TEARS: Matthew Fichamba, 14, prepared to give a speech on the importance of protecting immigrants like his father during public comment at an August 7 Burien City Council meeting, but became too emotional to continue reading.
Ryan T. Bell
@1.I know, it stands as irrefutable proof that the US is rotten to its core with racism and bigotry.
Also, it's kind of ridiculous to equate not going to the grocery store or reupping your food stamps with being terrorized. It sounds more like fear of an existing law that you happened to be violating may now be enforced.
"It doesn't help that Burien is a news desert. There aren't any full-time reporters at local newspapers covering the city beat."
The B-Town (Burien) Blog (http://www.b-townblog.com) has been covering the city beat and much more for nearly 10 years, and we were the first to break Hugo Garcia's story about the anti-Mexican hate graffiti on Jan. 17, 2017:
Amazing work Sydney Brownstone. I can't imagine the hours of investigative work that have gone into this. Burien City Council should be ashamed of turning a blind eye to Respect Washington/ USInc's role in the Sanctuary City repeal efforts. There is no other motivation than undiluted racism. Thanks for uncovering the local connection and even more alarming, that this seems to be a model used by white nationalist organizations nationally. Journalism at its best!
I appreciate the effort in this piece, however I sincerely believe you're missing the mark. It is a big stretch to compare and contrast Burien's political climate against the backdrop of national politics--particularly Trumps American.
What the writer doesn't know (or understand) is that Burien's activist council came to be well before the presidential election, with the election of three specific councilmembers.
Before that cycle, things were fairly nonpartisan, with the council focused on economic growth and a vision for the city. Due to, in large part, to Seattle-style activist politics and the initial use of the City of Seatac as a test bed for the $15/hour minimum wage effort, Burien politics has been now relegated to the wastland of ultra polarized partisan politics, where "us vs. then" is now firmly entrenched.
What is true about the piece, is the the Latino culture has and continues to be every present within the city. Underrepresented politically? Absolutely. Marignalized by inaction and inattention? Likely. But, the notion that there is a concerted effort by a bunch of xenophoes and bigots within the city to keep the thumb on POC is absurd.
Certainly, a select few of outspoken folk try to tie the criminal component to illegal immigrants, but most intelligent people capable of reading and doing simple research know the this notion is equally absurd.
Lastly, a city with a population of 50K is not small. Also, Burien is not 10 miles away from Seattle. It's actually contiguous with Seattle.
There is a country to the south called Mexico where all the Mexicans who are unhappy with US -politics are welcome to return to. No one asked them to come here. Citizens of other countries can't just waltz in and demand "rights" in Mexico, can they? Nope.
@7. Randommonkey is right. In Mexico they would deport anyone entering the country illegally. And so would every country on the planet. Sorry, but US government does not owe those people anything. We have our own poor here. Every country takes care of its citizens first. It is quite outrageous that the entitlement of illegals is quite shameless. Come here legally, go through the process, get documented, and only then do you have a right to stake a claim to anything in this country. Not only that, but by coming here illegally, they are making it more difficult for people who do try to come here legally. Enough with the entitlement.
According to some Burienites I know, there is a group raising money to fight the anti-Sanctuary City initiative, and to elect the candidates mentioned by @9. I would suggest everyone concerned with this issue donate to this group, or volunteer for one of the candidates (or all of them).
Wake up. Seattle is a small island in the sea of Trump's America. You people at The Stranger need to leave King County and mingle with people who don't look and think exactly like you once in awhile.
@15. Yeah. These idiots don't realise that he is planning to deport illegals who have been convicted of crimes and/or spent time in jail. Not the dreamers. They even deport permanent residents who committed serious crimes, for crying out loud. Oh the leftist fear-mongering! Anything to discredit anything Trump does lol. And I am not even a fan, but this is getting ridiculous.
Burien is a great part of the state, and of King County, specifically because of the diversity. I don't care where the people come from or how they got here. What's happening in B-town is nothing short of textbook white supremacy. Plain and simple, the disturbingly motivated handful of residents and carpet-bagging miscreants are following in the unfortunately predictable footsteps of the KKK and other white supremacist groups. This is playbook stuff. Scary as balls but also good, because there are also plays in that same book to shut down the arguments and chase the vocal minority away.
#16 Obama deported those types-in fact, he did more deportations than any other recent U.S. president. Trump doesn't need to end DACA to deport them, because DACA kids aren't criminals. And DREAMers aren't taking any jobs Trump voters would be doing if they weren't here.
Being Mexican I just find it really stupid how any form of racism in today's world is now directly connected to Trump. I grew up in Southern Indiana and let me tell you something I was there long before Trump was in office and I would get called every racial slur there is to call a Mexican. So many people got deported under Obama people in Indiana were scared to even go to the store or anywhere. I really don't agree with the title of this article "Trump's America". At the end of the day I never left a few little racial slurs affect me they're just words although all those kids wanted was for you to get mad and get a reaction out of you. Racism isn't to be blamed on a president or a political person or anybody else but the parents. And don't even get me started on how stupid I think the tearing down of a statue in the South is LOL
@19 and 20. Amen. Voices if reason. But the lefties just love calling anyone who does not blindly their ideology a "Nazi" and "racist", which is rather discriminatory in itself. But they are too stupid to realise the irony.
