Thug Life Army

A Day w/o Immigrants in Atlanta-Birthplace to the Civil Rights Movement - by Davey D

Yesterday May 1st 2006, history was made as several million people in over 150 US cities took to the streets to show their opposition to the proposed bill making its way through the Senate-HR 4437. For those who don’t know, the bill if passed will make it a felony if you are found in this country illegally. It will also slap felony charges on anyone caught helping ‘an illegal’. That includes providing employment or administering aid. Currently there are over 11 million people in this country who do not have the ‘proper paperwork’ and under the new law would be deemed illegal.

We touched down in Atlanta-the birthplace of the Civil Rights Movement to get a perspective from the immigrant community there and was surprised to hear about the type of drama and prejudices they are facing from people. We hear lots of stories about how the South has changed and how the south has progressed. Apparently racism is alive and well. We saw that first hand with the bold in your face venom that was being spoken out the mouths of handful anti-immigrant protestors, who had no shame in their game and would roll up on people and tell them to go back to Mexico. This was done to folks who were fellow citizens.

My home girl who is Native American and whose people are native to Georgia and was here long before any colonialist or pilgrim got accosted as well by some redneck yahoo telling her to go back where she came from. These folks have the southern drawl and everything.

Just to show you how off the hook people can get, while finishing up an interview with this African cat named Amadu, some white cat butted into the conversation and tried to tell us that we should not be at the rally because Mexicans hate Black people. He got frustrated when we told him we still support the demonstrations. Then he proceeded to tell us how the chant ‘Viva La Raza’ was a call to actions against Black people. Amadu told him to keep his propaganda to himself. I told him I was gonna ask my wife about that and see if it also applied to our kids. (I don’t have no wife and kids but seeing the look of shock on his face was priceless-hahaha). Dude walked away in disgust mumbling something about us being traitors.

Adding insult to injury is the Klan-like attitude exuded by some of the brothers and sisters in the area. Ryan Cameron the popular DJ on radio station took calls on the issue the day before the march and things got ugly. The hatred that was being spewed got so bad that at one point he had to stop and ask if he was talking to Black folks or the Klan. By no means that’s not how the majority feels, but there’s been enough ill will that it’s noticeable and needs to be addressed.

Part of the problem may be the lack of leadership or the absence of leadership within the Civil Rights Movement. While the rally in Atlanta was well attended with several thousand, what was noticeably absent was the Civil Rights leaders. There were a number of young brothers and sisters and the Nation of Islam came out. They even have a few Latino members, but it wasn’t lost on the crowd that Atlanta was the birthplace to the Civil Rights struggle. With such a storied history, one would naturally expect to see and feel that presence. Not so long ago similar marches and demonstrations were held demanding an end to the harsh Jim Crow segregation laws. Person after person spoke about that and saw what they were doing as the next phase of that ongoing struggle. They also spoke to the overt racism that they experience day in and day out in Atlanta and the surrounding cities.

Anyway in this interview you get to hear from some of the attendees as well as remarks from popular rap starts, Ice Cube, Immortal Technique, Chairman Fred Hampton Jr and Fat Joe.