Just over two weeks ago, conspiracies about a caravan of brown-skinned people invading the U.S. sent a homicidal racist into a synagogue killing 11 people.
In a rampage described as among the deadliest against the Jewish community in the United States, the assailant stormed into the Tree of Life Congregation, where worshipers had gathered in separate rooms to celebrate their faith, and shot indiscriminately into the crowd, shattering what had otherwise been a peaceful morning.
Fear of immigrants and immigration in the US is a very real phenomenon, but it’s not an irrational fear of MS-13 gangs roaming the streets looking for white girls to rape that scares these pathetic people. These insecure white people know deep down that the bus of brown kids headed to the border isn’t full of secret terrorists, gangsters, or whatever boogeyman they can imagine. No, it’s not gangs and crime that keeps them up at night trolling the internet wild-eyed.
What they fear is what just happened in the midterm elections. Accomplished Americans, many of them POC, won elections all over the country. Smart, dedicated folks who worked their asses off, showed up in their districts, and won the voters’ confidence. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez unseated powerful Dem. Joseph Crowley while working as a bartender. She is set to become the youngest and most progressive member of the House of Representatives. To Chump voters, this is terrifying. Racist xenophobes don’t live in constant fear of attack by a brown person; what they truly fear, what wakes them up in a cold sweat, is being outworked and beaten by POC. They hate affirmative action because it levels the playing field, increasing competition; they hate DACA because it gives opportunities to promising young immigrants who might just run for Congress some day.
I taught at two California State Universities, both predominantly white, and I what I saw transpire over a twenty year career bears out in this year’s election. Immigrants and POC still believe in the American dream. DREAMER’s are the first in their families to go to college, and they simply work harder than most. Unlike many of their privileged white classmates, these students hold down multiple jobs, help support their families, and still find time to study and attend classes. When they graduate, they change the course of their entire families, inspiring younger members to stay in school, work hard, etc. These young people will not be following their parents into the fields, and that’s what is so damn scary to the bigots. Immigrants in America is one thing when they’re pushing a lawn mower or changing your hotel bedding, but when they run for congress and win, well that’s just enough to need a new pack of Depends.
I just want to tell these frightened white people that it’s okay, that there’s nothing to be afraid of. Look at that face—does she look like she means you harm? No, of course not. Put down the weapons and take a deep breath.
I know your kids will have to work harder in school and stay off the opiates, but they can still live the dream too. Believe!