Illegal immigrant = runaway slave? Buuullshit.

You probably heard on the news about Elvira Arellano, the illegal immigrant who was deported to Mexico yesterday after a year of claiming “sanctuary” inside a Chicago church. (She got caught in L.A., where she’d come to publicize the pro-immigration cause.)

Well, the law is the law. The United States has a duty to control who migrates into this country. So I’m not shedding any tears for Elvira Arellano (who got booted out in 1997 and snuck back in again).

But I heard a sound bite on the radio this afternoon that made a couple of my orifices clench.

Juan Jose Gutierrez, of something called “Latino Movement USA,” said: “It seems to us that the mentality and behavior by law enforcement of the runaway slave is alive and well.”

Oh no he di-in’t. He did not compare illegal immigration to black slavery... did he?

Then I saw a wire-service report where Señor Gutierrez popped up again. “A small group of protesters and activists condemned the deportation, comparing it to returning a slave to his masters,” according to Reuters.

“ ‘The message we take from the federal government is that there will be no mercy toward the modern-day slaves that are the undocumented workers,’ said Juan Jose Gutierrez, coordinator of Latino Movement USA.”

Blink.

That’s what I can’t stand about the rhetoric of the hard left. It’s all about trying to manipulate people’s emotions. No clear-headed appeals to reason.

And make no mistake, Gutierrez is a hardcore revolutionary Marxist. I’ve downloaded a couple of his little speeches off the internets. His goal is to smash capitalism, so obviously he doesn’t want to strengthen America as it is; he wants to weaken it for the kill.

Hey, take your best shot, J.J. But don’t expect any black people to stand in solidarity with you on open immigration when you disrespect our struggle. Illegal immigration isn’t comparable to black slavery in any way.

One, nobody is dragging Mexicans here against their will. Two, no U.S. immigration official has lashed the bare back of any Mexican with a whip, as used to happen to “runaway slaves” who got caught. Three, Mexican workers get paid; they send billions of dollars per year back home to Mexico.

Gutierrez will use the deportation of Elvira Arellano to try to stoke up a couple of social-protest actions this coming fall. Whatever. I don’t care how he spends his time. I don’t care if he beats his meat to “The Bolivian Diary.”

I just say this: let’s treat our border like a border and build that fucking fence already. Those who wish to immigrate can line up in an orderly fashion and do it by the rules.

UPDATE (08/21/07): It had slipped by me that, even before Elvira Arellano got deported, her supporters were calling her “a Mexican Rosa Parks,” according to the L.A. Times. (Hat-tip: Sister Toldjah.)

The only positive thing about this is (as I mentioned in a comment), when it comes to social activism, the black civil-rights struggle is the gold standard for moral authority. When Latino activists invoke fugitive slaves or Sister Parks, they’re trying to cop some of that precious commodity.

To state the obvious: Rosa Parks was a citizen who defied an unjust law. Elvira Arellano is a non-citizen who defied a just law.

Buuullshit: Look who’s defending Imus!

The right-wing NewsBusters blog quotes Rosie O’Donnell on this morning’s “The View” as sticking up for Don Imus.

Apparently, to Rosie, it’s all about the Bill of Rights.

“[T]he point of the story is, if it impedes on free speech in America, democracy is at stake,” Rosie said. “Because democracy is based on freedom of speech and freedom of the press. So we really have to worry about that in this country. ... [I]t’s not a freedom if you outlaw certain words or thoughts, because then the thought police come and then before you know it, everyone’s in Guantanamo Bay without representation.”

From the nearest rooftop, I call bullshit.

Two counterpoints:

1.) Remember all that “ching-chong” crap that came outta Rosie’s mouth not too long ago? She probably figured she couldn’t criticize Imus for his “ching-chong” moment without having her own thrown back at her. So might as well pledge allegiance to the First Amendment, right?

Buuull followed by shit.

2.) Do you imagine Rosie would be gettin’ all Constitutional if Imus had described the Rutgers women’s basketball team as “some nappy-headed bulldykes”?

(And you know some of ’em gots to be!)

Yeah, me neither.

Way to be there for the sisterhood, Rosie.

My last word on articulaciousness

Boy oh boy, the blogosphere is buzzing over the Biden-Obama brouhaha concerning the a-word.

Philip Arthur Moore, whose “Articulate While Black” post at Racialicious prompted me to sound off in the first place (here and for the Huffington Post), was triumphal on Wednesday. Moore’s follow-up post on his own blog was titled: “Joe Biden proves my point about Barack Obama. (David Mills, what say you now?)”

Yeah, I deserved to get called out. So this morning I posted a comment on Moore’s blog and ate my humble pie. Indeed, Sen. Biden provided a perfect demonstration of what Moore was talking about: the condescension of white people who praise black folks as “articulate.”

