Man at center of big protests a familiar face
The Yuma Sun ^ | April 11, 2006 | BLAKE SCHMIDT
Nearly 30 years ago, before San Luis, Ariz., was a town, Elias Bermudez drove around its dirt streets hollering into a bullhorn that was strapped to the roof of his Chevy.
Ever since, the name of the ex-convict and former San Luis mayor has become synonymous with protest and activism. The voice of a popular Phoenix radio show program, he has developed a reputation as a leading voice in a series of pro-immigration protests in Phoenix that are growing progressively more massive.
One of the first to serve as mayor of San Luis, he is the only mayor to do hard time. He served 18 months in a federal prison after pleading guilty in 1996 to laundering drug profits. Prior to that, he served six months for a bribery charge.......
He called current immigration policy "fatal," comparing the total number of illegal immigrants who have died trying to cross the border in recent years to the total number of U.S. soldiers who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The immigration problem, he said, is a racial issue, "but not in the sense of racism ... It's about culture," he said.
He said that though he discouraged protesters from wielding Mexican flags at this week’s demonstration, he said the flag is a symbol of identity for many Mexican-Americans.
He said many Mexican-Americans are "caught between a rock and a hard place," because they are shunned in Mexico as traitors for leaving, and shunned in the U.S. as invaders.
"A lot of my Anglo-American friends see this as an invasion. I need to invite them to walk in our shoes," he said.
Born near Agua Prieta, Son., Bermudez came to the United States with a border crossing card, and lived in Los Angeles illegally for some years before marrying a U.S. citizen.
(Excerpt) Read more at sun.yumasun.com ... |
