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2008 NCLR CAPITAL AWARDS
"A NATION OF HOPE”
MARCH 4, 2008
Janet Murguía

Felicidades, Representative Solis… Good evening.

We have special cause tonight to celebrate.

This is the 40th anniversary of NCLR’s founding in 1968.

I want to thank all of you for your enduring support and your contribution to improving the lives of Latinos in America.

I personally want to recognize and thank….Raul Yzaguirre for his service, his guidance and his commitment to our community.

Today, thanks to the work of so many people – our founders, those who’ve served on our board of directors, chair, and staff, our Affiliates, and our many partners, NCLR is among the most recognized organizations in the nonprofit sector.

The Nonprofit Times has recognized NCLR’s leadership with its coveted “Power and Influence Top 50” award, honoring the top 50 leaders shaping the nonprofit world.

And NCLR is currently featured alongside organizations as diverse as Habit for Humanity and the Heritage Foundation in the book: Forces for Good: The Six Practices of High-Impact Nonprofits.

All of you who are here tonight, and the many who are with us in spirit, share in that success.

You are all truly part of the NCLR familia, and I hope you are as proud as we are, of what we have been able to accomplish in four short decades.

Each year at the Capital Awards, I try to give an update on the strategies we’re pursuing to strengthen America by promoting the advancement of Latino families.

Tonight, I wish I could talk about helping low-income Hispanic families to purchase their first homes; I wish I could talk about NCLR’s efforts to build a network of charter schools; I wish I could talk about our Affiliates efforts to help train promotores de salud; and to teach English to newcomers entering this country.

I regret, that tonight, I cannot talk about any of these things.

While they are all still very much our concern, Latinos can’t get any traction on these issues on Capitol Hill or in the media these days.

Only one of our issues resonates with elected officials.

Only one of our issues captures their attention. Only one of our issues seems to matter.

I am speaking, of course, about immigration.

Everything we work for has been overwhelmed by the tsunami that surrounds this issue.

A year ago at these awards, we were fresh from the marches that helped to pass a Senate bill in 2006.

But last year reform was literally shouted down by a wave of vitriol the likes of which I have never before seen here in Washington.

Radio and television talk show hosts nightly derided the bill as “amnesty,” and together with nativist grassroots organizations, mobilized a flood of phone calls and letters that literally shut down the Capitol Hill switchboard. Perhaps most disturbing of all was the tone of the campaign.

It was ugly.

And it was demeaning.

Sixteen Senators switched their vote from “yea” to “nay,” compared to the previous year.

One made the honest observation that it wasn’t a vote about policy, but about race.

Senator Trent Lott observed disgustedly that, “Talk radio is running America.”

As you know, the success of reform opponents has made immigration one of the top campaign issues in this year’s election and has driven a slew of bills to the floors of state houses and town councils across America.

The vitriol surrounding this issue has continued. The nightly media demagogues have continued.

And the hate has continued.

Hate groups and vigilantes have moved front and center to define the language of the immigration debate.

Their policy positions frame the political discourse, and their people have infiltrated the media and the ranks of those seeking to run our country.

Anti-immigrant rhetoric has filled the debate with code words that demonize and dehumanize Latinos as a threat to the American way of life. They depict us as “an army of invaders” and “a massive horde” that brings disease and crime to our country.

They say we are “criminals who should be deported,” regardless of the cost to our families and our children and to the communities we leave behind.

When confronted, the voices of hate say they are only talking about “illegals,” a term deftly used as a code word to hide prejudice.

People cannot be “illegal” only conduct can. “Illegal” is an adjective, not a noun.

And yet they’re changing the lexicon of our language.

A cursory review of network listings shows that spokespeople from hate groups and vigilantes have appeared at least 120 times on network programming over the last three years.

This doesn’t even count the number of times they have appeared in print or on local radio.

As if that wasn’t damning enough, many of the media’s talk show hosts and commentators parrot their hate speech.

• CNN’s Glenn Beck jokingly offered a one-stop solution to the immigration and the energy crises on his radio program. He proposed a "giant refinery" that produces "Mexinol," a fuel made from the bodies of illegal immigrants coming here from Mexico to find work.

To Latinos, this is appalling. But it should be offensive to everyone.

It is intolerable, unacceptable and it has to end.

To combat this wave of hate, NCLR has launched its own “Wave of Hope.” It is a three-part campaign to take hate out of the immigration debate.

First, we’ve put the media on notice:

Specifically, we’ve asked the three cable news networks – Fox, CNN and MSNBC – to take the hate and vigilante groups off the air. And to clean up the rhetoric of their own commentators - or take them out of their chairs.

Second, we’re putting candidates of all parties on notice to renounce hate speech and sever their ties to hate and vigilante groups:

Third, we have launched a campaign to educate Americans about the rise of hate speech against Latinos. We know words have consequences, it is no coincidence that during the past three years, we've seen a corresponding rise in hate crimes against Latinos.

I ask you to join us in calling on these networks to take hate off the air. Visit our website, www.WeCanStopTheHate.org and find out how you can help.

Together we can pull back the curtain and expose those pulling the levers and spinning the wheels.

There is a bully in the room and we intend to stand up to him. Ultimately the fate of immigration reform rests within our own hands. It is one thing to stand up to the bully in the room.

It is another thing to deliver the votes to effect real change.

In last year’s elections and this year’s primaries, including the ones taking place today, Latinos have spoken loudly and clearly that we will not be demonized; we will not be scapegoats; and we will not be ignored.

It has become clear that the Latino vote will define this election.

It is no accident that the three leading candidates for president support comprehensive immigration reform.

Despite this, our work is not done.

At every level of government, immigration is a central issue of debate.

We need to do more than just elect a president who shows courage and leadership on our issues... We need to elect a Senate, a House and state governors and legislators who will show that same courage.

You will hear more tonight about a campaign that encouraged one million immigrants to apply for citizenship last year. We are putting the same energy this year into registering new voters for the election in November. In addition, I’m happy to report that last Wednesday, NCLR announced a major new initiative that will help us to mobilize the Latino vote in key states this November. We have formed a new partnership with Democracia USA, which has a proven track record in registering and turning out new Latino voters.

People in our community often ask me if there will be more marches.

Like all of us, they want to belong to something larger than themselves that contributes to society. Marches visually demonstrate to each of us that we are not alone. They give us confidence to stand up to the voices of hate.

They give us hope.

But this year, there is only one march that will truly empower our community.

There is only one march that will demonstrate our clout.

There is only one march that will speak louder than all the voices of hate that are mobilized against us.

Our next march must be to the voting booth this November.

Forty years have passed since NCLR's founding. So much has been accomplished.

So much has been done. Yet, it is clear, that there is still so much left to do.

It is my hope that 40 years from now we will be able to look back at this moment and be proud of what we have accomplished.

I hope we can look back on this moment as the day that we came together to confront the forces of hate with our hope for a better future.

For when we come together, when we passionately stand up for our principles and insist on what is right, together, we remind everyone what it means to be part of this nation of promise and of brightness.... and of hope.

As we leave this gathering tonight, let us each carry forward our own unique responsibility to ensure that hope triumphs.

Thank you.

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