NDN'er Alicia Menendez on The O'Reilly Factor Talking Border Security

NDN's very own Alicia Menendez appeared on The O'Reilly Factor yesterday night and I am proud to say, she more than held her own.

In a one on one debate on immigration issues she got O'reilly to admit that the border is more secure then it has ever been.

The biggest fireworks occured during the discussion of the Los Angeles School Board's recent decision to teach students about SB1070 in the context of Jim Crow laws, segregation, the internment of the Japanese in World War 2 and "the American values of unity diversity and equal protection for all."

Some background information on the Los Angeles Unified School District snafu can be found here.

During the clip,  O'Reilly holds up a press release that he says proves positive that the School Board has decided to teach children that the law is immoral. Below is the final line of the release that O'Reilly is holding in the segment.

Finally, citing its goal to provide a well rounded and quality education that exposes students to cultures that are crucial to understanding our nation, past and present, and that helps our students to appreciate the histories and cultural contributions of their own communities, the Los Angeles Board of Education also requested that Superintendent Cortines ensure that civics and history classes discuss the recent laws with students in the context of the American values of unity, diversity and equal protection for all people.

Below is the statement released by the Los Angeles Unified School board to the press regarding Fox News on the issue.

    To set the record straight.  The Board of Education never directed the superintendent to teach students that the Arizona law is un-American.  That was an inappropriate and inaccurate headline placed on the story by the either the Fox News reporter or headline writer. 

    The Board of Education did direct the Superintendent to ensure that LAUSD civics and history classes discuss the recent laws enacted in Arizona in the context of the American values of unity, diversity, and Equal Protection for all.   This very important piece of current events would be taught in our classrooms along with a number of controversial periods and laws which are a part of our history and are currently being taught in or classrooms including: slavery; Jim Crow laws and segregation; reservations and residential schools for Native Americans; the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882; the anti-Irish racism in the 19th century; racism against immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe during the 20th century; anti-Semitism; internment camps for Japanese Americans during World War II and the Mexican Repatriation Program during the 1930s.

    Let’s remember that these laws were all deemed as “necessary” (in some cases for the security of our nation) during particular times in our history.  To ignore what is currently happening in Arizona would be total denial of current events and a part of our history.  At the very least it’s a discussion that should take place in the classroom.

The rest of the interview focuses on border security. I have repeatedly blogged on this issue... However Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano just wrote an Op-Ed on Border Security in the Arizona Republic. She presents a very compelling argument that the border is now more secure then it has ever been before. The full article can be seen here. And the full O'reilly Segment is below.