Photo: Saurabh Das / Associated Press
The New York Times reports that Henry Cejudo the son of illegal immigrants from Mexico wins the Gold Medal for the United States in wrestling. Congratulations Henry!
The American flag landed on the scorer’s table, launched by a family member with exceptional aim. Henry Cejudo grabbed it from his coach and draped it around his body. He stood there for the longest time, fighting back tears, the son of illegal immigrants wrapped in stars and stripes.
Congrats but I think he could have had a better costume designer 😉
What NOT to wear 🙂 couldn’t resist
Ohhhhh the irony!
KG,
LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Red Dawn, I’m glad I’m not the only one who wasn’t immune to the distraction-my eyes were drawn to it 😉
you can say that AGAIN!
Emma,
Whew! Glad to hear it was not offensive ( if anyone knows me, I am just very sarcastic and try to laugh EVERY chance I get- MOSTLY at MYSELF first!) and wasn’t sure if I was going out on a limb 🙂
From the article: “His right eye bruised and darkened, Cejudo talked of all the hours his mom worked over the years, as a janitor and a construction worker, anything to put food on the table or to heat the house. He talked about all the times they moved, from Los Angeles to New Mexico to Phoenix to Colorado Springs, each time in search of a better life.
“I wish I could just give her the medal right now,” Cejudo said.”
The article did not say if his mother has ever regularized her status. Shall we assume ICE will be knocking on her door soon, just after they finish with the illegal-immigrant mothers with children serving in Iraq and Afghanistan?
so good works should absolve someone of their criminal status? tell tookie williams that, oh forgot..he’s dead as he was executed.
good works dont absolve someone from their crimes, winning the gold medal is great however this person was legal regardless of whether he was an anchor baby. so what’s the point, that all anchor babies should be given a pass? I dont think so, honestly I think citizen ship should be by blood and residency, not by birth like some european countries do it (check out how the swiss do it)
an amazing accomplishment, however you dull his great accomplishment by bringing into a discussion of illegal immigration. shame on all of you, and if you want to look at crotch shots you filthy people pick up an x-rated video or something.
Way off subject…Is there anyone here that is experienced with promissory estopple and verbal contracts in the St of VA..if so please respond. Thanks.
tickle_me_ELVIS,
Head hung in shame as I say SORRY,Elvis. Speaking of wondering/ wandering distractions 😉 go Johnny go 🙂
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3YFmpSFJ40
And to get back on thread topic, all things creatures great and small…….
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/19/health/19well.html?em
Red Dawn ( have trouble sometimes posting videos/links? )
Well elvis, what you think, and what the Constitution says, are two different things. So I guess if you are going to end birthright citizenship and have every mother giving birth here investigated, you will have to work to change the law.
You are comparing the criminality of a woman who entered the US illegally with the criminality of a man who murdered at least 4 people? I assume you do feel then that if this athlete’s mother is still not a legal resident that she should be deported along with all the illegal immigrant parents of all the soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.
It doesn’t really surprise me that you laud the Swiss system. Even among Europeans (who generally don’t have birthright citizenship) the Swiss are known as an extreme.
I don’t recall mentioning his clothing.
And in any case elvis, I guess you are telling this athlete he cannot speak of his mother or his family’s history, because it is his own account of his life that brought illegal immigration into it. I guess he must be quiet to spare your sensibilities or anything that might complicate your worldview. He is the one who has linked his accomplishments to his mother’s struggles for her children.
I
Anchor Babies winning gold?!!?! Utter lies! Next you’ll be telling me they are fighting and dying in the U.S. military!
Elvis, you have a nerve! I know where you have been. You have stepped in something over there. Check the bottom of your shoes. It is your who should be ashamed.
Nassssss-Teeeeeee!
Okay, one MORE song ( I state I was going to go to bed on the previous thread) but you guys are talking about SNAKES….one of my fears and it has me coiled up and hissing 😉
I have to play this out so I can have sweet dreams( just like some have to watch comedy after a horror show)
Hissses and kisssses….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qI1eHSwUJAk
guess who? RD 🙂
Ladies, do I have to explain athletic cups to grown women?