I shouldn’t have called “bullshit” on the man. Regardless of the word’s occasional use in describing John Edwards or Hillary Clinton, “articulate” can totally be a backhanded insult when applied to blacks.

In my comment, I tried to refine my main point. I asked Mr. Moore:

“Can we agree on a middle ground? To wit: as Freud said, just like a cigar is sometimes a phallic symbol and sometimes it’s just a cigar, couldn’t the word ‘articulate,’ even when applied to Obama, sometimes be a patronizing put-down but sometimes be a valid, value-neutral descriptor? … Is EVERY use of the word ‘articulate’ re: Obama an insult? Or just some of the time?”

Philip Moore posted a gracious reply, which reads in part:

“Admittedly Biden’s comment was a bit of a gimme that proved my point, but I’ve heard the word ‘articulate’ thrown around again and again, and it’s usually with a different tone than when it is in regard to Edwards or Clinton. But, I can surely meet you on the middle ground.”

A civil exchange on the Internet… how about that?

Meanwhile, a commenter at the Huffington Post yesterday wrote:

“Let’s try golf: Google ‘Tiger Woods’ ‘Articulate.’ Then Google ‘Jack Nicklaus’ ‘Articulate’ – hell any well-spoken white golfer for that matter. Still think it’s not a tad racist?”

This guy must not know about me. I can play this game all day long. It’s more fun than Sudoku!

Instead of comparing Tiger Woods with a white golfer, how about another white pro athlete… say, baseball pitcher Curt Schilling?

Dennis Manoloff, Baseball Digest: “Schilling, 36, can speak on a variety of subjects, and people will listen. It helps that he is one of the more intelligent, articulate players in any clubhouse.” – August 2003

Seth Stevenson, Slate: “He’s articulate and funny, and he’s dorky enough to play online fantasy games like EverQuest…” – December 3, 2003

Letter to the Boston Globe: “Why subpoena Curt Schilling for the congressional steroid hearings? Because he is outspoken and articulate? That isn't fair.” – March 15, 2005

Michael McCann, Sports Law Blog, on the congressional steroid hearings: “Curt Schilling: Most articulate and most comfortable, by far.” – March 17, 2005

Jonah Keri, ESPN.com: “Talented and cerebral, ornery and articulate, the big righty snatched the spotlight from his team's other ace starter.” – July 28, 2006

Like I said, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

At Blackprof.com, they’re getting real deep. The comment sections at Blackprof consistently host some of the feistiest, frankest discussions of race to be found online. This topic was made for those folks.

“Malik” commented yesterday: “It's simple really. ‘Articulate’ is shorthand for, ‘gee, you don't sound at all like I expect a black person to sound. If I closed my eyes, I could almost imagine you were white!’”

But “anthony” wrote: “With all due respect to fellow blacks who were insulted or offended: please lighten up! We have too many substantive things to be insulted and offended by to waste time fulminating against Biden based on tortured inferences drawn from his comments. … We are made of sterner stuff. But this thin-skin furor reflects a hypersensitivity that's almost embarrassing.”

I’ll give the last word to “D”: “I have decided to stop caring. Not about white people's comments, but about black people's ones. All the shit we have going on in our community. All the problems. And yet all we can focus on is whitey. Whitey didn't make my cousin get pregnant at the age of 18… I'm sick of it all. Black folks WAKE UP”

Articulating further…

It blows my mind how some people are addicted to grievance.

A version of my post about the Barack Obama “articulate” meme is up on the Huffington Post. One peevish commenter says my citations of John Edwards (a white man) being described as “articulate” do not disprove the word’s condescending import. In fact, they confirm it!

“ ‘Articulate’ almost always is the label given to an individual who isn’t expected to be – and John Edwards was a great example of that,” wrote this Pouting Thomas. “This adjective is most often reserved for people of color, southerners, poor people and foreigners.”

Another HuffPost commenter echoed that analysis: “Sen. Edwards gets called ‘articulate’ because our reporters can't imagine that anybody with a ‘Tobacco Road’ accent can be intelligent.”

Ahh. So Obama is the target of anti-black condescension, and Edwards is the target of anti-Southern condescension. Got it.

“Whenever white people describe an individual who is not a mainstream WASP as articulate,” the Pouting Thomas insists, it’s meant to be patronizing.

Of course, it took me two minutes to think of a “mainstream WASP” who is often described as articulate. In fact, it’s yet another Democratic candidate for president.

