"It was the inspiration of NYC and a concern over an insidious racism that he perceives to be spreading tactiley through our nation that inspired him to write City of Immigrants. The lilting tropical rhythms buoy a celebration of diversity, and to further underscore the point, Earle recorded it with Brazilian group Forro in the Dark.
"Lou Dobbs pisses me off," Earle says, normally fiery-black eyes blazing. "City of Immigrants is the most political song on the record, and it exists because of watching Lou Dobbs crank up this anti-immigrant campaign just as the Democrats are getting started with their immigration legislation on Capitol Hill.
"I grew up in occupied Mexico," he continues, gathering steam. "Texas is part of the first illegal American land grab...and when I hear people talking about Mextisos invading us, taking our jobs, I want to say, 'But they were here first'...because they were. September 11 is about the other dark people--or else you're completely impotent about what happened. All I know is that I see we have another mean-spirited group rising. It's just easy to look at another group of dark-skinned people and single them out."
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