Macon Telegraph Story on Colotl, March
Posted On Sunday, May 02, 2010 at at 3:55 PM by Dan
The Macon Telegraph has a good story on the recent May Day march in Atlanta and the Jessica Colotl case. I posted information on Colotl, a Kennesaw State University student, earlier. Folks not from Georgia should also call their representative and Obama as well. The Macon story is reprinted below.
Thousands protest strict Ariz. immigration law in Georgia
http://www.macon.com/2010/05/02/1114185/georgia-rally-draws-thousands.html
Sunday, May 2, 2010
By KATE BRUMBACK
Coltl, a 21-year-old senior at Kennesaw State University in suburban Atlanta, was pulled over for a minor traffic violation. After her arrest, she was taken to an immigration detention center in Alabama and on Tuesday a judge denied her bond, said sorority sister Lila Parra.
“My heart just breaks,” Parra said. “She fought so hard and did so well academically and to get shut down in her senior year, it’s just not fair.”
Choltl’s parents brought her to the U.S. when she was 10. Two of her three younger siblings were born here and are American citizens, Parra said.
Parra and about 30 other Lambda Theta Alpha sorority members from several different universities joined a rally at the Georgia Capitol on Saturday to march and rally in favor of federal immigration reform. The event was one of many planned around the country to protest a strict new immigration law in Arizona and to call on lawmakers to reform federal immigration laws. The rallies were held May 1 because it’s a traditional day of protest and International Workers Day.
Police and organizers estimated that about 5,000 people participated. Protesters carried American flags and signs demanding legalization for the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants living in the U.S. and an end to deportations.
State Rep. Pedro Marin, one of a handful of Hispanic members of the Georgia Legislature, addressed the rally Saturday, calling on the crowd to register to vote and to actually cast ballots to ensure that lawmakers hear their voices.
“We cannot allow Georgia to turn into Arizona,” Marin said, referring to the new law in Arizona that makes it a state crime to be in the U.S. illegally and lets police question anyone they suspect of being an illegal immigrant.
The Arizona law’s passage has galvanized immigrant rights groups across the country, prompting calls to boycott Arizona businesses and protests outside Arizona Diamondbacks baseball games.
Many in Arizona support the law amid growing anger over the federal government’s failure to secure the border. The state has become a major gateway for drug smuggling and human trafficking from Mexico.
In the final days of the legislative session this week, the Georgia Senate passed a resolution to urge Washington to secure the borders because Georgia “is unable to withstand the financial burden created by illegal immigration.” The resolution urges President Obama and Congress to devote more resources to tightening immigration control.
Cabinet maker Fernando Baltazar, 25, came to the Atlanta rally with his wife, Evelina. He arrived in the U.S. 10 years ago on a work visa but didn’t leave after it expired.
“I think the marches are very important because we want the people in Congress to hear us,” Baltazar said in Spanish. “We need immigration reform because there are so many of us here who just want to work and want to be able to do that legally.”
I will tell you what I have seen these last few days I saw our beloved Stars and Stripes flag, the flag from Mexico and some flags from other countries. I saw children, parents and grand parents together in solidarity, my people the working class, they may not be sophisticated but they got the message heard. From publish reports the demonstrations included both US citizens and undocumented workers. This brought me a smile because I always enjoy seeing brothers helping brothers.
This reminds me of a parable from the good book where a Levite and Priest come upon a man who fell among thieves and they both individually passed by and didn't stop to help him. Finally a man of another race came by, he got down from his beast, decided not to be compassionate by proxy and got down with the injured man, administered first aid, and helped the man in need. Jesus ended up saying, this was the good man, this was the great man, because he had the capacity to project the "I" into the "thou," and to be concerned about his brother.
You see, the Levite and the Priest were afraid, they asked themselves, "If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?"
But then the Good Samaritan came by. And he reversed the question: "If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?"
As I see it, we should stand-up against a law is passed in anger and is against our Constitution/ Bill of Rights/ Declaration of Independence and is targets a specific group.
God bless all my brothers and sister that stood side by side with our brothers and sisters in need. When our judgment comes I know God will not discriminate by country of origin as men do.