An Unpopular Argument

NEW YORK - As the fight over immigration reform drags on, an ominous undercurrent to the debate — racism — is becoming more pronounced. From muttered ethnic slurs to violent attacks, activists say an anti-immigrant backlash seems to be growing in America's neighborhoods and workplaces. A few political leaders have called proposed immigration measures before Congress "racist." "The climate has gotten demonstrably worse and it is racially charged," said Devin Burghart of the Center for New Community, which tracks anti-immigrant activity. "It's not simply a debate about immigration policy. It's about race and national identity and who and what we are as Americans."

Well ... who are we, exactly? We are a country that shows television programs like the ALMA Awards tonight. The ALMA Awards are sort of a Hispanic Golden Globes - as if the Golden Globes excludes Hispanics. It doesn't, of course, so why segregate a race with a spotlight on their glory and not everyone elses? Isn't that why minorities got upset with us in the first place?

We are also given the Miss Black America Pageant, which is the black version of the Miss America pageant, which also does not prohibit blacks from entering.

There are publications like Jet Magazine and entire network called Black Entertainment Television, as though People Magazine and NBC do not have sufficient exposure. There are two Spanish language channels on my cable. I do not speak Spanish.

The reason all those things exist is because there is a market for them. Minorities feel suppressed. They feel that their best interests are not being served in the traditional markets, so they have made their own. We cannot act together, so some of us have decided to act alone. It seems to me that it is the concept upon which this country was founded. So, perhaps the "racist society" remark is a bit late in coming.

The point is, we are a racist society. Each of us alone makes the effort to treat everyone the same, but somehow, society drops the ball. Not being a Sociologist, I cannot make the connection, but the forces of ignorance must be more powerful than the forces of good, because a lot of people think the way I do on the subject, and even though we have legislated other emotional issues, no amount of legislation seems to be enough to make people's attitudes change.

So, we will continue to be segregated as a society, albeit less so because many of the offending actions are now illegal. They treated a symptom, but the disease goes merrily onward. Why it is a news story is beyond me.