Trump is still smiling. His poll numbers have gotten another little bump as a result of yet another company, Macy's, disassociating themselves after he made racist remarks about Mexicans, among others.But there aren't any real worries that Trump will actually get anywhere near the presidency. Some are saying he'll never disclose his finances as required. Therefore he's nothing, politically speaking. And he's probably too dumb anyway. Yet, I've thought that before and been wrong - twice in a row.
But the thing that gives me some satisfaction is that the people who work for him are losing jobs and being hurt by his (ethno)racism. Sorry to be callous about it, but I know that most people won't care a lick about racism until it bites them on the ass in a very real and personal way. And nothing is more real to some people than their money.
That's why NBC and Macy's have made the decisions they have. Racism is ultra-unpopular right this second, with the shootings of unarmed black people, confederate flag outrage, and the resulting church burnings.
While some people will become more deeply aware of racism as a result Donald, as employer, losing their jobs for them. Others will remain so dedicated to ignorance that they won't see racism as anything but political correction-ness. But a small percentage those who lose work or money because of Donald's big mouth might give a little more thought as to who they are willing to work for in the future -- whether they truly acknowledge racism or not. Weakening the richer, job providing racists is a good thing. And if we can tag a few more public figures in the same way as we've tagged big mouth, we might able to make racism real to yet a few more people.
More important than the people that Trump might directly impact are the TV Networks like NBC (who also dumped Trump) who are also on guard as to what their representatives are allowed to spout about racial-others.
From where I sit the fallout from Donald Trumps ethnoracist tirade seems like win-win-win. Only a small step? Yes. But a bunch of small steps eventually turn into miles. I'll take it.
But do not think that I am naive. I know that illegal immigration is more than an abstract problem for the black community.
As sorry as I feel for illegal immigrants who are fleeing various situations, as sure as I am that I would likely be one of them given the same set of circumstances, I also know that non-white illegal immigrants are deliberately allowed into this country as a source of cheap labor. And this cheap labor is used to maintain a permanent underclass where black people are heavily over-represented.This is why "illegal immigrants," code for "Mexicans," are only verbally --and only verbally-- attacked during voting season. They serve as scapegoats that solidify the white racist vote for the conservative party during voting season.
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| A real street sign near the Mexican Border |
Not only is illegal immigration practically a non-issue during the off-season, republican Arnold Schwarzenegger even went so far as to have a special election in order to get driver's licenses for illegal immigrants. "The Terminator" wasn't successful in getting Miss Anne's mammy-- excuse me--Miss Anne's nanny a driver's license. But he tried his hardest to get illegal immigrants what passes for legal identification most places in this country. And for what? So the nanny can get up and go to Beverly Hills at 3AM on a moments notice if need be?
Clearly, being silent in the face of someone like Donald Trump screaming about "those people" will not fix our end of the immigration problem, driving wages down for our poor. And I'm proud to say many of us haven't been silent about Trump's racist spewing.
But I think I do know what will fix the illegal immigration problem for 99% of us. All we have to do is overthrow the 1% and overhaul the our immigration policy so that it favors people coming in at the bottom instead of at the top.
That is, I'm thinking that people who have advanced degrees in other countries should stay in those other countries or go elsewhere for the most part. If our immigration policies are reformed so that legal immigrants coming in at the bottom are given preferential treatment while eliminating a lot of those coming in at the top, then U.S. born citizens at the bottom will be needed at the top. And that means our public school system will become important again. Affordable college tuition will also become important. If the demand for workers with advanced degrees is great enough, which makes college more affordable for more people, then school loan debt will also be managed.
In an immigration system where new legal people are coming in at the socioeconomic bottom, the U.S. born poor start getting sucked upward with legal immigrants sliding in at the bottom to push them up from below. Then the next set of legal Mexican and African immigrants sliding in at the bottom coming will push push both the previous set of legal immigrants upward AND the U.S poor, in the layer above, upward again.
And when a higher percentage of the inner city poor are legal, they will collectively be able to be more demanding. They will Unionize. They will demand better conditions at school and at work and they will vote. They will expect bang for their tax bucks. And people with more hope, collectively speaking, will demand better behavior from police departments.
You may notice that my immigration idea is not a new idea. "Give us your tired, your poor, your hungry" is how America worked for white immigrants for decades and decades according to what I learned in elementary school. That means this can work again.
And, I'm thinking immigration probably needs to be gradually slowed down to a trickle at the top first.
Remember!
White racist voters
are always the reason
for illegal immigrant bashing season
- not immigration reform,
- not spread of disease
- not tax drain
- not safety
The top one-percent has created a no-win competition at the bottom, between the U.S. born poor and illegal immigrant poor. And they are trying to use racism to maintain the status quo. But racism is a doubled edged sword that always manages to swing back and cut us all. Some people, the especially the poor white variety, do not seem to realize that they are bleeding too. The white poor needs immigration policy humanely overhauled as badly as anybody else. But they've been tricked into looking at those-people as the source of problems instead of looking at the top one-percent, mostly comprised of their-own-people as the source of problems.
We truly have to decide to whether we are going to hang together or hang separately.
Isn't it funny that having empathy and compassion for those that have the least, for illegal immigrants, is the path forward for us all? I wonder if that's not always the answer to most problems.
Prayers. Pray em if you got em. Humanity doesn't seem built to share in this way. But I really think that a lot more empathy is what it's going to take to move forward on racism and classism, both.
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