"American" is code for "white."

[VirtualChicano]

American is code for white

Many new groups are joining the immigration reform bandwagon these days. One group, however, has remained conspicuously silent, "White Americans." While Save Our State, the Minutemen and other xenophobic nativists groups have done a good job representing the “what part of the word illegal don’t you understand?” crowd, the more moderate, mainstream white Americans have chosen to sit out this decade’s super bowl of political debates: immigration reform.

Neither Democrat nor Republican alike, white Americans have not stepped foreword to denounce the nativist groups that the Republican Party has been pandering to. White Americans have not stepped up to the plate to say that the Minutemen and Save Our State do not speak for them. White Americans have not stepped up to the plate to say that the Minutemen and Save Our State do not represent them.

I get the feeling that maybe Save Our State and the Minutemen does represent the views of average, moderate white Americans. And this is disconcerting to me because these views are racist, bigoted and based on xenophobia and not the underlying facts about immigration and how this country has benefited from it.

This issue was first brought to my attention in an email from a list serve that I belong to. In it an “American” was making this same point that I raise and he actually had a term for it: “American is code for white.” In fact, the exact term he used was “…and we all know that American is code for white.” Since I had never heard this term before I did what most people would do, I GOOGLED it. Nothing popped up, however, and I was left to call some friends of mine in academia. I called 2 people and both had heard the expression before.

One friend likened it to the Bush re-election campaign against Clinton where Bush advisors were often heard referring to Jews working on the Clinton campaign as those “New Yorkers.”

I am not white; therefore, I am not American. I will never be white and, therefore, I will never be American. Not so long as American is code for white.

[frankenforpres]

1. i know a lot of white jews and white hispanics

so i dont really get what you are talking about

bigots against mexicans? im pro immigration i.e. open borders, but i dont think those against it are racists

[AspenRose]

2. Now you know how black folks feel

"America was never America to me..."

--Langston Hughes

*I* "get it."

[bling bling]

17. I, Too

I, too, sing America.

I am the darker brother.
They send me to eat in the kitchen
When company comes,
But I laugh,
And eat well,
And grow strong.

Tomorrow,
I'll be at the table
When company comes.
Nobody'll dare
Say to me,
"Eat in the kitchen,"
Then.

Besides,
They'll see how beautiful I am
And be ashamed--

I, too, am America.

-Langston Hughes

That's been my favorite poem since I first read it in Junior High. In fact, I never returned the poetry book to the school library so that I could read it again and again. (We didn't have the internet back then with quick and easy reference to such things like we do now.)

[crispini]

3. Huh, I googled "denounce Minutemen"

and the first thing that comes up is Howard Dean denouncing them and calling on the Republican party to do the same.

Here's a snip:

"Democrats are committed to strengthening our borders and enforcing our immigration laws, but there is no place in this debate for the reckless scapegoating of immigrants, nor the private vigilantism that only fosters hostility against them. President Bush's failure to provide leadership on immigration reform and to enforce our border laws is leaving state and local governments to bear the burden. Americans need effective leadership and solutions, not the Karl Rove playbook on divisiveness.

http://www.democrats.org/a/2006/02/dean_calls_on_r_1.php

[goclark]

4. In the new America "American" could be White

and it could be all colors of the rainbow.

As soon as we get these RepubliCONS out of the WHITE House the better America will be.

Keep the Faith and PEACE

[lumberjack_jeff]

5. I don't feel that way, but I can see your point.

I am concerned about the level of immigration (legal and illegal, by people from everywhere).

Americans of every ethnic background need and deserve a serious debate on the topic.

Immigration policy, just like any other US policy, should be developed to promote the interests of americans primarily and the interests of others secondarily.

IMHO The minutemen are doing what every group does; portray themselves as the spokesmen for everyone. They don't speak for me, setting and enforcing immigration policy is a job for our elected officals, not vigilantes.

When I say "americans", I mean americans.

[Kerrytravelers]

6. I know exactly what you mean.

It never ceases to amaze me that because my skin is white, other "white' people will say the most unbelievable things to me because they just assume that our mutual skin color must somehow indicate that we have the same feelings.

I always let them know that they assumed wrong.

[frankenforpres]

11. i am also shocked by this

i used to be the desk clerk at a hotel. one quote i remember: "we got a lot of those julio's working with us now (asphalt paving), but ill tell you one thing, those julio's work hard" this was tame compared to the stuff he said about people with darker complexions than "julio's"

[The Backlash Cometh]

22. You don't just have to be white.

This is the terrible mistake my in-laws made with me. They "accepted" me as white, or rather, they didn't accept me as hispanic, so I heard everything. All the bigotry, all the racist comments, all the insular thinking that goes on behind those wagons when they're circled.

It has changed me forever.

[frankenforpres]

28. well, i am portuguese

so by any meaningful definition i am "latin" but not according to the US census.

some of the most racist people i know (against blacks) are dark skinned portuguese, some of this has to do with the war in angola

[The Backlash Cometh]

29. No question.

But that is another can of worms. Getting Americans, especially liberals, to understand that the most politically incorrect people they will find will come from within the various cultures and how they respond to each other is a chapter to be read another day.

