2 CHICAGO READER | MARCH 17, 2006 | SECTION ONE

CHICAGO READER | MARCH 17, 2006 | SECTION ONE 3

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Coincidenceor BrilliantTiming?Dear editor:

We begin with one fact: onFriday, March 10, the ChicagoPolice Department estimatedthat it was ready to deal with10,000 proimmigrant demon-strators along JacksonBoulevard. In actuality, morethan 100,000 protesters showedup, essentially to repudiate theHastert/Sensenbrenner “BorderSecurity” Bill (HR 4437) thatproposes, among other things,the criminalization of everyundocumented immigrant. Atthe same time, in Grant Park,there was another demonstra-tion in support of tighteninglocal and federal laws to curbillegal immigration in the U.S.The organizers of this seconddemonstration were part of theIllinois Minuteman Project. It isworth noting that there werethree times more journaliststhan protesters in Grant Park.Only five Minuteman membersshowed up.

How odd and coincidentalthat on the same day that thelargest proimmigrant demon-stration in the history of theUnited States was held, theChicago Reader chose to publishan apologetic front-cover articleabout the leader of the IllinoisMinuteman Project, RosannaPulido. Ms. Pulido’s view is thatall undocumented workers arecriminals, since they are break-ing the law—that much is pre-dictable from the leader of ananti-immigrant group. What isdisturbing, though, is to find thatZak Mucha agrees with her, asevidenced by the title of his arti-cle, “Kick ’Em Out and Keep ’EmOut.” In fact, the article reads asif everything Ms. Pulido saysagainst immigrants is true. Mr.Mucha, in order to support theanti-immigrant position, evenquotes a figure given by theCenter for Immigration Studiesthat evidently is not true:“Services provided to undocu-mented immigrants in Illinoiscost the state $150 billion in1994.” If this were true, the statewould have been in bankruptcy.And if it were true, then howwould you explain the presenceof many elected officials whocame and spoke at the rally thattook place at the Federal

Building plaza right after themarch? Illinois governor RodBlagojevich and the Mayor ofChicago, Richard Daley, werethere and thanked immigrantsfor the many contributions theyhave made to the state and thecity. Mr. Blagojevich evenannounced in Spanish: “Ustedesno son criminales, son traba-jadores” (You are not criminals,you are workers).

In his article Mr. Muchaseems oblivious to the fact thatRosanna Pulido is yet anothervictim of discrimination. ThePulido family was rejected by theAnglo society. That’s why Ms.Pulido’s father wanted her tospeak only English and withoutan accent. And now she wants toprove to Anglos that she lovesthis country by rejecting every-thing related to her ancestors.But Ms. Pulido has been obligedto hide something that cannot behidden: her identity.

What’s wrong with speakingEnglish with an accent?Furthermore, what’s wrong withspeaking Spanish (or any otherlanguage)? The effect of racismand discrimination is so subtle,so cruel, that it still persuadespeople that being able to speakone language is somehow betterthan being able to speak two.

Last Friday the overridingfeeling was clearly a love of thiscountry. The flag most oftenwaved had 13 bars and 50 stars.More than 100,000 people weresinging and demanding recogni-tion of their presence and rightsin Spanish and sometimes inEnglish. They feel already part ofthis city, this state, and thiscountry. These people came here5 to 20 or more years ago for thesame reason that Ms. Pulido’sgrandparents did and for thesame reason that Mr. Mucha’s(and perhaps everyone workingat the Reader) ancestors did: tofind a better life.

Raul DorantesFebronio ZatarainEditorial board members of

Contratiempo magazine

Zak Mucha replies:Reporting on an organization

and its assertions is not the sameas endorsing those views.

Defining DogWhisperingDear editor,

I have to say I was more than alittle disturbed by Ami Moore’s let-ter last week [March 10] inresponse to your article on pit bulls(“Born Bad?” February 24). Ms.Moore’s contention that her train-ing methods had been misrepre-sented or misunderstood lies at thecore of a greater issue of how dogtrainers use various methods andthrow around various termsdescribing their methodologies.

Full disclosure: I was a recentclient (January 2006) of Ms.Moore’s, which resulted in a veryunpleasant experience for my fami-ly and our dog. Suffice it to say thatour dog is a gentle, well-tempered,totally nonaggressive youngerfemale mixed breed (cattle dog,small shepherd) with no pit bull.Our motivating factor in choosingMs. Moore was her self-promotionas Chicago’s “Dog Whisperer.” Asmany dog owners know, this termis closely associated with positivereinforcement training and has anational profile from such pro-grams as the National Geographicchannel’s Dog Whisperer as well asthe best-selling book The DogWhisperer by Paul Owens. Neitherof these trainers advocates the useof electronic collars.

I have no interest in debatingthe merits of training using an elec-tronic collar. I’m sure, when usedproperly, they have their place.What I do take issue with, however,is Ms. Moore’s association with thistype of training method as a posi-tive, reward-based approach. In herletter she writes that the collar is“used as a reward for good behav-ior, just as one would use cookies,kisses, or hugs to tell a dog that heis a ‘good boy.’” Ms. Moore can’thave it both ways. On her own Website (doggiedoright911.com, whichshe references in her letter) she listsone of her “Three Universal DogTraining Rules: When your dogdoes something that you don’t like,then make nasty things happen forthe dog.”

Aram Manyan Independence Park

“RosannaPulido saysshe has two goals for IllinoisMinutemanProject. Firstis building apower basethrough thelocal chapters,which canpressurepoliticians tocrack down on illegalimmigrants. . . .Her secondgoal is drivingpoliticiansfound ‘aidingand abettingillegal immi-grants’ out of office orpreventingthem from getting in.” —Zak Mucha,“Kick ’Em Outand Keep ’EmOut,” March 10

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MARCH 17, 2006VOL 35 | NO 25 Letters