will have that conversation."
-
- Not all Latino media workers were ready to condemn the
governor's comments, however.
-
- "A lot of times we hear from our elected officials,
who immediately react with anger, but we don't get enough discussion about
immigration," says Gloria Alvarez, managing editor of the Los Angeles-based
bilingual Eastern Group Publications (EGP). Alvarez says a lot of second-
and third-generation Hispanics are concerned about the large number of
illegal immigrants coming into the United States. They are afraid to speak
up, she says, because "to do so would put them in the position of
being called racist."
-
- In the radio interview, Schwarzenegger was quick to point
out that he did not blame impoverished Mexicans who want to come to the
United States -- remarks missing from most newspapers' coverage of the
interview.
-
- "I think a lot of people have used his words in
ways that are not necessarily beneficial to understanding and promoting
the plight of immigrants," Alvarez says.
-
- In his remarks, Alvarez says, Schwarzenegger "wanted
to make a point that we need more border patrol," not to advocate
vigilante groups. "I don't assume that it was racist. It's almost
like we have a standard reaction now."
-
- Alvarez says that the media and politicians "tend
to present a 'Latino perspective' without taking into account that not
everyone thinks the same way."
-
- Enrique Morones, who heads the nonprofit Border Angels,
says the governor's comments come at a time when the Minutemen are planning
to expand from the Arizona border to California. Morones, who has appeared
on "The O'Reilly Factor" on Fox News and hosts his own English
and Spanish-language radio shows, says his group sets up water stations
in the desert for illegal immigrants and is the "mirror opposite"
of the Minutemen.
-
- "We are very worried that the Minutemen are coming
out here," he says. "We know they're coming."
-
- The Minutemen are expected to begin patrolling the California
border in June, according to Alvarez.
-
- PNS contributor Elena Shore is a writer and editor for
New California Media, a nationwide association of over 700 ethnic media
organizations representing the development of a more inclusive journalism.
-
- http://news.pacificnews.org/news/
|