Immigration seems to be the word of the day lately in my dear, sweet, fucked up country. At first when this issue came to light, I thought it was funny, because of who was bringing it up. Rich, white, Republicans, you know, the kind that hires the maids, nannies, and groundskeepers with questionable documentation.
Now that immigration seems to be the distracting issue of the moment (this election year's gay marriage if you will) it's just got me pissed off. How can this party, that claims to represent the more righteous of our country, keep pedaling hate without someone calling bullshit on them? They love Jesus, unless he happens to be a migrant worker who snuck across the border to find low-level, curbside work to feed his family.
Right now, the neo-cons are basically looking to flare up the latent racism in their base, which is usually made up of lower income white people living in a bible-belty area (like Idaho) or rich, white folks who fancy themselves as too good to be bothered with immigration laws in the first place, especially when hiring the house staff. This is going to play out the same way that it did in 2004 with gay marriage, where the Right wanted you to believe that Rosie O'Donnell and Elton John were going to knock your door down, steal your children, and make *gasp* gay. Now in 2006, they want you to believe that a brown man with a thick mustache with the last name of Jimenez, Rodriguez, or Garcia is going to take your job and move his large, illegal family in next door and crap up your neighborhood with his Mexicaness.
By the way, this immigration thing is aimed squarely at Mexicans, because I haven't heard shit about the Chinese or Indians coming in from Canada, the European or Middle Eastern students who purposely overstay their visas (like the ones who took out the Towers), or even the Africans who might not have filled out their amnesty paperwork correctly. Nope, this is all about how well the cocksuckers in the White House can build on the fear of a Mexican invasion all to get stupid people who live paycheck-to-paycheck to elect them into office again without focusing on the fact that they live paycheck-to-paycheck.
Of course the Right would call bullshit on my logic about them trying to exploit latent racism for their own political gain, but it takes exactly five minutes for any talk show about immigration to turn from candid political issue discussion into full on Mexican bashing. They may start with the line about how illegal immigration is a drain on the economy, but it will end with the clear message that Mexicans equal crime.
Of course the Bush Regime continues to talk out of both sides of their ass on this issue. One minute the Resident-in-Chief is over-extending the military once again and sending the National Guard to the Mexican border, then a little while later, he’s talking about granting citizenship to immigrants who have been here for a certain amount of time. I guess he realizes that without cheap Mexican labor there might not be anyone to work the several hundred acres of land that make up his Texas ranch.
As a third generation American I have a bit of a soft spot for immigrants. I know the ideal is come over here and become a legal citizen, but when the country you happened to be from is so fucked up that they won’t let you have the proper paperwork without a hefty bribe, what’s a starving person to do. How quickly my fellow Americans seem to forget that if they look back far enough in the family tree they are bound to find an immigrant or two hanging out. I guess the immigrants of yesterday in their pageboy hats and wool knickers or their long skirts and babushka headscarves are far quainter than the ones they show on television in the dirty t-shirts and jeans hopping over chain-link fences.
I guess we will all have to hear the Right do their non-stop rambling and over exaggeration of the immigration issue for the next few months, then much like gay marriage, once the election is over, it will go away. Do you think the Right Wing voters will ever realize that they just keep being used by the neo-cons in power like pathetic bitches? Judging from the callers on the fascist talk station that comes on when my clock radio wakes me up at 7:00 am, not only are the Bush faithful concerned about immigration, they are willing to go to the polls in November, and vote their inner racist.
9 comments:
The rich whiteys fear Mexicans because they have an awareness of socialism.
Having never met a Mexican in my life I can quite happily say that they are more than welcome to come to the UK.
I could use the help with my Spanish.
I'm glad you're calling this racism, Melanie, because that really is what the irrational fervor against "illegals" is all about. Racism and xenophobia, pure and simple. For the most part, these are hard-working individuals who take jobs that most of us would never want to do -- yet without the benefits. They come here, of course, for economic opportunity, which is totally understandable. As a nation of immigrants, I think it's not just hypocritical to oppose would-be immigrants (illegal or otherwise) -- it's unAmerican!
"if they look back far enough in the family tree they are bound to find an immigrant or two hanging out."
What you forget, Melanie, along with everyone who defends the rights of illegal immigrants to be here, is that the issue is not immigration, the issue is "legal". Yes, the USA needs immigrants, but the USA alone should choose who those immigrants are. They should not be self-selected.
And those immigrants in the family tree you cite...they almost certainly came here legally.
You're friggen brilliant. Seriously.
It never ceases to amaze me that this sort of thing happens in the USA. It's such a huge country. It happens here n I understand - to a point - why. We're a tiny Island with limited resources and room n can't look after those already here adequately so there's a kind of logic in sayin' "Pull up the drawbridge" to protect those here now that isn't based on racism, just 'protectionism'. How can Bush n co get away with that stuff in such a massive country with so much room? Will we ever learn to be what we could be? Not in my life time I fear...
David, the issue may appear to be one of "legal" vs. "illegal", and in an ideal world with rational human beings, it would be. However, the Right doesn't want to be rational about this issue, and they don't want to really focus on "legal" vs. "illegal", they would rather drum up the fear of a brown invasion than deal with the real issue. They won on fear in 2004, and they would like to do the same in 2008. Listen to any Right Wing (Fox Network affiliate) radio station and it takes just a few phone calls before the conversation turns from legality to "those rotten Mexicans" and that's what I take issue with.
David, "legal" and "illegal" are arbitrary distinctions when it comes to who and how many people we let in. Let's not forget that it was not too long ago that other minorities, such as European Jews, were not allowed into this country. When ships carrying Jewish refugees from Europe tried to escape the Holocaust by coming to America, they were turned away -- and the rest is history. Morally, politically, and economically, the right thing to do is to support individuals who are willing to take risks to come here and make America their home.
the Right doesn't want to be rational about this issue, and they don't want to really focus on "legal" vs. "illegal", they would rather drum up the fear of a brown invasion than deal with the real issue.
This counterpoint demonstrates why the Democrats will continue to lose elections. Instead of positioning themselves in that "rational" center where most of the US electorate is, liberals are trying to argue points they think the conservatives are "actually" making.
I say, focus on "legal" vs. "illegal", and don't counterpoint or redirect your responses to the "brown invasion", because that's not the issue. The issue is controlling our borders, so that we have immigration from Mexico, Romania, China, France, etc. as designated by the USA, and based on immigrant criteria that fit the needs of the USA.
Thanks for the link mb. What a chest-beating neanderthal that John Gibson is. I love it how he very subtly insinuates that white couples today are too selfish and obsessed with materialism to have children, as are white European couples, and that white people should be scared because only minorities are having babies. Again, the fear of the brown invasion.
Funny, he never once mentions anything about lobbying the government to make middle class living more affordable, so that one parent could stay home without sending the household into poverty, or requiring employers to make daycare and emergency care more accessible to employees. I guess that would be counterproductive to their stance on sending women back into the kitchen where they belong.
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