Richard Pellegrino/Letter to the Editor: Hopes Obama win paves way to citizenship for illegals

Published: 11/10/2008
Marietta Daily Journal

DEAR EDITOR: Thank you for your editorial of Thursday in which you noted the victory of President Obama and expressed hope for the future of our country under his leadership.

I, too, from both a personal and immigrant rights perspective, was given great hope by his election. I have confidence that his leadership will continue to motivate people of all races, backgrounds and ages to participate in this democracy and serve each other and especially those less fortunate than ourselves. I also have confidence that now, since that there is a progressive president and Congress, the federal government will enact truly comprehensive immigration reform legislation ( Note from D.A. – it is doubtful that Rich the Thinker has read this…but we don’t think Rich reads much) that includes a path to permanent residency or citizenship for our current undocumented neighbors who have earned the right to continue living in and building this great country – which will put to rest any local or state efforts to deny the same.

Regarding the election of the first African American president you wrote, “the fact that that event has now taken place is another testimony to the greatness of our country and its people, and how far we have come,” and I wholeheartedly agree.

But let us not forgot, especially here in Cobb and the South, that we still have a long way to go.

It is apparent that Cobb County and the Southern states in general voted mostly along racial lines, and while President Obama won overwhelming support from whites of all ages in the rest of the nation, that was largely not true in Cobb, Georgia, and the deep South. In our local countywide elections in which African American candidates ran against and lost to white candidates the margins of victory mirrored their percentages in the community, making the margins not “landslides” but “race-slides.”

As a community we need to have frank dialogues regarding this and not sweep it under the table pretending that somehow we participated in or supported the national “unity in diversity” results and or are representative of the rest of America in its progress. Our elected officials need to strongly consider appointing qualified minority representatives to management and leadership county positions in law enforcement, the schools, the courts, and other agencies, and to step up recruitment of the same. And we have to openly discuss the racial profiling and inequities in sentencing which does take place in Cobb.

This is how we can truly applaud and take part in the victory and opportunity presented by this historic election.

Richard Pellegrino

Director, Cobb Immigrant Alliance

Mableton

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