I speak of Hillary Rodham Clinton. Check it out:

Liza Mundy, Washington Post Magazine: “It's the ideal that permits her supporters to accept her dual role as one of the world's most articulate advocates of women's rights, and, at the same time, a wife who has endured months – years, decades – of emotional mistreatment.” – March 21, 1999

Doris Kearns Goodwin, PBS’s “NewsHour”: “Some of her instincts are great. I think she's incredibly articulate, intelligent.” – July 7, 1999

William Douglas, Newsday: “Marcel Weber, chairman of the Orthodox Union’s board, said Clinton was ‘articulate and well-prepared. Overall it was a positive impression.’ ” – December 15, 1999

Rupert Cornwell, the Independent on Sunday: “[M]entally they [the Clintons] were – and remain – a perfect match. Each respected the other's intellect. She was the decisive one, articulate, business-like and determined. He was charming, disorganised and irresistibly persuasive.” – June 8, 2003

Leslie Heuer, Iowa State Daily: “Barbara Walters… plowed through the tough questions to a poised, articulate and elegantly dressed Clinton Sunday evening.” – June 12, 2003

Blogger Wayne Besen: “I would like to see Hillary Clinton as the first woman president. She is bright, articulate and I think would have a successful administration.” – December 12, 2005

Forbes.com: “She is direct, methodical, thoughtful and articulate.” – September 6, 2006

Kathy Sullivan, New Hampshire Democratic Party chairwoman: "Senator Clinton is a dynamic, articulate leader who will be welcomed to the Granite State stage with tremendous excitement." – December 23, 2006

And on the website votehillary.org, a Marlene Gargan of Lake Villa, Ill., writes: “I have been a strong supporter of Hillary Clinton since she was the First Lady. She is so intelligent, thoughtful & articulate.”

Now, I could be all wrong about this. Perhaps Hillary Clinton is the victim of sexist condescension whenever she’s described as “articulate.” Or maybe, just maybe, Clinton and Edwards and Obama are often called “articulate” because, simply, they’re much better speakers than the average politician.

Alas, it’s a mystery that may never be solved.

UPDATE (01/31/07): The Drudge Report this morning linked to a New York Observer article that quotes Sen. Joe Biden as making this genuinely condescending, offensive remark about Barack Obama: "I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that’s a storybook, man."

Well, hell... kinda blows my original premise out of the water, doesn't it?

Buuullshit: The Barack Obama ‘articulate’ meme

Every now and then, I intend to call "bullshit" on some mainstream-media meme or blogospheric bunkum that happens to rattle my cage.

Let’s begin with the fact that some thoughtful folks are offended by the use of the word “articulate” to describe Sen. Barack Obama. It’s condescending, they say, to call an articulate black man “articulate.” You don’t hear people going around calling white men “articulate,” do you? Because they're expected to be!

To paraphrase the old Chris Rock joke, you call somebody “articulate” when you expected him to be stupid.

Racialicious, a liberal, anti-racist blog, put up a post yesterday titled “Barack Obama is AWB: Articulate While Black.” Guest poster Philip Arthur Moore cited references to Obama as “articulate” in the Christian Science Monitor, India’s Financial Express, Townhall.com and on KCCI, an Iowa TV station – all within the space of a couple of days.

Paul Butler over at Blackprof.com only needed to quote the first six words of a recent CNN profile of Obama: “Intelligent, articulate, who is Barack Obama?” A commenter named “Bennie” responded: “The patronizing racism from the media and pundits will only get worse from here on.”

To which I must say, with all due respect:

Buuullshit!! It’s not true that the media don't use the word “articulate” to describe white guys.

We have the handy example of another well-spoken Democratic candidate in this very same presidential race… another boyishly handsome lawyer who, in 2003, figured that two years in the U.S. Senate might entitle him to the keys to the White House. I’m talking about John Edwards.

Check out what people were saying – and still say – about that glib-tongued mother-huncher:

Candy Crowley, CNN: “He is a sort of, is a very articulate man. … He was front and center during the Monica Lewinsky impeachment trial of Bill Clinton and was considered very articulate during that time.” – January 1, 2003

Elwin Sherman, quoted on New Hampshire Public Radio: “He speaks well. He’s articulate. He’s a very sincere man.” – August 26, 2003

David Greenberg, Legal Affairs: “Fresh-faced and articulate, he possessed a warmth that his rivals lacked.” – January 2004

Slate partial headline: “… John Edwards is bright and articulate and really, really youthful. …” – February 6, 2004

Charles Paul Freund, Reason Online: “[A]lmost all the coverage was founded on the theme of Edwards as an articulate, appealing, and energetic political force.” – July 7, 2004

Rob McManamy, University of Chicago Chronicle: “The charismatic, passionate and articulate former U.S. Sen. John Edwards is speaking out about the need to lift more Americans out of poverty and into the middle class.” – March 2, 2006

David Hampton, clarionledger.com (Jackson, Miss.): “Edwards is young, smart, articulate and a good Southerner with moderate tendencies and a heart for traditional Democratic issues.” – December 28, 2006

wikiDemocrats.com: “He’s charming, he’s smart and he’s articulate.” – as of January 26, 2007

You know what? I don’t think John Edwards or his sympathizers consider it a freakin’ insult that he keeps being called “articulate.”