Michele Bachmann has been on an immigration kick after hearing about the tragic bus accident in Cottonwood, Minnesota. Appearing in the "No Spin (ok, maybe some spin!) Zone", Michele Bachmann proceeded to use this tragedy to extend the public dislike of illegal immigration out to all immigrants or persons who may have the "appearance" of being an immigrant.
Yesterday, the Southern Poverty Law Center released data indicating that in the past seven years the number of hate groups in the United States has risen an astounding 48% (Seven of these groups exist in Minnesota). Much of this new hate activity is directed at Latino's appearing to be immigrants.
The latest annual count by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) found that the number of hate groups operating in America rose to 888 last year, up 5% from 844 groups in 2006. That capped an increase of 48% since 2000 — a hike from 602 groups attributable to the exploitation by hate groups of the continuing debate about immigration. And it comes on top of some 300 other anti-immigration groups, about half listed by SPLC as "nativist extremist," formed in the last three years.
I posit that the rhetoric of those people like Michele Bachmann serves to legitimize the activities of hate groups across the United States. When some folks hear Bill O'Reilly, Michele Bachmann, and Marty Seifert discuss the issues of illegal immigration without ever recognizing the many gray areas of the debate, extremists take that as tantamount to support of their ideology.
Is Michele Bachmann a racist? I don't know as I have never spoken with the woman personally, but we should give her the benefit of the doubt and assume she is not. However, she is enabling this behavior due to her black/white imagery of the issue. This is precisely what comes of not understanding the intricacies and complexities of immigration and illegal immigration.
Whether we like to admit it or not, illegal immigration IS a complex issue as it becomes very difficult to distinguish between the legal and illegal immigrant. The legal immigrant and even more specifically the Latino citizen gets all rolled into one assumptive basket of being somehow illegal due to their appearance. As this issue is demagogued by various characters on BOTH the right and the left, Latino citizens and legal immigrants get caught in the middle of an ever suspicious eye.
Perceptions of crime begin to get blamed on these groups as is exampled by the Cottonwood incident even if there are countless other incidents on a daily basis involving citizens. It certainly doesn't help when Bachmann and O'Reilly hold this incident up as if it were more commonplace than it actually is. Tragic as it is, it should not be used as a club against anyone of questionable legality.
We can and should solve the immigration problems in this country without fueling the hate of groups on the periphery of societal opinion. We can do that by FIRST solving the issues of a porous border but then must deal with the more complex issue of how to deal with our population of people (yes, they are people like you and I) in the country.
Perhaps if she denounced these types of activities as vehemently as she does illegal immigration, the perception of her aiding and abetting hate would be moot.
Is Michele Bachmann a racist? I don't know as I have never spoken with the woman personally, but we should give her the benefit of the doubt and assume she is not. However, she is enabling this behavior due to her black/white imagery of the issue. This is precisely what comes of not understanding the intricacies and complexities of immigration and illegal immigration.
Whether we like to admit it or not, illegal immigration IS a complex issue as it becomes very difficult to distinguish between the legal and illegal immigrant. The legal immigrant and even more specifically the Latino citizen gets all rolled into one assumptive basket of being somehow illegal due to their appearance. As this issue is demagogued by various characters on BOTH the right and the left, Latino citizens and legal immigrants get caught in the middle of an ever suspicious eye.
Perceptions of crime begin to get blamed on these groups as is exampled by the Cottonwood incident even if there are countless other incidents on a daily basis involving citizens. It certainly doesn't help when Bachmann and O'Reilly hold this incident up as if it were more commonplace than it actually is. Tragic as it is, it should not be used as a club against anyone of questionable legality.
We can and should solve the immigration problems in this country without fueling the hate of groups on the periphery of societal opinion. We can do that by FIRST solving the issues of a porous border but then must deal with the more complex issue of how to deal with our population of people (yes, they are people like you and I) in the country.
Perhaps if she denounced these types of activities as vehemently as she does illegal immigration, the perception of her aiding and abetting hate would be moot.
AUG. 8, 2007
Garden Grove, Calif.
Felipe Alvarado, an immigrant working as a janitor at a fast-food restaurant, is taunted with racist threats and then attacked by three men, one of whom is carrying a loaded gun. James Joseph Kelly, Justin Louis Mullins and Cheyne Danica Wilson are arrested and charged with felony assault with hate crime enhancements for allegedly beating Alvarado after yelling, among other things, "Go back to Mexico, you wetback!" Wilson is also charged with illegally possessing a handgun.
AUG. 12, 2007
West, Texas
A Latino man is struck in the face several times after getting into a hostile exchange of words outside a convenience store with a group of white men and women who later tell police that they are affiliated with Aryan Nations, a neo-Nazi hate group. The victim, who has not been identified publicly, fled but is attacked a second time later the same night by several assailants who beat, stomp and cut him. The alleged leader of the attacks, Stephen Ray Chapman, is arrested and charged with engaging in organized criminal activity and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. The police continue to search for five other suspects.
AUG. 23, 2007
Montgomery County, Md.
Victor Hernandez, a Honduran immigrant dishwasher, is walking home from work when he is kicked into unconsciousness by teenagers who rob him of $160. The two teens arrested tell police they were "amigo shopping" — seeking vulnerable Hispanic workers to rob. The Washington Post reports "alarmingly common" anti-immigrant crimes in the area of Washington, D.C., and its suburbs. Police from Montgomery County, Md., and neighboring counties tell the newspaper that the majority of local robbery victims since 2006 have been Latino.
SEPT. 30, 2007
Avon Park, Fla.
José Gonzales returns home to find his car and garage destroyed by a fire set by an arsonist who also spray-painted "Fuck Puerto Rico" on the garage walls. Gonzales, a U.S. citizen and a mechanic, loses all of his tools in the fire. No arrests are made in the town, which is famous for its passage of harsh anti-immigrant laws.
OCT. 8, 2007
Omaha, Neb.
Eduardo Garcia wakes up to find his truck and his wife's car set ablaze. Two other cars are also vandalized and have the words "white power" and a swastika spray-painted on them. No one is immediately arrested.
