Kucinich-Sponsored Resolution Approved at National Latino Congreso

“The National Latino Congreso, meeting in Los Angeles this weekend, has unanimously passed one of two resolutions presented by representatives of the Kucinich for President campaign and will consider a second one today.

The Congreso, expected to draw upwards of 2,000 Latino elected officials, community leaders, and activists from across the country, is developing a political and social action agenda for the coming year, and hopes to have a major impact on the 2008 Presidential election campaign. The campaign of Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich is the only Presidential campaign that is officially sponsoring the Congreso.

Kucinich will be the keynote speaker Sunday morning at a breakfast sponsored by the Latino Vote Caucus. Today (Saturday), Rep. Kucinich’s wife, Elizabeth, will address a luncheon meeting on “America & the World in the 21st Century.”

The resolution approved Friday night calls for the Maricopa County, Arizona, Sheriff’s Department to shut down a telephone hotline set up to encourage people to report the whereabouts and activities of persons the callers suspect of being in the country illegally. The Congreso resolution says the hotline encourages “racial profiling and promotes discrimination of the Latino community of Maricopa County.”

The second resolution deals with the “Minuteman Project,” a group of individuals who patrol the U.S. border with Mexico to discourage crossings. The group is all volunteer, raises its funds from private sources, and, while heavily armed is undocumented as being a bona fide law enforcement agency.

The Congreso resolution finds that the Minuteman Project “promotes violence, hatred, racism and discrimination which are not representative traits of the honorable and just American society that has a rich legacy of immigration and inclusiveness.”

On Saturday, a group supporting the Minuteman Project will picket outside of the Sheraton Los Angeles Hotel where the Congreso is being held. The protestors claim they will be peaceful, although one pro-Minuteman Internet blog on Friday discussing the Congreso included the comment “Target rich environment…I suggest we treat the event like a M.O.V.E. house in Philadelphia…”

The blog referred to an incident in Philadelphia on May 13, 1985, when police dropped an incendiary device on a row house after being fired upon when attempting to serve arrest warrants on four of the occupants. The resulting fire from the device burned down 50 houses, killing six people and leaving another 200 neighborhood residents homeless.

Kucinich staffers from California, Nevada, New Mexico and Arizona are participating in the Congreso.
Kucinich for President 2008″

Stumble it! | |