In Your Face Colonialism and White Supremacy
At some point, the media needs to call the inhumanity that drives the far-right what it is
When Russia invaded Ukraine, we all witnessed how dominant white supremacy is on a global scale. It became prevalent as we saw Eastern European countries bordering Ukraine deny Black people entry. We watched the media talk about blonde-haired, blue-eyed children with a sense of empathy not seen in any other non-white, war-torn countries. Especially those invaded by the U.S. Remember how the media portrayed Afghans and Iraqis after 9/11? You should.
The whole world saw how legacy media views non-white people. We often see it in our local news. The language used when suspected offenders are white compared to how they portray Black, Indigenous, and Latinx people is telling. Most people in the U.S. are aware of this as they are stories advocacy journalists often report on. However, the global aspect was again exposed and media outlets around the world along with many people in the U.S. noticed.
And yet, here we are. From the time the U.S. woke up to start its day on Monday until sometime in the early afternoon, it would have been difficult to know what was happening in Puerto Rico or anywhere else for that matter. Every major media outlet was broadcasting the Queen of England’s funeral. In the U.S., it felt odd to have non-stop coverage when taking history into consideration. Outside of the West, and for colonized people, it was a slap in the face.
But we shouldn’t talk about that, right?
Similarly, many feel that legacy media isn’t just softening the impacts of white nationalism but also platforming promoters of more subtle bigotry on a regular basis. Hate group recruitment numbers continue to reach all-time highs and those numbers too often include politicians, cops, and judges (among other professions). Meanwhile, using the language of the far-right to report on stories only bolsters their resolve.
Immigration in the U.S. is one of the more glaring cases.
Repeating words such as “crisis” and “invasion” while ignoring the inhumanity of the current U.S. immigration system is dishonest. It’s a fraud committed against the public. It softens the impact of the language, thus, making inhumane policies more acceptable. In fact, no one is talking about Title 42 - the biggest cause of the current logjam at the southern border. Neither Joe Biden nor any other politician has done much of anything to end the abhorrent policy.
Even if it was lifted, we’re still not talking about the damage the current system does.
Immigration
There exists an influx of asylum-seekers at the southern border because Title 42 created a backlog that is currently hampering nearly all aspects of the asylum-seeking process. Title 42 essentially closes the border and allows Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to immediately deport all migrants who present themselves at points of entry for asylum. Asylum-seekers are then forced to wait in Mexico without the due process guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.
Calling this an invasion is not just dishonest but purposeful misinformation. Bigoted language that has killed people has since left the halls of right-wing media outlets and into the speeches of some of the biggest names in U.S. politics. Those same politicians are echoing the bigotry and hate seen on some of the more extreme social media platforms. They're playing games with people's lives so they can score political points with the racists in their base and their funders at the top. People who came here seeking refuge from an authoritarian regime are often finding themselves in dire situations in the land of so much promise.
Essentially trafficking migrants illegally across state lines after manipulating them with fraudulent brochures is pretty damning. The inhumanity of what they're doing speaks for itself. That the United States is largely responsible for the struggles in many of the most destabilized countries in the region also speaks to why so many make the journey. The U.S., much like Ron DeSantis' brochures, makes false promises to many in Latin America only to renege on them. It behooves U.S. citizens to accept asylum-seekers after the country acts in our name making guarantees.
As Title 42 forces migrants to attempt entering the country through more treacherous means, it's also boosting the number of arrests since there are no other options for asylum-seekers. Once migrants cross through unofficial points of entry, the vast majority present themselves for asylum. In other words, they turn themselves in to the first border agents they come across.
This is where legally questionable behavior begins.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott's policies include charging as many migrants as possible with trespassing. As has been previously reported, when asylum seekers turn themselves over to Texas state police or the Texas National Guard that Governor Abbott put in place, they drag migrants to private property so they can be charged. It’s a policy that is failing as it burdens the state with using taxpayer funds to support asylum-seekers as they sit in jail.
Governor Abbott’s political stunts have cost Texans $4 billion dollars to date and the results are questionable. His policy of busing migrants to Washington D.C. is hurting him because migrants who accept the free ride are headed there anyway. These failures have made Governor Abbott a laughing stock to many, including asylum-seekers. As such, it makes for a likely explanation of Governor Abbott teaming up with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to escalate their political theater using fraud.
When do we call this what it is?
Demonization
Immigration dominates the news cycle because Republicans push the issue before every election riling up their base. This also helps normalize their rhetoric. Even on so-called liberal media you now hear pundits talk about asylum-seekers coming here the right way; the “legal” way. Phrasing that bolsters the notion that people crossing the border to legally claim asylum are somehow “illegal” immigrants. There’s a real and present danger here.
