Posted on 05/04/2006 1:57:19 PM PDT by subaru
The words still sting, just hearing them secondhand:
"You wetback, tortilla-and-salsa-eatin', low-rider-drivin', mariachi-playin', job-stealin', fast-speakin', greasy (I just can't say it). Are you all named Jesus or what? Do you always have to cram 40 into a car and 70 into an apartment? Learn to speak English."
The language makes me ill. It makes me think of white robes and fire and senseless hatred. Of times past. Times I thought shamed us into a little humility.
The quote, to be fair, did not come from a redneck hillbilly bent on driving Hispanics back whence they came. It didn't even come from a would-be state legislator prostituting his soul for votes.
It might as well have. It came from a Hispanic kid at Hayes High School, a girl named Juanita who wrote it a while back and gave it to Nancy Rhodes. It was part of an exercise dealing with the damage caused by ethnic jokes and stereotypes. The words, the horrid words, spelled out the insults Juanita would expect from those who dislike her skin tone, her heritage, her accent enough to hate her before they even get to know her.
Language may be a barrier. But the message, our unpleasant message, comes out clear.
For a few years now the rhetoric surrounding Hispanic immigration has been subtle and muted. Arguments about fair taxation and jobs and wages have flared with some bitterness, but by and large this community has tolerated its new neighbors. At least enough to let them pick our crops and build our homes.
But that is changing. Quickly. It's as if we've reached the tipping point where fear topples tolerance. The rhetoric is intensifying, the letters and e-mails and conversations are more fierce and less deliberate. Enough, Alabama seems to have said, is enough.
Monday's Hispanic boycott of jobs and businesses didn't really help. It stirred resentment as well as debate, and now some Alabamians talk of boycotting Cinco de Mayo.
No margaritas tomorrow. That'll show'em.
Just like passing laws to stop Spanish recordings of the national anthem. I still don't understand that red herring. (Or is it brown?) What is preferable, singing but not understanding a powerful English song, or getting the point - the point of America, really - in whatever language makes sense?
Freedom, in any tongue, rings sweet.
Now don't get me wrong. The issues of immigration are complex and overwhelming. Problems exist and our laws need work. I can't solve those. You wouldn't want me to.
I'm talking instead of the rancor that translates better than any song. A half-century after another pretty important boycott, we're doing it again, turning to catchphrases to justify our fear of people different from ourselves. "Illegals" is now the epithet of choice. Just use it in place of the n-word.
Take your positions, people, but keep your manners. If this keeps up we'll all take a sad step back. And Juanita? Well, Juanita just might be right.
correction:
Mencina = Mencia
She wrote it in what language? Just curious.
Trying to make this a discussion about "immigrants" is the red herring. The people in question are aliens. They are here illegally. Illegal is accurate, appropriate, and in some cases, way too kind.
Tio means uncle in Spanish, so a Tio Taco is the literal equivalent to Uncle Tom. It's the slur invented by chicano activists to libel anybody of Mexican ancestry who didn't agree with their extremist program.
In discussing illegal aliens, his term makes no sense. Just a word meant to intimidate and silence.
I love it. All of the illegal apologists, apologize.
Steel.
Actually, it's what the reporter says she wrote down.
And that's presuming the reporter didn't invent Juanita, in the first place.
Frankly, I smell a column created out of wishful bong smoke...
Because being a victim is encouraged. I mean, if you aren't a victim, life is pretty dull.....
susie
Since you pretended like I insulted you, can't you also pretend that I apologized?
You got that right. I wouldn't let an idiot like you (the author) balance a bank book, much less address an issue like illegal immigration, which DOES have a simple solution.
nope..."gringo" doesn't sting. Your words got to STING ! damn it!
ping
Yes, my friend, we are expected to writhe in self-loathing guilt because of a string of racist epithets this gal "would expect" to hear.
Pretty strange, no?
A redundancy.
Wrong! "Illegal" describes their status of citizenship in this country. Claiming that it is the same as saying the n-word is just pandering!
"torture=being mean to prisoners"
Perfect example. Did you know that as far as Amnesty International is concerned, having a hood put over your head or being shackled is "torture"? Even having a dog in the vicinity of an interrogation is now "torture". Just has to be there. Go read one of their reports sometime.
I'm sure there are men who checked into the Hanoi Hilton who wish that all the NVA did to them was to put a hood over their head, or have dogs bark at them.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.