by guest contributor dnA, originally published at Too Sense
I thought Tom Tancredo was running for President of the United States, not President of the Aryan Nation.
Oh I forgot. When it comes to running for the Republican nomination, this year, there really isn’t much difference.
brought to you by: lou “rape is fully legal in mexico” dobbs?
From Wikipedia:
“Tancredo was born in Denver, Colorado to Adeline Lombardi and Gerald Tancredo. Both sets of his grandparents immigrated from Italy.”
It takes just 2 generations to forget what it’s like to be vilified for your ethnicity or country of origin, eh? This man is a lemming.
Wow. Just wow.
First of all, while any logical American can express distaste at yet another bigoted nativist ad from TeamTancredo, I don’t think it helps to oppose his idiocy with hyperbole. “President of the Aryan Nation” DnA? Isn’t that a bit much?
Just to be clear: I don’t think that this ad’s fearmongering helps forge useful immigration policy in any sense. Still, I wonder if people like Rep. Tancredo exist because American voters today are much closer to his perspectives on illegal immigration than those of Ted Kennedy.
Presidential campaigns don’t use hatespeech unless they think it will help, and after several years of Lou Dobbs indoctrination, it’s increasingly difficult to find Americans who consider their nativism improper in public discourse. That ad would appeal to many of my neighbors here in Tucson, and telling them that they belong in the Aryan Nation only shuts down a needed discourse Americans should have posthaste.
You don’t have to be Ruben Navarrette, Jr. to oppose that ad, but before classifying it’s target audience as unrepentant racists (even when it’s true) perhaps it would be prudent to fact check the piece and itemize its faults before we light the torches.
I guess illegal immigrants aren’t worth the trouble. Look at the mess they caused when they started coming here in 1492.
That is horrific!
Ok, so 11 million undocumented immigrants should be punished, because a few of them are gang members and/or drug dealers and/or rapists.
Here’s an idea – why not just go after those individuals – immigrant or not, undocumented or not – and leave alone the other folks?
Oh, but wait, that wouldn’t be quite racist enough for Representative Tancredo – he’s got to blame every immigrant for the sins of a few!
obviously tancredos statements are way off-base and the sort of hyperbole that hurt the discussion on immigration and our countryin general. but unless you can back up your statement comparing everyone in the gop race to members of the white supremecist hate group aryan nation (c’mon really???), then you are committing the same offense as tancredo.
You don’t have to be Ruben Navarrette, Jr. to oppose that ad, but before classifying it’s target audience as unrepentant racists (even when it’s true) perhaps it would be prudent to fact check the piece and itemize its faults before we light the torches.
Really? You need me to itemize the lies in this propaganda video? I suppose that in 1942 you would have asked me to prove that Jews aren’t rats.
But I’ll humor you. Illegal immigrants commit fewer crimes than people who are born here. Most crimes are intraracial, not interracial, meaning that the people most victimized by the criminal minority are also Latino, not white as the ad makes it seem. Tancredo’s ad mentions MS-13, but not the Reagan funded, GOP supported Civil War that created them. That’s not just because as a Republican, St. Ronald is off limits, it’s also because it would hamper the central point of the ad, which is that Latino people commit crimes because they’re Latino. But that also fits nicely with the content of Tancredo’s previous ad, which was focused on terrorism. The recent narrative on race in the GOP doesn’t change much besides the names themselves. As with the mythical hordes of rapists and child molestors salivating at our border, Muslims are likewise crazed maniacs who want to take over the country and make you pray to Allah. There’s no explanation needed for why they’re so dangerous, they just are. Because they’re different, and therefore must be evil.
The race baiting strategy that the GOP has used for years to win elections was summarized perfectly by Lee Atwater in 1980, who summarized it like so:
Atwater: You start out in 1954 by saying, “Nigger, nigger, nigger.” By 1968 you can’t say “nigger” — that hurts you. Backfires. So you say stuff like forced busing, states’ rights and all that stuff. You’re getting so abstract now [that] you’re talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you’re talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is [that] blacks get hurt worse than whites. And subconsciously maybe that is part of it. I’m not saying that. But I’m saying that if it is getting that abstract, and that coded, that we are doing away with the racial problem one way or the other. You follow me — because obviously sitting around saying, “We want to cut this,” is much more abstract than even the busing thing, and a hell of a lot more abstract than “Nigger, nigger.”
2007: We’ve moved from “Nigger, Nigger,” to “ILLEGALZZZZ” and “TERRAISTS!!!”, but it’s really the same thing, they’re just using different words. And you want to tell me that the mildly abstract philosophy behind suggesting that people’s behavior is intrinsic to their race is not comparable to the more flagrant ideas of white nationalists?
I don’t think GOP voters really know what the game is, for the most part. But the candidates certainly do. And they’re still playing it.
Do I even want to know what the YouTube comments were like?
Illegal immigrants commit fewer crimes than people who are born here. Most crimes are intraracial, not interracial, meaning that the people most victimized by the criminal minority are also Latino, not white as the ad makes it seem. Tancredo’s ad mentions MS-13, but not the Reagan funded, GOP supported Civil War that created them. That’s not just because as a Republican, St. Ronald is off limits, it’s also because it would hamper the central point of the ad, which is that Latino people commit crimes because they’re Latino. … – DnA
You couldn’t have said all this in your original post, DnA?
Bottom line: Extreme rhetoric does not convince people who do not agree with you that your perspective presents good sense. Period. Tom Tancredo, with all his racist nativism, appeals to American bigotry against immigrants in general and Latinos in particular. Writing all those people off as undocumented Aryan Nation members shuts down the needed discussion as effectively as these racist Tancredo ads.
