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PUBLISHED ON EDITION NO.
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358L
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4/8/2011 |
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Anger prevails at Secure
Communities Forum |
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By
Alberto Surís
albertosuris@rumbonews.com
“I’m disappointed with President Obama’s administration and
I don’t want to be disappointed with Governor Deval
Patrick,” State Representative Marcos Devers said to
Massachusetts Public Safety Secretary Mary Beth Heffernan at
the community meeting about the Federal Secure Community
Program held Saturday, April 2 at the Lawrence High School
auditorium.
“We don’t want undocumented criminals but here we have
decent, hard working citizens of the world who have been
deported because of this law,” said Devers in opposition to
the implementation in Massachusetts of the Secure
Communities Federal Program.
Devers was one of the many local citizens who stood in line
for over an hour to speak in opposition of the program. Few
locals raised their voice in support of the measure, but
applauded loudly when some members of the Tea Party pledged
their support to the Federal program.
“I disagree with the implementation of secure Communities
here. I understand that this program is to arrest and deport
criminals, but I also understand that through this program
many immigrants who do not have any criminal record have
been deported unjustly,” concluded Rep. Devers.
“We need the police to continue doing the work that they are
doing, without getting involved with immigration. Please, do
not divide families. Do not destroy them. We do not want
programs that divide and destroy our community,” said Luis
David Hiraldo, president of New England Puerto Rican
Alliance (NEPRA).
“Today, I ask you to listen with your head to the
testimonies that will surely point to the price we will pay
with the proposed program, but to listen with your soul to
the greater price we are already paying whenever we choose
‘imagined or real’ benefits over victimization,
dehumanization of fellow human beings.
“We've been here before. Selma, Auschwitz, Rwanda, Dafur.
Times when good people neglected to see, to listen, to speak
and to act from that sacred place called our collective
soul. A place some call God. Times when one seemingly
innocent act was part of a very clear agenda.
“I've seen the price paid by people who are brown and black
caught in this very clear agenda. (Fueled by the CCA and
others seeking to 'secure' this country by ‘protecting' the
white majority. I witnessed a Latino man dragged past us,
who was then beaten. I've met the children, the grandmothers
and the students targeted by this type of program.
“I call on you to listen to their voices and those of our
brothers and sisters caught in a similar hateful agenda in
recent years. Jimmy Lee Jackson, Rosa Parks, James Reeb,
Elie Wiesel, and let Massachusetts lead the way as it has
before, saying not here, not now, not ever,” concluded
reading Rev. Wendy von Zirpolo, regarding Secure
Communities.
Marty Lamb, from Holliston, who came with a group of Tea
Party members, reacted to the word ‘Auschwitz’ mentioned by
Rev. Zirpolo in her statement. “How you dare to compare
Auschwitz with this situation,” he said and added, “I came
here today for other reason but I took offence in what you
just said.” Mr. Lamb said that millions of his people were
exterminated in that camp. (Auschwitz was a network of
concentration and extermination camps built and operated in
Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany during the Second World
War).
Security Communities is a Federal program that will be
implemented in Massachusetts. This program will move forward
regardless of consent from state and local governments,
explained Under Secretary Curtis Wood, Deputy of State
Public Safety.
Anyone wishing to comment on Secure Communities can contact
the Governor's Constituent Services Office at 617-725-4005.
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Rev. Wendy von
Zirpolo, Unitarian Universalist minister from Marblehead
raised her poster for everybody to see it. Also pictured,
former City Council Nunzio DiMarca who also spoke against
the program. |
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School Committee
member Pavel Payano voiced his disapproval of the plan. |
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Marilyn Mercier
of Lawrence holds her sign in support of Secure Communities. |
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