Mexican flag hysteria

With the recent Republican push to turn immigration into this fall's key issue has come the accompanying right-wing bigotry. Since protests began of late, we've heard a steady stream of rhetoric, much of it thinly veiled racism.

The vitriol reached a new low last week, when conservative gasbag Michael Savage called for his listeners to burn the Mexican flag. Doing this, he said, would show everyone how America wasn't going to be pushed around. It would also show Mexico that Americans weren't going to tolerate the "invasion" any longer.

Xenophobic nationalism aside, it's important to note the hypocrisy of those who would burn the Mexican banner. Hypocrisy that, when revealed, shows the true attitudes behind this persecution.

Savage wasn't alone in his opinion. Michelle Malkin, describing a protest in Los Angeles, said, "Mexican flags and signs advocating ethnic separatism and supremacy filled the landscape." Virginia Rep. Virgil Goode, making a blanket statement about protesters, said, "I say if you are here illegally and want to fly the Mexican flag, go to Mexico and wave the American flag." Goode's congressional colleague, Sen. John McCain, warned protesters that we're in "sensitive times" and said "the Hispanic community risks a backlash if it become unruly or too many Hispanic flags - and not enough American flags - are at these protests."

Would those same self-styled patriots feel the same way about denouncing another nation's heritage on, say, St. Patrick's Day? Or during an Italian pride festival? Or whenever American sports teams pay respect to Canadian teams during athletic contests? Is respecting other nations universal, or does it simply stop short of those nations with which the Republican Party has a problem?

Imagine the outrage the Savages of the world would voice had the mouthpieces of a country friendly to America had advocated for the burning of our flag. Further, would those advocating the burning of Mexican flags similarly criticize the Rebel flag? Somehow, I doubt it. It's funny how those who take so much pride in a banner that celebrates racism, slavery and treason are considered good Americans, while those hard-working individuals who take pride in their Mexican heritage are considered the enemy.

But I guess this shouldn't surprise me. We are talking about the same people, after all, who denounced Jill Carroll as a Taliban sympathizer and who've made being of Middle
Eastern descent the modern version of being branded with the scarlet letter.

I see absolutely nothing wrong with people flying the Mexican flag at immigration protests. Nor do I see the hypocrisy others see. Why? For the same reason many fly the American flag outside of their own homes: Pride. These people flying the American flag also don't appreciate it when others disparage their country. But that's exactly what many are doing now when they turn the immigration debate into an opportunity to showcase their hatred of Mexicans.

Those protesting are well within their rights, because their heritage is most definitely under attack from the right. To this end, I'm a bit puzzled that Republicans like Savage would show outrage over this Mexican pride. Didn't the aftermath of September 11 show everyone how much pride Americans took in being American?

After that day's tragic events, many Americans flew the flag as a symbol of defiance against our attackers almost as much as they did to show their pride in the United States. Apparently, however, this pride stops at the Mexican border. We are proud to be American but are also proud of our heritage, which, in nearly every case, isn't North American. Why can't those protesting have the right to be proud of their heritage?

To most of us, this is a political debate. To those protesting, this is personal. This is about race. Their culture's place in the American tapestry is under attack. Their heritage is being derided by critics who fear that soon they might be the minority. They're not the enemies the right would have you believe. They're just people who are coming to this country to pursue the same hopes and dreams our ancestors did. To that end, there's a right way to deal with the problems illegal immigration raises and there's a wrong way. And we're letting the racist fringe of the Republican Party paint the wrong way as the only way.

When we allow the right to frame this debate, what happens is what always happens when we allow Bush conservatism to fester unchecked. Heated rhetoric and racist fear-mongering overshadow the issues. What many of us forget - especially Republicans - is that, with very rare exception, we're all immigrants to America. Just ask the next Native American you see how legal our immigration was.

What did the Republicans expect to happen when they began framing the immigration debate as an invasion of America by Mexico? Did they expect a petition drive, phone banking and a candlelight vigil? Further, what did you expect to happen when the politicians in charge of solving these problems see valid solutions in building a wall along the Mexican border and allowing prisoners to "pick the fruits"?

How did the right not see these protests coming? Have they learned nothing from Hurricane Katrina, when it became painfully obvious the disastrous effects of ignoring entire groups of people? If Katrina lost the Republican Party the African American vote, immigration has lost them the Latino vote.

Besides, is America so at risk that a protester flying a Mexican flag presents a grave threat to our entire way of life? Is our democracy so in peril the presence of a flag other than ours constitutes an act worthy of a hate crime? If so, we have far bigger problems than immigration.

Comments

[Jose Chung]

The real villain here is obviously the racism at the core of the Republican party--the "white boy's party."

That same white Republican racist mind-set ensnared the lovely Rep. Cynthia McKinney last week on Capital Hill where she was "just a victim of being in Congress while black."

I pray for her exoneration.

