More pictures from immigrant march

May day is a day of international worker solidarity, right? Not a day to rally behind the flag, the flag that means so much to so many people, oppression, imperialism, & a selling of a dream of class mobility and melting pot assimilationism. I understand that the flag represents peoples' willingness to become Americans and is a tactic that is being used to counter right wing media backlash.
But come on, didn't people chanting USA want to make you throw up? Some progessives that I talked to today actually told me that they felt patriotic for the first in a long time. for real.
what do people think of this?

The first one especially.
"Poeple should be a little more conservative or use some forethought when showing displays of intent to harm the President or Americans when demanding rights."\

"But remember Americans or America is all about assimilation. "
Right following that perspecitve, why would you identify as a TransGendered person? Shouldn't you just assimilate your identity into one of the "normal" gender identities. Cause that is the norm in this country, it is what USA is all about.

FUCK ASSIMILATION! That's a right-wing conformist idea that says we all should be June and Ward Cleaver living the middle class, STRAIGHT, suburban dream while speaking ONLY English. It means respecting the Founding Fathers who took the land from the idigenous Americans because they were letting it go to waste. It means unquestioning respect your boss or teacher or priest or cops and holding private property sacrosanct. For a TG person, you are very, very misinformed about the liberation stuggles of oppressed people.

The model instead might be ACCULTURATION, which means learning the ways of the U.S., becoming multi-lingual, but maintaining who you are and where you came from. That way we all can become a human community.

I suggest you listen to John Lennon's "Imagine" on a repeated tape loop until your mind opens a little.

Big Bill

Haaa got you all thinkin.
Yes in order for me to avoid being killed, raped or maimed by a straight person or even an immigrant I have to conform.(period) As soon as society thinks a tranny isn't conforming or isn't assimilating they get killed by some man who has problems with being different than their friends.
I have assimilated and so will everyone else.
I am not a right wing whatever, Grow up. My thoughts are the thoughts of the status quo, you all just ignore reality and keep floating the idea that everyone will get treated equally. That is BS.
I have to assimilate and so do you. If you don't then you will be stuck in the same ole rut living in the same ole place, and will be uneducated to boot.
Good luck with that.
Go to school and you will learn.(that everyone assimilates no matter your beliefs and ideas).
Oh sorry to become educated a person has to assimilate to (accept Universities rules and regulations).
The comments were not meant to be racist, once again they are the thoughts of the right wing or left wing or centrist, or whatever wing, Americans. You have to convince middle America that immigrants are not supposed to assimiliate because that is where I am from, and that is who is ruling this country.

Think about this:
If you walk down the street and don't committ a crime then you have assimilated.(Psych 101) Commit a crime then you have not assimliated and will subsequently be locked up. (If the cops catch you, and in SF that is another issue in itself.)

"When Mexicans committ crimes they sometimes run to Mexico.
Recent immigrants do not want to learn English, and usually five to ten people will occupy a small studio apartment."

There's 12 million undocumented immigrants in this country (they say). That you would lump them in with, what, a handful that commit crimes and flee the country is highly prejudicial. How many US citizens flee the country running from coppers? How many non-latino immigrants do this? Would you lump all of them in with those who flee the country? It's a far too broad generalization.

"Recent immigrants do not want to learn English"

How do you know? Have you personally interviewed ALL of them and got them to confess? No, you cannot know them all and are basing your opinion on a few personal experiences at best.

"usually five to ten people"

More overgeneralizations. How can you even begin to honestly think you can say "usually"? Maybe in your neighborhood you have seen this, but, again, there are millions and millions of undocumented immigrants here. Besides who are you to judge them for sharing houses or apartments when so many work for less than minimum wage to provide you cheap vegetables or whathaveyou? Do you think rich white people are better when they have a McMansion with 2 people living in it?

When you judge a whole race of people by the actions of a few, that is racist, especially if it is the race with the social and financial power (white middle America, as you say) doing the judging. It's obvious to everyone who reads your post that you have a lot of hostility toward Latinos who don't fit your ideal of what the good or "assimilated" life is.

"immigrants need to realize the US cannot handle anymore poor folks"

The way you use the word "poor" makes it sound like they are freeloaders, or they chose to be poor. Americans need to realize that their very economy depends on the cheap labor these immigrants provide. These people work hard for not much compensation. They deserve better, not to be basically called freeloading, dirty living, criminals.

You claim to not be right wing, but nearly everything you say fits neatly into the same garbage that flows out of right-wing am radio every single day in this country. Could be a coincidence, perhaps. Maybe not, though. And just because you don't use any of the most obviously racist language to describe these immigrants does not mean there is not a lot of prejudice and racism behind your words.

"Think about this:
If you walk down the street and don't committ a crime then you have assimilated.(Psych 101) Commit a crime then you have not assimliated and will subsequently be locked up. (If the cops catch you, and in SF that is another issue in itself.) "

what?

1st, let's review some definitions of assimilation, for a foundation:
****The process whereby a minority group gradually adopts the customs and attitudes of the prevailing culture.******
and another
****the social process of absorbing one cultural group into harmony with another *****
I think these def.'s speak to the context.
Total bullshit. Requiring someone to assimilate is supremist crap. And when those who cow to these ideals internalize it, it is more sad.
Think for yourself. If you indeed value the educational values that you espouse, then you should know something about critical thinking.

America is about DIVERSITY, not assimilation.
This land was founded by immigrants seeking a better life, and that is all immigrants want in modern times as well.
It is not that people refuse to learn English, but it is difficult to learn another language so late in life. Many people I know take classes to learn English.
Immigrants are the back-bone of the United States. They are hard workers, often working two or more jobs. They pay taxes.
While most immigrants are poor, the people who benefit from them are the wealthy.
EQUAL RIGHTS FOR ALL! and VOTE!

In regard to the debate on assimulation- saying that a group should assimulate and take up the ideas and the culture is totally bogas. When two cultures or more are confromted both are affected neither concides tothe another . what happens is that their is a new identity build. it is what happened when the europeans landed on this Land we call America, all of it not just the U.S of A
So even today as we see "middle America" living their daily lifes, they do this because they have "reached the american dream" and makes them forget about the struggle that still needs to be fought. and to make it clear. WE won't assimulate and the U.S. is not going to assimulate to our demands, but what will happen is that a new culture will arise from this, acutlre which at the same time knows it's heritage and looks to the future. because that is what i am fighting this fight for. for the future of many generations to come. i do not want them looking back and asking "why in the hell didn't ever stop to think 'wait a minute we a re all human' why are we so destructive to one another?" when we should be striving for coexistance. this is the mentality of many not just me, and we a re the future so the future to me looks promising