[Mythsaje]

7. As a (mostly) white American

who works with a number of LEGAL aliens from such diverse places as Poland, Trinidad, and the Philippines, I respectfully disagree with this attitude. They are legal immigrants, some of whom have worked for years to bring family over here through legal channels.

Those who are here illegally, and those who want to make apologies for them, are a slap in the face to these folks. One of my co-workers, from the Philippines, visits his wife in Canada on the weekends because she's a Canadian citizen who hasn't been allowed to immigrate to the U.S. Or so I understand it.

These people have made great sacrifices to do things the right way. It's hardly fair to excuse others who won't. Acting like it's all about race misses so many important points.

On edit... Americans come in all colors.

[The Backlash Cometh]

23. Very well put.

[eleny]

8. Randi Rhodes has spoken to this issue every chance she gets

She's taken every opportunity to expose the racist rhetoric. And I believe she has much support among her listeners. Her latest appearance was this past week on Paula Zahn's program on CNN. The video of her smack down is available on Randi's website here http://therandirhodesshow.com/live/

[Ecumenist]

9. VirtualChicano

I'm a married woman of a Mixed African descent, some of my ancestors have been here for 40000 years. The fact that you have gotten impression that American is code for white is, in some way, correct. Howver, seeing as I have been mostly nonwhite fpr as long as I can remember, I cna tlel you that the fact that this "code" is in actuality a means for exclusion of people like you and me is totally dependent on who the "codetalk" is coming from. There are groups who use that term to mean exactly what they're saying. Just remember those who place such a xenophobic caveat on others are less citizens those they attempt to dehumanise and denigrate.

[Betsy Ross]

10. I'm not going to let the Minute Men steal Americans.

They can't own that word. We are all Americans, we share the geography. Americans are in the streets protesting the current administration. Americans are writing blogs. Americans are helping Americans impacted by Hurricane Katrina. Americans are dying in Iraq.

[annabanana]

24. I'M pissed that they stole "Minutemen". .

That belongs to the Massachusetts patriots who started the fight against impossible odds in the fight against the British.

[LostinVA]

26. COMPLETELY agree -- it's disgusting

[K8-EEE]

12. The Most Anti-Immigrant People I Know Are Mexican-Americans

They are really the MOST vocal about it, I live in L.A....this one guy I know, his father had a good gardening business and he feels he couldn't make a go of it in recent years because of being undercut by "wetbacks." I really argue the point, because I feel like it's all a ploy to make working people hate/fight against each other instead of focusing on the real enemy, the fascist regime we have in power!

It reminds me of the Irish migration at the turn of the centry, and all the mill workers hating the Irish because THEY cut wages. Of course they didn't cut wages...they just worked for what they could get. It's a recurring theme in our history unfortunately.

[AndyTiedye]

13. We Should Focus On Illegally-Low Wages & Illegally-Bad Working Conditions

Those are some of the many parts of "illegal" that the regime chooses to overlook.

Employers hire illegals because they can pay them sub-minimum wages and
force them to work in dangerous conditions that violate OSHA and other laws.
If they complain, they are threatened with La Migra.

Noone should have to work and live like that.

Who are the real criminals here? The desperate ones who cross the border illegally,
or the employers who violate every labor law and every concept of decency in the way they treat their workers?

[Mythsaje]

14. The employers...

Hands down.

I don't blame them for coming...who wouldn't want to improve their lot in life?

But it's still not fair for those who fight to get it right for themselves and their families.

[Canuckistanian]

16. Defintely the employers

And since many jobs are filled with "illegals" before they even arrive in the country, the employers are the first and most egregious law-breakers.

[dcfirefighter]

33. It ain't the employers

it's all the little owners, of all classes, who continually support taxing labor instead of rent.

Change a few tax laws and we can employ 15 million more people (unemployment is supposedly 7 million), make housing affordable, and allow all in the country to benefit from advances in society and technology.

[Alcibiades]

15. American is code

for native-born, though it ought to include all the people of the Americas. Immigration reform is an issue that cuts across racial barriers. One of the most common memes on this topic is the "immigrants lower the wages of the black working class," and many point to the stagnant wages of working class people over the past 30 years and blame immigration, if not the immigrants themselves.

I have also heard black leaders express outrage over the term "immigrant" used as a term of praise, as in "we are a nation of immigrants," because the ancestors of most native-born blacks were not immigrants in the sense that we usually use the term (i.e., they were involuntary immigrants, i.e. slaves).

I'm not sure that mainstream white America is sitting out the debate on immigration entirely. Many have denounced the Minutemen as, at the very least, reckless and, at worst, xenophobic and racist. With issues such as the Bush administration lies, Republican corruption, the Iraq war and the budget deficit/debt, immigration, with all its complexities (i.e. most native-born Americans think having 11 million plus undocumented workers in the US probably does hurt wages, but most are not hypocritical enough to want to shut down immigration altogether, as that's how their own ancestors came here) is a low-salience issue.

