Wednesday, April 05, 2006
SWOP homepageSan Diego Protest Pictures
Pictures from AFSC – San Diego Area Office
SAN DIEGO UPDATE
On behalf of the AFSC’s US-Mexico Border Program in San Diego, we thank you for your support and action on the week-long student walk-outs, which culminated in more than 7000 students taking to streets last Friday, denouncing HR 4437 specifically, but generally mean-spirited immigration legislation being debated in Congress. Your phone calls helped ensure that the San Diego Police Department played a minimal role, and did not intervene when youth were exercising their rights to peacefully assemble and free speech. The spontaneous march in San Diego on Friday went without incident, and the media reported positive and favorable accounts that evening and the following day. Our office helped provide logistical support to the students who chose to express their political viewpoints on the immigration debate by walking-out during school hours.Except for three youth in Oceanside CA, all those arrested in the City of San Diego have been released and are seeking legal assistance through reputable attorneys. The three youth in Oceanside are also seeking legal counsel, as they face more challenging legal issues.
Many youth involved in the walk-outs have met to discuss next steps, which include prospective organizing efforts on their campuses, with the idea of building a broader student-based movement within San Diego. On April 8 & 9, students will also be involved in upcoming marches, coordinated by different community based groups.
In Solidarity,
AFSC – San Diego Area Office
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Sadly, too many high school students don’t know the difference between legal and illegal immigration. But it’s not surprising, because their teachers and the news media call illegal aliens ‘immigrants’ and ‘undocumented workers’. Legal immigration means Americans are making conscious choices about who they admit for citizenship, illegal immigration is simply an invasion.
The students who are walking out of school and protesting today should really be asking themselves why their cities and states encourage illegal immigration by offering benefits to illegal aliens. That’s a slap in the face to every legal immigrant who waited in line for their chance to come to America.
My name is Michael Class. I live in the Seattle area with my wife and two children. I am a retired "dot-com" executive who just couldn't sit by and let the mis-education of our youth go unchallenged anymore.
I wrote, photographed, and published a book designed to set the record straight, to properly prepare our children for the future. My book is called Anthony and the Magic Picture Frame.
In the book, my real-life son, twelve-year-old Anthony, time-travels to 1907 and meets his immigrant great-grandfather at Ellis Island. Anthony listens as officials question the new arrivals and document their intentions in the United States. Anthony witnesses the personal impact of immigration policy: He sees some people turned away at America’s door, causing families to split up.
It's a harsh lesson: The purpose of immigration policy is to discriminate, to make choices about the people we want to admit to the United States.
Even when admitted to the United States, Anthony learns that life in the new land is anything but certain. Anthony’s great-grandfather masters the language of America - English - and works his way through school, only to end up in the trenches of World War I, and then back in America during the Great Depression. Eventually, he starts a business, rises from poverty, and raises a family.
To tell the story of America's earlier immigration experience, I used advanced digital photography to insert Anthony into historical photographs. And I didn’t stop with family history: Anthony meets famous American heroes and witnesses pivotal events of the 20th century. Anthony is pictured in the cockpit of the Spirit of St. Louis with Charles Lindbergh, on the moon with Neil Armstrong, in the laboratories of Thomas Edison and Jonas Salk, and on Normandy beach on D-Day (see photos at: www.MagicPictureFrame.com). Throughout the book, historical accuracy rules: Even Anthony’s conversations with America’s heroes are based on things they really said.
While writing and photographing the book, I spoke with relatives of famous scientists and inventors, Holocaust survivors, award-winning biographers, and others who could help me ensure that the facts of the book were both accurate and vivid. The book includes more than 500 footnotes.
But the book goes beyond a simple recitation of historical facts: the book presents the moral lessons of American history. The chapter about Lindbergh’s flight is really about choosing one’s destiny. The story of Lou Gehrig is one of a virtuous life. The chapter about Thomas Edison is really about business. The story of Apollo 11 is about wonder, taking risks, and courage. The story of Dr. Jonas Salk and the cure for polio is really about dedicating one’s life to a higher purpose. Anthony’s observation of D-Day and the liberation of the death camps during the Holocaust is a testament to the reality of evil and the need to fight it.
