Published: 10.13.2006

Solution to border problem isn't hate
SALOMÓN R. BALDENEGRO
Tucson Citizen

"When I went to Tucson in 1996, they put me in a parade that went through Mexico town."

- Pat Buchanan, Republican strategist and commentator
U nder the guise of addressing immigration issues, right-wingers are waging a hate campaign against people of Mexican descent.

I've lived in Tucson all my life, and I can say with absolute certainty that there is no area called "Mexican town" in Tucson.

Buchanan was in the Rodeo Parade, which goes through Tucson's South Side.

As do other right-wingers who are creating a culture of hate against Mexicans and Mexican-Americans, Buchanan simply makes things up.
In an effort to give these a semblance of credibility, he put them in a book: "State of Emergency: The Third World Invasion and Conquest of America."

In a book-promotion interview with Jon Stewart on "The Daily Show," Buchanan said of Mexican folks in Los Angeles: "They cheer Osama (bin Laden) in the stadiums there."

In today's America, there is no more scurrilous a lie that can be leveled at someone than that.

Republican congressional candidate Randy Graf is running a campaign ad also designed to scare Arizonans.

The ad says hordes of Mexicans are crossing the border into Arizona, emphasizing that some of these Mexicans may be "terrorists."

Never mind that there is not a single instance of terrorists having come into the U.S. through our southern border.

The known or suspected terrorists who have entered our country have done so by flying in or via the Canadian border.

A linchpin of Buchanan's book is that there is a conspiracy among the Mexican government, Mexican immigrants and Mexican-Americans to give Arizona (and other Southwestern states) back to Mexico.

I'm sure even Buchanan knows how stupid that notion is. How does one give an American state to another country?

But he knows his audience. He knows there are folks who are predisposed to believe his big lie and pass it on.

Having no qualms about using a noxious epithet long used to demean Mexican-Americans, Arizona Rep. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, recently proposed that a failed 1950s program, "Operation Wetback," which sought to round up and deport all Mexican immigrants, be resuscitated.

But the historical reality is that previous mass-deportation schemes have not differentiated between immigrants and citizens. If you looked Mexican, you were deported, citizenship notwithstanding.

Indeed, anti-Mexican policies can only be enforced on the basis of looks, surname, language and accent. To the haters, we all look and sound alike.
This past July, the Springfield, Tenn., City Council considered banning all Hispanics from city parks.

When it was pointed out to the alderman who sponsored the motion that not all Hispanics in Springfield are "illegal" - which was the basis of the motion - he responded: "If they're speaking Spanish, I tend to think they are illegal."

Immigration is, indeed, a real and serious issue in our community, one that needs to be addressed.

But the solution to the immigration situation lies in the realm of politics, not the arena of hate. c/s

Political historian Salomón R. Baldenegro is a lifelong Tucsonan and longtime civil-rights activist. The "c/s" at the end of his column is a Chicano barrio term that stands for "con safos," which denotes closure, along the lines of "that's all I got to say." E-mail: SalomonRB@msn.com

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