It is hard for me to imagine hate crimes against Hispanics. Living in Los Angeles as I do, Hispanics are an integrated part of the fabric of my community. Why would I hate my next door neighbor, childhood friend, or co-worker? My brain just does not think this way. Yet in Tennessee, hate crimes against Hispanics are on the rise.
Hate crimes rose dramatically in Tennessee last year, especially crimes against Hispanics and the disabled.
According to a new Tennessee Bureau of Investigation report, hate crimes rose 28 percent overall between 2006 and 2007. But hate crimes against Hispanics more than doubled...
My initial reaction is that this increase in hate crimes is a result the Bush administration's targeting of illegal immigrants as part of his War on Terrorism. In the name of keeping our borders safe, the Bush administration has painted a target on the backs of our Hispanic population. Opportunistic red-necked bottom feeders abound in the south. With Tennessee arguably the birthplace of the KKK, I'm starting to see a connection.
The article postulates that poor economic conditions drive non-Hispanic residents to attach Hispanics. I don't buy it. The government sends signal when they round up a bus load of hard working people. It does not take much thinking to understand that this is a tacit signal of approval.
3 comments:
If you take a look at the SPLC hate groups map of TN you'll notice there are many hate groups in the state--Christian Identity, KKK, Aryan-republic, etc. That there is a great deal of anti-immigrant/anti-Hispanic sentiment is no surprise, sadly. I've blogged about the rise in hate groups across the US and the blatant lies of these groups several times. They're vile, to say the least.
http://www.splcenter.org/intel/map/hate.jsp#s=TN
I dispise Bush. But laying these attacks at the feet of the Bush administration is, with all due respect, nonsense.
When the economy softens, and the lowest end of the socio economic scale (and the least educated) feel both powerless and threatened, they lash out. The fact is with the rise in the hispanic presence, many of who as illegals are probably not even reporting much of the abuse, this kind of response by frustrated, undereducated, likely white, low end wage earners could be predicted. A similar down turn in the economy 50 years ago would have witnessed Blacks as the target.
I'm not sure when it became ok to enter this country illegally, and when enforcing our immigration laws became an act of evil. If anyone believes in this day and age that our borders should be opened to anyone who wants to come in, from any foreign country, regardless of their ability to contribute, regardless of any criminal background, regardless of what their intentions are, without controls or monitoring, without screening, without the same checks and balances our grand parents, and great grandparents were subject to... then feel free to write your congressman and senator.
Until that horrendous and scarey concept is enacted, i not only want our immigration policies enforced, I demand it be done better than it is now.
Dromedaryhump,
I am not laying tis at the feet of the Bush administration. I look at it as Bush setting the stage. Highly visible illegal immigrant round ups create the political image of an at risk subclass. Who will protect the immigrants? The answer is nobody. Who is responsible for this? The Bush administration. It is the same as attacking the war on drugs by arresting medical marijuana users. It is meant to send a message. And it does.
Tie this to a weakening economy, the nutjobs at Minutemen, and Terroism and one gets increased violence.
I too support strengthening our borders and enforcing a level of immigration policy that protects us from terrorism. Unfortunately, the way the Bush administration administers their policy leaves fruit on the trees here in California and promotes hate in the less civilized corners of our county.
I'm looking for culpability here. I see some in the Bush administration. I am sure there are other sources.
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