I refuse to let Elvis’s sickness of hate ruin this amazing moment. THIS is the American dream come to life. Born with so little, parents working so hard to offer their kids a better life, and in the end, a gold medal for all of us to rally around. I LOVE this country!
“This is the American dream,” said a joyful Cejudo, still wrapped in the U.S. flag. “The United States is the greatest country in the world.”
Oh, Red Dawn and Emma, you naughty girls, I just have no idea what you are talking about 😉
One size fits all? xoxoxox off to bed 🙂 howllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllling:)
Have you all heard this news story?
People are now being arrested for cheering at high school graduations. Apparently its a growing trend.
http://www.fortmilltimes.com/187/story/191081.html
Another article about the same. This ought to generate outrage.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,365461,00.html
That’s nice, but you forgot the 200 “Anchor baby joins MS-13” articles from that same day.
If anything makes this story extraordinary,it’s that Cejudo succeeded DESPITE his mother, not because of her. Coming to this country, breeding with “career criminals” and producing more children than she can reasonably care for (7!) without benefit of a father, providng an unstable, uncertain life of moving all over the country hardly seems heroic to me.
It is heartening to see Cejudo wrap himself in the flag and show gratitude for the opportunities he has had in this country. Focusing on the “illegal Immigrant” aspecdt of this story only cheapens his accomplishment.
Red Dawn,
One size fits all???
His parents were illegal immigrants from Mexico who met in Los Angeles. His mother had six kids, four with his father, Jorge, who was in and out of prison until dying of heart problems at age 44 last year. Cejudo never saw him after age 4.
The family was miserably poor, sometimes moving from apartment to apartment under the cover of night because they lacked rent money. His mom worked several jobs at a time, stealing home for a few hours to make sure her family wasn’t in trouble.
Sometimes they stayed with friends, sometimes with relatives, sleeping six or seven to a room in bad neighborhoods, drug deals going on down the street. Always, though, someone was there to offer a helping hand.
Career Breeding, Criminal Father (maybe, hard to tell who father might have been), stiffing landlords on rent, 7 in a room, sounds about right!!!
Animals ‘breed’.
Human beings have babies.
Babies that grow up to bring honor to the country, while their own countrymen imply that their mothers are animals who ‘breed’.
Emma, you speak volumes with your language of “breeding.” You also appear to want to imply that Cejudo’s children had more than one father since you made the “career criminal” in the story plural. Also, I would hope that you criticize all poor people who have moved to new places for better jobs since that is what the athlete has said his mother did. I would also note, after she escaped her abusive husband, the article indicates the family lived in *three* different places in the West, hardly moving “all over the country.”
Finally, please write to the athlete and tell him he is cheapening his accomplishment by acknowledging all his mother did for him, but it is his story,
not just in this article, but in others as well, easily found. Tell him that you, living a completely different life, know that he is wrong and that you know he succeeded despite her, not with her help. Obviously your understanding of his life must mean far more than his.
From another article on the athlete (Kansas City Star):
“Soon, the person who will have the medal is Nelly Rico, a 50-year-old Mexican who arrived in the United States illegally some three decades ago. Rico is Cejudo’s mother, a single parent who toiled on assembly lines and worked two jobs at a time to raise her seven children, with a strict but loving manner.
“We call her ‘the terminator’ back home. She’s been a father and a mother. She’s such a tough lady,” Cejudo said.”
……………”I wish she was here,” he said. “She has done so much for us I wish I could just give her the medal right now because that’s who it is going to go to.”
“Cejudo’s story is enough to melt any heart that understands the toil immigrants endure to build a life in the United States, often at risk of arrest or seeing their children fall into trouble.
Cejudo’s mother and his father, Jorge Cejudo, came separately from Mexico without papers and met in Los Angeles. The father was an invisible presence, in and out of jail for petty crimes. Nelly Rico fled their home in rough South Central Los Angeles with the children in 1991 to escape him and his troubles.
