I fear for Hispanic people...

[CoffeeCat]

Point #1--Why has Bush kept the border so unprotected? He used 9/11 to justify so many
drastic actions--including illegally wiretapping us. He could have used 9/11 to
shut the borders and stem the tide of illegal immigrants that cross our borders. Why did he allow
immigrants from Mexico to pour in for several years?

Point #2--Why is illegal immigration such a hot topic NOW? Why--after years of failing to police the
border--are Hispanics and Mexicans suddenly demonized?? We kept the gate open for years, and
nothing was said or done. This was barely an issue in either the 00 or 04 campaigns. Now--after millions have poured in--this issue is front-and-center and Hispanics are being villified?

Point #3--Why are ALL of the right-wing talk radio hosts spewing unprecedented, racist and vitriolic hate against Hispanics? I can't believe what I'm hearing. Limbaugh, Hannity, Savage, Beck--and the rest of the gang are completely demonizing Hispanics and speaking of them as if they are objects to be hated. They're positioned as criminals, uneducated, irresponsible, unintelligent and undeserving. What is going on? Why is their a concerted effort to objectify Hispanics and make the country view them as less than human?

Point #4--There are illegal immigrants from all over the world inside this country. Why is our government only speaking about illegal immigrants from Mexico? You don't hear anyone bashing immigrants from Ireland, Russia, or from Asian or African countries. Why are they making this issue only about Hispanics?

I fear for Hispanic people, because I think they are being scapegoatted. It's obvious that they are being singled out for and that their is a very aggressive PR campaign against them.

I think it's important to be aware of this--and to ask why this is happening.

I remember a few week ago, there were pictures posted of "detention camps" that were surrounded by barbed wire. I'm wondering what these camps are for and just exactly what is going on--given points 1-4.

[valerief]

1. Have you read Andy Borowitz today?

http://www.borowitzreport.com/

NEW BUSH PLAN ALLOWS IMMIGRANTS TO WORK AS SCAPEGOATS
Illegal Aliens to Be ‘Guest Scapegoats’ For Duration of 2006 Campaign

[EFerrari]

6. Thanks for the link, valerie. TG for Andy.

:)

[CoffeeCat]

Thanks for the link....

Interesting article.

This issue is a BushCo ploy. As the article said, they are "scapegoats."

At best (and the most benign reason) is that this is a distraction from BushCo failures. At worst, it's the genesis of a propaganda campaign against Hispanics.

I guess it will take several months for the evil to unfold, and until we have the answers.

:(

Thanks again for the link...

[woldnewton]

2. The *REAL* question is...

will upwards of 95% of those of them that are eligible to do so actually start voting, and 100% of those who used to vote Republican now stop doing so?

[EFerrari]

5. No, the real question is how do we help people stay safe.

Jesus.

[RagingInMiami]

17. Judging by the numbers of the people on the streets

And the cowardice of the people who hate them, I don't think there will be a problem.

But if they feel so inclined, then let them bring it on. I welcome it.

[EFerrari]

19. I'm going to ask you to please rethink that.

Because the violence will never be in the form of a fair fight.

It will be against the most vulnerable because the haters are cowards.

Just after 9/11, I organized a group of people in Los Angeles to escort our Muslim neighbors to their vital errands when I became aware that there were folks afraid to leave their homes. No kidding.

I'm hoping that such measures won't be necessary but, this is BushWorld. I don't want to sow hysteria but at the same time, I want to be careful.

[RagingInMiami]

21. I remember after 9/11

I was working as a reporter in Phoenix and this guy shot and killed an Indian Sikh because of his turban. The guy wasn't even Muslim.

[EFerrari]

23. I remember that. I just happened to be online dealing with

a family mental health support group I facilitate, and one of the members emailed me privately. She said she was afraid to leave her house because her husband was Syrian, and they had three small children.

[0007]

24. The Indian was not a "Sheik" Where do you get that crap from?

He was a Seik. And you was a reporter?

[Marie26]

25. Sikh. nt

[RagingInMiami]

26. Yes, I am also human

Are you perfect?

[0007]

29. Argh!

[EFerrari]

27. Let's settle. We're not in court here. lol n/t

[EFerrari]

3. I do, too. I remember the hate crimes -- even murders --

after 9/11.

Doug has a Brazilian ancestry, mine is from Central America. But, we can "pass", we'd never be targeted. But, I'm very worried for people who are obvious targets for the haters.



I'm very very concerned about hate crimes right now. There is nothing the RW won't do. Nothing.

[Jack_DeLeon]

4. Dont fear for me...

No one is going to put me or any of my friends or family in a detention camp without a fight.

I have .45 caliber and 7.62 caliber solutions to infringments on my rights.

[Booster]

7. Look for the Repugs to come out and say this is the biggest

problem facing America today and, since Dems don't have any ideas, Repugs are the only ones who can and will fix this problem. After the Nov elections, suddenly the immigration problem will just go away.

