Just how old is this rampage? Where did it come from? Is today’s Minuteman Project, and programs like it, the innovation of clever, brilliant, and “original” thinkers who would convince you their mission is to “Save America”? Or, is some of this rampaging the result of something else?
Could some of today’s rampaging be the result of “some” people squeezing facts and figures (alleged proof) into a mold of a personal biasno matter the veracity or legitimacy of that bias?
Americans against Mexicans rampaging began in the years following Mexico’s hard-earned independence from Spain in 1821. As more Americans began forays into Mexico, they encountered members of a society for which they had (Oh my, shall I say the “X”-word?) held not just Xenophobic attitudes but downright bigoted contempt.
It was American’s xenophobic hatred for Mexico that set the eventual stage for America’s imperialistic designs for the thievery of the property of a sovereign nationMexico. It was also American’s xenophobic hatred that aided them in the demonization of Mexico to justify in their hearts and minds their rationale for simply stealing what did not belong to themMexico’s Sovereign land.
“Several scholars have written on the subject of American attitudes toward Mexicans during the mid-nineteenth century and these studies, taken together, illuminate the evolution of a set of ideas that justified the actions of the U.S. against Mexico and that supported the belief in the inferiority of Mexicans as a race.”[2]
Isn’t that how it always ends up with an imperialist power? They go through the rampaging (demonization) process against a people, (from whom the imperialist want to take something) until that people is so demonized that everyone in the imperialist nation becomes convinced that he has the “right” to take what is not his.
Here is how America did it with Mexico before and during the Mexican-American war:
“Pioneer America could find little to approve of in the Mexican society it collided with, being affronted in all its major convictions by Mexican attitudes, real and alleged. Americans, in their Protestant individualism, in their ideas of spirit and hard work, in their faith in progress through technology, in their insistence upon personal hygiene, in Puritanism and racial pride, found Mexico much to their distaste because of its priestly power, its social stratification with a pronounced sense of caste, its apparent devotion to pleasure and its indifference to cleanliness, and its reputation for pervasive sensuality … Adding to all this was the Anglo-Saxon’s contempt for a people who had lowered themselves to a state of general cohabitation with the Indians and had thus forfeited the right to be considered “white.” (Robinson, 1977)”[3]
What do you think of that last clause “and had thus forfeited the right to be considered “white”? Interesting, isn’t it?
Therefore, this demonization of the Mexican justified in the minds of the American imperialists that it was ok to take what did not belong to America.
French scholar Marcienne Rocard wrote this:
“Everything about Mexican-Americans went against the American mentality,” she wrote, “…everything thus reinforced the pioneer writers’ sense of superiority and encouraged them to look down upon the Other and see him as nothing more than a ‘greaser'” (Rocard, 1989). Weber, in his analysis of the development of stereotypes, reflected on the same genre of American literature and concluded that “Mexicans were described as lazy, gambling, cruel, sinister, cowardly, half-breeds” (Weber, 1979).[4]
What will the current rampage (demonization) of Mexicans bring in the 21st Century? I just wonder what the leaders of today’s rampage (demonization) have up their sleeves.
Someone once said, “Past behavior is often predictive of future actions.” I just wonder.
Don’t you?
Disclaimer
I do not believe that every person, without exception, who wants to close the borders, is un-American or holds a xenophobic position. I do feel that there is credible evidence that “some” who lead “some” of these “let’s-close-the-border groups”, who are in the limelight of this controversy, do not have altruistic motives that could be characterized as holding a racist position. Sadly, I think that there are those who have been hurt by evil people who happened to be Mexican who were illegally in Americajust like the hundreds of thousands of Americans who fall victim to evil criminals who happened to be Americans of all colors and stripes each year .
[1] See my last column: An Old, Old Theme: Xenophobic Americans
[2] EXPERT REPORT OF ALBERT M. CAMARILLO Gratz, et al. v. Bollinger, et al., No. 97-75321(E.D. Mich.) Grutter, et al. v. Bollinger, et al., No. 97-75928 (E.D. Mich.)
[3] Ibid
[4] Ibid
Doug Bower is a freelance writer, Syndicated Columnist, and book author. His most recent writing credits include The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Houston Chronicle, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and Transitions Abroad. He is a columnist with Cricketsoda.com and the Magic City Morning Star, and more than 21 additional online magazines. He lives with his wife in Guanajuato, Mexico. His newest book is, Mexican Living: Blogging it from a Third World Country
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