We remember May Day some 2 years ago with great clarity. There were two things going on that dominated the news down here in San Diego, one of which was national news as it was about that time that the whole illegal immigration debate got kicked into high gear.
Before May 1, 2006, we probably could’ve been talked into some sort of amnesty deal for hard-working, family-oriented illegals. They were generally good people, weren’t they and didn’t they contribute like, a lot, to the economy? We still leaned towards a “no” vote but one could’ve sweet-talked us into some sort of compromise. A compromise, that is, before May Day, ’06.
Because May 5 (Cinco de Mayo – the American version of the Mexican Independence Day) follows on the heels of May 1st, the international day of Communists, anti-Westeners, anti-capitalists, free Mumias, leftists, anarchists, jew haters, Che lovers, enviro-wackos and every other single gray-matter challenged cause on the planet, May Day was chosen as the day to stage a bunch of pro-immigrant rallies here in the states.
(That day was also the alleged, “don’t-buy-anything” day in order slow the economy and show solidarity with the (day) laborers of the world. Remember that? We dropped 3 bills at Sam’s Club as our show of support. It was one of our finest hours.)
That evening, when we flipped on the T.V. we saw thousands of very earnest-looking Latino folks that had taken to the streets in San Diego and up in LA. and scattered among them were a few bearded, ponytailed and in-need-of-a-back-shave white folks along with some white men – and they were all waving flags….. Mexican flags.
It was revolting. We were sick to our stomach for a day or two afterwards. These people all marched the next day and had American flags as the memo got out a day late but it was over by that point. They’d lost us. They were dead to us.
These people and their “organizers” did not have the decency, the courtesy, the graciousness, the gratefulness… not even the political savvy to wave American flags. How could they ever be taken seriously? That single act summed up what they were really saying behind all bleeding-heart rhetoric: We got ours and now we want yours. They blew it. They could’ve continued duping a lot of people, including ourselves, but that single act spoke volumes and, at least, in our hearts and minds radically altered the framing of the debate. Nice work, La Raza....chumps.
It was also at this time that the cross that sits atop the Mt. Soledad War Memorial was probably in its gravest danger of being removed. After 18 years of legal warfare, it appeared that a couple of whiny atheists with nothing better to do might prevail and have the cross removed. Between the flag wavers and the specter of seeing a San Diego landmark and memorial to this nation’s fallen destroyed, we were nearly shaking with rage for about 3 or 4 days.
The separation of church and state argument didn’t fly. The cross is also a cultural symbol as well as a religious one. Americans of every religious or non-religious stripe recognize the cross as a symbol of sacrifice as well as that of the Christian church. The men who are memorialized made that ultimate sacrifice for their country and for the man next to them. Setting a cross atop a hill does not make a religious statement… it does symbolize, though, that the ground beneath is sacred because of the self-less sacrifices that have been made. Removing the cross desecrates that ground… it devalues the price that was paid. Ironically, we imagine the very people (and there are very few of them) that wanted the cross removed, we're besides themselves when the Taliban destroyed those Buddhist monuments in Afghanistan.
The cross has survived and is still standing. We do feel a bit better about things regarding the two aforementioned subjects than we did 2 years ago. Apologies for the long-winded post but it felt good to share.
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