| May 5, 2006 Red Alert by Soren Wuerth Sí
Se Puede
Xenophobia is a tough word. Even when it’s repeated and defined four or five times (like an AIM activist did for a radio interview last week) most Americans will struggle with it. Xenophobia has too many syllables and the difficult ‘X’. It’s almost as tough a jumble of words as ethnocentrism. When confronted with the issue of immigration, it’s much easier for Americans to understand “border protection” groups (as I heard NPR call them) than racist, xenophobic, ethnocentric groups, the more accurate description. Hard words, but they nail it. By now it’s redundant to point out that our fellow nationals don’t like to work too hard to find the right words. They’ll take the paved path rather than the one less traveled; will play the internet game, now circulating, that allows you to shoot at Mexicans as they cross the Texas border, blood spraying, rather than sweat, backs to the sun, with the digging and planting of organic ideas. “What do you think about the march? It’s all over the news,” a teacher asked me. “What I can’t understand is why we are paying for them to live here”, he went on, “they don’t have to pay any taxes, because they’re getting paid under the table. So my taxes go to give them medical care and police protection”. “And the Spanish version of the Star Spangle Banner. I can’t agree with that. It should be in English,” he said, faithfully echoing G.W. Compared with the viciously hateful mentality of the anti-immigration xenophobes, the “guest worker” and other neocon programs look like a reasonable alternative. Yes, it would enslave them to private employers by giving bosses control over immigrants’ legal status and would turn undocumented workers into felons, but, hey, it’s better than shooting them ... but not by much. The idea rooted in the legislation, ethnocentrism, is just as pernicious. In response to the reminder that she is a guest on Native land, one teacher out here defensively replied, “What do you mean? This is America!” (Should Native tribes threaten to apply Bush’s “guest worker” doctrine to their lands, Dubya’s proposal might quietly fade away.) White, Protestant, ethnocentric rhetoric and policy that reacts to xenophobic and racist hatred has always had the effect of marginalizing groups. I pushed in a timely Southern Poverty Law Center video this week charting the history of intolerance in America. My Cup’ik Eskimo students quickly saw the parallels between their own condition and that of early Irish Catholics immigrants, African Americans, Chinese laborers, Japanese interned during WWII and, of course, American Indians. The attitude of not only Western superiority, but also of white supremacy, presents a pattern my Native students can easily trace from their village to the immigration rights debate and its responsive nonviolent direct action. Too bad our teachers can’t make the same connections. Maybe they should strengthen their vocabulary. Soren Wuerth is perhaps Alaska's best known community activist, and is the winner of the Alaska Press Club's 2006 'Best Columnist' award. He resides in an undisclosed location in rural Alaska and can be reached at soren@insurgent49.com. |
-
Columnists -
- column archive -
April 28, 2006 April 21, 2006 April 14, 2006 April 7, 2006 March 31, 2006 March 24, 2006 March 17, 2006 March 3, 2006 February 24, 2006 February 17, 2006 February 10, 2006 February 3, 2006 January 27, 2006 January 20, 2006 January 13, 2006 January 6, 2006 December 30, 2005 December 23, 2005 December 16, 2005 December 10, 2005 December 2, 2005 November 25, 2005 November 18, 2005 November 11, 2005 November 4, 2005 October 28, 2005 October 21, 2005 October 14, 2005 October 7, 2005 September 30, 2005 September 23, 2005 September 16, 2005 September 9, 2005 September 2, 2005 August 26, 2005 August 19, 2005 August 12, 2005 August 5, 2005 July 29, 2005 July 22, 2005 July 15, 2005 July 8, 2005 July 1, 2005 June 24, 2005 June 17, 2005 June 10, 2005 June 3, 2005 May 27, 2005 May 20, 2005 May 13, 2005 May 6, 2005 April 29, 2005 April 21, 2005 |
||||||
| Copyright
2005
Insurgent Media. All Rights
Reserved. in-sur-gent (in sur'jent), n. 1. a member of a group which revolts against the policies of its leadership. |
|||||||
