Chutzpah

If you thought, like I did, that the extremely lenient attitude of Americans towards illegal immigrants would be met with at least some grattitue from the latter, the events of the last couple of weeks must have been quite a disappointment. Not only have tens (hundreds, by some accounts) of thousands of the illegales taken to the streets in massive demontrations demanding an amnesty - apparently, without any fear of being rounded up and deported - but their arrogance and contempt for their host country was mind boggling.

First, there were the Mexican Flags, outnumbering the American ones. The message clearly was: we came from another country, to which we remain loyal, and we have every intention of staying in your country, whether you like it or not. (How is this different from an invasion?) Then, there were Mexican flags placed on the flagpoles in front of schools, sometimes together with the American flag hanging upside down as an act of mockery. (Ironically, an upside-down flag is a signal of distress. The demonstrators inadvertently signalled to us that our country is in trouble...)

There were signs that proclaimed, "This is stolen land", or: "My ancestors were here before your ancestors" - a disturbing indication that at least some in the crowd fantacised about "re-conquering" the parts of the United States that belonged to Mexico before 1847...

There was, of course, the customary spitting on police. The police that in most other countries in the world would see this as an oportunity to arrest and deport a large number of the demonstrators. Then, there was Rudy Rios, a coach and, get this: English-as-a-second-language teacher in Chavez High School, who copied (on the schools equipment, at the American taxpayer's expense) and distributed a flyer that read:

"We gots 2 stay together and protest against the new law that wants 2 be passed against all immigrants. We gots 2 show the U.S. that they aint (expletive) with out us (sic)," [Hat tip: James Taranto.]

I can't quite decide whether this is tragic or funny, that a semi-literate moron teaches "English" and, most likely, contempt for the United States, to the the kids of illegal immigrants. I guess a little bit of both.