Mass immigration is bad in so many ways that it's bad from both left and right wing points of view and it's bad for Americans of all races. That's the point of W. C. Edgar's country music song Red, White And Black, [listen to it on Airplay.com] which cites blacks, whites and Indians as groups that can agree on resisting a Mexican invasion.
However, important victims of mass immigration are poorer Americans, especially members of minority groups, who
So it really is a case of—in the words of the apocryphal MSM headline about the end of the world—"Women and Minorities Hardest Hit".
Leah Durant, an African-American Democrat, is the head of Progressives For Immigration Reform. She and her organization support immigration restriction from motives shared by just a subset of VDARE.com's coalition of supporters. In an interview with Peter Gemma for the Spring 2009 Social Contract magazine, she said
"Notwithstanding the agenda of those who wish to paint immigration reform as a conservative issue, the fact is that many liberals, past and present, are in favor of reducing immigration. Our organization is based on the work of the late Barbara Jordan, a very liberal African-American civil rights attorney and leader in the Democratic Party who chaired the U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform. Barbara Jordan took a strong stance in favor of reducing immigration so as to serve the national interest, and to protect America's poor."Today, many leading environmentalists continue the legacy of advocating for reducing immigration so as to achieve population stabilization. Liberals have had a storied history of fighting for immigration reductions to protect the rights of American workers and preserve the environment. "[Spearheading Immigration Reform Among Progressives - An Interview with Leah Durant of Progressives for Immigration Reform. VDARE.com note: Links added to quotes throughout.]
Nevertheless, last month PFIR had to send out a pathetic email lamenting that
"Late Friday afternoon, April 15th, PFIR's office was invaded by staff from the Center for New Community (CNC). Equipped with a video camera, the group barged into our offices claiming to want to discuss PFIR's stance on immigration. After being denied access and dramatic footage for their so-called "Nativism Watch TV," the group left fliers and an Imagine2050 tee shirt. "[Links added]
PFIR included in its email CNC's accusations in PDF (the paper above ), and a link to PFIR's response blog.
Later PFIR sent another email with a message from the people who had burst into their offices saying
"We are here for the Power Shift conference and to let you know that environmentalists stand with immigrants... change your mind about using environmental degradation as a way to promote anti-immigrant agendas."
PFIR responded:
"But Imagine 2050 got it wrong, and PFIR will not be silenced. Progressives for Immigration Reform is proud of our work to reduce harmful impacts on our environment through advocating for reduced population and support thoughtful immigration policies. "
Well, good for PFIR—although apparently Leah Durant has wimped out on her promise to write for VDARE.com.
But the experience of these progressive, multicultural immigration restrictionists—who want to control immigration for genuinely progressive, multicultural reasons and are actually led by an African American—shows that there's no possible surrender of principle that will protect immigration patriots from the debate-stopping charge of "racism".
When Juan Williams was fired by NPR for suggesting that people in Muslim garb scared normal airline passengers, I quoted Human Events as saying that he was shaken' by his PC firing. It's obvious that this has never happened to him before, because he was immune. It happens to us all the time."
And it does. It happened recently to Charles Murray, when he was trying to give a talk on "taking happiness seriously", and leftists repeatedly pulled the fire alarm. The university administrators' response: maybe he shouldn't have been invited.
I remember seeing Michelle Malkin, who has been subject to attacks like this for years, endorsing a company that provides "event security" and bodyguards on her blog. That's because she's had years of demonstrations against her when she promoted a book like In Defense Of Internment.
I wrote recently that
"[T]the enthusiasm that these people have for having us fired, shunned, and silenced isn't the worst part—many of them endorse and condone actual violence against their political opponents.
"Canadian blogger Kathy Shaidle points out that being a conservative requires Ann Coulter 'to take the stage with bodyguards' and Glenn Beck 'to wear a bullet proof vest and carry a handgun.' Tom Tancredo also has a bullet-proof vest because of many specific, serious, threats against his person."
All that's different here is the fact that PFIR is addressing the immigration problem from the left, rather than the right.
Pusillanimous progressives (and cowardly conservatives) keep looking for some concession or triangulation that will placate the "anti-racist" nuts at places like IMAGINE2050.
But it can't be done.
Examples
FAIR: They are always trying to draw away the hem of their garments from nasty people like us, and even its founder Dr. John Tanton about whose abrupt retirement it has still apparently not issued a press release, but they're still an officially listed hate group according to the Southern Poverty Law Center ($PLC to VDARE.com): See FAIR On The SPLC: Nice Guys Get Smeared Some More, By Patrick Cleburne, September 14, 2009.
NumbersUSA: Not nearly as chicken as FAIR, but does include this snivelling statement on its website: "'No' to Immigrant Bashing". Needless to say, the SPLC still hates it, too.
The Republican National Committee: They keep trying to find minorities to run the RNC, (Mel Martinez, Michael Steele) but they get called racist anyhow—sometimes even by Michael Steele!
George W. Bush: As immigrant-friendly a President as you could wish, (well, maybe not you, but say as Vicente Fox could wish), he also passed the No Child Left Behind Act, which blamed the failings of minority students on their teachers, and he said things like "Slavery is a blight on our history, and racism is still with us. ... The party of Lincoln has not always worn the mantle of Lincoln." (excerpt from speech to the NAACP, July 10, 2000). But did Bush avoid being called a racist? Oh, no he didn't. And it's telling that Bush recently said in an interview that having Kanye West say "George Bush doesn't care about black people" was the "was one of the most disgusting moments" in his Presidency.
What Bush—and all pusillanimous progressives and cowardly conservatives—are doing is valuing the opinions of their enemies. They are hoping that by paying a sort of Danegeld to the "anti-racist" left, they will stop being hated.
It's not going to happen.
In a column that I wrote the first time the SPLC condemned us—now ten years old!— I told the story of the time I was doing volunteer work in a jail. I quoted a Corrections Officer doing orientation:
"'No one can insult me without my permission.' "
It's only when you internalize the insult that you feel bad.To make this work, however, you need to have a certain contempt for the insulter.
It's easy enough for a jail guard to have contempt for a felon. The behavior of people like the SPLC and IMAGINE 2050 makes it easy to have contempt for them, too.
And that's the attitude immigration patriots should adopt.