They moved first to Las Cruces, N.M., where they squeezed into a three-room house, four siblings sleeping in a bunk bed made for two people, recalled a 28-year-old half-brother, Alonzo Cruz. Later, they moved on to Phoenix, where Henry and his next older brother, Angel, became wrestling stars.”
……….”Ask Cejudo or his siblings how he rose up so fast in the wrestling world, and the answer generally comes back to the determination and grit instilled by Nelly Rico, an immigrant who clung to the church as her pillar.
“We didn’t have a choice whether we went to church or not. … One time, she took me there without my T-shirt. She would always have that God factor in our lives,” said Alonzo Cruz.”
PS: Yes, and before you leap, I see the Kansas article I quoted speaks of half-brothers, so that means more than one father for her children. But I was referring to your taking words from the NYT article, encasing them in quotes, and making one plural. I assume one would have to find more information to assume more than one “career criminal,” who the articles clearly say she escaped. Given the fact her kids called her the “terminator,” I would gather she learned something from her experiences.
DB, in what context? (promissory estoppel)
BTW, from the pure legal definition, sounds as difficult to prove as slander if it is only verbal.
Emma-“breeding with “career criminals”. How did you arrive at that conclusion?
Henry has done an unbelievable job given his circumstances. It makes his feat even more amazing. He does give his mother much of the credit for his success. He said she worked two jobs, kept her children off the street and in church. She gave her children something of value-look at their accomplishments. Henry’s brother, Angel Cejudo, is a four-time Arizona high school state champion and was Henry’s training partner in Beijing. His coach,Terry Bands, said “He has done an unbelievable job coming from the environment he came from. He grew up in Maryvale. He could be in prison. Could be a drug runner. Could be this, could be that. He’s done an unbelievable job of not being a victim.” I think one does need to give credit to his mother, after all she is the one who raised him.
Henry Cejudo’s story reminded me that hard work and keeping one’s eye on the prize is worth all the effort one can give. Having the support of your parent(s) and their encouragement also helps make it happen. It sure paid off for him. He had just about all the disadvantages one could have, yet he prevailed.
He wrapped himself in the US Flag and said he did not want to let the flag go and that he might even want to sleep with it.
What a story!!!!
“Animals ‘breed’.
Human beings have babies.”
AMEN Mackie (though I wouldn’t undermine animal babies either).
The term breeding is again likening immigrants to animals.
On another note, chalk up another rape/attempted rape for the year by a potential illegal alien:
http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/0808/545738.html
This is particularly bad news for me considering I’m an avid hiker. Obviously not because I fear being raped but because more women will fear solo hiking in PWC which is a blow to my hobby/sport. The hide the bushes and rush rape is a common occurance along certain trails in Arlington/Fairfax/Alexandria. I hate seeing it creep into PWC.
And yes, I know he hasn’t been caught so how can I know he’s an illegal alien? The odds are for it considering 9 out of the past 10 rapes occuring in the last year in PWC being commiting by hispanics were also illegal aliens. I know not all illegal aliens are rapists and not all hispanics are illegal aliens so please spare me the rhetoric. There’s been a higher rate of rapes in PWC commited by hispanics and almost all were illegal aliens. I’m not implying anything, just posting the facts.
Leila,
thank you for your extensive post regarding his upbringing. It is so frustrating to me, having heard the full story, that any person, believing in the American value of work and family values, would denegrade his story. His mom’s determination to raise her family without the negative influence of the father should be extoled not belittled. Is this what America has been reduced to, pointing out the continued “animal” like behavior of our fellow human beings despite their hard work. Emma, you continue to show your true colors be depicting Cejudo’s mother as an animal that “breeds”. If she is the breeder, I guess her children are just the litter.
SO WHAT Mando! Why aren’t you posting the stories of the majority of murders committed by legal Americans! Why aren’t you outraged by the white collar crime that TRULY impacts many Americans. Did you know the person who raped a woman on Lafayette street a few weeks ago was described as causcasian, why aren’t you trembling about all the white guys walking around? You are implying everything Mando, and it isn’t even remotely subtle, hispanices equal criminals. Mando, I am wondering,did you know the KKK uses the jail statistics of male African Americans as THEIR tactic of why they are an inferior race? Hey, I’m just giving you the facts though, not implying anything.
