I want to publicly thank all those who marched Monday to show support for illegal immigrants in Las Vegas. Thanks to their boycott, my school was 25 percent empty.
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It was one of the most pleasurable days I've had teaching in the past several years. The thought occurred to me that if I could have more days like this, I could actually get to the business of helping students improve their test scores and getting my school off the No Child Left Behind watch list.
If school was boycotted more often, we would have no need to build more schools, no need for teachers to look for translators at parent conferences, no need to spend time remediating, no need to pay taxes for free or reduced-cost lunches and no need to try to discover a new teaching method to help English learners acquire the skills necessary to become proficient in testing.
So I thank all those who kept their kids out of school to participate in this march. I can't wait until another march is planned. You have my full support.
Perhaps you could all march south and become a burden to Mexican school districts.
Hoai-My Winder
LAS VEGAS
THE WRITER IS A CLARK COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT TEACHER.
It's about worker rights
To the editor:
It's a shame that most American citizens have forgotten what May Day is all about. It's about worker rights. Thank goodness we have immigrants to carry the torch.
Immigrant rights issues are really worker-rights issues. Anyone doing honest work should be entitled to basic rights, whether they have a piece of paper saying they belong here or not.
I'm an American citizen, and I attended the Monday demonstration at the Fremont Street Experience. I have blue eyes and fair skin, and I didn't look like many of the people there. But you know what? They let me march with them, anyway. I crashed their party and they welcomed me with open arms.
I have never been to an event that was so full of positive energy. A vibrant, contagious energy that I have never seen at any demonstration (and I have seen a few). I came from there with a renewed sense that people who want, struggle and stand for their equality are infinitely more deserving than those of us who haven't worked a day for our own advantages.
Then I returned to the negativity of the media, of the Fox News Channel and of CNN's Lou Dobbs, of right-wing talk radio (which is all of talk radio these days) and newspaper opinion. And I remembered that the struggles and hostilities faced by immigrants today have been faced by all immigrants in this country since its beginning. This group, too, will eventually assimilate because it will become the mainstream, and I will be proud to say that I supported them all the way.
Tony Mitre
LAS VEGAS
More bureaucracy
To the editor:
The current Senate proposal to permit illegals a path to citizenship is very confusing to me. What sort of federal bureaucracy is going to administer a program for more than 11 million illegals to verify that they paid a penalty? What penalty payment is due and for what?
Second, if they must pay back taxes, presumably on previous employment, how can this be tracked down for people who have been here for years? In addition, they must learn English, be employed, crime free and brush after meals. Who is going to verify that these requirements have been met by millions of people? As to the condition that they must "get in line," what line? The line of people waiting patiently in Mexico for their turn to enter the country legally?
For a country that can't keep track of its home-grown parolees and child molesters, this seems like an unrealistic adventure, but maybe the Senate will work out the details at a later date.
Bruce Brown
LAS VEGAS
No rights
To the editor:
I was appalled to see the Review-Journal print a full-page advertisement Tuesday stating the newspaper supports "everyone's First Amendment right to peaceably assemble and petition the government for redress of their grievances." I agree -- if they are legal.
Illegal immigrants have no rights as American citizens until they take the oath of citizenship. So how does the First Amendment apply?
