| Wednesday, April 05, 2006 |
| The flag bearers |
ThinkProgress posts a video clip showing President Bush waving the Mexican flag in a 2004 election commercial produced for Spanish language media, raising the very valid question of how Mr. Bush's supporters on the right will react, given their outrage over pro-amnesty protesters waving Mexican flags during the recent spate of protests against proposed illegal migrant crackdowns.
Along with that comes a thought experiment from Julian Sanchez:
There's a link rich post up at Daily Kos on conservative outrage over the prevalence of Mexican flags at the recent protests against legislation that would crack down on illegal immigrants. It got me thinking about a little thought experiment: Imagine you've got a community of proud Americans living abroad for whatever reason, say in England. And suppose that even if they're perfectly happy there and doing what they can to fit in to their adopted society, their identities as Americans remain important to them. Now imagine—and this shouldn't be a stretch—that they begin to feel as though they're under attack as Americans, that the prevailing attitude in the country has become anti-American. They respond by staging a rally at which they wave lots of American flags, asserting their pride in who they are and where they've come from. Do the people who're livid over the Mexican flags find any part of this offensive? My answer to Sanchez (not unlike many of his commenters) would be "it depends." If those Americans were in England illegally (full disclosure, my husband is a British citizen who is a legal permanent resident of the U.S.) and were protesting attempts to stop other Americans from sneaking into the country, then I'd say waving the American flag could, with validity, be looked on as an unwarranted provocation.
The problem that the right, and frankly many of us in the center-left, have with the flag waving in Cali and other places, is that it seems to represent a rather brazen spirit of entitlement to break U.S. law, and to continue to do so with impunity (including bringing family members over or benefiting from U.S. social services.) I don't think anyone on the right or the left is talking about deporting legal aliens, or running all Latino and other immigrants out of this country. And frankly, it's a bit offensive to assume that those of us who oppose amnesty for those who did enter the U.S. in contravention to our laws are anti-Latino racists. To be sure, there are some brown shirt types out there who are piling onto this issue to expurgate their KKK ghosts, but for the most part, I haven't heard -- at least the Lou Dobbs populist types (of which I'm one,) demonizing Mexican-Americans.
People who come here through legal means are perfectly entitled not only to be here, but to wave any flag they want (although one would hope that eventually, if they decide to become citizens rather than the kind of expats Sanchez is describing, that they would adopt the U.S. flag as their own. The issue for many of us is the unfairness illegal immigration heaps upon American workers, including those whose wages are depressed as a result, and those at the lowest end of the economic spectrum, who in many cases don't even have a shot at doing these "jobs Aemricans won't do" (another canard, btw...) And just to take issue with Think for a sec (which I rarely do,) the issue with the Mexican flag isn't "appreciation of immigrant culture." It is perfectly possible to appreciate the culture without condoning another countries willfull export of its poverty and economic anemia to us. And the opposition to waving the Mexican flag at U.S. protests is about civics -- it's about the irony of claiming that illegal immigrants are "good Americans" while waving a flag that says "temporarily glad to be here..."
Meanwhile, Fla Governor Jeb Bush has criticized fellow Republicans whom he feels are demonizing immigrants for political reasons (Jeb is married to a (legal) Mexican immigrant whom he met during a high school exchange, and he says he and Columba are personally "hurt" by all the angry talk about migrants.) Jeb gave the story to the LAT's Peter Wallsten, who used to be a reporter here in Florida. A clip:
Bush, the younger brother of President Bush, reserved some of his sharpest criticism for conservatives in his own Republican Party, calling it "just plain wrong" to charge illegal immigrants with a felony, as a provision passed by the Republican-led House would do. He also opposed "penalizing the children of illegal immigrants" by denying them U.S. citizenship, an idea backed by some conservatives but not included in the legislation.
"My wife came here legally, but it hurts her just as it hurts me when people give the perception that all immigrants are bad," the Florida governor wrote in an e-mail exchange with The Times.
Gov. Bush has generally avoided injecting himself into national political fights, and he rarely invokes his soft-spoken wife of 32 years in such a public way. But his comments reflect the concern among many Republicans that calls by conservatives for an immigrant crackdown risk alienating Latino voters. And Jeb should know. He built his political career by crafting a coalition of conservative Cuban-Americans, Reagan Democrats and tax-cut-loving white Republicans.
Meanwhile, blogger Billmon takes a shot (unfair in my opinion, but a shot nonethless,) at Lou Dobbs, but then makes the point that there seems to be a double standard when it comes to a certain other flag often rallied 'round by Americans... Although, I think that the fact that the waving of the Israeli flag isn't criticized doesn't mean people aren't unhappy about Israeli flag wavers' possible "dual loyalties." I think that concern is out there, particularly when it comes to hard core American likudniks like the neoconservatives. It's just that there is a tremendous taboo in the United States about saying anything even remotely negative about Israel, or about implying "dual loyalty" when it comes to a Jewish American. It simply isn't done, because it would expose the speaker to charges of anti-Semitism (Pat Buchanan can tell you all about that, given his periodic criticism of the Israelis). Latinos have not gotten to that place yet where they are essentially immunized from overt criticism, but keep in mind that those who criticize the waving of their flag are being tarred as racists (including Dobbs). So I'm not sure the double standard really exists, so much as one component of it takes place soto voce...
Previous:
Tags: immigration, Politics, border, MEXICO, McCain, illegal aliens, Illegal-Aliens, Illegal immigration, Mexico, Mexican flag |
posted by JReid @ 11:24 AM   |
|
|
|
|
