Our Anti-Immigrant Racism Is Rooted in History
Published on Friday, February 27, 2015
by TruthDig
Our Anti-Immigrant Racism Is Rooted in History
by Sonali Kolhatkar
When actor Sean Penn asked, “Who gave this son of a bitch a green card?” in reference to Mexican director Alejandro González Iñárritu’s winning the best-picture trophy at the 2015 Academy Awards, many came to Penn’s defense, saying it was just a joke between friends. But others didn’t take kindly to the actor’s tongue-in-cheek treatment of a serious issue that has affected millions of families. Iñárritu himself brushed off the criticism, saying he thought Penn’s joke was “hilarious.” But as author Daniel José Older tweeted, “Iñárritu’s reaction is irrelevant. I’m happy he’s not offended. Doesn’t change that the rest of us have to deal with racist bs.”
Indeed, the recent news that a federal judge in Brownsville, Texas, has placed a hold on President Obama’s executive action on immigration underscores the precariousness of immigrant life. Just hours before applications were scheduled to be accepted, Judge Andrew Hanen blocked a program announced by Obama last year, called Deferred Action for Parents of Americans (DAPA), that would have offered millions of undocumented people the chance to have temporary relief from deportation.
Twenty-five states are ready to sue the administration over the executive action, and according to one immigrant advocacy group, the suit was filed in Brownsville because, “The Judge has a history of opining well beyond the scope of his jurisdiction, and an anti-immigration bent.” The suit was likely written by notorious anti-immigrant activist and Kansas’ Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who warned hysterically that DAPA would mean “all of these illegal aliens will be eligible to feed at the trough filled by hard-working American people.”
Meanwhile, Republicans are desperately throwing up legislative roadblocks to DAPA by holding hostage funding for the Department of Homeland Security.
The political and cultural marginalization of undocumented immigrants, particularly those from Latin America, has a long and lurid background in the United States. A recent Op-Ed in the New York Times highlighted the little-known history of lynchings of Mexicans. According to the authors, William Carrigan and Clive Webb, thousands of Mexicans were reportedly lynched in the late 1800s to early 1900s, in numbers second only to those of African-Americans.
More:
http://www.commondreams.org/views/2015/02/27/our-anti-immigrant-racism-rooted-history
