Feeling the racial tension close to home

When will they realize that we don't want to be The United States Of
Mexico??

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Tuesday night's drive-by gunfire at the Basalt 7-Eleven brought home
the national wave of tension between U.S. citizens and immigrants.


Basalt police said it is possible that the episode - in which five
rifle rounds were fired through the front window of the convenience
store in the direction of the cash register - grew out of an argument
between two Latino men who visited the store and clerk Bruno
Kirchenwitz.


Kirchenwitz regularly wears a baseball cap with the words "U.S.
Border
Patrol," but was not wearing it at the store on the night in
question.
In any case, Kirchenwitz said the two visitors asked him about the
hat, and an argument ensued.


Later than evening, shots were fired at the 7-Eleven. Kirchenwitz had
departed before the drive-by, but other patrons were in the store.
Fortunately, no one was injured.


What's unfortunate is that racial tension has gotten to this point in
the Roaring Fork Valley. For sure, this wasn't the first incident to
underscore a bigger problem. A racial threat scribbled inside a
portable bathroom in Snowmass Village, as well as one at the Aspen
School District campus, disrupted the lives of many people simply
because of heightened security and, in turn, the looming - albeit
unfulfilled - threats.


We're sure many other incidents with racial overtones have gone
unreported.


Tuesday's shootings, however, took this tension to another level.
Shooting a gun into an occupied convenience store is a foolish and
criminal act, but we also seriously question the decision to wear
clothing that only inflames the situation. Kirchenwitz, himself an
immigrant, from Germany, is well within his rights to wear a hat with
"U.S. Border Patrol" on it, but there's more to this issue than free
speech.


There are ways to express differing opinions without inciting a
flare-
up. Tuesday night's episode, when apparently extremist views on both
sides collided head-on, proves that point.


Given the U.S. Senate's inability to agree on a major immigration
policy overhaul - on Thursday it shot down President Bush's
initiative
to make millions of immigrants legal - this issue seems bound to
polarize Americans even more in coming years.


Now we're seeing the residual effect of it all in the Roaring Fork
Valley. We can only hope that Tuesday's incident was an aberration,
but the string of events that precipitated it doesn't have us so
convinced.

bobandcarole wrote:
When will they realize that we don't want to be The United States Of
Mexico??

Why are you always cross-posting to, or from (which I suspect), the
faggots group? Are you gay? Maricon? Got parents and kids who are?

When you go, will you please take our resident faggot with you? Her/its
name is La Pomponita Magnus.

Thanks, Bob and Carole! See you around, you cute little twerps, you!

Mexcrementy del mexcremento
Waving the Spectrum Flag For BobAndCaroleAndPomponita