(ThyBlackMan.com) The current controversy over the immigration policies of President Donald Trump prompted me to engage in some rather deep thinking and introspection vis-à-vis the issue of immigration. In context, of course, this means illegal immigration and border control and the effects thereof in recent decades, which obviously played a significant part in Mr. Trump’s election.
When I was a young man, I actually thought I might be something of a racist, and quite honestly, I didn’t have a problem with that. Leaving aside certain popular fallacious definitions of racism (such as the notion that nonwhites can’t effectively be racists since they have no power to actualize their racism), my outlook at that time had
largely to do with the immigrants with whom I was acquainted. Since I’d grown up in the metropolitan New York City area, of course I had been exposed to innumerable immigrants since my birth. I’ve even had immigrants among my relatives, both legal and illegal.
As a young adult, I found that I didn’t particularly care for most of the foreigners with whom I interacted on a regular basis, most of whom were from Third World nations and had come to America fairly recently. Whether scientists or taxicab drivers, I observed that their attitudes were vastly different from those of the immigrant children I’d encountered years earlier.
While the latter and their parents were industrious, gracious and generally positive regardless of socioeconomic standing, those immigrants I encountered in young adulthood had a markedly different deportment. They felt entitled; many were disrespectful of America and Americans in general; and many subscribed to the “America Sucks” culture that was being fostered by the political left with great vigor.
In my ignorance, I wondered why these people were even present, why they were being imported in such vast numbers if all they were interested in doing was enriching themselves or subsisting off of the teat of our entitlement programs. It was only with the wisdom of age that I was able to objectively qualify their worldview, the dynamic behind their presence, and determine that my view of them wasn’t really racist at all.
I don’t have to tell regular readers of this column that neither their viewpoints nor the immigration initiatives of our president are based in racist or racialist doctrine. This is common sense, plain logic that is nevertheless lost on rank-and-file liberals. The astroturf protests against Trump’s policies (those concerning immigration being just one among these) are wholly calculated and defy logical analysis, their premises originating in erroneous and flawed notions of compassion (or more accurately, emotional blackmail).
Manipulating people and these ideas is something at which progressive leaders are so adept that even conservative pundits and politicos find themselves stymied; often, they don’t even consider advancing the simplest and most effective arguments against their opponents’ fallacies. Thus, liberals find themselves free to characterize anyone’s desire to maintain our borders and a sane immigration policy as racist.
Obviously this hits home for me as a person of color; in context, it is impossible for me to see millions of people subscribing to this sort of political dogma as anything less than mentally retarded in the literal sense. Granted that there is a whole lot being proffered at present relative to our president’s policies that is similarly inane, but obviously the issue of immigration and border control was key among voter concerns, and so was central to Trump’s campaign.
Had this not been the case, Donald Trump as a candidate wouldn’t have bothered with it, since his campaign was almost entirely driven by issues voters – not think tanks nor survey companies – prioritized. In theory, Donald Trump could have remained as unconcerned with the ramifications of illegal immigration as any Washington insider; he’s a fabulously wealthy man and could insulate himself from the effects other Americans experience as a result of illegal immigration.
So what am I getting at? Well, a couple of things. One is that I am obviously no more or less a racist than I was when I was 20. I don’t care what my immigrant coworker or taxicab driver looks like, or talks like, or smells like – I just don’t appreciate those of them who choose to crap on my country.
Another is that we all have choices here. If one holds to the idea that America is wretched, they can get the hell out. There is nothing preventing anyone, citizen or immigrant, from pursuing greener pastures elsewhere. Case in point: Some of the illustrious, brain-dead celebrities whom Americans so ardently worship – like Madonna and Johnny Depp – have done just that. So have a few people of far less means whom I grew up with in New York. Buh-bye. Good luck. Hope that works out for ya …
While I certainly don’t respect the shallow, uninformed worldview of such people, I can certainly respect their choice to act according to their values more than those who choose to do nothing more than chant from the sidelines how much you and I and Donald Trump suck.
Written by Erik Rush
Official website; http://www.erikrush.com