"protocols of the elders of aztlan"

[sophiaserpentia]

First we see ideologues like Pat Buchanan accusing Hispanic immigrants, particularly undocumented immigrants, of undermining and threatening to destroy American culture and civilization.

And we have a federal government proclaiming that non-citizens can be detained indefinitely with no legal recourse.  At present there are still avenues of recourse for INS detainees, but how long will it be before immigration enforcers start taking to heart the claim that undocumented immigrants are a 'threat'... particularly as Hispanics more loudly protest the way they are being singled out?

And now we have a federal government that is rounding up Hispanics by the thousands and shipping them to detention camps.

Is anyone else alarmed by this?

Comments

[lassiter.livejournal.com]

Standard ploy - "Look over there at what THOSE people are doing!!!" while you're being relieved of your wallet, watch, and shoelaces.

If the stock market undergoes a real crash, watch the attempt to blame it all on illegal Mexican gay terrorists coming to America to get married, steal "our" jobs, and blow up buildings.

Of course, the USAPATRIOT Act and such ilk have made the stakes much higher for this year's set of scapegoats.

[brontosproximo.livejournal.com]

Too bad all those Japanese internment camps were bulldozed for condos.

<:/sarcasm>

[liminalia.livejournal.com]

DeKalb IL has a defunct pipe organ factory that was used as a German POW camp in WWII. It's still available. I suspect finding space for lockups will not be a problem. Look at the exposes on those camps they were going to put Katrina survivors in.

[canonfire.livejournal.com]

Was it the old MEChA defense? 'Cause I've heard that for years in Tejas.

[fizzyland.livejournal.com]

What's that?

[canonfire.livejournal.com]

Enjoy.

I'm too lazy/tired to post anything of merit.

follow the money

[alobar.livejournal.com]

"the influx of incarcerated immigrants has the added business value of providing prisons with a cheap labor force; since the Department of Homeland Security restricts non-citizen prisoners from earning more than a $1 a day, the prisons get maintenance workers and janitors for a pittance."

http://www.utne.com/webwatch/2007_288/news/12455-1.html

[pooperman.livejournal.com]

In Europe, there is a sense of cultural identity with language and history. The United States pretty much lacks this, and people like Buchanan like to try to create, out of thin air, this mythology that an American cultural identity exists.

We lack common experiences here, but I'm wondering if a growing portion of our population is starting to identify with a common experience that is becoming ever-more common: incarceration.

Take a look at the stats. What is the probability of some person (statistically, a man, since the prison population contains like 15 times more men than women) spending at least, say, 6-months behind bars sometime between birth and death? What common images, words, mythos, archetypes are developed there? How long until a majority of people in this country identify, culturally, with our prison systems?

You're Definitely On To Something...

[publius-aelius.livejournal.com]

...because many of my students dress (the most important thing to adolescents) as if they're afficianados of prison culture. The sagging, baggy clothes that rebellious, testosterone-filled males favour are actually celebrations of prison "style."