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People and Politics by Patrick Roberts

Race hatred and ignorance of Mexicans is at root of anchor babies fight

Posted on Tuesday, January 04, 2011 at 04:07 PM

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Sad to say an Irish American legislator originally from New York named John Kavanagh appears to be a major figure in stirring up race hatred of Mexicans in Arizona.

He is leading the latest argument over anchor babies which will be upped a notch this week when senior figures in the Republican Party mount an effort to turn back the 14th amendment which states that everyone born on American soil is a U.S. citizen.

The opponents will not try and bring about a constitutional amendment, rather they see themselves passing laws in border states that disallow American-born children their citizenship if their parents are illegal.

They hope that somehow the courts will find in their favor which appears a long shot to say the least. Even this Supreme Court which is markedly conservative, would surely see through this paper-thin device to bypass the constitution.

The entire rumpus speaks to a naked strain of nativism that is apparent on the American right. This attempt to make aliens out of Mexicans flies in the face of history and reality.

For centuries Mexico owned California, most of Arizona, Texas, New Mexico and parts of other border states. They lost them in the Mexican-American wars.

Incidentally, part of the reason that American settlers fought for Texas was to keep slavery which Mexico opposed -- not that you would read that in too many stories about the heroic battle for the state of Texas.

So there are centuries of contact between Mexicans and Americans, centuries of land disputes, foot traffic, wars, and living cheek by jowl.

The nativists would have us believe that instead the Mexican is some form of alien, who appeared out of nowhere.

The fact is that millions of Mexicans have gone and back and forth over the artificial borders between the U.S. and Mexico for generations

And it is still occurring now and likely always will.

Their language is not an alien language,but the tongue that was spoken in those territories for centuries.

The people are not alien,but the descendants of the original people who settled those lands but who were driven off by American armies.

That is the truth of the matter when we examine it.

So this latest attempt to somehow paint the Mexicans as aliens who have no history or heritage in those border states is patently ridiculous.

Perhaps Kavanagh should read his own history to discover what race hatred is all about.

America is too steeped in constitutional tradition and noble intent to let this latest nativist nonsense go anywhere.

At least I hope it is.

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Monsoonman | Jan 09, 2011, 02:26 PM EST

Enough of the inflammatory hate speech from you Roberts. You are using your bully pulpit/soap box to ignite your fringe into acts of violence. You should be held responsible for what happened in AZ., after all the shooter was a left wing nutcase.

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GeorgeDillon | Jan 08, 2011, 01:08 PM EST

"For centuries Mexico owned California, most of Arizona, Texas, New Mexico and parts of other border states." More nonsense, Roberts. Mexico only "owned" these territories for a few decades, following Mexican independence in, I think, 1821.

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irishwxman | Jan 07, 2011, 12:32 PM EST

and you base this on what exactly Patrick? Another nonsense liberal rag editorial piece by the liberal rag I.C. by the liberal rag in chief Patrick Roberts. Next time get some facts. How this has anything to do with Ireland or Irish people is beyond me. Idiot.

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joanmoody | Jan 07, 2011, 11:09 AM EST

I am an Irish American who lives in South Texas and most of my close friends are of Mexican descent and some of them have Irish blood after all the Irish went to Spain and then to Mexico. Part of the problem in Mexico stems from governmental corruption and lack of jobs. Some things do not change there and now the drug cartels are adding to the misery. They look (as do the Irish) on the U.S. as a place where they can get jobs and raise their families despite the risks. After all we are a nation of immigrants!

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Barbaracvm | Jan 07, 2011, 10:54 AM EST

The state of Texas was a sovereign country for 12 years. First they won their independence from Mexico and then became an independent country. They requested to become a state of the US. Patrick, we paid the Mexican government $35 million for what is now the boarder states.

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seagreen | Jan 07, 2011, 10:11 AM EST

Defined impenatrable well defended borders are a good thing..

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McNabb1966 | Jan 07, 2011, 05:09 AM EST

Once again Patrick Roberts builds himself a nifty strawman and then takes a few meaningless whacks at it. My recommendation for Mr. Roberts (other than increasing the dosage of his meds) is to actually study an issue rather than simply regurgitate the latest e-mail bulletin from Talking Points Memo or whatever Leftist propaganda source he relies on. Oh, and a little bit of intellectual honesty goes a long way, my frazzled friend...

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Monsoonman | Jan 06, 2011, 08:43 PM EST

The editorial political bozos who run this site, conveniently forgot to mention the peaceful shift of power that just occurred in the U.S. Without a shot being fired a major political revolution took place when Nancy Pelosi and the liberals were replaced by conservatives. I think every column was devoted to fawning over obama and nancy pelosi when they took power 2 years ago. No wonder there is so much ignorance when the press has an agenda.

