Why I have joined the DREAM Act Hunger Strike
By Brent Wilkes on 12/02/2010 @ 10:10 PM
Brent Wilkes, LULAC National Executive Director
For three weeks students in Texas have been on a hunger strike to press Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison to support the DREAM Act. The strike has now grown to 50 people from 4 different states. I have been deeply moved by the inspiration, courage, tenacity and sacrifice that these students have shown and I have decided to join their hunger strike until Congress passes the DREAM Act.
While the DREAM Act was first introduced 10 years ago, the ideals it represents harken back to the founding of our nation. Ever since Columbus set foot in this hemisphere, people from all over the world have been coming to America in hopes for a better opportunity for themselves and their families.
It is deeply troubling to me, that the decedents of those immigrants, including myself, have allowed our immigration laws to become so broken and unfair that the vast majority of our ancestors never would have been able to come here if today’s rules had been applied to them.
What makes the DREAM Act students’ case particularly compelling is that they were brought to this country by their parents. No reasonable person would blame them or insist they be punished for the manner in which they have arrived to our country.
What a reasonable nation should do is look at the manner in which the Dream students have conducted themselves once here, in the United States and that is where the DREAM Act students really shine. In order to be eligible for the proposed program, the DREAM Act students must have done well in their studies, graduated from high school, and be prepared to go to college or enter military service.
In short, these students have done very well despite all the obstacles they have faced growing up and now they are ready to give back to the United States…if Congress would only let them.
I was there at the LULAC National Legislative Gala on February 11, 2009 when Senator Hutchison accepted the LULAC National Legislative Award. I heard her state quite clearly that she supported the DREAM Act because it was the right thing to do.
Senator Hutchison, it still is the right thing to do. You and your Republican colleagues have a chance to show that the Republican Party does have compassion by doing the right thing, passing the DREAM Act, and giving these students a chance. Anything less is simply being mean-spirited and un-American.
I believe that the United States is a better country than one that would punish students because of their parent’s mistakes. I believe the vast majority of Americans still cherish the ideals of our founding fathers—that life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are God-given unalienable rights to be honored and preserved. I believe the United States Congress should pass the DREAM Act now and I stand in solidarity with those brave students who have shown us, by their actions, how to stand up for the principals one believes in.
Standing Up for Latino Tech Interests is Never “Misguided”
By Brent Wilkes on 01/15/2010 @ 12:08 PM
Brent Wilkes, LULAC National Executive Director
As the Federal Communications Commission prepares to review the tens of thousands of comments in its proceeding on new rules aimed at protecting the "open Internet," LULAC was disappointed to learn that our colleagues in the public interest and consumer organizations have again questioned the ability of civil rights groups to raise legitimate questions about the impact of these rules on those Americans who struggle to get online.
In a blog post last night (www.huffingtonpost.com/craig-aaron/why-the-right-is-wrong-ab_b_424023.html), Craig Aaron of Free Press called organizations like LULAC and National Urban League "misguided" for raising questions about the impact of net neutrality rules on consumer pricing for the Internet. This comes just a week after the Center for Digital Democracy's Jeff Chester called our organizations "tragic and shortsighted" for asking how net neutrality would impact at-risk communities who have not yet adopted broadband or those who are already stretch their thin budgets to subscribe.
LULAC is and always has been a part of the progressive community, fighting for the rights of marginalized Americans to be heard. We have worked for years to connect millions of Latinos to the Internet through our networks of community technology centers. So we are deeply disappointed by this dismissive treatment by our fellow travelers. The civil rights community has raised legitimate concerns about the impact of net neutrality rules on affordability, and we've simply asked the FCC to consider these concerns in their deliberations. We hope that other progressives will address rather than ignore these important questions.
To read more about the concerns LULAC has raised, read Brent’s op-ed in the Houston Chronicle (www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/outlook/6814399.html) or LULAC’s filing with the FCC.
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