Today's Boycott

I'm not sure what I think of it. Here's what's going through my head.

1. I think the Latino activists will overreach with this. It's my impression that they have no idea what kind of backlash is building up. It will be very hard for them to overcome the widespread use of the Mexican flag in the first mass demonstrations. For many people, the meme that "these are foreigners who are demanding rights that they don't have" stuck then, and it will be hard to erase. I've been reading stories saying that some Latino leaders worry that the day will be a bust for them politically, because they are using up all their ammo early in the immigration reform process. Maybe so. But what I'm more concerned about/interested in is the backlash from conservatives and others who can't understand why the laws of the United States don't matter here.

2. Why don't the laws of the United States matter here, anyway? What does it say about our country that we cannot control our borders? Nothing good.

3. At the same time, it bothers me--a lot--that there is no small degree of outright racism present. Yes, the Aztlan loons are guilty of the same thing, but I wonder how many anti-immigrant hardliners have trouble seeing the illegals as human beings. On the other side, I hate it when pro-immigrant activists and others assume that any opposition to the amnesty plan can only come from racist motive.

4. One thing going mostly undiscussed in all this is the role illegal immigration is playing in holding down unskilled wages. There was a startling story in the LA Times last week detailing conflict between blacks and Latinos over illegal Mexican immigration. Blacks at this protest say that their unskilled labor jobs are disappearing and going to Latinos who work off the books; Latinos say blacks are just lazy. Ugliness all around--and I don't know who's more right. This issue stands to fracture all kinds of political alliances--grassroots Republicans from business Republicans, African-Americans and labor from mainstream and Hispanic Democrats.

5. Furthermore, I have a feeling that we in the mainstream media don't have a good handle on this aspect of the story, in part because we don't have to worry about losing our jobs to illegal immigrants. All we have to worry about is losing our gardeners and maids (I say "we," but I don't have a gardener, and the maid who comes once a week is American; the point is, the class hit hardest by illegal immigration is Not Our Own, Dear). Similarly, illegal immigrant workers aren't filling up rental houses in our neighborhoods, and bringing crime and disorder to previously calm and family-oriented neighborhoods.

6. I wonder how all the grassroots anti-immigrant folks would feel if they were showed how the low prices for consumer goods and services that they've come to expect as a constitutional right depend largely on the presence of the 11 million illegal immigrant workers they oppose? Would we American citizens be willing to pay higher consumer prices for the sake of closing the borders? I would, because I think all workers, whatever their ethnicity, should make a just wage. But I think I'm in the minority on that, at least on the Right.