DnA, if you can’t moderate your rhetoric in order to appeal to rational, if often bigoted, Americans, then what makes you different than Tom Tancredo? Both of you at this point seem willing to present your orthodoxy on illegal immigration before outlining the facts that support your position.
It’s not humorous to detail your reasons for calling something racist. One preventable mistake anti-racist activists commit in my opinion involves calling people and situations ‘racist!’ without bothering to outline their reasons for that classification, as if the rest of us should either understand the supposed racism automatically, or happen to be too mainstream or too White to ever understand the inherent racism. It’s just not effective; before writing off anything as racist, a person should be able to explain why, without becoming defensive.
I can respect your opposition to the inhuman demonizing of Mexicans found in Tancredo’s ad much more knowing that you have a substantive perspective on his race-baiting tactics, rooted in your knowledge of the GOP’s Southern Strategy, DnA. But if you’d rather take it easy and spout uncritical throwaway lines calling this ad racist, get comfortable with that minority status, because you’ll never appeal to enough Americans to actually prevent the bigots from writing immigration policy.
DnA, the Lou Dobbs/ Tom Tancredo perspective on illegal immigration is winning with racism; when are you going to use reason to stop them?
I could not disagree more with James, or agree more with DnA. Tancredo is espousing Aryan Nations ideology with code words sprinkled in. There is no way you can “dialog” with that kind of poison, e.g. “but really, brown immigrants are only half child rapists!” The best strategy is to try and show people what this hatred really is, shine a harsh light on it and appeal to their better nature to reject it.
thanks Ike, for pointing out what immediately crossed my mind… “Tancredo.” that’s a good “american” name, idn’t it?
*smh*
DnA, the Lou Dobbs/ Tom Tancredo perspective on illegal immigration is winning with racism; when are you going to use reason to stop them?
I do every day on my blog, and relentlessly so. But I can’t contextualize every single post with the kind of detail that you’re asking for here, that’s what tags are for. Everything I said above I’ve said before. Something as flagrantly racist as this is throwaway post, because it doesn’t really require explanation. when someone says “immigrants rape children” I assume that most people can recognize that as not racist without assistance.
The ad is racist! I’m not going to refer to it as “racially problematic” or use some other moderating euphamism for something that is so blatantly racist at face value. The racism in the ad is as plain as his name. When Lou Dobbs claims immigrants “don’t pay taxes” I don’t mind proving that wrong, but if Lou Dobbs says something like “I’m tired of these wetbacks crawling across the border” I don’t think an exceptional amount of argument is required.
Lol. I meant “as racist without assistance.”
That’s a disgusting ad, but your last sentence was was a bit rude. Admittedly, I don’t know much about the Republican candidates since I’m not one, but I actually like Huckabee’s stance on immigrants.
Yeah, unlike the rudeness of racism.
Ads like this are meant to appeal to the worst dies of people, to the side that is fearful, scary, judgemental, intolerant, etc. TO fight ads like this and people like Tancredo you have to appeal to the side that is opposite of that. THe side that is welcoming, hospital, caring, wanting to try new things, etc.
I’m no fan of Tom Tancredo or Ron Paul, both of whom seem to me to cater to racists. But I see a clear distinction between them and the other GOP candidates who have strong views on border security and illegal immigration. I don’t even share those strong views. I approve something more like the Bush plan, although I think that particular way of doing it had too many problems. But there’s a difference between disagreeing with the majority of the GOP candidates and thinking that their view amounts to racism, a claim that I think goes way beyond the pale. Racism is a serious charge, and just because a position has some similarities to a different position that does cater to racism doesn’t make it a racist view and doesn’t mean it’s intended to cater to racism.
There are laws against certain ways of entering this country and remaining here. I’m not happy with the way those laws work right now. But that doesn’t mean it’s not the law, and I can understand why people think the law should be enforced. Thinking a law should be enforced is not racism. There are plenty of people who use the illegal immigration issue as a way to promote racist views without admitting it, and I do think Tancredo and Paul cater to those people. But the other candidates certainly have distanced themselves from that sort of thing, and I think more than one has supported a plan very much unlike Tancredo and Paul’s extremism (e.g. McCain supports a plan like the Bush one, and Giuliani allowed NYC to function as a sanctuary city).
It’s hard for me to excuse any attempt to portray the entire GOP lineup as racists because of this issue. The position itself ought to be distinguished from the motivations of a fairly worrisome group who happens to hold the position. The justifications for that position may be read by conspiracy theorists as code for some hidden message, but I think I have a much better insight into how conservatives think (because I am one) than most readers of this site (who are not). I do know what concerns most conservatives about this issue. It is simply that laws are being broken, and the government is turning a blind eye to it, allowing people to break the law and get away with things that hard-working immigrants can’t do, getting stiffed for following the law. That’s unjust, and it ought to be fixed. The fact that some prominent and vocal people have baser motives does not mean the entire GOP lineup shares those or is catering to those.
holy shit.
Carmen Van Kerckhove is co-founder and president of New Demographic, a diversity education firm. Her perspectives on race and diversity have been featured on CNN, MSNBC, NPR, USA Today, and The New York Times.
Offensive Remark of the Week: Tom Tancredo Crosses Lines You Didn't Know Existed Edition : The Curvature on 06 Dec 2007 at 4:34 pm
[...] Anyone who has watched a single Republican debate knows that Tom Tancredo is a raving, racist lunatic. You’d think that all of his bullshit about how immigrants are terrorists who steal “our” jobs and refuse to learn English would be bad enough. But now, via Racialicious, he has called undocumented immigrants child rapists. [...]