[Matthew J. Price]

I was a Bushite Republican for a while but I quickly grew out of it. I was young and ignorant. It was during the invasion of Iraq that I began to see Bush and the rest of the Republican Party for what they really were: a bunch of racist, pro-corporate, robber baron loving, Neo-Con Nazi Dominionists who only believe in Jesus when it is convienient to them. After April of 2003, I left the Republicans and became an Independent, a Libertarian Party member, and later a Progressive Liberal Democrat. I am now a supporter of the Progressive Caucus Democrats and a card-carrying member of the ACLU.

[Proud American Liberal]

The Republican Party is going to tear itself to shreds over this issue. On one hand, you have the racists who hate anyone whose skin is not lily white; and on the other hand, you have the corporatists who love the cheap labor illegal aliens provide.
The solution lies in recognizing that Mexico has a responsibility to take better care of its citizens and the US needs to enforce the trade agreements it has made with Mexico in regards to labor and environmental issues, and to provide a realistic living wage for Americans who really would do the jobs the illegals are willing to do, if the pay was reasonable.

[Fade]

I am a big liberal, but seeing Americans of Mexican Descent waving Mexican flags IN America at a protest for those who WANT to be in America because Mexico is soooo screwed up- It just seems a little insulting to America. Mexico kind of sucks. They don't want to be there, so why wave the Mexican flag. I could care less about flying an American flag either, so maybe I am just not enough of a flag lover.

[TriMT7]

Comparing waving flags at St. Patrick's day parades to those at the protests are a bit of a stretch, since nobody gets up in arms about the waving of "Hispanic" (what a bullshit term if I ever heard one, anyway) flags during other pride-based celebrations like the Puerto Rican Parade in NYC.

The post above is dead on: What kind of crap message are you sending by waving the flags of the country you left to come to THIS country ILLEGALLY? I'm sooooo sure that the marchers are "distraught about the loss of their country-of-origins' place in America's tapestry." Give me a break.

When Americans "defied" the terrorists by flying the flag post-9/11, we did it in our own country, and it would be WRONG for a group of Americans to trek to Mexico city, fly the stars and stripes, or worse yet, put it above the Mexican flag (turned upside down) on the flagpole.

John McCain is sadly right on this issue. Americans want to see that immigrants WANT to be Americans and RESPECT Americans. Keep making excuses for them, it will only hurt their cause.

[Joseph]

Keep marginalizing and insulting Latinos, it will only hurt your party.

[theorajones]

Oh my goodness! Those horrible Mexicans! They're being scapegoated for America's ills, and their response is to defiantly carry flags to show the pride of their heritage! Waving flags! They're terrorists!

I mean, that's nothing like the Irish in the St. Patrick's day parade, right? Right?

http://www.thewildgeese.com/pages/nycpara.html

"If nativists thought New York had an "Irish problem" in the first few decades of the 19th century, one can only imagine their horror at the torrent of destitute famine Irish who began to flow in during the late 1840s. This tidal wave of Irish would eventually transform the St. Patrick's Day parade from the fairly unobtrusive affairs it was up until then to the mammoth event it is today.

With the anti-immigrant "Know-Nothing" party growing in direct proportion to the influx of Irish immigrants, a number of Irish militia companies began to form to defend their neighborhoods. In the 1850s, those groups also began to march in the St. Patrick's Day parades. The most prominent and longest lasting of these militia units was the 69th NY, the famous "Fighting Irish" that later fought in the Civil War, World Wars I and II, and provided security around the World Trade Center following 9/11. Today, though no longer a predominantly Irish unit, they proudly lead the parade up 5th Ave. every year."

Boy oh boy, if only today's Hispanics could be more like the Irish. I'd much prefer armed ethnic militias marching down 5th Avenue over families waving flags.

Whatever. If you can't see that the Republican party is pulling exactly the same "blame the immigrants for all your problems" crap that the Know-Nothings did in the 1840's, then you're an idiot. Once people stopped treating the Irish like pariahs, the alleged Irish resistance to assimilation pretty much disappeared. I mean, I didn't notice any armed Irish militias in this year's parade. Ya think Mexicans will abandon their horrific terrorism of flag-waving when people stop treating them like crap?

[moebius]

"Keep marginalizing and insulting Latinos, it will only hurt your party."

It's not "just" about racism or bigotry. Talking past someone's point because you don't like it, or equating the McCain-KENNEDY immigration bill (which immigration control opponents oppose for its amnesty and guest worker provisions) with bigotry is deeply ideologically obtuse.

There are broader issues that need to be discussed:

1. What obligation does the United States have to accept immigrants who are not fleeing political or religious persecution, or crushing poverty or famine? The major sources of immigration to the US historically (excepting Ireland in the early 19th century) do not come from the worst-off countries, but rather the most economically developed developing countries.

2. How much of the responsiblility for improving the condition of rests with the United States, and how much rests with the sending country? To what degree is the United States enabling corruption or a lack of economic development in developing countries by accepting their disaffected? To what degree is the United States RESPONSIBLE for that corruption (supporting dictators) or lack of development (restricting fair trade), and what obligations does this create?

3. To what degree is immigration being used to exploit the American working class? How do we balance the loss to American citizens against gain to the citizens of foreign states, particulalry if they are only temporary residents? How does this apply to 3D Jobs (Dirty, Dangerous, Demeaning)?

