The picture above was taken from the MSN website. The caption being of course what most of those kids are protesting against, the sweeping generalization that they are all criminals. Because this is what the epithet "illegal immigrants" means.Of course, MSN being a portal website, it could be excuse for its lack of analysis of the situation. In its attempts to be relevant, it cannot be but make sweeping generalizations. But we find the same fallacies in the print media. In yesterday's edition of the Houston Chronicle, we find the following header: "Today's rights campaign differs from Chicano era's / Observers note that earlier movement was led by U.S. citizens seeking basic freedoms." To the casual reader, the mention of "US citizens," Cesar Chavez's movement and the fact that it went against the use of illegal immigrants as strikebreakers would seemingly make illegitimate. The Chicanos were US citizens, and therefore had the right to protest, implicitly entailing that today's protesters don't.
This relation between citizenship and civil rights is a trope we also find in right-wing blogs and probably FOX News and Lou Dobbs (not having cable, I can't say whether they used it or not). It's the same idiotic idea (used by fat racist-nazi-bastards-who-enjoy-too-much-wrestling) of a hierarchy where the native, by his "superiority," doles out rights to the subaltern.
And way too often, we find out that the subaltern is, well, not white:
"Immigrants, many in the country illegally and originally from Mexico, Central and South America, have been demonstrating for what they call basic human and civil rights."
(from the Houston Chronicle)
What follows is the usual footage of the "dirty wetback crossing the border":
What follows is the usual footage of the "dirty wetback crossing the border":
How can we deny that the debate is not racist when it so obviously targets Mexicans and Latin Americans. And this amalgamation leads to the usual "law and order" response from right-wingers that "the police should just round them all up and deport them," because, you know, they're all brown skins and therefore probably illegals. It's quite unfortunate that this amalgamation is presented as fact, both by some of the media and fatass-racist-nazi-bastards-who-enjoy-wrestling.
Deport them all, even if they are legal. We've heard this before, in the Japanese internment camps in the 1940s, in Germany in 1933. And we've seen what the Chinese Exclusion Act led to. "Kill them all. God will recognize his flock."
Comments
What's even crazier (my roommate was telling me about it from NPR) is that some of the biggest people who are opposing this whole thing are black people, as it's their jobs on the line. Apparently, some radical african-american was on there, sounding just like your regular dipshit. "Those people!!" etc...
It's perfect in a way. Set all the undesirables against each other in a call to clean white sewers. Damn! Capitalists are genius. Why aren't we like that?
check the mexican-american contingint...
to assume al "mexicans" are on one side is pretty shallow thinking...
not necessarily directed at you francois...
and just to qualify my point (in case you need that) i'm not writing from a bubble, i'm was born and raised in california attending a highschool that was predominantly mexican-american...i have cousins, nieces and nephews that are mexican-american...
...i hope the above doesn't come off as "yeah i'm white but i have black friends" posturing, but francois, your last comment was vague enough for me to feel the need to place myself legitimately within the arguement...
anyone who considers NPR "THE news" is diluting themselves...NPR is A news source, often times with a political bent as extreme as Fox...i try to think in multitudes when approaching ANY news source...even locally...how can you not?
and let me just be clear...passing legislation to deport 12 million illegals is not the solution (like that was ever going to happen anyway), nor is legislation turning illegals into felons...on the other hand, attempting to hold the country hostage by disrutpting the economy with national "don't go to work days" is totally counterproductive...isn't the american economy the reason why they risked themselves and their families lives to come to the States in the first place? hurting the economy hurts your cause...validates the "US Vs. Them" rhetoric that the Rush Limbaugh's out there pounce on and spew out...(and i was glad to read last week that the protest organizers are now encouraging the demonstraters to leave their mexican flags at home...in my mind nothing has done more damage to the cause than the misguided jingoism of mexican flag waving on american streets...i mean, talk about mixed messages!)
i'm a first gen. american (united statesian if you prefer)...my dad came over from greece under political oppression in the 70's after the junta of 74'...so, needless to say, i'm not anti-immigrant...but in no way am i pro-illegal...
john
and i am not trying to make that point. what i am looking at right now are the demonstrators and their portrayal in the media. if i attack anyone, it would be bill o'reilly, lou dobbs, rush limbaugh, tom tancredo and sensenbrenner, among other people. but what worries me right now is rhetoric, how this issue is being presented.
