Candidate feels threatened by the Spanish

Curiously, there is a candidate in the campaign for Mayor of Los Angeles, an obscure marginal candidate by the name of Walter Moore the only Republican who was correctly denied participation in the series of debates between the candidates for the position.

One of the main points of Moore's platform is to combat illegal immigration, a topic that is certainly attractiveness to most conservative voters of the city.

Echoing about the stereotypes held by anti-immigrants political organizations, Moore thinks that illegal immigration is destroying our American culture and doing nothing about it is "cultural suicide."

Obviously this candidate believes that the Latinization of Los Angeles, a city founded by Spaniards and mestizos from Mexico, is due to undocumented immigrants. Or he thinks that all those who took Latin last names and spoke Spanish are illegal aliens.

He divisively generalizes like typical ultra-nationalist white supremacists and extremists that only they have the right to establish and spread their rules, languages and customs for the world.

Moore complains about the expansion of the Spanish in Los Angeles, ignoring that for much time it was the only European language spoken in the city. In fact, he treats us as if we are invaders affirming that "our city is being taken by people not even bothering to learn our language." History teaches us on the contrary, that the California south was conquered by English-speakers some 150 years ago and that they were those that they imposed their language, displacing Spanish.

It is absurdly raises divisiveness based on the language and the culture of the race. We know that those that speak Spanish are predominantly immigrants and their children have already been assimilated and tend to lose the language of their parents.

What we need are people with a political philosophy that encourages assimilation and promote the respect and coexistence of several groups and cultural expressions. Sincerely I believe that richness of Los Angeles is in its ethnic and cultural diversity. Here I have felt more free and a more integral part of humanity than in any another part of the world in which I have lived.

Definitively Moore is not the candidate I will be voting for in the March municipal elections. Neither do I recommend that my friends and readers do.

There are other issues of his platform regarding immigrants:

He want to eliminate Special Order 40, that not to impede police officials to ask a person about their immigration status or national origin. Moore says that he is going to order the police to turn any undocumented person over to the federal authorities. He want to make the LAPD an arm of the Border Patrol.

He is opposed to recognizing the matricula consular ID as identification.

He is opposed to the city funding day labor center fo "illegal" immigrants.

He is against granted driver's licenses to the undocumented.

He wants to establish an ordinance that forces all city employees to cooperate with the federal authorities in enforcing immigration laws.

Fortunately Moore won't garnish many votes in the municipal elections and we don't have to be concerned that he becomes mayor of our city.

By Jaime E. Olivares

December 21, 2004