Well, I did ask for it.
At the end of Monday’s column on candidates stoking fear against immigrants, in a fit of madness, I made two requests.
First, these slurs are so general — someone somewhere doing something — that I invited xenophobic readers to send in specific stories of harm that actually happened to them, the real life incident that turned them against immigrants.
Then, impulsively, I asked readers who are not hot to deport millions of hard-working would-be Americans why they look upon immigration positively, despite the suffering immigrants’ presence supposedly brings.
That second request was a last-minute afterthought, which is ironic, because the response ran 5-to-1 pro-immigrant.
The original idea was to present the pros and cons in one column. But given the massive response, I decided to run the “Immigrants Bad” responses today and the “Immigrants Good” sampler on Friday.
Those opposed to immigration, as a rule, didn’t understand the assignment — share something that actually happened to you — instead, like Tom Howard, regurgitating Fox News talking points. He came in hot:
“I dislike the immigrants who break our law entering our country while thousands of immigrants doing it the right way waiting in line!
“I dislike immigrants that enter illegally, who are taking over hotels and schools and disrupting American life.
“I dislike immigrants that enter illegally and are bringing diseases and death to innocent Americans.”
There’s more, but you get the idea. This passion for the rule of law — breathtaking, really — is a common thread.
What struck me is how readily the bile is ingested, then regurgitated back. Consider this, from Tony Zucchero, a perennial correspondent:
“We are Not Talking Legal Immigrants! We are talking about Criminal Illegal Aliens! You Ready, here we go! The Following are Facts! They are Raping, Murdering, Child Trafficking, Selling Drugs, Stealing, Beating, Robbing, Abusing American Citizens, Overwhelming Our Health Care System, Hospitals, Schools, Our Welfare System, Lowering Wages, They are Eating Our Pets, They are Taking Away Benefits, Housing and Medical from Our U.S Veterans, They are Raising the Cost of Insurance because they are Given Drivers Licenses Without the Requirements that American Citizens Have to go through to Obtain a Drivers License, Record Number of Automobile Accidents …”
Again, there’s much more — people do go on.
Marc St. Pierre had a more distinctive take, evoking, for me, Michael Chabon’s novel “The Yiddish Policeman’s Union,” built on a daft real-life plan to settle the hated refugees of the 1930s, Jews, in Alaska. He wrote:
“OK — you sold me on accepting immigrants and they can produce tax revenue but they are a hassle. What if we, the good ol’ USA, embraced immigration and gave them a common area to grow, thrive and enjoy life. I’m talking about all that federal land in NM, AZ, TX.”
Yes, put them on Native-American reservations — consolidate America’s shame all in one place.
Some readers just yearn for a whiter America, though not in those exact words.
“… we are not the only country with this problem,” Donald Croker wrote. “Are all the people in the EU fighting to stop immigration from Africa and North Africa consumed with hate or don’t know what’s good for them? To me, the U.S. was a better country before the 1965 Immigration Act. Explain why 95% of immigrants in the last 30 years MUST be from Latin America and the Middle East. And why any attempt to limit legal or illegal immigration is fought by folks like you. I’ve often wondered what the founders would have thought of immigration trends the last 30 years. I’m thinking most would be appalled.”
Then again, slavery was just fine for most of the Founding Fathers, so perhaps their opinion has lost some currency over the years.
A few readers did offer specific, personal wrongs. One 93-year-old father had his house robbed by immigrants. Others feel threatened just by seeing them.
“Have you been downtown at night, and see the groups of men, majority Venezuelan, that congregate around the elevated CTA, particularly around Washington Library, and also the West Loop Lake St. station?” asks Steve Puszkiewicz of Chicago.
Space allows me to share only a few. Let’s close with this thought, from my friend, Professor Bill Savage over at Northwestern University. He has an observation that I believe is relevant here: Members of minority groups are forced to represent their entire groups — an immigrant doing something wrong indicts ALL immigrants — while members of the majority get to be individuals. That does not strike me as fair.
Anyway, Friday we will hear from a very different group of readers, living in an entirely different world.