Dinner with a racist
I had dinner with a racist a few months back. Normally I wouldn't have dinner with a racist, but there were two mitigating factors. First, said racist was the father-in-law of a dear friend, and second, he was paying for dinner.
He was moving to Indiana from South Texas, and shared his opinion about the Texas / Mexico border. His considered opinion was "They ought to shoot them for trying to cross the border, I'm sick of it, they're smuggling drugs, killing people..." I can't quote the whole rant verbatim, but I hope you get the gist of it. I remember saying something about legalizing drugs so American farmers and pharmacutical companies could make the money that the criminal gangs were making and he looked at me like I was from another planet, and went on about how he hated Mexicans and we should invade them or something. Eventually one of his younger children began bawling about something or other so I let it drop.
To his credit, he still paid for dinner.
I bring this up because today I was listening to am radio. Not the big boys, but a small time host named Eric Von Wade in Corpus Christi, he's a darling of the local Chamber of Commerce Republicans, always says "Democrat Party" instead of Democratic Party, Always takes the "correct" position on any issue. I wonder if he gets a memo, or if he's really that plugged in to the Republican zeitgeist?
Today Eric Von Wade was talking about a certain truck driver, Tyrone Williams, 35, of Schenectady, New York, who was found guilty today of smuggling people across the border, then abandoning them in his airtight trailer when he felt he was in danger of being caught. 19 of the people died.
Eric asks the audience to call in and opine on whether or not Mr. Williams should, in their view be excecuted for his crime, and of course they all say yes.
But they also, every single one of them, demonized the victims. Some callers said that surviving parents who's children died should be executed too. One went so far as to call for the death penalty for anyone transporting illegal immigrants. And we should put up a fence with machine guns to keep them out, and well, you can probably guess the rest.
It became clear to me where Mr. Williams' contempt for his cargo came from.
Good, well-meaning people are not actually good, well-meaning people all the time. When it comes to people from another place, or people who speak a different language, or look different, or have different religion or customs, good, well-meaning people like you and me are capable of barbaric cruelty.
Tyrone will most likely hang for his crimes, and the next smuggler who has to ditch his human cargo in the desert is now almost certain to kill every single one of them before he leaves. If Mr. Williams had done that, he'd likely be home in Schenectady right now.
I gave up on talk radio after about 15 minutes and listened to an Abba CD.
He was moving to Indiana from South Texas, and shared his opinion about the Texas / Mexico border. His considered opinion was "They ought to shoot them for trying to cross the border, I'm sick of it, they're smuggling drugs, killing people..." I can't quote the whole rant verbatim, but I hope you get the gist of it. I remember saying something about legalizing drugs so American farmers and pharmacutical companies could make the money that the criminal gangs were making and he looked at me like I was from another planet, and went on about how he hated Mexicans and we should invade them or something. Eventually one of his younger children began bawling about something or other so I let it drop.
To his credit, he still paid for dinner.
I bring this up because today I was listening to am radio. Not the big boys, but a small time host named Eric Von Wade in Corpus Christi, he's a darling of the local Chamber of Commerce Republicans, always says "Democrat Party" instead of Democratic Party, Always takes the "correct" position on any issue. I wonder if he gets a memo, or if he's really that plugged in to the Republican zeitgeist?
Today Eric Von Wade was talking about a certain truck driver, Tyrone Williams, 35, of Schenectady, New York, who was found guilty today of smuggling people across the border, then abandoning them in his airtight trailer when he felt he was in danger of being caught. 19 of the people died.
The Monday verdict, on the fifth day of deliberations, found him guilty of all 58 counts: conspiracy plus counts of harboring, transporting and transporting resulting in death for each of the 19 victims. The jurors also found him culpable as a principal offender, out for "private financial gain.
Eric asks the audience to call in and opine on whether or not Mr. Williams should, in their view be excecuted for his crime, and of course they all say yes.
But they also, every single one of them, demonized the victims. Some callers said that surviving parents who's children died should be executed too. One went so far as to call for the death penalty for anyone transporting illegal immigrants. And we should put up a fence with machine guns to keep them out, and well, you can probably guess the rest.
It became clear to me where Mr. Williams' contempt for his cargo came from.
Good, well-meaning people are not actually good, well-meaning people all the time. When it comes to people from another place, or people who speak a different language, or look different, or have different religion or customs, good, well-meaning people like you and me are capable of barbaric cruelty.
Tyrone will most likely hang for his crimes, and the next smuggler who has to ditch his human cargo in the desert is now almost certain to kill every single one of them before he leaves. If Mr. Williams had done that, he'd likely be home in Schenectady right now.
I gave up on talk radio after about 15 minutes and listened to an Abba CD.
posted by JC at 12:27 AM
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