  |
| Big fans of the fence, avid fans of shooting my people for sport. By-the-way, take America back? Back from whom? Maybe these folks should spend some time talking to some American Indians... |
Earlier this week, my father sent me the link to this story from cnn.com:
http://www.emailthis.clickability.com/et/emailThis?clickMap=viewThis&etMailToID=771405534
The Headline: Immigrant Hunting? What's happening to my country? If you haven't read it, please take a moment to check it out before reading this...If you are a person who isn't into "reading" per se, I will summarize the first part of the story. There is a gas station owner in Racine, Wisconsin (a mere 6 hours from my home), that started selling bumperstickers in his store that say, "Illegal Immigrant Hunting Permit." A woman named Maria Morales saw the ugliness of the situation and called him out. Amidst pressure the store owner ceased from selling the stickers, but Ms. Morales was harrassed and had her life endangered as a result of her opposition to the ugliness.
I have to agree with the headline, What is happening to my country? While this is an upsetting story, its pretty admirable of Ms. Morales to stand up against the injustice that she saw. Not to get all preachy, but Jesus, whom most of the anti-immigration Mexi-haters claim to be followers of, does say, "Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." And I assure you, as a person who has spent some time studying Christian Scripture, this woman's cause is textbook righteousness. The ugliness of the gas station owner has me flummoxed. The ugliness of some Americans regarding the immigration has me upset, and at times, admitedly a bit paranoid.
I spent some time in graduate school studying the "hate" of dominant populations towards the minorities of varying societys throughout history. I learned, in sociological terms, societies and communities, through history have a tendency to create something reffered to as the "other." The "other" is the person, or persons that the dominant population deems as deviant, counter-progress (or too progressive at sometimes), anti-establishment, and eventually, something equivalent to the boogie-man. It's funny, I just so happen to be in the middle of the watching the TV series "Lost" in which the enemies on the island who are terrorizing the surviors of the plane crash are named, "THE OTHERS!"
* I am only on the beginning of the 3rd season, so I am not sure how it all plays out, however, I find it amusingly ironic that I am choosing to talk about the "other" with this show so fresh on my mind....or maybe its not ironic at all! Maybe its fate, maybe the Island wants me to... But I digress, back to my topic at hand, the creation of the "other."
To put it as simply as possible, this is the patern that seemed doomed to be repeated by society after society:
1. Figure out who is the minority "other" based on race, religion, etc.
2. Ostracize and marginalize the "other" pushing them to the fringes of society
3. Dehumanize the "other" which makes persecution and unjustified punishments all the more easy
4. Demonize the "other" which makes hurting and killing them all the more easy on the conscience
 |
| Medieval Jewish depiction |
 | ||||
post-slavery political cartoon
|
Here are just a few examples of how the "other" has been dehumanized and demonized by past societies. So now to American society, circa 2011. Who is the "other?" Well, I read about things like the bumperstickers in Wisconsin. I read and hear about the racial profiling law in Arizona and I can't help but think Latinos are, specifically those who are deemed, "illegal." Heck John McCain was, only a couple of weeks ago making claims that the forrest fires in AZ were being caused by my fresh-from-Mexico bretheren. Or how about the TSA agents, mentioned in the above artilce, who in LIBERTY Airport got the reputation as the "great Mexican hunters?" I stated above that whats going on with our country is a bit scary. I am scared for those young people who will only know an America where racial-profiling is seen as ok. I am scared for those who risk life and limb to get to our country only to experience a hate and resentment that eclipses their poverty and dire need to get to our country in the first place.
I know the creation of the "other" has been a vicious cycle throughout history. But I also believe that human-kind has supposed to have evolved. I believe if we can advance so far as to put a man on the moon, that we can overcome our tendency to ostracize, dehumanize and demonize our brothas (and sistas) from other mothas. We just need to have enough people like Ms. Morales, mentioned above, to stand up for those actions that are blatantly unjust and hateful. Afterall, if we do, the Kingdom of God's is ours. And that, my friends, is guaranteed to be a community that is absolutely free of the "other."
