Another offensive example of idiocy; this one an opinion published in The Daily Texan at UT Austin

3/28/08
Viewpoint: Laws of ignorance



The United States' "illegal immigrant" problem is nothing new. In 1954, the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service, at the behest of then-president Dwight Eisenhower, initiated a program to remove illegal immigrants from the southwestern part of the United States. Dubbed "Operation Wetback," the project was an urgent crusade against illegal immigration. Government officials deported 130,000 Mexican nationals in its first year, and it was estimated that for each individual deported about nine followed out of fear of apprehension.

A 2006 Christian Science Monitor article refers to a letter written by Ike in 1951, in which he provides the following quote: "The rise in illegal border-crossing by Mexican 'wetbacks' to a current rate of more than 1,000,000 cases a year has been accompanied by a curious relaxation in ethical standards extending all the way from the farmer-exploiters of this contraband labor to the highest levels of the Federal Government."

Mustang Ridge City Council Member Charles Laws, who has Central Texans in a fuss about his use of the slur "wetback" in a public notice, is 75 years old. When he was a young adult, he witnessed first-hand Eisenhower's mass round-ups of Mexican nationals, and it's no wonder that a slur associated with those then-applauded efforts could become ingrained.

But he also lived during the United States' struggle to end segregation. In the same year Ike started Operation Wetback, he was strongly supporting the landmark Brown v. Board of Education. Council Member Laws was also around when the U.S. witnessed the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the Greensboro sit-in and the influences of civil rights legacies such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks.

For the past week, Laws has been made into central Texas' Public Enemy No. 1 for his use of a word that, as he told the Austin American-Statesman, he grew up with "out here, and everybody said it." Laws carries a tainted vocabulary and ignorance formed during a time when a program called "Operation Wetback" was acceptable, but this 75-year-old water supply company manager isn't the bad guy - he's someone we can learn from.

We must confront our current discriminatory governmental policies and cultural norms before they become ingrained and persist for years to come. We widely use terms that perpetuate discrimination, such as "illegal" and "alien." Just as the literal meaning of "wetback" was once forgotten and the term became a norm in referring to Mexican nationals, "illegal" is a loaded word that indirectly seeks to justify the government's modern-day mass deportations and border walls. Our society sees legal as good and illegal as bad, therefore dehumanizing an entire demographic of "bad guys" with one common word. Describing a human being, as opposed to an action, as "illegal" just doesn't make sense (If it did, perhaps would we call shoplifters "illegal shoppers?").

Although immigrants from all races and nationalities live within our borders, "illegal" has come to specifically describe an individual from Mexico with brown skin. We're a nation that sees "America" as being synonymous with "the United States," ignoring the many other countries and cultures that make up North and South America. Even worse, we've remained a nation which often thinks it can tell a person's citizenship status (and social status) by the color of his or her skin.

Laws used a terribly disgusting word in a public setting, and he should be reprimanded. But we should put more energy into making sure we don't unconsciously end up like him. What most needs addressing are the actions of our government that have the power to inhibit equality and perpetuate ignorance that can last a lifetime.

- C.H.
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