...i hope the above doesn't come off as "yeah i'm white but i have black friends" posturing, but francois, your last comment was vague enough for me to feel the need to place myself legitimately within the arguement...
i wasn't to question you on this.
anyone who considers NPR "THE news" is diluting themselves...NPR is A news source, often times with a political bent as extreme as Fox...i try to think in multitudes when approaching ANY news source...even locally...how can you not?
i get most of my news from le monde, the guardian and die zeitung. every now and then, i'll check a right-wing blog or fox news, not in an effort to be balanced, but to know what i am bitching. i will admit it, my political views could be seen in this country as radical. i have pissed off some republicans in houston.
on the other hand, attempting to hold the country hostage by disrutpting the economy with national "don't go to work days" is totally counterproductive...
coming from a country that has a huge tradition in social upheavals, i think what they are assert their presence in a way that they can't be ignored anymore. in a way, disrupting the everyday routine is a way of doing so.
isn't the american economy the reason why they risked themselves and their families lives to come to the States in the first place?
i am usually very reluctant to use economics as a reason or as a standard for a better life. there are too many reasons for people to move to the states. are economics one of them? sure, but i live in a mostly salvadorean and vietnamese neighborhood and most of them left their countries for political reasons or otherwise.
...regarding your other comments...
le monde rocks!
...as you know the united states also has a VERY long tradition of protest and civil disobedience...it's one of the things we're best at...however i think the "walk out of work day" protests are alienating (no pun) to the average middle of the road american...someone who might sympathize with their cause is suddenly forced to confront the fact that thousands of non-citizens (this is paramount) in their home states are hoping to paralyze the state and federal economies by not showing up for work...lot's of people have a problem with this/ i have a problem with this...
"i am usually very reluctant to use economics as a reason or as a standard for a better life. there are too many reasons for people to move to the states. are economics one of them? sure, but i live in a mostly salvadorean and vietnamese neighborhood and most of them left their countries for political reasons or otherwise."
yeah but the fact of the matter, concerning this issue, is that most illegal immigrants are leaving latin america (re:mexico) for economic reasons...again, people aren't walking into this country from el salvador or chile or vietnam for that matter...the issue is about our border with mexico and the steady stream of mexican citizens illegally crossing it...
I would say any country that ever forced a nation-state identity down anyone's throat probably is pretty out there, social conciousness wise. Perhaps Greenland is an exception.
Regarding 'em illegals- the legal problem, as my roommate brought up, is that by giving them punishment you're awarding bad behaviour. What about all those 800,000 people in line waiting it to be done the 'right' way? This topic actually- gradualism vs. shock, working within the system or just fucking it is really interesting.
John! Your dad escaped the Greek junta? That's crazy! The one in the 80's in Turkey ruined everything, but then again, juntas always ruin the fun.
no, i don't think so, the african-americans who made/make up the NAACP were/ are american citizens...however loosly that was defined during their protests...
ekrem, yeah, pretty much all of my uncles came over in the 70's in result of the junta...being the film nut you are i'm sure you've seen "Z"...a rare instance of a great political thriller getting it right...are you a first gen. american? what part of turkey is your family from? i've only been to Kusidasi...
In Turkey, we still call Turkish greek people 'rum', which is the old word for Romans. I don't think most turks know that that's where it stems from though. We call southern cyprus the Roman Cyprus too. I thought you might find that amusing. :)
ekrem: shouldn't you be exempt from military service by now? because my friends aslan and kemal did theirs when they were 23.
i am a bit confounded when it comes to civil rights. as you might know, i am not an american citizen. i don't intend to become one either (unless under strict academic necessity). i understand this means i have to surrender the right to vote (not that any candidate has every pleased me), but does that mean i have to surrender a right to a fair treatment and to a political participation?
as i see this issue, this is what the protesters are asking for; not an amnesty, but a chance to participate in the political and social discourse. which is also something (this chance) that is denied to them by fearmongering pols like sensenbrenner and tancredo and the media in search of relevance.
"but does that mean i have to surrender a right to a fair treatment and to a political participation?...as i see this issue, this is what the protesters are asking for; not an amnesty, but a chance to participate in the political and social discourse."
no and yes...no in that you don't (shouldn't) have to surrender your right (as a human) to fair treatment by ANY government...but yes, your status as illegal definitly surrenders your right to ANY kind of political participation, e.g. voting...
what happens to all the legal immigrants currently going about the naturalization process if any person who crosses the border is automaticllly awarded the inalienable civil rights granted the newly naturalized?...what happens is a total debasement and Illegitimation of the citizenship process/ status...
most illegal immigrants don't pay taxes (yes, there are those few who do but...) so, the arguement goes, why should they have the voting power to yay or nay legislation that potentially uses tax payer dollars? this isn't an american anomaly...can you think of any government/ country that grants illegal immigrants voting status?
thanks for the space for conversation...
big ups!
xo-j