[EFerrari]

9. Yeah. And hopefully, no one will get dead for the duration. n/t

[NNN0LHI]

8. With the powers Bush claims he has he could declare any of us felons

That is what we had better not lose sight of here. If Bush and his thugs get away with doing it to one group of people doing it to the next group of people will become very easy. I do not trust Bush and his cronies to enact ANY new laws. Anyone who does has got to be completely nuts.

Don

[CoffeeCat]

10. I completely agree...

If they can to this to one group of people--they will go after their detractors next.

That's probably their ultimate goal.

[EFerrari]

12. That's right. And while people are freaking out because

of the econimic impact (irrationally for the most part), we need to look at the bigger human rights picture.

It always comes home. Always.

[Lars39]

11. And if you want to get a little more unsettled...

just go back to the neo-cons' blueprints that they seem to be loosely following:
Nazi Germany called their foreign forced labor gastarbeiters, or guest workers.

[Kutjara]

13. The Germans still do...

...gastarbiten is the term still in use for (generally Turkish) 'temporary' workers in Germany. I say temporary because the workers would like to be permanent, but the Germans only tolerate them during economic booms and then victimise and deport them during downturns.

[Kutjara]

15. Remember:

First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left
to speak out for me.

Pastor Martin Niemöller

[EFerrari]

28. Yes. Remember.

:kick:

[EFerrari]

14. They don't even try any more. After the theft of 2004

I thought, if your government is acting as if it's not accountable, it probably isn't.

We have a problem.

/typo

[Bluebear]

16. "Why is illegal immigration such a hot topic NOW?"

The Republican party needs a group of people to demonize every election year. I refuse to even the topic this year. When Bush is convicted for illegally spying on his own people, I will be happy to discuss "illegal" people.

[The Animator]

18. Some wack-nuts want to start shit with me because I'm hispanic?

Bring it.

Little ol' me against the might of the Right Wing machine? Hardly seems fair... maybe they should try and find more people, form a coalition or something. Not enough of them on Earth to bring me down. I'm not going silently into that good night, I'm not going at all.

Not even their god will be able to save them if they actually try anything. They got an army? Ha! I gotta size 6 Louisville Slugger. Batter up.

[GRLMGC]

20. Shit, I'm just waiting for somebody to ask me for my papers

I'm really not much of a pacifist either.

[Marie26]

22. Me too. n/t

[Neil Lisst]

30. I think most Americans don't like illegal immigration, but ...

... but they also don't like the idea of all those hardworking Mexicans all over America being deported or even imprisoned. It's really not a racial thing to most Americans. It is cultural and economic.

[EFerrari]

31. Illegal immigrants don't like illegal immigration.

The economic argument is murky. We all know that big business exploits those workers and that American workers' wages get suppressed.

There is a simple solution to that.


The cultural impact is a much harder challenge, imho. It's also ironic because Mexican culture is the most respectful one I've ever known. Its intrinsic to them to respect the ways of the other and a terrible faux pas to fail in that respect.

The truth is that OUR culture is inflexible and xenophobic. Ouch, but it's true. That's why you find accommodations all over the world that were built for Americans. We don't adapt very well. Those damn Puritans are still messing with us, all these years later.

[Lexingtonian]

32. This too shall pass....

The roots of this are essentially the white vs American Indian problem. There are sort of incidental problems, economic and bad laws and corrupt enforcement of bad laws and Mexican flags and other silliness.

The game is anti-Indian racism, on the one hand. (If you don't know how bad and deep and vicious that is, you've never really been in the rural West.)

The other aspect is that Latinos are such a quickly growing demographic while white population growth is close to zero. Hispanic-American outmarriage is about 30%, which means that Latinos will continue to grow as a distinct group for another generation or two while drawing white people into mixed race families at a rate high enough to start shrinking white numbers perceptibly soon.

Demographic destiny is that between 2050 and 2060 half of all Americans will be non-white, i.e. not descended only from European migrants.

A couple of things follow from this. One is that the U.S. will join the cultural continuum of the Americas, as will Canada in due course, in a kind of cultural reversal of the Settlement. The descendents of the conquered are blending with the descendents of the conquerors, and the culture of the conquerors is fading out substantially in the process. The elite and the center of U.S. society will soon stop thinking of itself as a kind of European society on a different continent, as they still do. (There's still a big fight about that out there, 20 years off.) By 2100 the society will be a complete racial continuum/admixture and "white" will start to vanish as an American demographic.

Republicans are acting now because they see a lot of loss of power in the November elections. A large chunk of them still imagine, fervently, that destiny as faux European society can be maintained by extreme and harsh actions. This is their last chance, in a sense. Well, some still think they're acting early enough.

The truth, which the smarter ones figured out a long time ago, is that it's over. The racists have come too late. Extreme action- expulsions- in 1975 or 1980 might have achieved what they wanted.

And that is why they scream.

[EFerrari]

33. Yes. That is why they scream. n/t

[Neil Lisst]

34. I find most Americans like the illegal immigrants they deal with

It's in the abstract they tend to dislike it.

Don't we all interact with people we feel might be illegal immigrants, and we find them as charming and delightful as any American?

We're good hearted people one on one. It's the communal actions where we sometimes act a fool.