la raza

The National Council of La Raza, a top Latino civil rights group, is taking a shot at RNC chair Michael Steele and several prominent GOP figures for skipping its ongoing annual conference while Democrats are basking in the contrast. Having nominated the first Latina to the Supreme Court and sending no end of speakers to the La Raza conference, they're in like Flynn with Latino voters, they hope. But things are not so simple. The day after the La Raza affair there was another gathering in NY, and Latinos came out in big numbers. And that was to protest at the Council on Foreign Relations -- where Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano was talking up the Administration's anti-terror policy. A slew of human rights and immigrant-rights organizations, including many Latinos, were protesting loudly, because -- for all the nice talk -- the administration's immigration policy has actually put more, not less power in the hands of law enforcement and done little so far to stop abusive raids and deadly detention abuses. Armed federal immigration agents are still illegally pushing and shoving their way into homes and taking people away on suspicion.  As I said, beer and a chat is nice. But ensuring equal protection is better.