Defining Racism

By Dr. Henry Flores, NewsTaco

People often wonder what my fascination is with racism.  Y, pues, pienso que that’s a good question except that my answer is one that no one wishes to hear because what I have to say is what ordinary folks don’t want to hear said publicly.  Oh, we speak of it “behind closed doors” or over cervezas frías but never in public.

A reporter of, what I consider, the best daily newspaper in the country interviewed me once after a well-known voting rights trial (the vato had sat through the entire trial!) that there had to be something beyond racism involved in consciously structuring an election system so the voting power of Latinos was diminished.  “I mean were the policy makers, all Anglos, just being mean?” he asked.  “No” I responded.  The Anglo decision makers weren’t just being mean or making their decisions simply because we are Mexicans.  I told the reporter it’s really about the bigger picture.  Restructuring the electoral system is really part of the struggle for controlling the political system.

Behind the political struggle is something even bigger, scientists call it a frame of reference.  The immigration debate, congressional redistricting, and voter identification are issues that reflect desperate attempts at trying to maintain a social order that doesn’t exist and never did but in the minds of conservatives and extreme right-wing thinkers it did.  Let me expand on this for a moment if you will.

A frame of reference is how individuals orient themselves to the social and political world around them in such a way that it makes sense to them.  We all have a frame of reference or else we couldn’t make voting or almost any daily decisions even.

If you view immigration reform, congressional redistricting and the need to have strict voter identification laws from the perspective of those who oppose reform, gerrymander districts to minimize the effect of Latinos or champion the need to provide official documentary evidence that one is a citizen before being allowed to vote then you can understand the political aspect of these issues better.

If I wanted to oppose immigration reform I would do so because I would be afraid of what large numbers of new immigrants, who can’t even speak English, threatened to do to our culture.

If I wanted to restructure congressional districts in a way that dilutes or weakens the voting power of Latinos or other racial minorities I would so because I would be afraid of what those people would do once they were elected to office.

And, if I wanted to support a strict voter identification law where I would have to provide government sanctioned proof of citizenship before being allowed to register I would do so because I feared that non-citizens don’t understand our system of government and would probably cast an ill-advised and/or uneducated vote.

In general, I am asking that you understand opposition to immigration reform, more diversity in redistricting and stricter voter identification from the protectionist, for lack of a better term, point of view.  These people really feel that they take public policy positions protecting their country, their culture and their language!  Those of us who want more open immigration reform, legislative representation more representative of our populations and greater suffrage rights and protections (don’t get me started on any of these) are seen as unpatriotic and trying to tear down a way of life that has endured for several hundred years.

Lo que pasa, por favor, is that the position of the protectionists is also racist.  You cannot place restrictions on immigration without being anti-Latino (of all national origins); you cannot be a restrictive gerrymanderer without being anti-Latino; and, you cannot be in favor of restrictive voter registration without being anti-Latino.  In your own mind and in your public statements you may be saying something that appears and sounds objective but substantively you’re making racist statements and implementing racist policies.

The frame of reference of the anti-immigrant, pro-Republican activists and politicians, then, is fundamentally and substantively racist.  Those who try to speak against extremely racist aspects of the policies, from among the protectionist community, are silenced through intimidation or the fear of losing monetary and political support.  In the end, though, this is a losing perception and position to take.  In the end, protectionists will be seen and defined as mean, evil, out of touch with reality and only concerned with maintaining control of the political structure.  They will not be seen as concerned with the welfare of our nation but of only their little corner of the world.