racism, elitism, nativism, bigotry...all alive and well in the good old u.s. of a...

was reading through some responses to the walk-out today...and became horrified at the ignorant bigotry of my fellow americans directed at illegal immigrants, namely mexicans. funny enough, the worst of it came from people with obvious german surnames. germans, the group that was once responsible, along with the irish, for the inevitable decline of american society thanks to their refusal to assimilate and their love of beer. centuries ago it was the same old arguments, the germans were coming over here and refusing to become american, only seeking a germany to take a foothold on this continent...hmm, but it never happened. instead the midwest became decidedly german, and yet decidely american...overtime it turned into the heartland. imagine that. but of course now we immediately condemn mexicans that cross the border and do our dirty work because they dont immediately learn english and assimilate into "our" culture.

this raises another issue...since when do we have an "our" culture...since when has this been a melting pot? it has always been more of a tossed salad, or maybe a not quite finished stir fry. that is part of the beauty of this country, people can come here and hold onto their heritage while getting the benefits of being a part of this country and sharing their heritage with the rest of us.

and of course ignorant nativists are upset at politicians pandering to votes by suggesting logical immigration reform that does not include capital punishment for all those seeking a better life without waiting the 20 years it takes to get naturalized. but they seem to gloss over an enormous hole in their logic...who are the politicians pandering to when the illegal immigrants can't vote? me, i like to think that perhaps politicians are doing the right thing despite the public's "moral outrage" at helping other human beings...but i could be wrong.

i suppose the worst part of all the backlash is all i hear/read directed at the children of illegal immigrants. people calling for an end to education or health care for children here because their parents brought them here. as if a young child concsiously decided to wander across the desert and risk his/her life and the life of their parents so that their parents could live in the shadows of society and miss out on the rights guaranteed by the 14th amendment. (i remind you...it does not state that all citizens are guaranteed equal protection, but rather all "people"...something we tend to forget when we are howling about the foreign invaders throughout history - to be read irish, german, italian, chinese, eastern european, russian, japanese, etc., etc.)

suddenly the children of immigrants that got "legal" status simply by showing up in the country, children of immigrants that were once blamed for the moral decline of america and pinned as lesser people are turning that same treatment on other groups. and maybe that is what america is all about, learned elitism, racism, bigotry, and a false nativism that conveniently leaves out the only people that were truly native. somehow because your grandparents set foot here before the nativists scares of the past that put disgusting quotas on immigration which were blatantly racist it must give you the right to withhold the american dream from millions of others. this is a pattern unfortunately repeated throughout american history, and yet we cannot ever seem to learn. but then the easiest way to make someone feel like an american, and to feel like they belong, is to exclude someone else.

so maybe i am wrong in thinking that a mass populist movement organized by people tired of living as subhumans is american, maybe the american way is really to lift yourself and your worth by excluding others, which always happen to either be foreigners or dark skinned.

i weep for my country...and for humanity...so much for the city on a hill.

i guess we all fit into your slogan on the fast food marquee, red-blooded, white-skinned and the blues.