The Third Annual Latino Congresso started today at the Bonaventure Hotel.. John McCain and Barak Obama was originally listed as speaker, then "invited" and in the end their names were not on the final program at all.
Spanish Media was there, as was KTLA and the Associated Press.
The event opened with the leaders of the various groups outlining their agendas. The two main issues were Latino Voter Registration and Immigration. The have committed Five Million Dollars to getting Latinos registered to vote for the presidential election.
The speakers seldom used the term "Latino" constantly referring to "our community, our country, our world."
One speaker noted that "People do not say 'Latinos do not work,' they say 'they work and they take our jobs.'" The only problem with that, she claimed, was that "We are only taking the low paying ones."
Another speaker claimed "This is our country, we built it."
The first speaker stated that there were three challenges that any Presidential Candidate must address to win the Latino Vote - 1. Provide access to the candidate to Latino Leaders, 2. Make substantive proposals and 3. Make financial investments.
Nativo Lopez of MAPA spoke and said he new president must provide immigration reform within his first 100 days in office.
The leader of MALDEF spoke and said the new president must do four things his first 30 days in office.
1. Appoint a head of Homeland Security who will commit to not involving ICE in the 2010 census.
2. Sign and executive order stopping neighborhood raids.
3.Stop all 287G cooperation of local law enforcement with ICE
4. Appoint a Secretary of State who will work cooperatively with Mexico and Latin American Countries.
Other speakers called for the president to address "income inequality, criminalization of our communities, the war in Iraq and Global Warming.
They demanded an end to "indiscriminate attacks" on "their community and the end to the use of the term "illegal immigrant" as "no immigrant is illegal."
Outside a group of Americans waved the American Flag and help "Stop Illegal Immigration" signs. There were aggressively attacked by a group of foul mouthed young males on bicycles who tried to grasp their signs, and knocked over a flag. One was latter arrested for battery on an 80 year old American woman. (The "Elder Attackers" bicycle gang?)
