David Marlett's Speech

David was one of the most sensible speakers in my opinion. At least he said it's our fault that so many undocumented workers have rushed over here. If there were no jobs they probably wouldn't be here. However, I don't find it very humane to invite people to risk their lives to come to this country and then pull the rug out from underneath them. We are all human beings and we should treat each other with compassion.

I didn't really understand his God, country, self statement. I'm not sure how mistreating and belittling other human beings is a way to serve God, but what do I know?

David Marlett:

We at ProAmerican Companies an organization.. Let me first just tell you that – we’re going to change this. I’m going to shift this, change focus for a slight moment. We are out here celebrating the good guys. Those companies out in our business world, out in our societies that say “you know what” I can make a lot more money if I broke the law, but I won’t do it and that may put me out of business, but I’m just not going to do it. That’s fundamentally what ProAmerica Companies are. We focus on the people.

This is a people’s issue. This is an economic issue and I’m looking across the street at these signs and they say “no racist deportation.” I don’t know what rally they’re showing up for. Okay, no racist deportation. Wonderful. I’m for that! Everybody for that? That’s not what we’re talking about. “No human being is illegal.” Wonderful, nice saying. I know some people in the Morristown, Morris County prison – hey they’re criminals too. I don’t understand this. These people just don’t get it. This is about America. This is about we the people, the individuals and some people may not like where I’m going to go with this, because it’s one thing for us to be pointing at our government and we learn when we are in grade school when I point I got three fingers pointing right back at me.

This is about us. We, we invited the illegal aliens in every time we did business with an employer who hired them. We laid this beautiful buffet table out and said all you have to do is get across the border and her you go. And we’re, we the people are paying for it now. We must have the courage to stand up and say you know what? Yes, there’s certain things the government and only the government must enforce our laws, but you know what? There’s a whole lot we can do and it’s one thing to write your senators and God bless us all for what we did in shutting down the amnesty bill, but who’s mowing your lawn? Who’d mowing your neighbor’s lawn? Who’s building these houses in your community? Are you standing by idly while business owners in your community continue, day after day after day to break the law and laugh at us as keep on pointing to the government and saying “Please make us stop breaking the law. This is about us. We have to take it to ourselves personal responsibility and say you know what I’m not going to teach my child that just because I may not get caught or just because everybody else is doing it’s suddenly okay.

It’s not okay. This is where we’re ever going to see long term serious change in this country we must cut these employers off at the knees and that means don’t – don’t do business with them. This is an economic issues. These people don’t ant to be American citizens they’re here for jobs. They’re only here because we’re giving ‘em jobs. It is that simple. We cut ‘em off they go home. Look what’s happening in Georgia. Look what’s happening in Arizona. Look what’s about to start happening in Oklahoma. These states do this, they leave. Wonderful. It does work, but it starts with you and you and me and it starts at home. It starts with what we teach our children. It starts with going back to what I call patriot ethics.

You know when I was growing up and I suspect most of you – we learned something very early on and I don’t remember someone specifically saying it - it just got into my being and that was priority order was God, country and me. That was what I grew up with. We said it every morning in grade school as we put our hand over our heart and looked at our flag and pledged allegiance for one nation under God. That’s it – God, country, family then me.

Somewhere along the way we lost our vision. And now it is me, then somewhere down the line God and country in some trailing order. That to me is the heart of this issue. We must go back is individual citizens to our communities demand that one local chamber of commerce kick out any business that is breaking the law. Go to the Better Business Bureau say you gotta be kidding me, you’re supporting these guys that break our laws everyday. This is where a people’s – yes I’m taking nothing away from what we must do for our government must do, but it’s too easy to keep printing to Washington. Look at what we got….

Andrew Woodring's Speech

This is transcribed from the videos posted on You Tube so I'm including the introductions as well. This is from Morristown ProAmerica Rally Part V.

Robb Pearson - "We believe in free speech. Let's applaud their free speech as well. (speaking of the protestors) Do it! Do it! That's the type of people we are. That's the American principle. We live with the opposition! And if we don't like their free speech we oppose it with more free speech! I'd like now to invite up to the podium Andrew Woodring from Voice of the People USA. Give him a big hand.

Andrew Woodring:

"Thank you very much. may I say first it's an honor and a privilege to be here in Morristown with alll you fine American citizens. So i'd just like to give you a round of applause right now. This past week, back in Hazelton, we had a slight snag in the battle for legal immigration and fixing our country. With Mayor Barletta and his IRA act. It wasn't an unforeseen problem. We knew that this was going to turn out this way, because we cannot look to government officials for patriots anymore. We must look to Mayor Barletta, Mayor Cresitello as our true patriots! We must look to the people around us who stopped the amnesty bill not once, but twice. All of you are patriots and you all deserve a round of applause for that as well.

