It

Al’s
Loupe                                                                Read Spanish Version

It’s
the politics of winning… at any cost

By
Alvaro F. Fernandez
alfernandez@the-beach.net

I
spent two days last week in Georgia. It’s a beautiful state. The
weather was knocking on autumn’s door — little humidity and cool
temperatures. It felt wonderful and refreshing, especially when you
come from the heat and humidity of Miami.

Georgia
is also a horrible place to live in if you are an undocumented
immigrant — especially a Latino. It’s not even easy for Latino
U.S. citizens. With their deep southern roots, Georgia Dixiecrats and
the nouveau republicans have suddenly turned to this wave of new
residents coming from south of the border to express their
deep-seated bigotry.

As
one member of the organization Georgia Latino Alliance for Human
Rights (GLAHR) sadly told me, “We are the new blacks.” That’s a
strong statement, I told her. She then took me to see her office
bulletin board. “This fax came in earlier today,” she pointed.
“Worthless cockroaches” and other more juicy insults were used by
the sender. There were also veiled threats. No one signed the hate
letter.

I
heard more horror stories that night. There is even fear of driving.
“When a patrullero
(a policeman in vehicle) pulls up beside me, I get nervous,” said a
GLAHR member.

“They
will pull you over for any little thing,” said Aaron Ortiz, an
attorney, who defends many for “driving while being a Latino… And
if your papers are not in order, or there is even a hint of it…
they’ll throw you in jail.” It gives them more time to check the
person and his family members and friends closely. He recounted a
case he’s working on, a U.S. citizen, who came before a judge who
asked why the defendant did not speak English.

“And
what does that have to do with anything?” I asked. “Exactly my
point,” said Ortiz-Santo. The person, an elderly woman, must now
return in January and was warned by the judge that she better speak
English the next time she’s in his court…

“They
can’t wait to deport you,” I was told.

Raids
at businesses and homes, family members randomly deported, young
people not allowed to continue their studies, abuse, insults and much
more — common every day occurrences.

The
Jena 6

Last
week news reports informed us of the Jena 6 case in Louisiana. Six
black students in a Jena high school beat up a white student who
ended up in a hospital.

The
black students were charged with attempted murder. One is still in
jail. All but one will be tried as adults. The hospitalized white
student left the same day and attended a party that night.

There
have been a series of incidents over the past couple of years
involving white and black students in that same high school. The
incident which led to the white student getting beat up dealt with a
“white tree.” It’s what they called a tree under which the
white students would sit.

Black
students asked the authorities if they too could sit under the tree.
Having been told “yes,” they did so the following day. A day
later, two or three (there are differing stories as to the number)
nooses were found hanging from the “white tree.” Three nooses, I
found out, is a symbol of the Ku Klux Klan.

The
“white tree” incident culminated in violence and then the march
on Jena where thousands gathered from all over the country in support
of the black students.

The
toll of divide and conquer

There
are many who refer to Karl Rove, President George W. Bush’s top
political advisor and former deputy chief of staff, as a genius. His
formula was simple. He’d divide and conquer. Rove was an expert at
winning elections by way of “wedge issues” — situations and
circumstances with the ability to polarize people and communities.
Once divided, it made the voters much easier to categorize. Once
categorized, then Rove would go after the specific voters who best
fit his candidate’s needs.

Sounds
simple, doesn’t it?

Because
of it, along the way and over a short period of time, we seem to have
taken a giant leap backward. Think gay marriage and abortion, red
states versus blue states, sex education or waiting till you marry –
all issues that Rove used at one time or another to win elections for
George W. Bush.

Immigration,
terrorism, fear, the cost of repairing health care: all issues that
are also classified and compartmentalized in order to win elections.

Along
the way, Latinos in Georgia and North Carolina and so many other
states are degraded, insulted, treated inhumanely, and in some cases,
murdered. Black and white students in Jena, Miami, New York, and so
many other cities, grow to hate, and oft times, hurt each other. All
because of a politics, a system that empowers those who too often win
by methods we should have left behind long ago — a system which
fosters and perpetuates racism, prejudice and violence.

In
the meantime, Karl Rove and his ilk continue to look for the “wedge
issues” which assure electoral victories at whatever the cost. 

Oh
the times… they do remind me of the “burn baby burn” period
back in the 1960s — a period in our history, I had hoped, was in the
past.