By Pachuco
Evolution has had little affect on the xenophobic mind in that past 100 years. Indeed, knowledge and understanding have also fallen short of reaching the advent xenophobic trend.
In 1905, the Clansmen: A Historical Romance of the Ku Klux Klan, the second anti-black bigoted novel in a trilogy written by Rev. Thomas Dixon Jr. a North Carolina Baptist minister, was published. Dixon felt that the Northern liberals and emancipated slaves were destroying the South and its Christian way of life. Dixon depicted African-Americans as savage beasts, and threats to white women and American civilization.
Dixons Klan Trilogy was a best seller in 1905, as was the first racist novel in the trilogy the Leopard’s Spots: A Romance of the White Man's Burden, which he wrote in reactionary response to Uncle Tom’s Cabin and in an interview in 1903, Dixon himself said:
“I claim the book is an authentic human document and I know it is the most important moral deed of my life. It may shock the prejudice of those who have idealized or worshipped the Negro as canonized in "Uncle Tom." Is it not time they heard the whole truth? They have heard only one side for forty years.”
The Leopard’s Spots is a hateful novel, but along with the other books in the Klan Trilogy it was very popular with American readers, north and south. So popular, that D. W. Griffith's used Dixon’s novels and plays to make the movie, Birth of a Nation in 1915.
Birth of a Nation was first releases as the Clansmen in California, but three months later it was renamed to Birth of a Nation when it premiered in New York. In fact, William Joseph Simmons, a Methodist minister, was inspired by the Birth of a Nation to reestablish the Klan. In the decade that followed the initial release of the film, the Klan experienced a revival and an overwhelming membership of over 100,000 devotees. Simmons’ founding members included two aged men who had been members of the original Klan and the Knights of Mary Phagan, the media inspired lynch mod that murdered Leo Frank because he was a Jew and accused of killing Phagan. The Knights of Mary Phagan burned the first cross that is now a Klan trademark at Stone Mountain, Georgia. The cross burring was not a ritual used by the original Klan; it was inspired by the film, Birth of a Nation, and traces back to a Scottish signaling practice. A burning cross is also referenced in the novel Lady of the Lake by Sir Walter Scott.
Unbelievably, today, Birth of a Nation is still a recruitment tool used for Klan membership. Despite the fact that all of the depictions in the film are false and have only one intention – to create hostilities towards a defenseless minority by provoking fear of an imaginary and impending destruction of American society at the hands of “Savages” and “Criminals”. To make matters worse for African-Americans, politicians endorsed the film – Woodrow Wilson proclaimed it not only historically accurate, but like "history writ with lightning.”
Sound familiar?
It should. It is the same tactic of the Antis. The term Antis is loosely applied to describe those people that are Anti-(legal/illegal) immigration, anti-diversity, anti-multilingualism, anti-gay, anti-choice, anti-minorities, anti-peace, etc. Like the Klan’s use of fear tactics, the Antis use the same lies to provoke the same fear that has inspired the forming of groups like the Minutemen and Save our State.
One read of the material found at several Antis sites and immediately a person who has experienced diversity will quickly see through the lies the Antis spread about minorities, specifically ethnic Mexicans.
I must explain that there are two categories of Mexicans, one is the Mexican citizen and the other is the ethnic Mexican. A Mexican citizen can be of any race, and practice any culture i.e. Sephardic Jews, Muslims and Indigenous. Ethnic Mexicans share a common cultural background, can also be of any race, and can live anywhere in the world. One can not easily distinguish an ethnic Mexican from a Mexican citizen; and the Antis don’t really want people to know that there is a difference. They want to provoke hatred towards all persons perceived to be Mexican. They mask their message of hate with words like “Illegals”, “Criminals”, and if any person with a Spanish surname commits a crime the Antis quickly use the incident as evidence of the “Savage” and “Criminal” nature of Illegals, which, by the way, is the new code word for Mexican.
