Recently, the vocal minority of conservative Internet bloggers was successful in convincing our Senators to leave the immigration riddle unsolved. It is my opinion, that the Latin communities failure to mobilize an affective Internet based campaign was a critical mistake. Marches may bring visibility to the issue but also a large degree of negative press. The Internet is a powerful tool that politician's respond to. The primary reason is emails give them hard numbers and real statistics from individuals they believe will vote. Current immigration legislation is really a civil rights issue.
Their is a wonderful editorial, ( Faces of Immigration ) on http://www.proudtoliveinamerica.com The article talks about the lack of unification between Hispanics with different backgrounds and the movements lack of a central unifying figure. Additionally it calls to attention the reality that many people outside of the coastal areas of the USA may have never had contact with a Haitian, Brazilian, Salvadorian, etc. This furthers the myth that anyone who speaks Spanish is automatically considered undesirable or undocumented. http://www.proudtoliveinamerica has gathered a tremendous amount of information on a wide variety of topics that affect the Hispanic community. It's primary goal is to educate, inform and empower Latinos in order to improve their lives and change the perception of stereotypes that haunt the community.
For the first time, minority population in the United states is over one million. Isn't it time that we start stiring the new ingredients in our culture in to the "melting pot"?
