Angel Reyes Blog : Angel Reyes : Texas Litigation Lawyer and Attorney : Dangerous Drugs : Wrongful Death : Business Litigation

I wanted to take a moment out of my day to say "thank you" and to let you know that your leadership is being felt outside the boundaries of Nashville.

Like you and millions of others, I was fortunate to have been born in the United States. So were my  parents and my grandparents. Like many Americans, my family's history can be traced to Texas and the United States for more than 100 years. Nonetheless as a Hispanic citizen, I have felt the dual sting of prejudice and fear which has emanated from a handful of our Texas cities and their citizens as they consider measures similar to the one before the City of Nashville.

Despite my financial and educational success, my ancestral ties have never been so questioned. Stinging barbs - ostensibly aimed at curbing the growing and rampant immigration concern - have been launched without concern for the long term damage they will cause both citizens and non-citizens. The barbs are laden with fear and prejudice. You can feel it in written print just the same as when it is spoken. To say a racial divide is beginning to form would not be an over-characterization. English only propositions do nothing but draw a line in the sand. In my youth, Spanish was seen as a romantic and beautiful language. I often had friends who would ask me to speak it and they would mimic what I said. Now (the language), it is seen as the source of all that is wrong. In my lifetime, I cannot recall days like these.

It will take a bold and broad national initiative to help curb immigration and deal with the existing problems of those who are already here. That initiative is long overdue. Our Country wants it and needs it. Time is of the essence. But that fight belongs at the national level - not the local level. On a national level, it will be seen as a Country agenda, one of national significance. On a local level, English only propositions are seen as divisive, racial and mean-spirited. The propositions bark but  have no legal teeth. You have shown incredible foresight in recognizing this distinction.

I applaud you for your actions today. For what lies ahead of you and Nashville will not be easy. I think the words of Robert F. Kennedy are clearly appropriate in this context: "On this generation of Americans falls the burden of proving to the world that we really mean it when we say "all men are created free and equal before the law." All of us might wish at times that we lived in a more tranquil world, but we don't'. And if our times are difficult and perplexing, so are they challenging and filled with opportunity."

I hope one day to meet your acquaintance.

Until then, I remain Respectfully yours,

Edward Lopez
Attorney at Law
Dallas, Texas