By Robert Field
This is true about almost every white person born sixty or more years ago in an era of extreme racial bigotry. Sure we have learned better and espouse democratic sentiments. Many of us voted for Barack Obama. Nevertheless we are at best “racists in recovery” and the deep rooted prejudices from our formative years frequently manifest themselves, and then are hastily suppressed (and for some, repressed.).
I suspect that many African Americans and less educated Caucasians also resent Latino immigrants because they are perceived to compete for jobs and governmental benefits. And Blacks and Hispanics likely have their own early prejudices.
Whites are witnessing the U. S. population becoming a blend of many races. In many Southern and South Western states including half of California, Spanish is the first language for a very large portion of the majority population. Soon Whites will become a minority in what they had always perceives as their own country.
To add to discomfiture of older Whites, there has been a radical change in sexual values concerning actions that only half a century ago that would have met with opprobrium and possible incarceration.
President Donald Trump’s apparent obsessing over immigration is actually politically rational. We see today where his racist attacks such as “send them back” directed at four congress women of color, three of whom were born as USA citizens, is boosting his poll numbers. Long languishing in the low to mid 40%, for the first time since president they have risen to 48%.
Trump is cutting through the veneer of political correctness to appeal to core feelings, albeit not necessarily beliefs, of vast segments of our population.
For approximately a hundred and fifty years, immigration laws have restricted who could enter our country, how long they could stay, and how to gain citizenship.
Most citizens agree that we shouldn’t allow immigrants to illegally enter the country; that they should “stand in line” with others who seek to live in the USA.
However some Democrat candidates for President foolishly advocate open borders. They are making it much easier for us older whites in recovery, African-Americans, younger whites, and others who resent the change in ethnic make up and values to vote for and re-elect Donald Trump in 2020.
What should these presidential candidates be advocating?
Our southern border problem results from a large push for entry from Central American countries, not from Mexico.
The Mexican population in the USA has declined over that period by 441,190. Also, the acceleration of immigration has been fairly evenly spread from across the world. (See below.)
The USA needs to encourage and assist these Central American countries to improve their economies and provide a rule of law for their people. And where they are unable or unwilling to do so, the USA should consider intervention, preferably economic but going as far as “gunboat diplomacy” .
(Subsequent to this articles article’s publication, article appear in New York times entitled “Pay or die” describing the nightmarish situation in Honduras.)
In general people don’t want to leave their homes and families. And when they do so, many see it as a temporary measure to escape dangerous and oppressive conditions and to seek economic opportunity, with the anticipating of someday rejoining their aging parents, families and friends.
President Trump is correct in insisting that Mexico enforce its own border laws rather than allowing illegal immigrants from Central America to cross to the USA border. Certainly those reaching the USA should be housed under humanitarian conditions, their cases swiftly adjudicated (that may require an alterations of our laws), and those with no legitimacy under our immigration laws refused entry.
If we address the real causes, the pressure on our southern border will abate. Moreover, illegal immigration will no longer be used to appeal to our baser emotions and prejudices. .
From https://cis.org/Report/Record-445-Million-Immigrants-2017
- Of immigrants who have come since 2010, 13 percent or 1.2 million came from Mexico — by far the top sending country. However, because of return migration and natural mortality among the existing population, the overall Mexican-born population actually declined by 441,190.5
- The sending regions with the largest numerical increases from 2016 to 2017 in the number of immigrants living in the United States were South America (up 233,696); East Asia (up 226,728); South Asia (up 216,495); Sub-Saharan Africa (up 149,846); the Caribbean (up 121,120); and Central America (up 71,720).6
- Looking longer term, the regions with the largest numerical increases since 2010 were East Asia, (up 1,118,937); South Asia (up 1,106,373); the Caribbean (up 676,023); Sub-Saharan Africa (up 606,835); South America (up 483,356); Central America (up 474,504); and the Middle East (up 472,554).
- The decline in Mexican immigrants masks, to some extent, the enormous growth of Latin American immigrants. If seen as one region, the number from Latin America (excluding Mexico) grew 426,536 in just the last year and 1.6 million since 2010 — significantly more than from any other part of the world.