Infamous quotes:
"Illegals…are coming here to kill you and to kill me and our families." – Tom Tancredo, US Congressman
"The diversity crowd seduces the naive by teaching that the invaders are noble, harmless people, just here to work, when in fact they are here to commit auto theft, burglary, rape, robbery and murder." – Robert Vasquez, County Commissioner
"Illegal immigrants will destroy this country. Every time a Mexican flag is planted on American soil, it is a declaration of war." – Jim Gilchrist, Minuteman Project
"We are suffering robbery, rape and murder of law-abiding citizens at the hands of illegal barbarians who are cutting off heads and appendages of blind, white, disabled gringos." – Barbara Coe, California Coalition for Immigration Reform
"These people start coming into our communities, they live among us, they steal our children's educations and our children's jobs and our jobs. Deport them. Each and every one of them." — Lupe Moreno, Latino Americans for Immigration Reform
“I can’t stand hyphenated Americans." – Joseph Turner, SOS
Of the names listed above, Robert Vasquez and Lupe Moreno have parents and grandparents that were undocumented immigrants. Their hate for Mexicans is rooted in self loathing from their failure to adjust to oppression. Some Mexicans living in a dominant white environment have lied about their ancestry to be accepted into white society. Some have claimed to be Spanish, Italian or anything but Mexican. Those that could not fabricate a persona that white society would accept, blame their ancestors and hence we have people like Vasquez and Moreno. Fortunately, the majority of Mexicans embrace their ethnicity and don’t have to suffer like Vasquez and Moreno. What these misguided souls have failed to understand is that white society is not by itself American, but only one of the diverse ethnic groups that make up the whole of Americanism.
Patriotism is another ploy used to misdirect the masses. Just like the Klan, the Antis say that they are fighting to preserve the American culture and hide the fact that Americana is the combination of contributions from many cultures, i.e. the Cowboy is Mexican in essence and substance; Blues, Jazz and Rock and Roll are African-American and our economic system is European. The list is extensive and includes the contributions of Asians, Native Americans and many other ethnicities.
All public school history books omit the fact that Nuevo España, AKA Mexico, funded up to 80% of the American Revolution and sent many Indigenous, Mestizo and Iberian troops to aid the Continental Army in defeating the British. The books don’t tell you that Latinos planned many of the victorious battles fought against the British.
The end result today is that Latinos, specifically Mexicans, are not viewed in the correct historical perspective, but viewed as enemy invaders because the population in general favors the fictional anecdotes of impending doom theories of the Antis.
The Antis will tell you that a person’s position on immigration says a lot about their patriotism, and if you favor a logical and equitable solution to immigration reform you will be called a traitor by the Antis: “Patriots are for law and order, and the rights of citizens over the desires of a horde of law-breakers. Traitors are willing to see our country overrun by outsiders who want what we have, but don’t want to be part of us.”
The Antis will claim that undocumented workers take jobs away from Americans, yet agribusiness and the construction industry have reported labor shortages. Agribusiness is paying as much as $14/hr for harvest help in order to compete with the construction industry for laborers. I posted an 800 phone number at many Antis websites, blogs and forums soliciting employees for jobs in both agribusiness and construction, but not one Anti has applied for a job.
Reality teaches us that the real issue concerning immigration reform is not patriotism, but economics. As I have stated, there are labor shortages across the country even with the available labor pool of undocs. We are a capitalist nation that operates in conjunction with other capitalist nations to share commerce, and other economical resources.
The US has an excess supply of jobs and the undocs have a supply of laborers – the simple practice of supply and demand is what keeps the economy stable and profitable.
Economic trade allows the free flow of services, products and other resources across our borders. Labor is an economic resource that the US needs. We have shortages, and will have more shortages in the very near future. Immigration is how labor shortages are usually met; another resource is outsourcing jobs by exporting them to other countries. Both are used, but because of the high demand for labor and the antiquated immigration system, US industries utilize the undocumented worker.
Is anyone viewing immigration in its proper perspective? Yes. Corporate America and its foreign allies in commerce are all watching the immigration debate. They are not worried though, because they will continue their lobbying and backroom deals to ensure that they get the labor supply they need. On the surface, there may be elaborate legislature passed, walls built and a militarized border, but in the fields, factories and construction sites, the undocumented will remain a prevalent commodity. Undocumented workers have been a part of the US economic equation for almost a century and it is not likely to change any time soon.
Strip away the rhetoric about Patriotism, Impending Doom and Demise of Americana and you have the bottom line – help wanted, the primary reason that the undocumented, at great personal risk and peril, come to the US. They are my heroes; they make great sacrifices to ensure that I have food on my table, a roof over my head and clothes to wear. Then, as an added bonus, they mow my lawn, care for my kids and wash my car. Amnesty has certainly been earned by many of the undocumented workers in our country.
Vote for Amnesty, vote for human rights, vote for a diverse America.