Ha! they got the message. I can't believe they even considered a "celebration" on this date, especially the celebration of another country!
Although it looks like they'll still celebrate in LA
Mexican fest moved to weekend after Sept. 11
SANTA ANA – A downtown celebration honoring Mexico's bicentennial that was initially set to kick off Sept. 11
and sparked a firestorm of protests has been moved to the following weekend.
The date change came at the request of the festivities' promoters, Santa Ana City Manager Dave Ream said Thursday.
He said the promoters expressed concern about holding the event on such a sensitive date and the possibility of losing attendance to the huge Los Angeles Mexican celebration scheduled for the weekend of Sept. 11.
"It was a combination of both," Ream said. "The promoters have a very strong belief that they will do better not having to compete with Los Angeles and also they were concerned with the expressed opposition... concern to doing it on 911."
The promoter of the event pays for all the costs, including security during the celebration, which includes a festival and parade, he added.
Ream said his office received 12 phone calls and 20 emails after word got out that the Mexican bicentennial would be held on Sept. 11.
CLICK HERE to read here about how more than 80 percent of ocregister.com readers who responded to a poll overwhelmingly opposed the city celebrating the event on Sept. 11.
The change came after a group of anti-illegal immigration activists picketed last weekend and this week in front of the Mexican consulate. The group also planned to protest at next week's City Council meeting.
CLICK HERE to read the original story here.
Lupe Moreno, president of Latino Americans for Immigration Reform, spearheaded the movement. She said she had no qualms with the event itself, comparing it to St. Patrick's Day and other ethnic festivities but objected to it being on Sept. 11 nine years after the attacks.
Moreno was happy to hear about the date change.
"Hurray!" she said. "I think it's a blessing from God. I'm so happy that as Americans we prevailed."
She said she didn't believe the promoters were worried about competing with Los Angeles.
"They could say that but I don't buy it," she said. "I think it was a lot of pressure put on them. A lot of pressure."
Ream said last week that the city didn't see a problem celebrating Mexico's bicentennial on Sept. 11 because officials had planned a special memorial to honor the fallen before kicking off the celebration.
Moreno said the Mexican celebration should not be held on that weekend at all.
She and Barbara Coe, who heads the California Coalition for Immigration Reform in Huntington Beach, blasted e-mails to several hundred members involved in the movement, calling for the protests.
Mexican diplomat Alejandra Garcia Williams was not available for comment Thursday.
Garcia Williams, who recently took the helm as Consul General in Santa Ana, said earlier that she didn't understand why Moreno and her group would picket her. The city's decision had already been made when she first took charge late last year, she said.
In Mexico and at other consulates throughout the world, she said, the cry for independence celebration officially kicks off late night Sept. 15 and into Sept. 16.
When told about the date of the Santa Ana event, Garcia Williams said she immediately recognized the sensitive nature of Sept. 11 and asked officials to at least have a minute of silence during the event.
http://www.ocregister.com/news/sept-...n-mexican.html