Janet Murguía's Speech at the National Press Club

Full Text

View video below

Conventional Wisdom
By Janet Murguia
National Press Club
April 16, 2008

NCLR is the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States. We were founded in 1968 and are now celebrating our 40th anniversary.  We are proud to be an American institution whose mission is to create opportunities for the 45 million Hispanics in the United States.  Together with our nearly 300 local affiliates across the country, NCLR works to improve the lives of Hispanics in five key areas – asset building, civil rights, education, employment and health.

The Nonprofit Times has named us among the top 50 leaders shaping the nonprofit world and we have been singled out in the recent new book focusing on high-impact non-profits called: Forces for Good. Our work has been honored by the U.S. Surgeon General and our former CEO and our current Board Chair have both earned the prestigious Hubert H. Humphrey Civil Rights Award by the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights.

Ordinarily, I would take the honor of speaking before the National Press Club as an opportunity to talk about our work helping 23,000 low-income Hispanic families purchase their first homes.  I would talk about how we are keeping them in those homes despite the unfolding housing and foreclosure crisis. 

 Perhaps I would talk about NCLR’s recent efforts to build a network of charter schools that serve some 25,000 students or a system of health care clinics that serve another 85,000 families.   Maybe, I'd talk about our role in public policy achievements like expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit or creating the Refundable Child Tax Credit that together lift more than two million Hispanic families out of poverty every year.

These days, however, only one of our issues seems to capture the attention of the media. Only one of our issues resonates with elected officials.  Only one of our issues seems to matter to the general public.   
I am speaking, of course, about immigration.

Since the defeat of comprehensive immigration reform last year, conventional wisdom has touted immigration as the wedge issue of the 2008 election.  It overwhelmed the presidential primary debates and has been the focal point for many of the subsequent off-year and special elections.  And, despite the repeated repudiation of candidates at the national level who espouse the harshest rhetoric, conventional wisdom continues to lead candidates to demagogue this issue "down ticket" in congressional, state and local races.

I come here today out of concern. I believe that, as a nation, we are fast approaching a turning point.  What started out as a public policy debate last spring is on the verge of becoming one of the largest civil rights issues of our generation. The demonizing rhetoric that surrounds this issue, the hate groups and vigilantes who promote it, the politicians and media who embrace it and the passivity of those listening, who should stop it, shame our great country.  It should shame all of us.

Last week, an editorial in Investor's Business Daily made the absurd claim that, "There's a real movement out there that feels our Southwest is really occupied Mexico."  It went on to make the ridiculous assertion that NCLR is a key player in this alleged movement. The night before, CBS and Katie Couric did an expose titled "illegal immigrant births…at your expense," and showed a Member of Congress challenging the 14th Amendment.  No opposing point of view.  No second opinion.  This kind of lopsided viewpoint sinks to the level of demagoguery on cable television news and talk radio.  But, Investor's Business Daily?  CBS? Katie Couric?  Is no one above exploiting this issue?

As a nation of immigrants, we have struggled with the demonization of others in our past.  The choices we have made have not always lived up to the ideals that make this country great.  We have not always listened to the "better angels of our nature."  Every major civil rights abuse in our nation's history has been preceded by the vilification and scapegoating of a single group. Ask the native peoples who occupied this continent; ask the Africans who were brought here in chains; ask the Chinese immigrants who built our railroads; ask the Irish immigrants who "needed not apply"; ask the Japanese Americans who were put into internment camps; ask the German, the Italian and the Jewish immigrants who repeatedly suffered discrimination at the turn of the last century from people who called themselves patriots.

We struggled with immigration then and we are struggling now.  Voices better left on the fringe of political discourse have moved front and center to define the debate. Their harsh rhetoric has filled the immigration debate with code words that demonize and dehumanize - not just immigrants - but Latinos as a threat to the American way of life.  They depict us as “an army of invaders.”  They call us “a swarm" and "a massive horde.”  They say that we bring disease and crime to our country. 

 But, worse yet, they have had a helping hand from the media.  A cursory review of network listings shows that spokespeople from hate groups and vigilantes - such as FAIR and the Minutemen - have appeared at least 120 times on cable network news programming over the last three years.  That doesn’t count print.  That doesn't count local television.  That doesn't count radio.  Rarely is their background explored or challenged. Rarely do they appear with an opposing point of view.  And, if that wasn’t damning enough, many of the media’s talk show hosts and commentators parrot their hate speech on air.

As an organization, NCLR has tried to draw back the curtain to expose those hate groups and extremists pulling the levers and turning the wheels.  With the launch of our campaign and website, "WeCanStoptheHate.org," we have challenged the cable television networks for putting hate groups and vigilantes on the air as immigration "experts."   That's like having David Duke on television as an expert on Affirmative Action.

We are using this campaign to educate the public about hate groups, hate speech and its consequences - because we know that words have consequences…and hateful words have hateful consequences.

Log onto YouTube or Google or any major newspaper or television website and type in the word "immigration."  The posts following any video or article are often so ugly they will turn your stomach.

It is no surprise that hate crimes against Latinos are up 35 percent over four years.  Hate groups targeting Latinos are up 48 percent since the year 2000.   Two-thirds of Latinos say that the failure of the immigration bill has made life more difficult for Latinos overall and roughly half say that it has affected them personally.

But, our detractors say, "We aren't talking about immigrants.  We LOVE immigrants.  We are only talking about illegal immigrants." 

