A handful of demonstrators braved inclement weather on Wednesday afternoon to voice their opposition to Texas’ Harris County Precinct 4 (just north of Houston) Constable candidate Louis Guthrie. The protest took place in front of the Harris County Constable’s office on Cypresswood Drive just east of Steubner-Airline. Guthrie’s recent political ads promising to fight illegal immigration on all fronts with the help of the Feds has raised the ire of those who have been supporting the people whom they call “undocumented workers”. Illegal immigration has been with us for as long as we can all remember, however, recently, particularly on a national level certain groups on both sides of the issue have chosen to become very vocal about the issues as they see them. Ironically this whole soap opera blossomed locally when a group of well meaning churches chose to have a public meeting on how best to minister to the “undocumented workers” who gather at the day-laborer site on Steubner-Airline just north of Cypresswood. That meeting drew the attention of the anti-“illegal immigrant” group U.S. Border Watch who showed up at the meeting well prepared to dominate it. Ever since that evening Saturday mornings have been, let’s say, interesting at the Diamond Shamrock gas station where the men congregate in hopes of landing some employment from people who know to come there looking for cheap labor.

Members of the coalition of churches have now been joined by other groups including members of the Progressive Workers Organizing Committee in providing what they call “pro-worker” support not anti-U.S. Border Watch protesting.

However, you view the various groups involved, every Saturday morning you’ll find quite a display of signs and banners and camera toting activists each making their point and occasionally criticizing their opponents and making claims about the ignorance and antagonistic tactics of the other side. But please don’t go there just to be a tourist and gawk at the display. The residents of the adjoining neighborhood are growing weary of the commotion. While many support the relocation of the labor site to protest what they see as a threat to their property values, others support one side or the other and still others just don’t care.

Ironically, while many of the supporters on both sides are from the immediate area, it seems that the many of the loudest voices on both sides of the issue are not. When I chose two demonstrators to interview at the Wednesday protest in front the Cypresswood Courthouse and police station neither were from the immediate area. One of the protestors, Folco Mueller, stated that he thought Guthrie was a racist because of the imagery displayed on the political ads and his association with U.S. Border Watch. While not an area resident he felt that racism needed to be confronted wherever it appeared and it was not a local issue. The other demonstrator also felt Guthrie was a racist and commented upon Guthrie’s record of complaints against him which indicate a pattern of behavior which might actually threaten not secure public safety. This man, Juan Alvarez, is also a member of the Latin American Organization for Immigration Rights who support workers all over Houston and felt that Guthrie has no business acting like an immigration officer. Likewise, most of the USBW members who show up Saturday mornings to protest are not from the immediate area.

Whether you view U.S. Border Watch as racists or patriots, whether you view the supporters of the workers as unpatriotic or Christians doing the work of Christ, whether you view the laborers as illegals or undocumented workers, I think we can all agree on one thing; thank God we live in a country where it is our right to voice our opinion in this way without fear of government retribution. At least, in theory, we don’t have to fear. There are always some rogue members of such groups who can only communicate in violent ways and harm an individual or their property trying to get there point across in some strange and sick manner.

To them I’d like to recommend the upcoming workshop on Non-Violent Communication which you can learn about at www.basileia.org/nvcintro or you can read the book on which it is based and learn about tools to creating a more peaceful existence. That book is by Marshall Rosenberg and is called: Non-Violent Communication: A Language of Life. To all of us I’d like to say, God Bless the Whole World, No Exceptions.