Fear of a Brown Planet: Rush Limbaugh Resurrects the Brown Immigrant Boogie-man
Submitted by Southern Shift on Tue, 2010-03-23 05:44
Authored by Davey D
Now that Healthcare Reform has passed the next fault-line in the political landscape is Immigration... Not immigration which has suddenly allowed thousands of people to some how come over from Russia and populate places like Brighton Beach, Brooklyn... Not immigration from places like former Yugoslavia. We're talking about immigration from Mexico and other places throughout Latin America resulting in people all being placed under the umbrella of Mexican and along with that every conceivable negative stereotype.
There's already a lot of overt racism that shows up in the form of check points hundreds of miles away from any border. It shows up in the form of 287 G, a federally funded program that basically deputizes local law enforcement and makes them become ICE agents. The end result is many who live within immigrant communities are not willing to take any chances and thus don't call the police under any circumstances. This of course results in those communities being over run by unsavory elements who prey upon that fear of the police.
This gets compounded by laws set up in places like Arizona where someone transporting or helping someone who is undocumented can lead to jail time. This of course has resulted in an across the board fear and apprehension of dealing with anyone who is Brown.
Racism toward immigrants shows up in various TV Reality shows like Gang Land, Border Wars and a host of others that fuel fears by painting a frightening picture of Brown communities being filled with hardcore gang bangers set to over run the country.
Racism shows up in the continuation of us building immigrant detention centers which were not only responses to those 'gang members' sensationalized on TV, but also to entire families. Many have found out the hard way that they can be temporarly held if they are suspected of being here 'illegally' or even have parts of their paper work filed wrong.
For example, it was just three weeks ago that Rodstarz and his brother G1 of the group Rebel Diaz were detained at customs in Houston as they returned home from Chile. There was something wrong with Rod's paper work in terms of how the computer listed him. They had him down as a felon, which he isn't, and he wound up staying in customs for 10 hours. The next step was gonna be a trip and extended stay at a nearby detention camp while INS had up to two weeks to investigate. When everything was finally straightened out, Rod was told he needs to carry around papers stating his court appearances from 4 years ago were resolved. We have scores of stories like this where Brown citizens in this country are subjected to daily humiliations.
The latest tirade against Brown folks comes from Rush Limbaugh, the man who said he would leave the country for the Brown land of Costa Rica should Healthcare reform pass. He hasn't left yet and instead has decided to dig his heels into Brown folks citing that we should all fear Amnesty being granted to people who have crossed the border.
My homegirl professor Tina Wright has been speaking on the push by right wing zealots to push this country into racial conflict. She hipped me to the Rush tirade... Here's whats she had to say:
Tina Bell Wright - Here is part of the transcript from Limbaugh's latest hate speech today (see my previous post re: call for Obama assasination)...and hearing it in audio is even more inciteful...he and Beck are purposely fueling white fear..."From Bacon to Obama" will be the title of my next essay...i have been saying for the longest time that folks are not really digging deep enough into the real war that is erupting...the fire THIS time. Yes, fascist corporatists run our country, but be clear on this...PE said it best: it takes a nation of millions to hold us back (not ...just the 1% elite) and that war started before this country ever had its first president with Bacon's rebellion, but it just might end with the Obama presidency....white supremacy fighting to keep power by any means necessary for fear of the "browning of America" is the latest blacklash ...a direct result of Obama's election. We either learn lessons of history....or we continue to repeat them.
I agree with Tina's assessment, however, where I see fault lines brewing is along the the issue of class with Black and Brown conflict along those lines being an explosive ingredient... Meaning I hear some absolutly ignorant stuff being spewed and then translated into action by some well to do folks both Black and Brown about 'Immigrants'... I see such things increasing and people like Rush granting platforms to those who say and do things that further a divide.
What's most interesting in Rush Limbaugh's tirade is his use of the words 'divide and conquer' to describe what President Obama wants to do around the issue of immigration. He's accussing Obama of using this issue of being one that seperates 'good brown people from the rest of America... Something to ponder.
-Davey D-
Rush Limbaugh: Obama's Next Big Push-Amnesty http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_032210/content/01125108.guest.html
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