Hispanic groups target Lou Dobbs through protests in U.S. cities
Today is a key day in the face-off between CNN anchor Lou Dobbs and the Hispanic and immigrant advocacy groups that would like to see him jettisoned by the news network. In the eyes of many Hispanic immigrants, Dobbs espouses a hard-line stance against immigration that crosses the line into xenophobia. Dobbs, his critics say, blames immigration for issues like crime, disease and economic blight, without the data to back it up.
Dobbs has countered that he’s the victim of a witch hunt led by politically partisan groups that want to silence him simply because he’s against illegal immigration.
Meanwhile, Dobbs may be exploring a switch to Fox, specifically its still-fledgling Fox Business Network, according to the Media Decoder blog at The New York Times.
Protests organized at CNN-linked facilities in some of the top Hispanic media markets today (including the Time Warner building in Manhattan and CNN headquarters in Atlanta) will try to make the point that CNN is being hypocritical in giving a platform to Dobbs, while also reaping ad dollars from a two-part, feel-good “Latino in America” documentary, which begins tonight. Anti-Dobbs Hispanic groups, such as Basta Dobbs (Enough Dobbs), believe CNN is trying to have it both ways– broadcasting an ad-friendly sophisticated portrayal of Latinos, while also giving air time to immigrant-bashing.
The groups also criticized “Latino in America” for failing to mention Dobbs and his status as a polarizing figure for U.S. Hispanics. CNN answered that it didn’t feel Dobbs necessarily needed to be mentioned in their “Latino in America” special. “A lot of things aren’t in,” the program’s host, Soledad O’Brien, was quoted as saying in an Associated Press story yesterday. “It’s only four hours, and we’re talking about 51 million people.”
Mark Nelson, a CNN executive producer who oversees documentaries, said in the same AP story he doesn’t believe immigration-linked programming necessarily needs to cover Dobbs. “This is the documentary we did,” he was quoted as saying.
A few weeks ago on his radio show, Dobbs lashed out at Basta Dobbs coordinator Roberto Lovato.
Albor Ruiz, a Cuban-American columnist at the New York Daily News, recently wrote about the campaign against Dobbs. In his story, Ruiz quoted Angelo Falcón, executive director of the National Institute for Latino Policy in New York, who said, “(Dobbs) doesn’t understand the widespread antipathy to him and his race-baiting that exists throughout the Latino community, on its left, right and middle.”
Below is a Basta Dobbs-created video that mixes footage from the “Latino in America” documentary and clips from Dobbs’s show.
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Dobbs is, i’m sure, learning with no uncertainty that Latinos as a group don’t take it lying down. By attacking illegal immigrants, he’s attacking many friends and family of the largest ancestral minority in this Nation; one that particularly looks out for its friends and family.
In that vein, there may be hope for the US if diversity continues to grow here and the poor, disorganized gringos learn (from just about anyone that hails from another country) that people can indeed organize, be heard and make a difference.
¡Abajo con Dobbs!
Along those lines, an interesting statistic I read today, Andy– one out of four Americans are immigrants or children of an immigrant.
They are NOT immigrants!! They are ILLEGAL ALIENS!!! Stop calling them immigrants!!!
@Marcelo – unless you’re name is something like Dancing Bull, or Runs with Clouds, i believe you are an immigrant (or child of one) to this nation (Hungarian, English, Scottish, German mutt here.)
@deportallillegals – what the fuck do you think the American Indians were debating semantics with the folks on the Mayflower? I’m assuming you are not a child, in which case you haven’t yet learned the golden rule by now, and i’m truly sorry for you.
The Europeans were not illegal immigrants because since the Native Americans had no Immigration Laws in place when they came here, then the Europeans did not violate any LAWS when they came. Nice try dumbass!!
I ask why don’t the illegals go back home and make something for themselves there? I feel if they will break into my country illegally, they wouldn’t think twice about breaking into my private home.
ALL IMMIGRATION NEEDS TO STOP.
First of all, has ANYONE demonstrated where Lou Dobbs has said anything about “hispanics?” The majority of illegals may well be hispanic, but being anti-illegal alien would encompass ANY person, regardless of race, who is in our country ILLEGALLY.
I live in a border state. Hispanics are welcome here LEGALLY. In fact, in some areas, they outnumber the rest of us and we all get along well.
The problem I have with all of this is that Dobb’s critics are seemingly making it seem like ALL hispanics are in the country illegally! How racist of these so-called progressives!
Lou Dobbs is an upright kind of guy.
SPEAK UP OR LOSE YOUR RIGHT TO FREE SPEECH, BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT THE DEMOCRATIC MORONS HAVE IN THERE AGENDA?
Lou Dobbs is not anti-Latino, he, like me is anti-illegal immigrant. The fact is there are between 20 to 30 million plus illegal aliens in this country and the majority happen to be Latino? They want to live in America? Go home and join the line of millions of other people? There is no easy road and I for one will keep up my blogs against anymore occupancy of foreign nations overwhelming America’s way of life. Read the facts about corruption in Washington at NUMBERSUSA & JUDICIAL WATCH