Most Latinos aren't immigrants.  But, you can't tell just by looking at us.  More than 80 percent of Hispanics in this country are U.S. citizens or legal residents.  But, the truth is, Hispanics understand that this issue is about all of us.

• When demonstrators in Arizona put on surgical masks whenever a Latino walks by, because they think we carry tuberculosis…it's personal.
• When Lou Dobbs trumps up false statistics, tying immigrants to a steep rise in leprosy…it's personal.
• When your 10 year-old nephew, who was born in Kansas is told by a schoolmate, "Mexicans are stupid, and I think you should go back to Mexico"…it's personal.
• When friends and neighbors get pulled over and asked for immigration papers - and sometimes are detained for hours - even though their families have been in this country for generations…it's personal.

You don't have to be an immigrant to be horrified that 13,000 American children have been separated from a parent by immigration raids.

You don't have to be an immigrant to know that those shouting "amnesty" have left mass deportation as the only solution remaining on the table.

• How much will it cost to deport 12 million people?
• How many additional police will we need?
• How many federal judges, federal prisons, and federal courts?
• How many U.S. citizens of color - or with an accent - will be picked up in such a massive sweep?
• How many boxcars will it take to move them to our borders?

You don't have to be an immigrant to know that such solutions are really not solutions.  Perhaps some of those crying loudest about amnesty really don't want a solution at all.

Which brings me back to immigration as the campaign wedge issue for 2008. Four months ago, conventional wisdom pushed Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney to spar on national television over who was tougher on undocumented immigrants. Three months ago, conventional wisdom led 49 Democrats to support a deportation-only bill, in fear of what Rahm Emmanuel called  "the third rail of American politics." Two months ago, conventional wisdom held that immigration would the winning issue in the special election being held in Illinois.

But, what do the results show? 

The results show that such conventional wisdom could not have been more misguided. Anti-immigration campaigns have, for the most part, failed. Immigration, as a wedge issue, does not deliver the votes.

• Most of those running anti-immigration campaigns lost their elections in 2006 and 2007. 
• The presidential candidates who adopted hard-line positions on immigration have all been pushed out of the race.
• Just recently, a safe Republican district in Illinois went to Democrat Bill Foster after his opponent, Jim Oberweis mounted a largely anti-immigrant campaign.  His loss prompted John McCain to caution his own party.  “We just had a loss of Denny Hastert's seat," he said. The Republican candidate had very strong anti-immigrant rhetoric - so I would hope that many of our Republican candidates would understand the political practicalities of this issue.”

So, clearly, when it comes to immigration, conventional wisdom has gotten it wrong. Simply put, that dog won't hunt.

Why is it then that one month ago, after Senator McCain had secured the nomination, conventional wisdom prompted a group of Republican Senators to introduce a raft of punitive immigration bills in the Senate?  Why is it that another group in the House has fought to resurrect the Shuler-Tancredo deportation-only legislation?  Why is it that over 1,400 state and local initiatives have been introduced in the last year, compared to 1,300 in the past ten years? 

The answer is, all of these actions are clearly designed to exploit the issue for the elections this fall. All of these initiatives do not account for one simple dynamic: this issue not only fails to move the general public, it galvanizes the Latino vote. It is easy to understand how this could happen.  The "best political teams on television" have so few Latinos in front of the cameras - who could know how Latinos might react? 

Make no mistake, the Latino vote matters.  And after this election, it will matter more.

• Latinos were a deciding factor in the Florida Primary for John McCain.  They helped him take the lead amongst Republicans.  He won 54 percent of the Latino vote in a crowded field. 
• Hispanics were the decisive factor for Hillary Clinton in New York and California and gave new life to her candidacy in the Texas Primary.  She carried approximately two-thirds of the Hispanic vote in that state.
• In 1996, 4.9 million Hispanics voted.  In 2008, with an energized electorate, that number could double to 10 million. 
• More importantly, Hispanics constitute a large share of the electorate in four states that President Bush carried by margins of 5 percentage points or less:  New Mexico, Florida; Nevada and Colorado.

We know that the Latino vote will be the deciding factor in who is elected President this November. Given the importance of this election at all levels, we have launched several major new initiatives to improve Latino participation in this year's election, including our partnerships with Democracia USA and the Ya Es Hora campaign. Just as Latinos have had a significant role in selecting the candidates for President in both parties, we hope to elect a Senate, a House and state governors and legislators who will show courage and leadership in taking hate out of the debate.

Hispanic voters have spoken loudly and clearly that we will not be demonized; we will not be scapegoated; and we will not be ignored.  But we cannot, and should not, do it alone. 

Poll after poll shows that Americans favor solutions that require people to come out of the shadows, require them to pay a fine for entering this country without documents and require them to learn English and pay taxes in order to become citizens.  Those American voices, however, are being drowned out by a small, but extremely vocal and persistent grassroots network.  
In short, there is a bully in the room.  And all of us need to stand up to him if we are going to live up to this country's best ideals and aspirations.

Two years ago, the Latino community held some of the largest peaceful demonstrations in U.S. history.  To our community it proved that each of us is not alone.  It gave us confidence to stand up to the voices of hate.  It gave us hope.  But this time, 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 is to the voting booth this November. 

I ask all Americans to join us in that march this year to oppose the voices of hate, to reject the politics of division and to support those who are serious about finding legitimate solutions to this complex problem.

Thank you.

Part 1 of Janet Murguía's Speech at the National Press Club

Part 2 of Janet Murguía's Speech at the National Press Club

Download Conventional Wisdom Speech

All Content © 2009 NCLR. All Rights Reserved