On one hand you attempt to say that not all illegal aliens are rapists, but then you subsequently say that 9 out of 10 rapes were “committed by hispanics who were also illegal ailens”. Depsite your denial of sounding like you are profiling racially, you clearly have done so Mando.
“And yes, I know he hasn’t been caught so how can I know he’s an illegal alien? The odds are for it considering 9 out of the past 10 rapes occuring in the last year in PWC being commiting by hispanics were also illegal aliens. I know not all illegal aliens are rapists and not all hispanics are illegal aliens so please spare me the rhetoric. There’s been a higher rate of rapes in PWC commited by hispanics and almost all were illegal aliens. I’m not implying anything, just posting the facts.”
Elena,
I agree with you.
I had logged off and began to think about some of the negative comments posted. It seems the focus went from a great accomplishment by a very patriotic young man to degrading his mother. Why couldn’t the credit been given where the credit was due? He won a GOLD MEDAL in the Olympics for god sakes. He came from a difficult background, yet, with hard work and effort realized a dream that few realize. His mother instilled this drive in him because of her example of hard work and determination to make it.
Why can’t we just praise this American OIympian and give him the same accolades that all the medal winners have received?
To Elena, 20. August 2008, 8:56
You go girl!!!!
Obviously Mando, GL and others do not listen to the news or read the papers. You would think the only criminals are undocumented immigrants.
“Depsite your denial of sounding like you are profiling racially, you clearly have done so Mando.”
I’m sorry, but most rapes that have occured in my community have been commited by hispanics and most of those hispanics were illegal aliens. No profiling there. Argue with the facts, not me. You do a great job twisting arguments to fit your agenda.
Oh, and to (hopefully) once and for all bring closure to the subject:
Being hispanic does NOT equal being criminal. MOST that i’ve met and live around are generally polite and seem hard working.
You want dialogue, then quit generalizing and stereotyping. Yes, I do know there are rapes in my area commited by non-hispanics BUT MOST have been commited by hispanics and ALMOST ALL of those hispanics were illegal aliens. AGAIN, in my community. I’m not worried about national trends as much as local.
I see a problem in the fact that I can’t go a week without reading in the paper about a rape/attempted rape IN MY COMMUNITY regardless of race or nationality. But when almost all of those rapes are commited by illegal aliens from Mexico and locales south I see a disturbing trend. Why don’t you?
And you chose to drop that tidbit of info in this thread for what reason, Mando…
“And you chose to drop that tidbit of info in this thread for what reason, Mando…”
To temper the celebration with reality.
I am kind of in shock.
Mando’s response to Henry Cejudo’s gold medalist story is “chalk up another rape/attempted rape for the year by a potential illegal alien.” Now, I am not implying that Mando thinks this about Mr. Cejudo, but it is interesting how Henry’s great accomplishment drives some to bring him down a peg by putting up these statistics.
I think we would be hard pressed to find a reporter who might say the following to Michael Phelps:
“Sure, Mr. Phelps, it is great that you have won 8 gold medals during these Olympic Games. However, being that you are Caucasian, I think Americans should consider this…84% of American serial killers are non-hispanic whites, and studies show that 70-80% of American pedophiles are non-hispanic white males. Not implying anything…just telling you the facts.”
This would cause almost certain outrage in the public. Mando, I promise I am not trying to make fun. However, I just wanted to point out that we all can bring up statistics about race, ethicity, etc. that might (unfortunately but effectively) dim one’s accomplishments. It just doesn’t seem like that makes any sense, though.
I respect Henry Cejudo’s accomplishment.
I don’t respect using it as a celebration of illegal immagration.
Some individuals only exposure to illegal immagration is feel good stories and the money that pours in from the economic cocaine that is cheap illegal labor. The rest of us see the ill effects of illegal immagration on a personal level.
Therein lies the disconnect.
If Mr. Cejudo wants to tell the story of his background, who are we to tell him that it is not good enough? Who are we to tell him that he cannot celebrate what his mother and family have gone through?