Total deportations went way down, yes down, from about 1.3M/year under Bush to 450K in 2016. But formal orders of removal went up. They mostly stopped doing the "voluntarily return people" thing, on the grounds that it's a waste of everybody's time, either leave people alone or take it to court.
By the numbers the enforcement was heavily focused at the border and at recent immigrants and convicted felons, not settled folks, for what that's worth.
Maybe people in Indiana were afraid on anecdote or maybe these numbers aren't meaning what I think? I could always learn more.
And sorry for participating in whataboutism, but it was already there and I think a lot of sensible people have bought "Deporter In Chief" without checking the stats.
I find it kind of hilarious if people actually have to research to find that suburbs have a lot of reactionary fear of those urbans. But probably there was more to it than got reported.
@28. I see people jumping the leftist cultist ship in droves because the how fascist, authoritarian, violent, and racist the left has become. I guarantee you, Trump will be reelected. They are just digging their own grave. And cannibalising each other (antifa fascists Vs Black lies matter racists in Dallas). So all we have to do is sit back and watch them die off. They better brace for a rude awakening.
Wildly inaccurate and overly generalized statement about Burien. Way to give power and emphasis to the tiny white supremacist faction that apparently (I'm a resident of Burien and have seen ZERO evidence of these people) resides in Burien. Seriously, Stranger?!?! You know better than that.
@30- "The politicians never once asked us if we wanted to be replaced by non-European peoples. We never had an opportunuty to vote. "
Did your (presumably) European ancestors ask the Native Americans, even once, if they wanted to be "replaced by non-American peoples?" Didn't think so.
Things change. Get over it. This never was a European country, and it never was just for white people. We're lucky it was not.
Take a look at what happens when a bunch of countries decide that they are going to be based on ethnicity and "for" a single group. Balkanization. WWI. WWII. All manner of ethnic genocides. Clusterfuck every time.
Also, it's kind of ridiculous to equate not going to the grocery store or reupping your food stamps with being terrorized. It sounds more like fear of an existing law that you happened to be violating may now be enforced.
"It doesn't help that Burien is a news desert. There aren't any full-time reporters at local newspapers covering the city beat."
The B-Town (Burien) Blog (http://www.b-townblog.com) has been covering the city beat and much more for nearly 10 years, and we were the first to break Hugo Garcia's story about the anti-Mexican hate graffiti on Jan. 17, 2017:
http://b-townblog.com/2017/01/17/photos-…
thanks,
scott schaefer
founder/publisher
What the writer doesn't know (or understand) is that Burien's activist council came to be well before the presidential election, with the election of three specific councilmembers.
Before that cycle, things were fairly nonpartisan, with the council focused on economic growth and a vision for the city. Due to, in large part, to Seattle-style activist politics and the initial use of the City of Seatac as a test bed for the $15/hour minimum wage effort, Burien politics has been now relegated to the wastland of ultra polarized partisan politics, where "us vs. then" is now firmly entrenched.
What is true about the piece, is the the Latino culture has and continues to be every present within the city. Underrepresented politically? Absolutely. Marignalized by inaction and inattention? Likely. But, the notion that there is a concerted effort by a bunch of xenophoes and bigots within the city to keep the thumb on POC is absurd.
Certainly, a select few of outspoken folk try to tie the criminal component to illegal immigrants, but most intelligent people capable of reading and doing simple research know the this notion is equally absurd.
Lastly, a city with a population of 50K is not small. Also, Burien is not 10 miles away from Seattle. It's actually contiguous with Seattle.
Pedro: https://www.facebook.com/Burien4Olguin/
Jimmy: https://www.facebook.com/Elect-Jimmy-Mat…
Nancy: https://www.facebook.com/cmnancy.tosta
Krystal: https://www.facebook.com/krystal4burien
Link to donate to "Burien for All" http://tinyurl.com/yakyes33
http://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/o…
Total deportations went way down, yes down, from about 1.3M/year under Bush to 450K in 2016. But formal orders of removal went up. They mostly stopped doing the "voluntarily return people" thing, on the grounds that it's a waste of everybody's time, either leave people alone or take it to court.
By the numbers the enforcement was heavily focused at the border and at recent immigrants and convicted felons, not settled folks, for what that's worth.
Maybe people in Indiana were afraid on anecdote or maybe these numbers aren't meaning what I think? I could always learn more.
Did your (presumably) European ancestors ask the Native Americans, even once, if they wanted to be "replaced by non-American peoples?" Didn't think so.
Things change. Get over it. This never was a European country, and it never was just for white people. We're lucky it was not.
Take a look at what happens when a bunch of countries decide that they are going to be based on ethnicity and "for" a single group. Balkanization. WWI. WWII. All manner of ethnic genocides. Clusterfuck every time.
We can do better than that here.