Dear Friends:
Being an advocate for a community who has no voice because many are afraid to speak more so publicly is very difficult. Anytime I speak publicly, I am exposed to a lot of criticism from those who believe that anyone who is undocumented living in Utah should not have any rights. We live in the greatest country in the world where we the freedom of speech and we can agree to disagree with anyone who believes in a cause.
I have attached an email that I received last night from an individual known as Brent. As you can see he is very upset and has strong opinions about this issue. I believe that he is a member of the Utah Minuteman Project. I feel for Brent and his daughter for being victimize by an undocumented immigrant. I don’t know what happened to this individual but if he was arrested and prosecuted I would hope that our legal system has taken care of him and that he is paying for his crimes.
Given that, there is no reason to incite hate among our people. For the past few years we have seen how some people have taken their anger beyond words, Latinos have been victimized as a result of such hateful rhetoric. On Brent’s email last line he says “You are scum and will be cleaned out, Just wait and see” I don’t know if this is a treat but I will take the necessary precautions to protect myself and file a police report. We (Latinos) must stay above ground. Immigration is a very emotional issue that is hard to talk to people unless each side is willing to listen.
I want to commend KSL for removing their comment section after they run this story “Changes to Utah driving privileges worries some Latinos” www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=9321156 a lot of the comments were very hateful. (as of this morning the comment section on this story is still out. It shows that there were 250 comments made before it was pullout)
I am proud to be a Utahn who loves this state just as much as anyone else. Let’s have a clean discussion about any issue that we want to talk about and keep the hateful words out it.
Sincerely,
Tony Yapias
EMAIL RECEIVED:
From: Brent B. <*********@yahoo.com
To: tyapias@yahoo.com
Sent: Tue, January 12, 2010 6:56:29 PM
Subject: Grrrrrrrrr
God, I hate you and your people!!! Now I have to go through HELL just to renew my drivers license? Because of cock roaches that don't belong in America? FUCK YOU TONY! My daughter was raped by your illegal brothers!! You filthy people get rights and privileges Americans don't and you cry when you have to abide. YOU ALL SUCK!! The illegal pieces of shit you protect are in danger Tony, as are you. We are fed up with you! Go back where you leaches came from while you still can. We are sick of you destroying everything and everywhere you go including this valley.Heed my words Yapiass! You are scum and will be cleaned out, Just wait and see.
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