Racism Isn’t Accidental

If anybody thinks that laws like the one recently signed in Arizona targeting undocumented immigrants is something solely born out of local citizens’ frustrations with border violence — then, think again!

These laws or bills making their way around the various state legislatures usually can be traced back to one source, and it’s a source that doesn’t even live in that state.

For example, the punitive Arizona law going after undocumented immigrants claims it’s doing so as a measure of keeping the borders safe and combating border violence. Newsflash: Violence is not up on the Arizona border.

FBI Uniform Crime Reports and statistics provided by police agencies, in fact, show that the crime rates in Nogales, Douglas, Yuma and other Arizona border towns have remained essentially flat for the past decade, even as drug-related violence has spiraled out of control on the other side of the international line. Statewide, rates of violent crime also are down.

But that doesn’t matter to people like Kris Kobach, a Kansas attorney who helped Arizona legislators draft SB 1070 and has plans on helping other state legislators do the same.

In his “misguided” attempts to right the wrongs of 9/11, when at the time he worked with former Attorney General John Ashcroft, Kobach has exhibited tunnel vision when it comes to eradicating the presence of undocumented immigrants.

The problem with Kobach’s vision is that he can’t see the bigger picture, nor does he seem to care, of how legal Latino immigrants and citizens are caught up in the dragnet of enforcement as well.

Unfortunately, he’s not alone.

There has long been another man who has been even more determined as Korbach to reduce the presence of people of color in this country.

His name is John Tanton and his background is really pretty remarkable in that a guy who literally came out of nowhere to gain influence after creating several different organizations identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as being hate groups.

The element that is not widely known is the role these groups have in influencing the kind of racially charged legislation making state rounds. Because it’s important to know this background and understand that this kind of racism doesn’t just bubble up out of frustration with nonexistent border violence, the following video gives the kind of background information most people don’t even realize.

While it’s easy to ignore or dismiss this explanation, at the least, it must be considered when seriously analyzing the plethora of anti-immigrant legislation being introduced and/or hinted at for introduction across the nation’s state capitols.

It’s a backstory that everyone needs to know and understand and then make up their own minds as to: Is it the right thing to do?

Marisa Trevino is Publisher of LatinaLista and President of Trevino TodaMedia, LLC

www.latinalista.net