If there is something that is uniquely American is the idea that you can make Today better than Yesterday and that Tomorrow will be better than Today.It usually doesn't work that way, but hard work, courage and hope make it so none the less.

what i hear you saying is that Hope, itself—"the idea that you can make Today better than Yesterday and that Tomorrow will be better than Today"—is a "uniquely american" thing.

nah! not uniquely american one bit. that is a human thing.

I really hope so Rafael, usually I'm not a pessimist, but until this becomes a wide occurence, all we can do is hope, act and continue to push forward. I applaud the people of Oak-town and San Fran for standing up.

That's a beautiful thing.

Seconded! Beautiful, beautiful thing. Bottom line- treat other people as you would want to be treated.
We have all needed refuge, brought this to mind
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FG0-cncMpt8

Well yes Nez, your right, Hope is not uniquely American, few things are, but that vision of self and of the country is. That the U.S. is a place designed from the ground up (we are talking vision here, not reality, lets focus people! :-) to embody the principle stated above.

Hope belongs to all of us.

designed from the ground up? i dont know, rafa. i do think it's a beautiful thing that these two cities have done. but you do realize that the "hope" that carries america forward half the time is that the govt "hopes" it can get away with exploiting people seen as "Others." indians (north and south), blacks, asians, iraqis...i mean it goes on and on. i just don't buy into that whole "America land of freedom and hope" junk. i won't bash your feeling it. but you do realize those two cities are not in the mainstream of america, they are not doing what the mainstream of american politics prefers. so...what is the actual operating procedure of this land, what it prefers? and i'm not talklng about a "vision," but in how it actually operates. that's my only argument with using such grand dreamy language about America's history. it's a nice dream, but it's a dream.

i hope we wake up, and do more like these two cities have done. return humanity and substance to the idealistic and dreamy language engraved on the statue of liberty, rather than rendering it fake and hypocritical.

if you are saying, let's live up to the hype, than i'm all about that, my friend. i'm all about that.

Wow!:) In luisalandia no less!

While visiting home last week, I attended a dinner for La Raza Centro Legal (http://www.lrcl.org/daylabor/daylabor.asp) and the future of the "city of refuge" ordinance was on everybody's mind. I hate depending on the state for protection but I love when laws show what our humanity is capable of.

if you are saying, let's live up to the hype, than i'm all about that, my friend. i'm all about that.

That is what I was aiming for.

Love this site. Yes, Oakland and San Fran...can now be as part of a safe haven...not so in Minnesota...Just last week a young man was deported from Minneapolis just before he could graduate from high school. The migra came looking for a sister's husband who wasn't home and got him from the bedroom while studying for finals. Also this past week after 4-10 days of water only fast and then a 14 mile march on the hottest day since 1917, 94 degrees, some of the 26 fasters to stop the raids and breaking up of families and supporters were greeted by the smiling politicos saying the gov. cut parts of the higher ed. bill and maybe next year you will get the Dream Act passed, ignorant that we marched for humane immigration reform now, not the dreams. A Hmong lawyer female senator, the first elected in the country dressed in her native traje to honor mothers, welcomed us saying integration legislation needs to be passed as the human thing and the right thing to do. A Lakota man found his way to the capitol listening to our danza drum beat and was invited to speak. He said welcome brothers and sisters to these lands and let's unite.

thats fantastic, Sylvia. thanks for leaving that comment and info here (and sorry i didn't reply for a while). oh, and thanks for bringing up the Dream Act. i need to blog on this, too.

very inspiring.