They would staunchly deny it if asked directly, but the pure racism being spread by many conservative commentators has reached a point of flat out racism directed at Hispanic people. They don't use that word, because they have termed the narrative for their racism as "protecting our borders," or "halting illegal immigration," and "saving American jobs." But in the context of the DREAM act, which opens paths to citizenship for undocumented minors, the conservatives have openly displayed their real agenda, and against children at that:
Many in the conservative media are trying to block the DREAM Act by driving a wedge between Hispanics and white Americans. That, at least, is how Glenn Beck is doing it. "If you are white, or you're an American citizen, or a white American citizen, you are pretty much toast," Beck observed, as he joked with a caller who sarcastically suggested he would need to pretend to be an "illegal alien" in order to qualify for in-state tuition for his MBA program. Rush Limbaugh theorized that the legislation was Sen. Harry Reid's (D-NV) way of "thanking Hispanics for stealing the election for him."
Elsewhere in the right-wing press, pundits are asking whether a bill aimed at assisting Hispanics will be a "nightmare for hard-working Americans," calling the bill "shamnesty," and raising the specter of criminality, calling it "reckless illegal alien amnesty" and that "incentivizes illegality." Fox News contributor Mike Gallagher even compared the beneficiaries of the bill to bank robbers. (compiled by Media Matters)
See, I'm confused. For years the mantra from the right has been that undocumented workers absorb state services illegally because they are not citizens, and do not contribute meaningfully to the economy because they avoid income tax. Both premises have some truth to them, certainly. But when legislation is introduced to fast track or ease the path to citizenship, we get the above kind of rhetoric. They reveal themselves. They don't care about "legal" or "illegal" citizenship status, they simply don't like Hispanics. Period. There's no other way to spin this.
And this racism clouds a very obvious campaign strategy that is being totally ignored. Pundits like Limbaugh have accused President Obama of being elected mostly by minorities and illegal aliens. Well if that's the case, Mr. Obama has totally failed to live up to the promises of eased citizenship regulations and normalized relations with Mexico. For crying out loud, President Bush the second made more of an effort in his first term to accomplish these things. So what the conservatives are missing is this: they may be kicking a potentially very large voting block in the butt. Mexicans are acutely aware of the president's lack of action, and will be skeptical of further promises from democrats, which, rest assured, will be forthcoming and likely also to fall flat.
The conservatives need to capture this base. C'mon already. It's 2010. The days of most Americans regarding race as proof of bad behavior are over. Mexicans and other Hispanics are coming to this country to work, especially at jobs that most Americans, frankly, consider beneath them. Chili peppers rot on their plants in Texas, because no one wants the job of picking them. If the republicans extend a welcoming hand to Hispanics and get behind well written citizenship programs that uphold the law without punishing the applicants beforehand, they will gain esteem and trust from this community, justifiably. Moreover, they will steal this block from the dems, who have proven themselves to not only be long on talk and short on action over the issue, but also feel that they have the Hispanic voting block in their pocket, with no need to even worry about it. The fact that liberals take the black and Hispanic vote for granted creates a huge opportunity for republicans to steal them. The democrats will never see it coming.
But if they continue on in this way, the will lose the opportunity and continue to look like the caricature they so staunchly deny: a bunch of fat, old, racist white men.
Mike Grefski
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