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seanomelbourne | Jan 06, 2011, 06:19 PM EST

GeoegeDillon don't get your knickers in a knot it was a tongue in cheek comment,BUT not without a modicum of truth.2Bornot2Bis correct the wealthy Mexicans ran their "rancheros"like little fiefdoms.Then the Americans "liberated"" Texas and supplanted the "rancheros" with robber cattle barons and ran the open range like private little "fiefdoms", are you missing something here 2Bornot2B?

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kell7757 | Jan 06, 2011, 03:26 PM EST

How do you propose dismantling the global system of having countries with defined borders which has evolved over thousand of years? Will we need to go back to the days when barbarians poured into italy and barbary pirates raided britain for slaves or the days when vikings invaded france, britain and then ireland. When there are no borders, how will laws be enforced and which legal system will protect the law abiding citizens. Do you know anything about history, the rise of the nation state? It may not be perfect, but it was a heck of a lot better than what went on before.

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hardtruth | Jan 06, 2011, 01:50 PM EST

What gives one man the right to put up a border to keep other fellow man in poverty on the planet we were all brought in to. Greed rules the minds of our governments across the oceans wide

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jamieLM | Jan 06, 2011, 10:49 AM EST

Another article full of nonsense and misinformation. 2BorNot2B and GeorgeD have a better grasp of Irish and U.S. history that's accurate. Good posts, Gaelicpiper and katiemac.

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GeorgeDillon | Jan 06, 2011, 03:25 AM EST

seanomelbourne: "All you European Americans go back to where you came from.You Celto/anglo's are living in occupied Mexico..." What utter nonsense. Do you want the Spaniards to leave Mexico too? Most modern Mexicans are descended from the intermingling of Spaniards and Indians. Why else do they bear names like Suarez, Gonzalez etc? Why do most of them speak Spanish? And what about all the other nationalities that sent settlers to Mexico? And even the Aztecs are supposed to have come down into central Mexico from what is now the Rio Grande area! Utter nonsense, melbourne.

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GeorgeDillon | Jan 06, 2011, 03:20 AM EST

CLoghry1938 -- Your claim that the Catholic Church enslaved people in the Americas shows your utter ignorance of history. The Catholic Church's record in the Spanish Conquest was quite good. Numerous Catholic priests and friars, the most famous being Las Casas, campaigned for human rights for the Indians. Other Catholic priests (e.g Acosta) studied the culture and languages of the native Americans and left invaluable accounts of Indian society in Mexico and Peru. In this, incidentally, the Spanish priests offer a vivid contrast to the Protestant Church in Ireland around the same time. There is NOT ONE record of a Protestant cleric calling for the protection of the human rights (including right to life) of Irish Catholics, NOT ONE Protestant cleric around the Elizabethan era sought to preserve or even respect the native Gaelic culture that his government was set on wiping out. Learn something about a topic before publishing nonsense on it, CLoghry1938.

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2BorNot2B | Jan 06, 2011, 03:18 AM EST

Roberts, you should not embarrass yourself posing as a "reporter" and much less as a "historian"! Where exactly did you learn that "For centuries Mexico owned California, most of Arizona, Texas, New Mexico and parts of other border states." --- Mexico in fact was owned for centuries by the Spaniards who colonized it. They then moved up the coast to Calif. and parts of Oregon, Utah, and Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. -- It was not until 1810 that a Spanish priest, Miguel Hidalgo, sought independence from Spain, which was not even recognized until 1821. Meanwhile, Texas was won from Mexico in 1836 and California not until 1847! --- Further, even after their independence from Spain these northern territories were largely a neglected backwater for the Mex government who did not have either man-power or resources to care for them. They were largely ran by rich 'hacendados' as fiefdoms. For that reason, the Mex government offered American settlers land in order to populate the hinterlands. Once gold was discovered in Calif, however, the US, which had more wealth, weapons and something called 'Manifest Destiny' decided to increase its territories by several thousand square miles and move its boundaries South. -- To say that Mexicans at any time controlled or governed the territories they lost to the US is a myth created and exploited by the goons of the so called 'Aztlan Movement' These are a band of quasi-communist agitators with a definite chip on their shoulder and an ambitious agenda. -- Were they to achieve their ends, all the border states would immediately look like the dilapidated Mexican cities across the border, and Mexicans would still be slipping into the US, except they'd have to travel farther to cross into Washington, parts of Colorado, and so on.

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