Fwd: {Disarmed} [tupocc] Addressing Anti-racism within immigrant community- Welcome to the REAL OC

I received this over the NLLSA listserve.


Luan Huynh <huynhlu@yahoo.com> wrote:

To: Salvador Sarmiento Torres <sgsarmiento@ucdavis.edu>, NLLSA@yahoogroups.com
CC: LaRaza@ucdavis.edu, MEChA@ucdavis.edu, LaLSA_WCL@yahoogroups.com
From: Luan Huynh <huynhlu@yahoo.com>
Date: Thu, 19 Oct 2006 22:43:04 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Re: [NLLSA] Welcome to the REAL OC

0Dear All,

Sadly enough, the letter came from a Vietnamese
Republican in OC who is running for office. I wonder
if Vietnamese Americans received the same letter (but
I doubt it). I would think that my people, being
immigrants ourselves, would not resort to these kinds
of tactics. It is a very sad state of affairs, but in
the end, I think it is purely opportunism trhough the
lens of race.

This is all too bad because we could learn so much
from one another. Two summers ago I was in the
Philippines helping some stateless Vietnamese people
whose lives were very similar to the undocumented
Latino/a immigrants here in the U.S. I was surrounded
by other Vietnamese Americans and Australians who
believed in human rights, but who did not see that the
struggle we traveled so far to fight was also
happening in our very own backyard.

Finally, I want to tell you all that I learned about
this through a Vietnamese list-serve. There are
others in my community who are upset that someone
would do this. We stand with you. Human dignity
binds better than any racial identity.

Sincerely,

Luan Huynh

--- Salvador Sarmiento Torres
<sgsarmiento@ucdavis.edu> wrote:

>
> State Investigating Intimidating Letter Sent to O.C.
> Latinos
>
> Anti-illegal immigrant group disavows the letter,
> which focuses on voting
> issues.
> By Jennifer Delson, Times Staff Writer
> October 17, 2006
>
> The state attorney general is investigating a
> Spanish-language letter
> warning some Orange County Latinos that they could
> be jailed or deported if
> they vote in the November election.
>
> The letter, which purports to be from a Huntington
> Beach-based group, also
> warns that the state has developed a tracking system
> that will allow the
> names of Latino voters to be handed over to
> anti-immigrant groups.
>
> ADVERTISEMENT
> "You are advised that if your residence in this
> country is illegal or you
> are an immigrant, voting in a federal election is a
> crime that could result
> in jail time …," the letter says.
>
> The letterhead resembles that of the California
> Coalition for Immigration
> Reform, a group that advocates tightening the
> border, among other things.
> But the group's founder, Barbara Coe, said she
> believed it was fraudulent.
> She said she did not know the person who signed the
> letter, "Sergio
> Ramirez," that she did not authorize it and was
> unaware of anyone in her
> group who did.
>
> Nonetheless, it has riled Latino leaders and voters.
>
> One person who received the letter is the wife of a
> Garden Grove City
> Council candidate. She said her husband, Benny Diaz,
> called friends after
> the letter arrived and found five others with Latino
> surnames who had
> received the note.
>
> "It's a very malicious and degrading letter. It's to
> pull Latinos down and
> make them afraid," said Diaz, who is president of
> the Garden Grove chapter
> of the League of United Latin American Citizens.
>
> "Of course it's going to affect me and any other
> Latino candidate in Orange
> County," he added.
>
> John Trasviña, interim president and general counsel
> for the Mexican
> American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said he
> had asked the U.S.
> Department of Justice to investigate the letter.
>
> Sen. Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles), who called on
> California Secretary of
> State Bruce McPherson and state Atty. Gen. Bill
> Lockyer to investigate,
> believes the letter is an effort to scare Latinos
> from voting in Orange County.
>
> "You can't help but feel disgusted with the contents

> of this letter…. I'm
> not just going to sit silent," said Romero, who is
> up for reelection in
> November.
>
> Lockyer spokesman Nathan Barankin said the letter
> was "something we are
> investigating aggressively right now," he said.
>
> The sender could be charged with a felony and
> receive up to three years in
> state prison, he said.
>
> Trasviña wants an investigation of a "potential
> violation" of federal
> election law, which prohibits intimidation, threats
> or coercion.
>
> He said he was aware of six people who received the
> letter, all of whom
> "appear to be naturalized citizen voters from Latin
> American countries."
> Voters' birthplaces are available from voter
> registration records.
>
> Coe said that in the last four days she had taken
> dozens of calls from
> irate Orange County Latinos who received the
> letters, which does not have
> the group's logo — an outline of the state of
> California — but has a
> variation of an eagle logo used on the group's
> website.
>
> The letter "puts a shadow on our credibility, that
> we would target certain
> people who might be citizens of our country," Coe
> added.
>
> She said her group was investigated by the FBI in
> 1996 and 1998 because
> members held signs near polls stating that only
> citizens can vote.
>
> The letter's assertion that immigrants can't vote is
> untrue, because
> immigrants who become naturalized citizens can
> register to vote. Trasviña
> said that an undocumented immigrant who voted could
> be subject to
> deportation and jail.
>
> The letter's assertion that the state has developed
> a computer system that
> will make it easy to track down immigrants and
> illegal residents, however,
> is false, he said.
>
> Amin David, who leads the civic group Los Amigos of
> Orange County, said the
> Spanish used in the letter is very formal, perhaps
> suggesting it was
> written by a non-native speaker. The Spanish
> includes grammatical errors.
>
>
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
>
>

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