Tancredo is an ass. He believes that immigrants should give up their culture, language and identity if they want to come live here and that they should forget their native language and speak English. Tom Tancredo, tu es un grand imbécile. Anyway, what makes this stupid and ironic, is that the first generation of his ancestors probably didn't do so. He isn't Native American, so I really don't know what his problem is. We are a nation of immigrants. Some of mine came here before there were laws concerning immigration, in 1638. The first generation of immigrants often don't learn the language, and they usually don't fully assimilate. It is possible, but not likely, unless they have means. The poor are typically disadvantaged in this area. They usually don't have the resources to spend on classes to learn English, nor do they have the time when they work to support themselves. The poor probably don't even have an education in their own language, so to expect them to learn English is a stretch, unless you're going to fund it, and help them with it. Now the second generation of immigrants are usually more at home here. Often by the third or fourth generation, they have no ties to the original country. As my father used to tell me, have some patience, things take time.
What this all boils down to is an underlying hatred of dark skinned people, or people of other religions. It used to be the Irish Catholics (no Irish need apply) that caught all sorts of discrimination when they immigrated here in the late 19th century, now it's mostly Catholic Hispanics from central and south America.
I am a firm supporter of education, and these people have already risked life itself in search of what we take for granted every day. I truly believe that this world would be a better place if people would put themselves into the shoes of others, if only for a moment, to think about the struggles they must have faced. To imagine for a moment, the shoe on the other foot. If a university wants to allow them to apply as residents because they have lived in the state for more than a year or for scholarships, they should let them. It should be up to the university, not up to racist demagogues.
Now, the protesters perhaps weren't as effective as they could have been. I'm assuming the window was broken on accident. It was reported that someone hit on it with their hand too hard, not that they threw anything through it. As much as it pains us, we have to let even racists bastards speak. Packing the room in silence wearing all black and carrying small signs would have gone further in my opinion.
As for the person who took the video comparing this to Kristallnacht. Shame on you, sir! Some stupid college student accidentally breaking a ten inch square window does not even begin to compare to thirty thousand Jews being rounded up and taken to concentration camps and having their property confiscated. And it's even more ironic that this person's organization promoting western "culture" rings of the rhetoric of the Hitler Youth. And their logo, an arm in black and white holding what looks like a war hammer, struck me as familiar in style and design. One of the Hitler Youth's flags was an eagle holding a hammer, also in black and white. Go figure. If that's the style they're going for, they've accomplished it.
As an aside, I'm from North Carolina. They don't mess around with racists down in Chapel Hill. Those of us from that area remember the race riots, and the Greensboro massacre. There's a ton of KKK and Christian Identity around there, who are violent and hate immigrants and blacks. All it takes is a single word to act as a spark to set everyone off. It's like screaming "FIRE" in a crowded theater. Tancredo should go and think hard on what he says. He should truly re-examine his life. I have an idea that he doesn't really believe what he says all that much, except that it wins him support and followers from the haters. If he truly was willing to fight for what he says he believes, a broken window wouldn't have deterred him.
It's always easier for stupid, racist, xenophobic asses to lash out at others than it is for them to do some self-examination or self-reflection and take responsibility for their own failures and for any failures we possess as a culture, especially if those others don't look like them. People love to defer accountability, pure and simple.
ReplyDeleteGreat blog. Keep up the good work!