Why Not Believe Them?

Source: The Statesmen

Michael Richards’ frenzied meltdown on stage at the Laugh Factory; black firefighter Tennie Pierce’s charges of endemic racism in the Los Angeles Fire Department; the NYPD unloading 50 rounds into three unarmed black men; 10 black teens and preteens on trial for hate crimes in Long Beach, Calif., after a savage attack on three white women.

Race relations in America have taken center stage, and once again the smoldering fault lines have been highlighted as a predominantly black and white affair. That paradigm may provide a comfortably familiar dynamic for activists, elected officials and the media to play off, but it conceals the new reality — and the danger — of the deepening racial polarization on America’s streets.

Some of the most stridently racial rhetoric these days is not being heard from blacks or whites, but Latinos. From activists to students to professionals, Latinos stoke ethnic anger as they pander to crowds with stereotypes and racially charged language.

At a protest in Escondido, Calif., in October, organizer Fernando Suarez de Solar of Aztec Warriors for Peace whipped a crowd into a frenzy outside City Hall after the council passed an ordinance requiring landlords to verify the legal residency of their tenants.

“Do not allow yourselves to be intimidated by any blue-eyed ‘whitey’ that comes to your house and asks you for ‘papers,’ ” de Solar shouted in Spanish. Later, when he was giving me an English translation of what he told the crowd, he forgot to include the reference to “blue-eyed whitey.”

Teenagers in the crowd casually dismissed white people as little more than a race of lazy bigots who have stolen everything they have acquired.

“Like, white people shouldn’t be trying to do that, like trying to take all of the Mexicans (away). That’s why they have everything,” said 16-year-old Norma Sanchez.

Jeanette Rivera, 17, interjected “Without us, (whites) are nothing.”

The uncomfortable truth of just how many immigrant and native Latinos perceive Anglo Americans through a prism of negative racial and cultural stereotypes has not been explored much in the media, though it is brazenly on display at rallies that draw swarms of reporters.

It is clear many Latino activists experience little trepidation for making outrageous and divisive claims calculated to racially polarize their supporters for political gain……

Yep, have seen, have heard up close and personal. Yet, almost never will you see this make the TV news or the newspaper. Why is that? Why not believe them? This isn't to demonize any group per se, but, are seriously trying to tell me that it's perfectly okay for one group to talk like this but wrong for another?

There's a name for that.

A reminder...here.

H/T immigration watchdog

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