4. What sort of economic migration do we want? What mix of skilled and unskilled labor? What obligation does the United States have to prevent a "brain drain" from developing countries?

5. What do we expect of the immigrants coming to this country in terms of economic or cultural contributions? Is the goal residency or citizenship? If the goal is residency, what degree of regulation is appropriate to ensure that the relationship between "guest" and "host" is mutually beneficial (primarily taxes vs. social benefit outlays) and safe (for example, allowing residents to be eligeble for drivers' liscenses)? If the goal is citizenship, what obligation does the immigrant have to assimilate (primarily in terms of language to allow for effective communication and integration), but on a deeper level questions of divided loyalty in times of war or crisis)? What obligations do current citizens have to accept new citizens (legislatively enforced non-discrimination, do we use affirmative action as a tool of faster integration, on a personal level how open are we to friendship or intermarriage)?

[capnmike]

"Persecution, racism"...bla bla bla.
My father came to the United States. Through Ellis Island. LEGALLY.
My mother's parents came here also. Through Ellis Island. LEGALLY.
My fiancee is en route here, LEGALLY, after 6 months of waiting and endless paperwork. But we are doing it RIGHT.

If your first act on entering a new country is to break their laws, and show that those laws mean nothing to you, you can bloody well go back where you came from. There is nothing wrong with wanting to come to the US. There IS something wrong with SNEAKING in.
Here, y'all try this. Sneak into Mexico. Then tell the Mexican government that you intend to stay as long as you want, and expect them to educate your kids, for free, in English. Tell them you want welfare, jobs, health services and educational benefits, and that since you are too lazy to learn Spanish you want everything bilingual.
Good goddamn luck!

[chris]

As an employer of illegal aliens, if I was forced to pay the minimum wage, health care, income taxes and such, I couldn't afford to keep my third home in the Caribbean. Let's keep things the way they are.

[beotch]

Why aren't they protesting in Mexico?

Why do they expect the US to be their salvador?

[TJ IN LA]

10 Principles for Immigration Reform

1. The purpose of U.S. immigration policy is to benefit the citizens of the United States.

2. Since immigration policy can profoundly shape a country, it should be set by deliberate actions, not by accident or acquiescence, with careful consideration to ensure that it does not adversely affect the quality of life of American citizens and their communities.

3. Immigration policy should be based on and adhere to the rule of law. Immigration laws must be enforced consistently and uniformly throughout the United States.

4. Non-citizens enter the United States as guests and must obey the rules governing their entry. The U.S. government must track the entry, stay, and departure of all visa-holders to ensure that they comply fully with the terms of their visas, or to remove them if they fail to comply.

5. The borders of the United States must be physically secured at the earliest possible time. An effective barrier to the illegal entry of both aliens and contraband is vital to U.S. security.

6. Those responsible for facilitating illegal immigration shall be sought, arrested and prosecuted to the full extent of the law and shall forfeit any profits from such activity. This applies to smugglers and traffickers of people, as well as to those involved in the production, procurement, distribution, or use of fraudulent or counterfeit documents.

7. U.S. employers shall be given a simple and streamlined process to determine whether employees are legally eligible to work. Employers who obey the law shall be protected both from liability and from unfair competition by those who violate immigration law. The violators shall be subject to fines and taxes in excess of what they would have paid to employ U.S. citizens and legal residents for the same work.

8. Those who enter or remain in the United States in violation of the law shall be detained and removed expeditiously. Illegal aliens shall not accrue any benefit, including U.S. citizenship, as a result of their illegal entry or presence in the United States.

9. No federal, state or local entity shall reward individuals for violating immigration laws by granting public benefits or services, or by issuing or accepting any form of identification, or by providing any other assistance that facilitates unlawful presence or employment in this country. All federal and law enforcement agencies shall cooperate fully with federal immigration authorities, and shall report to such authorities any information they receive indicating that an individual may have violated immigration laws.

10. Illegal aliens currently in the United States may be afforded a one-time opportunity to leave the United States without penalty and seek permission to reenter legally if they qualify under existing law. Those who do not take advantage of this opportunity will be removed and permanently barred from returning.

[Joseph]

So would you turn an undocument worker's sick infant away from medical care?

[Dominic]

How can you be so dumb as to not realize that you have been brainwashed by the media. I challenge you all to listen to Michael Savage intently for 1 time and then say what you feel. It only makes sense to give the mexicans a taste of their own medicine. How can you let the fact that Mexicans are defacing America pass your mind!!!

[Joseph]

You tell me to listen to Michael Savage and have the nerve to tell me that I have been brainwashed?

[Adrian Quintanilla]

Funny if you saw a group of white Irishmen waving their flag..no one would say anything.
If you saw African Americans waiving a flag from Africa..no one would say anything either! Mexicans are just next on the oppression list. "Defacing America" comon! Your just Mexciphobic. Leave the immigrants alone they just want to work and live a happy life(or are we just throwing the American dream away).
-Adrian