Their Venom Is No Longer Hidden

In the old days, when bigots wrote me anonymous letters, it was hard to believe that people could be so ignorant and vicious. The way they described new immigrants as welfare leaches and criminal invaders was a painful lesson in the reality of racism in America. I would read excerpts on radio programs and other public forums, and incredulous Latinos found it hard to accept that in this "nation of immigrants," there were so many immigrant haters.

But now their bigotry is out there for all to see, written in black and white throughout cyberspace. When bigots respond to my pro-immigrant columns nowadays by posting their comments on blogs and Web sites that carry my column, their venom is no longer hidden.

"I think we need to give Latinos lots of rights," wrote one of my hatemongering readers. "How about the rights to pay taxes, speak English, stop whining about things they have brought on themselves, move back to where they came from ..."

Of course, unless you are totally deluded, you know that most Latinos pay taxes, speak English and have as much a right to whine as any other American, especially when they were born here or have become naturalized citizens.

Another deluded reader warned, "Either NATIVE BORN WHITE AMERICANS become openly highly racialized in their politics or they will (be) replaced at the hands of post-1965 Hispanics, Asians, Muslims, Africans and the anti-white Kenyan bigot in the White House."

Forget about undocumented immigrants. This person doesn't care for legal residents, naturalized citizens or even native-born Americans of color. Here's someone who obviously still is bothered by the civil rights movement, someone who longs for pre-1965 America, when racism was prevalent and society gave preference to native-born white Americans.

All this commotion was over a column I wrote a couple of weeks ago. I predicted that comprehensive immigration reform will not be passed in Congress this year and called on President Barack Obama and his fellow Democrats to stop making promises they have no intention of keeping. That column, titled "No Se Puede," apparently disappointed not only the wishful-thinking immigrants but also many immigrant-bashers who had been getting ready to pounce on them.

"Pity, I was sort of looking forward to a huge fight over amnesty this year," one of them wrote. "Win or lose, it seemed like an excellent opportunity to persuade more white people to become racially conscious."

What does that mean? It sounds as if this person was relishing the opportunity to scare and divide the country along racial lines. Amazingly, this reader seemed to be celebrating the fact that we have a high unemployment rate because it can be used as a weapon to stop immigration reform in Congress. "The economy will have to improve a lot over the next couple of years for amnesty to become an acceptable pill for mainstream whites to swallow. And I think there's going to be weak growth and nagging high levels of unemployment for years, if not permanently."

Isn't that great?

"On the downside, every year the illegals live here they get slightly more 'legitimate,'" he added.

"Weak stomached whites"? Some of these venom writers are much more than mere xenophobes; they are clearly white supremacists who are threatened by not only undocumented immigrants but also the growing Latino population.

"Removing the burgeoning Hispanic presence in America is vital for maintaining the white majority necessary for the continued survival of our language, heritage, culture and prosperity," wrote one such supremacist who is apparently much more concerned about the 47 million Latino Americans than about the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States. "Even without the passage of amnesty the continuing mass invasion of illegals will force us to implement the solution to the Hispanic problem."

It sounds scary, especially coming from someone who also predicts this: "Granting amnesty for Hispanic criminal invaders would be the catalyst that would instantly spark our second civil war."

What? Can anyone really be that delusional and paranoid?

These are obviously people who have mistreated minorities for so long that they are terrified of becoming members of a minority themselves.

"Whites are not doomed to be the next U.S. minority if they will act to halt non-white immigration and dissuade illegals from being here," another reader wrote.

These racist attitudes, once limited to anonymous letters sent mostly to minority journalists, have shamefully become acceptable on the Internet. The Neanderthals who would burn crosses on your front lawn have found a place to do it — still mostly anonymously and quite cowardly — without getting accused of committing hate crimes.

Reacting to my "No Se Puede" column, one reader asked why Latinos are "permitted a voice in American politics at all." Another one warned that America is becoming dumber because of the growth of the black population and the influx of Latinos. "The more and more the non-White minorities become a large part of the US total population, the lower the average IQ in the US will become," he warned.

One venom writer noted that Americans need to vote out of office "every incumbent who doesn't write the most draconian enforcement laws imaginable" — without any apparent qualms about being so cruel. And yet another one charged that Latinos are the real bashers because they practice "anti-white hate-mongering."

One of them simply listed all the most popular lies shared by xenophobes who flew over the cuckoo's nest. "What difference does amnesty make?" he asked. "Illegals are already allowed to be domiciled here, their children get preferential treatment in our colleges, anchor babies entitle them to welfare. They are largely immune to traffic stops — the cops just let them go. In addition they are given special mortgage rates in order to encourage diversity. Plus housing density laws do not apply to them. The Fed cries racism if there is even a hint at enforcement. Also they are largely allowed to vote."

What can I say except: Check into an insane asylum, please!

In the old days, most newspapers would not publish their flammable diatribes. You knew about them only when a minority reporter quoted their anonymous letters. But now, although still cowardly identifying themselves only by their screen names, some are becoming celebrity bigots, by burning crosses on the Internet.

To find out more about Miguel Perez and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

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