The Boy Scouts carrying the American flag at the front of last week's immigration march learned a lesson about yearning to be an American.
As they passed the Salt Lake Marriott Hotel, there were Latino employees, with tears in their eyes, standing proudly, waving white napkins at the marchers. One of the Scouts turned to the leader and asked, "Why are they crying?" The leader responded, "Why are you crying?" To which the boy said, "Because I'm happy, and I'm marching for my parents."
They were joined by thousands of other Latinos — infants, children, teenagers and adults. Others were surprised to see so many Latinos who quietly live, work and learn in our communities. They are not too proud to clean toilets, empty garbage or wash dishes; but on this day, they stood tall with tears, orgullo (pride) and a burning desire to be American. That's what gave them the courage to come out of the shadows. They were there to tell the world they wanted to be treated as human beings and become American.
Several weeks ago, one reader accused me of "over identifying" with those people, to which I readily plead guilty. Like the youngsters marching last week, I too saw my hard-working parents mistreated and saw my father cry when they refused to sell him food for his hungry children because he was Mexican. Is there a child that would not stand up for his or her parents?
Then there are those who are quick to make scapegoats of undocumented individuals for the real threats our nation faces. They call for offhand solutions and thoughtless labeling — felons, send them all back, enforce all laws (yet they pick and choose which ones). They fail to see that the problems we face as a nation are complex, that we have Washington politicians who are too cowardly to act in the public's interest and for decades have chosen to ignore the consequences of their neglect upon our communities. Even after the attacks of 9/11, they have failed to act to protect our borders and examine the social and economic effect upon our nation.
There are no easy answers. Our government institutions are dying of old age and our politicians seem happy to oversee their demise, rather than muster the courage to give them new life. We face threats from outside, need to secure our borders and must strengthen our ability to compete in the global economy, yet the greatest threat is from within — our ability to cling to our common values. Immigrant bashing and irrational solutions only hurt a struggling nation.
We seem not to learn from the lessons of the past where we had to undergo demonstrations and unrest in our cities before leaders from the public and private sectors realized that our communities belong to all of us — and the solutions rest with each of us.
Ultimately, the solution to our broken immigration policies may be those our governor proposed to the Western Governor's Association and which gained traction in Washington — to secure the borders and promote a guest worker program that is true to our national values.
We need leaders who can begin bringing out the best in people, rather than appealing to their fears and anxieties.
As John W. Gardner, founder of the Urban Coalition, said, "There are the extremists, right wing and left wing, with their promise of salvation. . . . They do not understand that in her hour of agony, America needs physicians, not executioners."
Utah native John Florez has founded several Hispanic civil rights organizations, served on the staff of Sen. Orrin Hatch and on more than 45 state, local and volunteer boards. He also has been deputy assistant secretary of labor. E-mail: jdflorez@comcast.net