There was a slight snag in Hazelton of course, but it will not stop the war. It will not stop the battle. In Hazelton we were told we were demonizing a problem that isn't really there. Really? I didn't notice. I’m new to this and my group has only been around for about three months, but this problem is crippling our country. And our country is at a turning point where it needs to stand up for itself. Where it needs to fight. Where American citizens need to stop and say “this is my country. This is what I want. Because if I don’t now, there will not be a country in ten years.

I will not turn to my children. I will not turn to my parents and say that I could have done something, but I won’t. I’ll turn a blind eye, I’ll sit with a level of complacency and sit back and watch tv and let somebody else deal with it. That time is past and now is the time that we need to stop and fight.

And I am honored to share the stage with members of You Don’t Speak For Me, members of 9/11 Families For a Secure America, Mayor Cresitello, ProAmerica society. It is my honor, it is my privilege to speak to all of you today and tell you that no matter what we will not stop fighting and we will take this as far and as high as we can. We will vote out politicians that don’t want to represent us. We will put in a whole new staff if we have to and we will make sure this job gets done.

And as far as demonizing the problem and being called racists. If you need to pull a racist card then you really don’t have a point to say and you should go away right now! And I’d also like to thank the people across the street for um trying to do a violent act today. You had your day, we’ll respect it and well let you say what you have to say. You let us have our day, we’ll respect it, let us say what we have to say. Complain about us tomorrow, but be citizens. And if you are not a citizen of this country you don’t belong here and its time for you to go!

I’m not a great speaker so I’ll just say it’s an honor and a privilege to share the stage with Mayor Cresitello. Thanks you. I hope that his example will lead for the rest of the country. And God bless all of you and have a great day. Thank you very much.

My Thoughts on the Morristown Rally

For anyone interested I have a few pictures of the rally on my Flickr site. Morristown ProAmerica Rally Pictures

I am of the opinion that this rhetoric is based in racism, but that is simply my view of the situation. If your view differs so be it, but at least take the time to investigate these groups before sending them your money.

Using the photo site as my primary source for opposing this particular rally I placed my experience there as my profile:

I attended the ProAmerica rally in Morristown, NJ on Saturday July 28, 2007 and

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing from the supporters of this rally and from the speakers themselves. There were men and women laughing at the protestors, waiving at them, and taunting them with disgusting signs and even the middle finger. What disturbed me most were the signs in Spanish which clearly show what these people want. They want to rid Morristown and New Jersey of Hispanics.

They can go on stage and claim they’re for “legal immigration”, but what does it do to a people when you fight so hard to send their friends, loved ones, and families away. By clearly identifying their cause (enemy) they are telling all like people that they are not welcome. Morristown, in particular, through Mayor Cresitello’s efforts, is trying to rid its city of Hispanics. They have begun a mission of taking homes and sending clear messages (such as 287g) to the Hispanic community that they are not welcome.

There were many reports showing the protesters were not exactly calm and collected. While I don’t believe in hurting your cause by becoming violent or even violently angry I cannot say that some of their actions were not provoked. It was clear right at the start of the rally that the presence of opposition was a nice little present for those speaking. Most all of them took the time to mention those on the other side of the street and the mayor even referred to them as “Marxist and Communist.” I was on the other side of the street and I’m neither I Marxist nor a Communist. The mayor’s myopic black and white view just goes to show his character.

It is my firm belief that this anti-immigrant stance is based in racism. This country has a terrible history of race relations and to think the groups sponsoring and participating in this rally are completely free of racist intent is ludicrous.

Robb Pearson put this rally together and is now arm in arm with groups such as Voice of the People USA who’s site screams that English should be our only language, but fails to properly use fundamental grammar in their declaration. Furthermore they freely link to sites such as “Export the Import” were pictures are posted showing their supporters holding signs that read “diversity = death.” He is also arm in arm with the group called New Jersey Citizens for Immigration Control which shows a picture of Hispanic people walking through a desert to illustrate their view that immigration is out of control.

All of these groups, including Robb himself, will stand on a stage and say they are not racist and that those who accuse them of that are shallow and have no argument. Yet Spanish was the only language used when speaking of "the problem." Daniel Smeriglio said he didn't want street signs in "Espanol" and Carmen Morales ended her speach with "Si Se Puede." In addition there were a few signs at the rally written in Spanish though there were none in any other language.

I can only hope that the good people of this country take the time to look at these websites and ask themselves “who am I really supporting here?”

Do you disagree with “illegal” immigration and disapprove of amnesty? Do you support our President? Well, though Robb supports deportation he does not support George Bush and actually pokes fun at him in his blog. (Not that I’m complaining) I'm not happy with the president either, but then I'm not calling others country haters because they disagree with US law. This is a free country and we're allowed to disagree with it's laws and our president without being anti-country.

Do not remain silent while these people stand up and use propaganda and scare tactics to remove you from showing humanity to others. I’m not going to let these groups tell me that all “illegal” immigrants commit all the violent crimes in their communities. And though I believe some of these groups to be racist, however covered it may be, I will not stop believing in them and hoping that they will see the error of their ways. There are ways to help people without treating them like outsiders and without making them feel inferior.

