On August 6, 2006 the ‘21st Century Paul Revere Riders’, arrived in Boston for an afternoon rally, the last leg of their cross-the-nation tour to highlight the problem of illegal immigrants.
I made it a point to stop by with my two grandkids (one of whom took the photo above), a dubious tactic at best since their age group is not known for their long haul capacity to stay in one place full of adults. It was a hot day in the sun to boot but both wondered more why there were so many people yelling. Not the Paul Revere riders mind you but the pro-illegal immigrant group who carried Socialist Worker Party (SWP) newspapers as part of their demonstration gear. They also had the compulsory bullhorns so that the 'logic' of their argument, repeated over and over again, could not be missed. I felt like a time warp had appeared around me. The SWP, a feature at demonstrations since the 70’s (maybe earlier but I wasn’t there), were essentially fascistic. Just as I remember them from three decades earlier. Their goal then and now is to drown out the opposition and prevent any discussion from taking place. They placed themselves in a circle around the Riders in order to verbally assault them. The tactic works well when the opposition is a relatively small group as were the Riders on this Sunday afternoon on Boston Common. But it is patently ridiculous when you have screaming SWP banshees spread out in a wide circle about a much larger group. Each one will be on their own repeating whatever mantra has been ordered for the day. And ‘order’ it is. The SWP never seems to age. Since I have first saw them they have always been about college age, apparently yet to fully develop powers of logical reasoning or have instead suffered some personal crises in drugs or alcohol. Whichever, they seem to believe the SWP is their road to salvation and take their slogan orders of the day quite to heart. Their demonstration reminded me of the tantrums my grandkids sometimes have. Tedious and repetitive. The difference is that grandkids Bron and Rhea are growing up while SWP and those in favor of ‘ Open Borders’ are not getting past the toddler age. Perhaps, this is good sign. While the rest of the nation matures and works to secure the borders the SWP and like minded supporters of illegal immigration ( I never thought President Bush and corporate employers would ever fall into bed with the likes of the SWP) can continue to play harmlessly in their own sandbox of never-never land. The Riders, despite the provocations, never took the SWP bait to verbally or physically confront the adolescents. They came to Boston to deliver the message that illegal immigration is against our nation’s interest, a message with which the vast majority of citizens are in agreement. Now, if only the youngsters in Congress would get the message.