A U.S. Senate candidate is facing fierce criticism after saying ranchers should be free to shoot “wetbacks” on sight, using a derogatory term that the candidate describes as “normal” in his home state. Texas Republican Chris Mapp, who is challenging Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) in the upcoming GOP primary, made the remarks during an interview with the Dallas Morning News’ editorial board. The board noted Mapp’s remarks in its February 16 endorsement of Cornyn…. “South Texas businessman Chris Mapp, 53, told this editorial board that ranchers should be allowed to shoot on sight anyone illegally crossing the border on to their land, referred to such people as ‘wetbacks,’ and called the president a ‘socialist son of a bitch,’ the editorial reads.
I understand there are those seeking political power who see nothing wrong with despising those whose only “crime” is being different. Some folks are taught to hate and grow up believing that those who are different are “less than,” subhuman beings unworthy of being treated with dignity, equality, and respect. Some of those people decide to run for the U.S. Senate…even as they see nothing untoward dehumanizing those whose votes he just might need in order to win.
I’m a reasonably intelligent person, but I’ve never been able to wrap my head around hating a group of people so much that you’d see nothing wrong with shooting those desperate for a better life. Mapp would be a “wetback”- his term, not mine- save for an accident of birth. If the genetic lottery had returned different numbers, Mapp might well be one of the “wetbacks” he so despises. Instead of doing the human thing and advocating for programs (guest worker program?) that might make it unnecessary for desperately poor Hispanics to risk their lives to reach America, he’d rather destroy them. Instead of taking the time to understand the grinding poverty that drives “wetbacks” do what they do, he’d sooner exterminate them. Instead of displaying even the barest minimum of compassion and human decency, he’d rather demonize those desperately seeking an opportunity to support themselves and their families.
In Mapp’s case, hating and demonizing poor, desperate Hispanics wasn’t nearly enough. Hatred of The Other is seldom tightly confined and proscribed. One who hates seldom hates but one person or group. Rancor and animus have a way of spreading insidiously and poisoning one amenable to hating. Chris Mapp, like so many of his ideological fellow travelers, hates President Obama with the irrational passion characteristic of a racist and bigot. Quelle surprise, non?
What is it that makes someone like Mapp hate with such virulence?
Referring to the President as a “socialist son of a bitch” not only displays a complete lack of understanding of socialism. It also reveals him to be an extremist fanatic more concerned with destroying than building. Our immigration system is broken; it’s one of many aspects of American government in need of repair. Instead of offering to work with the President to find mutually agreeable solutions, Mapp and his ideological compatriots would rather demonize him. Their intransigence and rage have contributed to the rise of the Tea Party, a political movement dedicated to the hatred and marginalizing of non-Whites. It’s also helped grind our government to a halt.
Evidently the “Respect the office if not the man holding” rubric is missing only the “as long as that man’s white.”
Mapp may now be in the White majority in Texas, but before long Hispanic birth rates will turn Whites into a minority in the Lone Star State. I don’t suppose this will suddenly bring Mapp to a place of reason, acceptance, and contrition, but the world’s changing. People like Chris Mapp are on the wrong side of history. They’re just too angry and scared to recognize and admit it.
Our future is not a White future. It’s not a Christian future. It’s an American future best defined by a Benjamin Franklin quote: “We must hang together or we will surely hang separately.” American greatness going forward will be defined by our willingness and ability to work together to find solutions to the problems facing our world. We’re better as Americans than we are as a collection of [insert name of racial or special interest group here]-Americans.
Or we can continue to demonize those whose skin color is different from our own. Or who believe differently. Or who love differently. Or…. Your choice, America.
