That's the first thing my 15-year-old son told me yesterday afternoon when he came home from school.
No, "Hi Mom, what's going on?" or "Hey, what's for dinner?" or "Can you get this juice stain out of my shirt?" He was all about "the Mexicans this" and "the Mexicans that."
After I picked my jaw off the floor, I sat him down and set him straight.
First off, I don't tolerate that nonsense in my house, so I was determined to get to the bottom of it.
He told me they had a substitute teacher yesterday in history class. They were discussing the Industrial Revolution, and how the face of the country changed because of machines.
Well, it seems the substitute got bored or whatever, and the kids started talking amongst themselves. I guess the conversation segued from the immigration rush during that part of US history to the current immigration situation now.
Somehow the conversation shifted to somebody saying "Those illegals are coming over here stealing our jobs."
I asked him where'd they get that idea and he said one of the boys mentioned his dad had told him. Then another one brought up a commercial that's been playing on MSNBC for the past week. I've seen that commercial (God, it's dreadful), and it usually plays during the evening pundit shows, so I doubt the kids were watching it. Obviously they got it from their parents.
Anyway, I told my son the 'illegal job stealing mime' is a lie rich people and Republicans use to divide and conquer. It's the same lie the Planter Class told the poor farmers in the late 1800's when they decided to drive a wedge between poor whites and free blacks.
I told him if anyone is stealing jobs today it's corporations who send work to other countries. He didn't understand that, so I reminded him about the time he called the help desk when his game software broke and he got that guy with an accent he couldn't understand.
I said, "You were talking to somebody in India, babe. That's what shipping jobs overseas is all about. They close the help desks here so they don't have to pay Americans a living wage, and then they hire people in other countries and pay them less to do the same work."
That immediately elicited a frown on his face. He remembered how angry and frustrated the conversation had made him. He couldn't understand what the man was trying to tell him to do, and the man hadn't a clue what he was saying.
Long story short, I let him know the so-called Mexicans coming over here are only trying to provide for their families, and a lot of those who've just arrived are poor themselves working at jobs that pay low wages. I said they're just the latest scapegoats for the rich and powerful to use in their divide and conquer schemes. Before that, it was "the blacks are taking our jobs" or "the blacks are taking our scholarships, blah, blah, blah."
I concluded that the usual whaaaambulance theme is that somebody IN AMERICA is allegedly taking something that somebody else IN AMERICA feels they're entitled to. Strange how they don't give a damn that those OUTSIDE OF AMERICA are taking things that we are ALL entitled to. The corporate puppet-masters take great pains to keep the lizard brains from connecting the dots.
I'm sure my son's head was spinning when he left my room, but I had to set him straight.
This is a war for hearts and minds, folks. I thought it was just the adults, but the sewage is seeping into our children. I don't care if they don't want to listen. You sit them down and nip it in the bud. Don't let those poison seeds take root.
I meant to write this diary earlier yesterday, but I was so angry I had to wait until I could find the right words. The children truly are the future, and the way we shape it is through them.
One thing's for damn sure. I wish MSNBC would pull that disgusting immigration commercial.