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> Tues., Sept. 16, 2003
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Today on Flashpoint:
Celebrating Mexican Independence, Co-Hosted Today with Miguel
Molina;
An Interview With the Father of a Latino Soldier who was Killed
in Iraq;
Flashpoints Poet-on-Assignment Aurora Levins-Morales Remembers
Latinos Killed in Iraq with her Poem "Grave Song for
Immigrant Soldiers";
An Interview with the Founding Member of Culture Clash Richard
Montoya and the Grito, a Rebel Yell;
The Knight Report
5:01 PM PST
The Knight Report with Robert Knight
In today's Knight Report, the UN ignores the plea for Palestine.
West Africa sees yet another coup and press closing. Iraq
remains under US occupation, but Mexico celebrates independence
from, along with other nations, Spanish colonial rule.
5:06 PM PST
Dennis Bernstein interviews Fernando Suarez del Solar, the
father of one of the first soldiers - a Latino - to be killed
in Iraq.
Jesus Alberto Suarez was a US soldier, but not a US citizen.
He was among eight immigrants who were offered US citizenship,
posthumously, after being killed in Iraq during Gulf War II.
The chances for immigrant soldiers to be killed in combat
are greatly heightened by the fact that they are only allowed
to serve in a limited number of military placements and most
are herded into the infantry. Such limitations are justified
by the Pentagon for purposes of national security, because
immigrants are routinely not granted security clearance. Of
the first ten Californians to die in combat in Iraq five were
non-citizens. While much fanfare was paid to George W. Bush's
executive order offering citizenship to those who enlist,
big media's cameras were turned away when Fernando Suarez
del Solar, father of Jesus, angrily rejected the offer of
posthumous citizenship for his son. The father of the slain
twenty-year-old resented sending a young man into battle who
was not even allowed to vote. In a letter published online
last month, the grieving father spoke out against the war
makers and called for people around the world to unite for
peace. "Enough death and destruction!" he said.
"It is time for the entire world, everyone - Anglos,
Hispanics, African Americans, Asians - everyone, to unite
and take action. We must not allow the destruction of our
youth. We must not lose a generation of young people. Let
us act now. Let us demand immediate action from all world
governments in order to stop this terror." Fernando Suarez
del Solar joins Dennis by telephone to talk about the loss
of his son and its many reverberations.
5:28 PM PST
Remembering non-citizen soldiers who died in Iraq. A poem
by Aurora Levins-Morales: "Grave Song for Immigrant Soldiers"
5:38 PM PST
El Grito: Dennis Bernstein and Miguel Molina welcome Richard
Montoya, the Culture Clash founder and visionary.
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