Back to the immigration issue:
When Anthony meets his immigrant great-grandfather at Ellis Island, it’s really a story about what it means to be an American. Anthony’s great-grandfather says: “I became an American because I believe in America, and it’s my belief in America that makes me an American.” Anthony comes to realize the simple truth of the statement, and remarks: “America is an idea as much as it is a place. I am no different than my great-grandfather and all the immigrants who came to this land: I can only be an American by choice.”
It's not an easy book. The book challenges the reader to see the modern world in the light of the lessons of the past.
We can't afford to raise a generation of Americans who do not value their country, their heritage, and their place in the world. As Abraham Lincoln said: America is the "last best hope of earth."
Thank you.
Michael S. Class
Father / Author / Photographer / Publisher
Anthony and the Magic Picture Frame: An American History Book for Right-Thinking Americans and Their Children
-----------------------
E-Mail: class@MagicPictureFrame.com
Web site: www.MagicPictureFrame.com
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The students who are walking out of school and protesting today should really be asking themselves why their cities and states encourage illegal immigration by offering benefits to illegal aliens. That’s a slap in the face to every legal immigrant who waited in line for their chance to come to America.
My name is Michael Class. I live in the Seattle area with my wife and two children. I am a retired "dot-com" executive who just couldn't sit by and let the mis-education of our youth go unchallenged anymore.
I wrote, photographed, and published a book designed to set the record straight, to properly prepare our children for the future. My book is called Anthony and the Magic Picture Frame.
In the book, my real-life son, twelve-year-old Anthony, time-travels to 1907 and meets his immigrant great-grandfather at Ellis Island. Anthony listens as officials question the new arrivals and document their intentions in the United States. Anthony witnesses the personal impact of immigration policy: He sees some people turned away at America’s door, causing families to split up.
It's a harsh lesson: The purpose of immigration policy is to discriminate, to make choices about the people we want to admit to the United States.
Even when admitted to the United States, Anthony learns that life in the new land is anything but certain. Anthony’s great-grandfather masters the language of America - English - and works his way through school, only to end up in the trenches of World War I, and then back in America during the Great Depression. Eventually, he starts a business, rises from poverty, and raises a family.
To tell the story of America's earlier immigration experience, I used advanced digital photography to insert Anthony into historical photographs. And I didn’t stop with family history: Anthony meets famous American heroes and witnesses pivotal events of the 20th century. Anthony is pictured in the cockpit of the Spirit of St. Louis with Charles Lindbergh, on the moon with Neil Armstrong, in the laboratories of Thomas Edison and Jonas Salk, and on Normandy beach on D-Day (see photos at: www.MagicPictureFrame.com). Throughout the book, historical accuracy rules: Even Anthony’s conversations with America’s heroes are based on things they really said.
While writing and photographing the book, I spoke with relatives of famous scientists and inventors, Holocaust survivors, award-winning biographers, and others who could help me ensure that the facts of the book were both accurate and vivid. The book includes more than 500 footnotes.
But the book goes beyond a simple recitation of historical facts: the book presents the moral lessons of American history. The chapter about Lindbergh’s flight is really about choosing one’s destiny. The story of Lou Gehrig is one of a virtuous life. The chapter about Thomas Edison is really about business. The story of Apollo 11 is about wonder, taking risks, and courage. The story of Dr. Jonas Salk and the cure for polio is really about dedicating one’s life to a higher purpose. Anthony’s observation of D-Day and the liberation of the death camps during the Holocaust is a testament to the reality of evil and the need to fight it.
Back to the immigration issue:
When Anthony meets his immigrant great-grandfather at Ellis Island, it’s really a story about what it means to be an American. Anthony’s great-grandfather says: “I became an American because I believe in America, and it’s my belief in America that makes me an American.” Anthony comes to realize the simple truth of the statement, and remarks: “America is an idea as much as it is a place. I am no different than my great-grandfather and all the immigrants who came to this land: I can only be an American by choice.”
It's not an easy book. The book challenges the reader to see the modern world in the light of the lessons of the past.
We can't afford to raise a generation of Americans who do not value their country, their heritage, and their place in the world. As Abraham Lincoln said: America is the "last best hope of earth."
Thank you.
Michael S. Class
Father / Author / Photographer / Publisher
Anthony and the Magic Picture Frame: An American History Book for Right-Thinking Americans and Their Children
-----------------------
E-Mail: class@MagicPictureFrame.com
Web site: www.MagicPictureFrame.com
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