First off, let me admit that I have used the word “redneck.” For whatever reason, this term (an obvious racial prejorative) seems to have enough cultural connotations to remove it from outright slur. The fact that many Southern whites wield it like a badge of honor also helps lessen its impact.
But I’ve never called anyone a cracker. The difference, of course, is completely arbitrary, and I don’t expect plaques from humanitarian organizations to award my great, great sensitivity.
But it seems to me that if I’m going to ask white people to refrain from verbal hooliganism, it’s only fair that I don’t turn around and refer to an Anglo person as white trash because I’m, you know, dark-skinned and stuff.
Notice that I’m not afraid to use these terms, like my head will explode if I say, “gringo.” Let’s not get hypersensitive. But it would indeed be sad if I thought I was being edgy by calling someone a honky. That’s not daring or insightful. It’s just lazy and dismissive.
By the way, before accusations of political correctness are hurled about, let me head them off by pleading for the long-overdo retirement of that term. Those two words haven’t meant anything since the late 1990s, and even then they were empty sloganeering that could be (and were) applied to everything from liberal orthodoxy to angry stand-up routines to the New York Jets offensive line. Nothing is politically correct or incorrect anymore.
In any case, I offer a deal. I will try to avoid terms that could be interpreted as a slam on white people in general (eg, the aforementioned cracker, honky, etc) if Anglos refrain from attempts to prove their hipness or street cred by throwing around the S and W words like confetti.
It’s perhaps unclear what we’re talking about. So let me clarify.
The S word is spic.
The W word is wetback.
Neither of these terms is as vivid, as ugly and jarring, as the dreaded N word, which is powerful enough to provoke discomfort even in its euphemistic form (when it comes to dehumanizing insults, blacks have the advantage, or disadvantage, over Hispanics).
But I’m proposing this because I’ve noticed that some white people seem to think these terms are harmless, or even endearing. I’m sorry to tell you that they are not. In fact, calling a Latino a spic is a damn good way to get your ass kicked all over the place, even as you shout, “But I’m down with brown! I’m down with brown!” in appeasement.
In essence, I’m providing a community service by pointing out that these words are not ok. Trust me, it might help you avoid a tense, culturally awkward moment. And we all have enough of those anyway.
So do we have a deal?
March 7th, 2011 on 3:54 pm
There are 12 million illegal immigrants in the USA.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN0731888120080208
People are complaining about how they take jobs, don’t pay taxes, break the law, and burden social services, but almost no one is doing anything about the problem. Some of the solutions that have been proposed so far are unconstitutional and illegal. Arizona has a law that allows the police to racial profile and stop people simply because they look like immigrants. This law is discriminatory and violates the Fourth Amendment prohibition against illegal search and seizure without probable cause. What does an illegal immigrant look like anyway? Another solution to stop illegal immigration is to deny the children of illegal immigrants citizenship and clearly violates the 14th Amendment that states that all persons born or naturalized in the United States are citizens. What would make someone more American than being born here? Other solutions against illegal immigration that have been enacted by towns forbid illegals from renting homes, but violate the Fair Housing Act prohibition against discrimination.
Since many of the suggestions to deal with illegal immigrants so far are illegal, I propose
the following better solutions:
1. Add immigration agents to patrol the border.
2. Require all employers to use E-verify to verify that all employees are legal.
3. Increase fines on employers who hire illegal immigrants.
4. Do not allow illegal immigrants to have drivers’ licenses. Do not make the lives of
illegals easier or reward them for breaking the law.
5. Call the police if you see someone playing loud music, stealing, vandalizing property, drinking or urinating in public, doing drugs, littering, loitering, or illegally keeping chickens in the city. Regardless of whether the lawbreaker is or isn’t an illegal immigrant, the broken windows theory of crime says that small crimes lead to bigger crimes and less respect for the law. Why have a law if it is not enforced? Someone who violates the law by living in a country illegally is probably not going to care about obeying other laws. Any illegal immigrant who is arrested should be deported. If illegal immigrants are hassled enough maybe they will leave on their own or at least try to fit in a little more. I grew up in a small Midwestern town and I have seen the bad effects of illegal immigration myself.
http://www.gctelegram.com/News/Blotter-5-21-08
6. Build more illegal immigration detention centers and deport the illegal immigrants that are here. Maybe deporting millions of illegal immigrants is not practical, but we can deport more. If the USA can put on a man on the moon, why can’t we defend our borders?
Of course reducing illegal immigration costs money so I suggest increasing sin taxes on alcohol and tobacco, reducing the wages of government workers, cutting welfare spending, ending government farm subsidies, decreasing the defense budget, and eliminating less important programs like Amtrack, PBS, and the National Endowment for the Arts. We should stop extending unemployment benefits, deport the illegal immigrants, reduce legal worker visa quotas, and require unemployed Americans to take jobs in farming, meatpacking plants, construction, landscaping, and hotels. If 15 million Americans are out of work, 12 million illegal immigrants shouldn’t be taking up the jobs.
The United States is a nation of immigrants, but these are modern times with rules and regulations. Immigrants need to respect these rules. The USA does not have room for all the people in the world. Do you want America to have a population of 1 billion like China?
We don’t need new laws, we just need to enforce the existing laws.
Write your representatives, contact the media, and talk with your friends and family. Tell them that we have had enough of illegal immigrants. Nothing will change if nothing is done and the government won’t care if you don’t care.
http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml