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=?UTF-8?Q?It=E2=80=99s?= the politics of winning... at any cost
Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit
Progreso Weekly - Sep 27, 2007
http://progreso-weekly.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=168&Itemid=1
Als Loupe
Its the politics of winning... at any cost
By Alvaro F. Fernandez
I spent two days last week in Georgia. Its a beautiful state. The
weather was knocking on autumns door -- little humidity and cool
temperatures. It felt wonderful and refreshing, especially when you
come from the heat and humidity of Miami.
Georgia is also a horrible place to live in if you are an undocumented
immigrant -- especially a Latino. Its not even easy for Latino U.S.
citizens. With their deep southern roots, Georgia Dixiecrats and the
nouveau republicans have suddenly turned to this wave of new residents
coming from south of the border to express their deep-seated bigotry.
As one member of the organization Georgia Latino Alliance for Human
Rights (GLAHR) sadly told me, We are the new blacks. Thats a strong
statement, I told her. She then took me to see her office bulletin
board. This fax came in earlier today, she pointed. Worthless
cockroaches and other more juicy insults were used by the sender.
There were also veiled threats. No one signed the hate letter.
I heard more horror stories that night. There is even fear of driving.
When a patrullero (a policeman in vehicle) pulls up beside me, I get
nervous, said a GLAHR member.
They will pull you over for any little thing, said Aaron Ortiz, an
attorney, who defends many for driving while being a Latino] And if
your papers are not in order, or there is even a hint of it] theyll
throw you in jail. It gives them more time to check the person and his
family members and friends closely. He recounted a case hes working
on, a U.S. citizen, who came before a judge who asked why the defendant
did not speak English.
And what does that have to do with anything? I asked. Exactly my
point, said Ortiz-Santo. The person, an elderly woman, must now return
in January and was warned by the judge that she better speak English
the next time shes in his court]
They cant wait to deport you, I was told.
Raids at businesses and homes, family members randomly deported, young
people not allowed to continue their studies, abuse, insults and much
more -- common every day occurrences.
The Jena 6
Last week news reports informed us of the Jena 6 case in Louisiana. Six
black students in a Jena high school beat up a white student who ended
up in a hospital.
The black students were charged with attempted murder. One is still in
jail. [he was released on Friday, the day after this column was
published. -NY Transfer] All but one will be tried as adults. The
hospitalized white student left the same day and attended a party that
night.
There have been a series of incidents over the past couple of years
involving white and black students in that same high school. The
incident which led to the white student getting beat up dealt with a
white tree. Its what they called a tree under which the white
students would sit.
Black students asked the authorities if they too could sit under the
tree. Having been told yes, they did so the following day. A day
later, two or three (there are differing stories as to the number)
nooses were found hanging from the white tree. Three nooses, I found
out, is a symbol of the Ku Klux Klan.
The white tree incident culminated in violence and then the march on
Jena where thousands gathered from all over the country in support of
the black students.
The toll of divide and conquer
There are many who refer to Karl Rove, President George W. Bushs top
political advisor and former deputy chief of staff, as a genius. His
formula was simple. Hed divide and conquer. Rove was an expert at
winning elections by way of wedge issues -- situations and
circumstances with the ability to polarize people and communities. Once
divided, it made the voters much easier to categorize. Once
categorized, then Rove would go after the specific voters who best fit
his candidates needs.
Sounds simple, doesnt it?
Because of it, along the way and over a short period of time, we seem
to have taken a giant leap backward. Think gay marriage and abortion,
red states versus blue states, sex education or waiting till you marry
- - all issues that Rove used at one time or another to win elections for
George W. Bush.
Immigration, terrorism, fear, the cost of repairing health care: all
issues that are also classified and compartmentalized in order to win
elections.
Along the way, Latinos in Georgia and North Carolina and so many other
states are degraded, insulted, treated inhumanely, and in some cases,
murdered. Black and white students in Jena, Miami, New York, and so
many other cities, grow to hate, and oft times, hurt each other. All
because of a politics, a system that empowers those who too often win
by methods we should have left behind long ago -- a system which
fosters and perpetuates racism, prejudice and violence.
In the meantime, Karl Rove and his ilk continue to look for the wedge
issues which assure electoral victories at whatever the cost.
Oh the times... they do remind me of the burn baby burn period back in
the 1960s -- a period in our history I had hoped was in the past.
*
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