It is time to change our tactics. We must bear arms against the oppressors. We must rise up and defend ourselves. We must let wealthy people know, the cost of crushing the poor as if they were cockroaches beneath their feet, will be higher than the satisfaction gained.
How do the oppressed rise up against powers much greater than themselves? How do we keep lovely America lovely? How does justice prevail over soldiers with guns bent on keeping us down?
No one wins in War. Conflict with rifles and grenades and guerilla tactics brings tragedy to our families. It fills us with our own evil, until we choke and vomit under hates’ toxic influence.
Our weapon is peaceful resistance.
We use the experiences of Gandhi, Martin Luther King and Mandela, as a model for our battle plan. We recognize the power of violence is a veil for weakness. We use time and patience and attrition. We hit them in their wallets through boycotts and work stoppages. We mass, we protest, we participate in civil actions. We refuse lawful orders in our civil disobedience.
We block the streets, we surround ICE headquarters, we stand in front of patrol cars when they raid our barrios, we hold hands through-out, and we sing. When they come for us, we go to jail, we jam the courts, we shut the government down again and again, until a fearful people crushing the poor under their boots, finally listen.
A few of us pay the ultimate price when the desperate use force against us. We must bear their blows, We must never raise a hand in defense, we never carry weapons, we must remain calm, passive and non-violent. Ye, Some have walked into the valley of the shadow of death while fearing no evil. Anastacio Hernandez Rojas, for example, was swarmed and beaten till brain dead by 20 border guards, after he made one last desperate break for freedom.
You are needed in Arizona on July 28th and 29th, 2010. Help Alto Arizona and the Puente Movement derail the attack on human dignity, or forever hold your peace, as you watch future generations crushed. Help Promise Arizona and the Paz Fellowship remove irresponsible politicians who trade the wellfare of the people for national headlines. When we prevail, we will return to the discussion of solving immigration reform and end this tragic state of affairs.
John Lennon said, and we agree, “All we are saying, is give peace a chance.” Now our battle cry changes, “All we are saying, is give us a chance! All we are saying, is give paz a chance!”