I don’t see this as a celebration of illegal immigration, and I doubt others do. I don’t think people are going to say, “OK, let’s not reform the immigration process because a guy won a gold medal.” Rather, I see this as a sort of triumph over adversity story, like many others you see in athlete bios on NBC. Should we say that Michael Phelps’ story celebrates the benefits of ADHD or his triumph over it? Should we say that Michael Phelps’ success celebrates those with past DUIs, or should we focus on how he remedied that situation?
I don’t think anyone here pretends that illegal immigration is some wonderful thing. We are not living in a Disney cartoon. However, with every single possible crime committed by someone Latino or Hispanic, or suspected of being an illegal immigrant posted on the other site, I have to welcome a good news story posted here. Thanks, Alanna!
Congratulations to Henry Cejudo on his great achievement.
And to the people who don’t want to give him any credit I hope you realise that without the help of an immigrant, who should have been convicted of war crimes in Germany, Wernher von Braun – America would not have made it to the moon.
America is built on the hard work of immigrants; not red neck whining about ‘illegals’.
I believe any person who overcomes adversity and moves on to great accomplishments should be a cause for celebration. If being an illegal immigrant isn’t adversity, then perhaps I have misunderstood the issue.
“I don’t see this as a celebration of illegal immigration, and I doubt others do.”
“I don’t think anyone here pretends that illegal immigration is some wonderful thing. We are not living in a Disney cartoon.”
This is where I disagree with you. This site potrays a “Disney cartoon” side of illegal immagration. Some here have admitted that illegal immagration isn’t even on their radar screen.
Mando,
I don’t see a disturbing trend in terms of rapes. PWC police reported 28 rapes last year. Is this an uncontrolled phenomenon? The official report states that although there was an increase in the number of rapes, that total is within the five-year average. Also, this report states that In all but one of the cases, the victims were acquainted with suspects. This last statement means that you don’t have crazy and sexually deviant Latinos running around raping women.
Hypothetically, let’s say that all those rapes were committed by latinos and that they were foreign-born, they will represent 0.086 of the total foreign-born population if you also assumed that all of them are Latinos ( census data shows that about 32,293 foreign-born persons live in the county).
I also checked the sexual offender registry for PWC and it shows a total of 206 individuals. Only 12 of that total have Latino names. You can check the photos to verify their ethnicity.
The trend that I see though is that the number of Latinos and foreign born people in the county has changed a lot. That percentage is a lot higher in your county when compared to the state average. Mando, you see more brown faces around you and that might be disturbing but not a crime.
“This site potrays [sic] a “Disney cartoon” side of illegal immagration [sic]”. What is the reality that you see Mando? Do you have real numbers or just the anecdotes and stories you see in the papers YOU read?
Where do you find your data for the trends?
This is a touching story. Good for him and good for the USA. However, people should not use this story to imply that illegal immigration is “good” anymore than someone at the other site should use a story about an undocumented MS-13 murderer to show that illegal immigration is “bad.” Illegal immigration may or may not be a problem–but don’t use feel good examples or feel bad examples to categorize an entire situation. If you do, you are doing the same thing as the other guys–just with a positive spin. Not all children of illegal immigrants grow up to be MS 13 gangbangers. Nor do they all grow up to be olympic champions.
Mando,
Illegal Immigration might not have been on our radar screen as much as it was yours but atleast we knew how to spell ‘immigration’.
I hate just reading about the term anchor baby. These kids cannot do a lot for their parents. They children only start the application for their parents green cards until the they become 21. if the parent was here illegally, they have to leave the country for 12 years. Then they can start the application. Let’s say that they are lucky and it takes three years to get them here legally, it will take a parent 36 years to enjoy the benefits of having that anchor baby.
Stop calling them anchor babies, they are American citizens. Culturally speaking, a lot of the kids of Salvadoran parents I meet don’t have a lot of things in common with the “old country” culture.
This kids have the potential to bring honor and glory to this country, their country. When you talk about these children the way you do it Mando, then you are drawing a cartoon of some American citizens.