[readmoreoften]

18. That's about right.

You might not find the exact phrase "America is code for white", but many academics discuss general paraphrases of that concept. "All-American", "American-as-Apple-Pie", and by extension "American" is coded to mean white people-- and particularly rural, suburban white culture (as opposed to multi-ethnic urban culture).

For example, South Philly and NY Italians are also not very "American" in the imagination of dominant culture (football, apple pie, farms, picnic tables, church, lake fishing, hunting) Jews most certainly are not. Gays are not. Latinos, African-Americans, and Asians: not.

Not ALL white Americans feel this way. Many do though. I think more often, it's just pure laziness-- why get to know those people? They're different than me, we might not get along, might be a waste of time. That's when the dehumanization begins. When issues start to become personalized-- "Oh my god, my friend Hugo is going to be hurt by this policy!" That's when a lot of people start to wake up. Self-imposed ignorance is a terrible thing and very difficult to address in a broad segment of society.

[alarcojon]

19. Agree and disagree

I definitely agree with you that, when the term "American" is used, the mental image conjured up is overwhelmingly that of a white person, probably a straight white man. As an Ecuadorean-American (I was born here, and my parents are naturalized US citizens) I have instinctively known this all my life. One example of this is how minorities are largely viewed as a monolithic group, yet white Americans are generally regarded as individuals. So, for example, every "black leader" under the sun is asked to denounce the latest controversial statement from Minister Farrakhan, but when do you see "white leaders" asked to denounce David Duke's racist idiocies? The term "white leader" in and of itself seems strange - the adjective "white" is so rarely used in this context. In other words, a "white leader" is a leader who happens to be white, while a "(insert minority here) leader" is assumed to speak for their group.

However, there have been prominent white Americans, such as Howard Dean, who have denounced these groups, their tactics and ideologies in no uncertain terms. You state that "white Americans have not stepped foreword to denounce the nativist groups that the Republican Party has been pandering to." I would certainly agree with "not enough white Americans," but as written I think your statement is too strong.

BTW welcome to DU and I hope you stick around. Que viva la Raza!

[unblock]

20. speaking as a white american,

i refuse to let bigots define my vocabulary.

if you hang your hat here, you're an american, regardless of the color of your skin or your hat.

[The Backlash Cometh]

21. I'm puzzled about something.

If an American, white or ethnic, supports controlled immigration what are you expecting them to say or do at this time? There isn't a moderate viewpoint to support. It almost sounds like anything short of, "let the 12 million in, no strings attached," is the only acceptable answer to you.

[APPLE314]

25. Wake up--- there are no white anythings

The average Caucasian is 4% Negro
The Average Negro is 15% Caucasian
The average Mongoloid is 2.5% Negro
The average Mongoloid is 4% Caucasian.

There are no White/Black/Red/Yellow people anywhere on this earth.

We all are of mixed ancestry.

And furthermore - The Black gene is dominant over the white gene and the Mongoloid gene is dominant over the Black gene. If you want to worry about something worry about all your descendants at some point being all yellow.

Flame over...................

[alarcojon]

27. Only one problem with your argument

People don't behave according to those numbers, but according to visible physical features. Few, if any, people will refrain from discriminating against a young black man because they suddenly realize "hey, he's 1/6 white"!

Perhaps you are the one who needs to wake up, if you think your numbers mean anything in the real world.

flame over......

[Ksec]

30. We all do it

White, Black, Brown, whatever.

Lets not pretend we dont focus on and favor our own . If you tell me otherwise Ill call you a liar.

[El Fuego]

31. "White Americans" not stepping up?

I'm an American of European descent (i.e. "white"), and I certainly don't feel there's any need for me to "step up" and denounce anyone as not representing me just because they HAPPEN to have a similar skin tone. That's fucking absurd. There's no presumed solidarity among whites. Apparently you think each white person has to be EVERY WHITE PERSON.

You said, "One group, however, has remained conspicuously silent, 'White Americans.'" If you perceive white Americans as just being a part of a singleminded "group", which you cannot see and distinguish as individuals, you are a RACIST. Which makes your entire post very hypocritical.

[BlooInBloo]

32. True, but you'll never get (white) Americans to agree....

... To them (as an aggregate), to point out such a thing is just to be a whiny black or latino person.

They (as an aggregate) strongly prefer to believe that racism doesn't exist.

"It's not about race, it's about class." - their favorite thing to say in the whole world.

[frankenforpres]

34. i actually believe that

i believe class is vastly more important than race when looking at social issues (there is of course some overlap)



i guess that means im a bigot now?

[Fountain79]

35. Who's defining what is American here?

I'm an American, period. My father is from Mexico, my mother was born here. For the most part, how I view this world is from the perspective of the U.S. Now I have lived in Mexico for about a year and I consider Mexico my second home but this is my country. Being chicano yourself part of your ancestry comes from White Europe. Are there people in this debate that are racist...yes. Does that mean that anyone who criticizes Israel is in liege with the neo-nazis? No...

This seems like a flamethrower thread to me.