Language of the Absurd

Despite its ungainly headline, AP ran an excellent story about the absurdity of some Mississippi politicians’ anti-immigrant rhetoric, delivered just in time for the election cycle.

“Mississippi candidates have made illegal immigration a top campaign issue with no shortage of angles this election cycle,” the article, authored by Sheila Byrd, begins.

What the article shows, without outright saying, is that most of these "angles" include the same thing: absurdist, anti-immigrant rhetoric. Since the vast majority of new immigrants in Mississippi are Latino, “immigrant” in this context is a code word for “Hispanic” or “Latino.” As the AP article points out, much of the political "anti-immigration" language is race-based. In other words, it's business as usual—with a new shift in preserving the status quo.

Phil Bryant, the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor, recently commissioned a report attempting to link immigrants with crime, though he concedes no actual link exists. In the report, Bryant writes, “[T]here is limited or no comprehensive data available about criminal aliens." The solution to this non-problem? A “comprehensive safety plan” intended to combat illegal immigrant crime, of whose existence no one can prove. It sounds like the Red Scare to me.

In the AP article, Marty Wiseman, director of the Stennis Institute of Government at Mississippi State University, compared such language more directly to the race-baiting politicking ubiquitous in the 50s and 60s:

"You go back and look at some of the old editions of newspapers in the '50s and '60s and you've got all this language relating to 'our Southern way of life.' Now, we have the new millennium version of that in 'Hispanics coming looking for jobs.’”

Meanwhile, Republican Secretary of State candidate Delbert Hosemann continues to advocate for a voter ID system to combat illegal aliens, the same tactic politicians used against blacks in this state. The AP article makes a hilarious, and surprisingly bold, point:

And Delbert Hosemann, the Republican nominee for secretary of state, said he'll keep illegal immigrants from voting in state elections. It seems to be a hollow campaign promise since there's no proof that an illegal immigrant has cast a ballot in state elections.

The JFP has gone after the Republican Secretary of State candidates (including the defeated Sen. Mike Lott) for hopping on this wedge-issue bandwagon, going so far as to endorse no one for the Republican ticket in our 2007 Primary Guide Issue:

The JFP is disturbed by the anti-immigration rhetoric by Rep. Mike Lott and Delbert Hosemann, who says he wants to keep ‘illegal’ immigrants and deceased voters off the voter rolls. This position needs to focus more on getting new voters to register and turn out, not obsess about overblown problems that are used as political wedge issues.

Race-based politics is a dangerous thing. Let’s hope Mississippi voters can prevent its elected officials from repeating the mistakes of their predecessors—and hold them accountable for spurious sideshows like Voter ID and a “criminal alien” task force. Both of these measures fuel fear and hatred, and waste money combating problems that don’t exist. Now, that’s a 21st Century answer to the Domino Theory if I ever heard one—rivaled, of course, by the War on Iraq.