Does US Citizenship Mean Anything?
Originally published
But then, the question is, whether U.S. citizenship really matters. Or to say it another way, Do Brown Lives Matter?
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Immigrants with an Asterisk *
When speaking before white folk, our black citizenry often feel forced to de-emphasize the fact and effects of our history regarding the “slave caste” upon which our new nation rested.
Their concern — that white folks are often in denial and just don’t want to hear about it — has validity. However, it is possible for one to be too accommodating.
Dr. Ben Carson, our new African American Secretary of HUD, shocked our country this week with his assertion that his ancestors were somehow inconvenienced immigrants nonetheless motivated by the American Dream.
Continue reading →The Poor Will Always Be With You…
It has become fashionable for many of the more affluent to treat the poor as welfare parasites worthy of their station in life, while themselves seeking to pay less taxes so as to become even richer.
Some would even quote some version of Jesus’ statement about the poor always being with you, as some sort of righteous justification for their heartlessness.
Seven years ago (March, 2010) Larry spent several days among the poor in coastal Colombia, South America. He returned with a different attitude about the poor.
Continue reading →The Saga of Juan Carlos Hernandez-Pacheco
When Candidate Trump declared undocumented Mexican immigrants to be dangerous drug-dealers and rapists — dangerous people who must be quickly removed, a southern Illinois town didn’t flinch. With the promise of jobs, coal production and the overturn of Roe v Wade, it never occurred to them that the cost of accepting possibly unfulfilled promises was one of the city’s greatest assets — a beloved Mexican restaurant manager.
Continue reading →A White Reflection on Black History
Larry is committed to the “Greater We”, embracing and celebrating our nation’s diverse backgrounds and cultural histories.
However, raised during the 50’s and 60’s, strict racial segregation was a way of life in the South.
As Black History Month ends, Larry recalls a time of “we-they thinking” in this honest, confessional reflection of his formative years, believing that there is much to be learned from the past, as long as we are not willing to repeat it.
Continue reading →Illegal, Period! It’s Just So Simple, Praise the Lord – Or Is It?
We all would like for the immigration issue to have a simple solution. Must literally millions of people live in fear? Dare we throw away an entire generation of US citizens, who in the minds of many are worth-less and therefore disposable?
Larry doesn’t have all the answers, but he in committed to allow the teachings of Jesus to inform his viewpoint, as he daily seeks to embrace the immigrant communities that he has come to love, and invest in the young US born bilinguals — citizens who have so much to offer.
Continue reading →A Recurring Nightmare
For years now Larry has been writing about the increasing negative sentiment directed at our Latino residents. In 2012 he wrote:
“We can say what we will about immigration law, but that doesn’t do much to free me from a haunting fear that I cannot dispel. With every new immigration effort targeting Hispanic immigrants, I feel it a little more. It’s like a noose slowly tightening.”
Continue reading →Inoperative?
Larry personally watched the televised Senate proceedings in June 1973, as former White House counsel John Dean revealed the methodology of the Watergate cover-up.
In this blogpost, he recalls the strange use of a word which clearly gives insight to the current president’s actions, including his need to conduct post-election campaign rallies.
Continue reading →Inoperative?
Larry personally watched the televised Senate proceedings in June 1973, as former White House counsel John Dean revealed the methodology of the Watergate cover-up.
In this blogpost, he recalls the strange use of a word which clearly gives insight to the current president’s actions, including his need to conduct post-election campaign rallies.
Continue reading →Happy Valentines! It’s Happening Again
Hispanics often celebrate Saint Valentine’s Day as a Day of Love and Friendship. How ironic is the February 14, 2017 Charlotte Observer headline. A former supporter of George W. Bush’s compassionate conservatism, Larry knows that a nation of laws must be a nation of compassionate law.
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