We are a welcoming people. That's why this country is so great.

It’s more fun to be nice and get along, isn’t it?

John Rucki's Speech

I have done my best here to transcribe John Rucki's speech from the Morristown ProAmerica rally held on Saturday 28, 2007.

I will continue to transcribe the other speeches as well because I feel this is an important issue and I think we have to fully understand the intentions of these groups.

John Ruck is from a group called New Jersey Citizens for Immigration Control. The homepage of his website shows Hispanics crossing through a desert. You can find things in his speech that are suspect as well.

John's speech: (I have included the fact that protestors rushed the stage during his speech)

Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen my name is John Rucki – that’s spelled R-u-c-k-i. I live in Middlesex country New Jersey and along with Doctor Gayle Kesselman I am co chair of New Jersey Citizens for Immigration Control. All of you are probably familiar with doctor Gayle Kesselman. She manages our website and I think many of you have probably gotten emails from her, possibly 2,3,4,5,6 per week. Doctor Kesselman, my co-chair, sends her regards and she does a fine job managing our website.

I have a confession to make. I’m going to bear my soul. I am a product of legal immigration and I’m proud of it. Ellis Island is my Plymouth Rock. Tim to time we go to these rallies, ok. And we get confronted by an opposite point of view and that is fine. WE are fair, our groups are fair, we listen to everybody. Those groups that confront us from time to time to them I say your days are limited. When you cannot properly defend your point of view, when the only way you defend your point of view is calling the opposition racists you’ve lost your character, you’ve lost your integrity, and you’ve lost your credibility.

Thank all of you for coming out today. This is a beautiful__ (stage is rushed by two or three protestors) Some of the crowd across the street chants “Racism means we’ve got to fight back.”

(applause from the audience as the protestors are apprehended by the police)

Robb Pearson approaches the mike “We’re good to go!”

John continues “Thanks for the rest. I would like to thank all of you for turning out this afternoon on a warm Summer day. There are a lot more things we could be doing with our friends and families. One of the things that makes the Summer so enjoyable is we celebrate good holidays. Good American holidays during the summer. Memorial day, Fourth of July, Labor Day. Howe war you Fourth of July? My fourth of July was one of the best that I’ve had in a number of years. You know that made this last Fourth of July so special? The events that happened in Washington the week before the Fourth of July. With our faxes, with our letters, with our phone calls, our group stopped illegal amnesty not once, but twice. And we’re going to do it again if we have to. That even, stopping those amnesties will go down in American history as a significant event as significant as those patriots who over two hundred years ago threw bails of tea into Boston Harbor. Our founding fathers had it easy, they had it hard, but they had it easy. They only had one George III to deal with. We have many George III to deal with in Washington. Most of them are in the House of Representatives and the Senate. It’s a good thing that when you get elected to Senate or to the House of Representatives you aren’t given rings with big stones in ‘em. Because if Senators and members of the house of Representatives were given rings they’d probably expect us to genuflect and kiss those rings. That’s the mood unfortunately in Washington. We have two Excellencies that we have to deal with that represent us in Washington. We have his Excellency Frank and we have his Excellency Bob. If you look at the voting records of the representatives and Senators that represent us in Washington it leaves a lot to be desired. With all the talk going on in Washington about impeachment maybe it’s about time that we the people started looking into impeachment.

Elected office was not meant to be a full time job and career. Let’s start exercising term limits when we vote at the ballot box. When those representatives and Senators got sworn I for their terms whether it was the first, the second, the third, the fourth, the fifth, or the sixth they swore on a Bible to a solemn oath. They swore to uphold all of the laws of this country and they failed to do it. They have not upheld the fine traditions of the United States Senate and the House of Representatives. We deserve better. I would remind our elected officials, at all levels – enforce the law! Selective enforcement of the law is a form of tyranny and we will not tolerate it. More and more local government municipalities, country government, were taking on the tasks that our Federal government has failed to do. They have failed to protect our borders, they have failed to manage an effective and efficient immigration system. They can’t even process passports in a timely manner. They cannot even keep contaminated food stuff substances from entering this country and making us sick. More and more municipalities’ counties are picking up the slack and doing what they vowed to do, correct the quality of life problems that the federal government is not providing for us. To his credit Mayor Cresitello has moved to increase the quality of life for the citizens of Morristown and in effect the citizens of Morris County. 287g is going the job that the federal government will not do. 287g is allowing us as lawful abiding citizens to assist ICE to make sure that our laws are enforced. We are pro legal immigration. You can spin it, you can distort it, you can megaphone it anyway you want. We are pro legal immigration. If you want to experience the fruits of the Liberty Bell ya gotta ring our front door bell.

Let me leave you with this. English is our language. Speak it, write it, and print it.

There’s our flag. Continue lifting it higher and higher. This is your country. Continue to start taking it back.

Thank you.