Interesting Day in Baton Rouge
First Part: What Took Place
So this morning, thirteen unsuspecting, bright-eyed, eager advocates showed up at the parking lot outside the Puentes offices at 7:00AM to join the caravan on its way to Baton Rouge. The mission? Demonstrate our opposition to HB 1205, that wonderful (hint:there is sarcasm here) piece of legislation that has taken up a great deal of our energy over the last six weeks. As if we had all this time in the world, and all the resources in the world, to continuously combat one very bad piece of legislative writing.
We knew it was coming, a second introduction to the House Judiciary Committee. Today, after several weeks lying low, Representative Harrison put his proposed bill on the public table for all to see. We were ready. The thirteen, starving for additional coffee, made it to Baton Rouge with just a few minutes to spare before the 9:00 AM agenda kickoff. We joined six additional advocates, all from Catholic Charities (from New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Alexandria), and prepared for the eventual re-match on the gym floor.
To our surprise, Mr. Harrison was a bit tardy. Although, to be honest, I suspected he might use the tactic of making us wait all day by simply remaining outside of the committee room until the end of the day. Regardless, we were ready to stay all day, if we needed to do so. After about five bills were heard, Mr. Harrison entered the hearing chambers. We didn’t have to wait long. With his entrance, we know that it would only be a matter of time before his bill, the fabulous HB 1205 (again, note the sarcasm), would be heard.
We watched and waited. We were prepared to speak. We have been prepared (note this comment, please and store it as reference when you get further down this blog) since 2008, when Representatives Geymann, Labruzzo and Burns forced us to act, to learn fast, educate others, prepare for public testimony, and prepare for intelligent dialogue on the issue. Yes, we did our homework, which we have kept sharp, particularly in light of what has been taking place in Arizona.
Mr. Harrison, God bless him, did not like our presence. The committee chairman quickly pointed out to him that almost half of the room was filled with people ready to oppose his bill. His answer? He voluntarily withdrew again, with the addition of offering a substitute for his original bill (which we will review and analyze and share with everyone as soon as possible).
What does this mean? It means that he did not want to have his bill heard by committee today, but that he would reserve the right to re-introduce it next week, or the week after that, or the week after that.
Within a nanosecond of deferring his bill, he turned towards us. I don’t remember his words, exactly, but it was a form of invitation to work with him to address our concerns. We all rose at once and emptied the hearing chambers, leaving behind a large section of empty chairs.
Second Part: of Ignorance and Insults
Outside committee chambers, we huddled in the hall to debrief and consider our next steps. Then things got interesting. Mr. Harrison, noticing our very large contingency of people, sauntered (in his own way) towards us. No sooner did he reach us that he began to spew a great deal of ignorance and insults. God bless him, he knew not what he was saying. He made, according to him, indelibly compelling arguments regarding the value of his bill–here are a few of them:
1. His bill protected the sovereignty of Louisiana (really? I didn’t know that Louisiana was being attacked and its sovereignty threatened. Having served in the Naval Reserves in one of my prior lives, I certainly was keen on this comment. Should we activate the Marines? Call the National Guard?).
2. His bill would save Louisiana taxpayers a great deal of money that was being wasted on “illegals” (his words, not mine) that were draining our public service resources (hence the very clever name–The Louisiana Citizen and Taxpayer Protection Act–he gave his bill).
3. His constituents asked for the bill (okay, he got me. This is a soundproof case for validity-note the sarcasm).
Oh, but he wasn’t finished. After spending a few minutes lecturing us about the merits of his bill, he shifted into a very sincere (did you catch the sarcasm?) invitation to work with him by first landing a few insults at us. I’ll do my best to remember what he said, despite every intention in my bones to discard the absolutely ridiculous stream of garbage that was thrown at us. According to Mr. Harrison, we were:
1. Not educated on the issue (he suggested we do research on the matter-pshaw)
2. Not working with him to fix the language problems we have (if he only knew what the real problem was, he wouldn’t have offered this gesture, but hey, what can we do?)
3. Irresponsible, because we;
a. had not gone through the effort of contacting him to work with him on his bill, and
b. showed up at the last minute to offer our opposition, which (according to him) is no place, or no way, to go about voicing our opinions (which was quite the kicker, given that I had been under the distinct impression that the reason I became a citizen was so that I could matter in the democracy that our constitutions affords, which I took to mean I was free to show up and share with everyone how much I don’t like his bill precisely at any good ole time I choose).
Finally, he shared his growing frustration with us, how he and his family had been threatened (and for that, I am sincerely sorry–no one should be threatened, under any circumstance, for their beliefs and actions, no matter how misguided and harmful), how he was overworked and busy with little support, how he was underpaid for a part-time public office job that was really a full-time endeavor, and on and on and on. Oh my God, I thought I heard violins playing behind him as he spoke.
Mind you, at no time did he listen to us. Three of us attempted to respond, though these responses were mostly meant to get him to end his lecture and move on. We were all so shocked by the sheer number of insults, the lecture, the arrogance, and the very visible and palpable emotions that we collectively, without even signaling to each other, checked ourselves and kept our own boiling emotions behind tightly pursed lips.
Third Part: Upon Further Reflection
I have been reflecting all day about this morning and I have been wondering why, when faced with the emotional trauma that Mr. Harrison threw at us, we decided to (for the most part) remain quiet. I am not typically an outspoken person (at least I like to believe, so if it’s not true, let me at least keep my fantasy for the moment), but there were many advocates with us this morning whom I know have a much freer tongue than I do, yet they kept quiet. Why? I don’t think for one moment that it was fear. I felt a strong impulse to respond to Mr. Harrison, to get toe-to-toe with him on everything misinformed, misguided, deceitful and plain ignorant, that he said, but I also kept quiet. Why? I think we were genuinely shocked at the sheer arrogance and abject ignorance on the issue that we were struck dumb–much the same way people are said to be struck dumb when they witness something so incredibly out of their normal realms of experiences. If I wasn’t working so hard to keep my tongue from spewing equal emotional junk at him, I think my jaw would have hit the ground. It was like whirlwind. It happened so fast, moved in and out so insanely quickly, that we were still dumbstruck after he walked away.
As I think about it now, we did the right thing. There were so many emotions being felt, that it probably would have been disastrous for us had we let our emotions loose. So we restrained ourselves out of a shared sense that we were dealing with something that would only get worse, and besides, we felt (and still feel) quite confident that there would be other opportunities to combat his ill-informed assault on us.
In the end, we exercised our democratic right, took the brunt of insults from a person too dense to realize that we have no interest in supporting a bill that penalizes our basic human rights, and stood firm in our resolution to demonstrate to him that we are prepared to fight through this until the very last hearing in this session.
He invited us to work with him. We aim to do just that by first showing him that democracy is alive and well in this state and we intend to participate in it, and then by educating him about what he currently does not see.
I hope that more of you, my fellow community members, join us in this fight. We need you to call, (800)935-2081, or fax, (985)655-9011, his office, to let him know that you do not support HB1205 (or its substitute). Flood his office and let him know that he is wrong to think that he can attempt to pass legislation that ignores basic constitutional rights. Flood his phone line and let him know that no matter how many code words he finds for his bill, it will still smell the same and we will not let it come to life without opposing it every step of the way. Finally, help us flood the committee hearing chambers next week, or the week after that, until we defeat HB1205.
Tags: anti-immigrant louisiana bill, hb1205, latino, louisiana immigrants, lucas diaz, puentes director, representative harrison