The reactionary nature of legacy media leads them to report what they think people want to hear. They talk about Latin America as a problematic place to live. They never mention how the vast majority have no interest in coming to the United States. They rarely discuss the atrocities people face in their home countries. They mention Haiti, Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua in passing - further bolstering an idea of instability across the region.
The same notion of inferiority applies to Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory. Most in the United States view Puerto Rico in the same way they view Latin America, as third-world. But, what most in Latin America see is an example of what it means to get too friendly with the U.S. The exploitation of the island is duly noted across the hemisphere. The demonization of Latinos in the United States drives the neglect of the island and the inhumanity towards Puerto Ricans.
The U.S. territory has been suffering since Hurricane Maria struck in 2017. As many homes on the island were still relying on blue tarps for roofing, another hurricane struck this week. Puerto Rico has had many issues with corruption, their power grid, and much more. However, the pain on the island is largely caused by U.S. policy. There is no better evidence than the island of 3.2 million U.S. citizens losing power as the storm caused flooding and infrastructure collapse.
Much of the blame for the lack of preparedness on the island lies in the bureaucratic nightmare put in place to disburse funds. After Hurricane Maria caused $90 billion in damages, Congress allocated $71 billion for reconstruction. While Congress can sit on its laurels claiming $62 billion has been made available, the reality is, that 72% of those funds have yet to reach people on the local level where it’s needed most.
Puerto Rico suffers because of the rhetoric used to discuss Latinos in the U.S. Despite all of our cultural differences, largely based on which country we’re from, in the United States, none of that matters. In a general sense, Mexicans are no different than Cubans, Venezuelans, or even Puerto Ricans to people in the U.S. Most on the far-right refer to us as such. As the politics of the richest nation in the world oppresses colonized countries in the hemisphere, legacy media bolsters it by telling us that the funeral of a head colonizer is important.
When do we call this what it is?
Motivation
As night fell on the United Kingdom, U.S. media got on the ball. Since then, the destruction in Puerto Rico and the bigotry towards asylum-seekers is dominating the news cycle. However, it feels like pandering after ignoring so much of what’s occurring in colonized communities for the sake of shoving the Queen’s funeral in our faces.
What’s happening to asylum-seekers and Puerto Ricans serve as just two of the most glaring examples in the news today. We hear of water crises in U.S. cities affecting non-white communities from the Rio Grande valley in Texas to the ongoing water crisis in Flint, Michigan to the undrinkable water in Jackson, Mississippi. None of this is new. The United States continues to have a long way to go in how it treats non-white communities.
But don’t tell racist white people that.
While they freak out over the 2020 census data showing the decline of white births and claim someone, somewhere is trying to replace them, legacy media helps bolster the idea. A recent “not official” study from the Census Bureau claimed that Latinos now outnumber white people in Texas. This “study” was released just as news was breaking of Florida Governor DeSantis flying migrants across the country - as people in the U.S. were beginning to empathize with migrants.
These driving factors have a noticeable impact regardless of political affiliation. Legacy media and the U.S. government play a major role in this. One releases questionable studies while the other reports on them with a chosen narrative. People who were once considered allies when Trump was in office, now sound like conservatives from the Obama era - acting as if they understand the complexities of the broken U.S. immigration system and demanding migrants come “legally” despite seeking asylum being perfectly legal.
As Donald Trump and Republicans move further to the right, so-called liberals and “reasonable” Republicans willingly accept the inhumanity foisted upon non-white communities as long as it’s not as inhumane as Trump’s policies. It’s incrementalism in the worst way as it drives people to accept inhumanity that slowly progresses to normality. Police killing becoming a necessary function of society is yet another example that news outlets continue to ignore.
When we discuss misinformation, we must address these issues as well. We must demand that when the media intends to tackle an issue, they must discuss the nuance. Instead of reacting to the extremes, they should present arguments that defy the authoritarianism that’s creeping in on us and force far-right ideologues to react to them. If it feels like we’re losing to extremists, that’s because they are. These are dangerous times and we might be doomed to repeat history.
It’s time to call it what it is.
"Repeating words such as 'crisis' and 'invasion' while ignoring the inhumanity of the current U.S. immigration system is dishonest. It’s a fraud committed against the public. It softens the impact of the language, thus, making inhumane policies more acceptable. In fact, no one is talking about Title 42 - the biggest cause of the current logjam at the southern border. Neither Joe Biden nor any other politician has done much of anything to end the abhorrent policy."
You and I are in complete agreement on this.