Sunday, January 22, 2012

Local Stupidity: Ozark Minutemen

Who are the Ozark Minutemen?  Lots of people want to know.  Based in my home city of Springfield, MO the group started off saying they just wanted to use E-Verify procedures to ensure employees are legal citizens.  They're not racists, and they're just trying to protect us, they say.

But that's not entirely true, is it guys?

They are cowards, at the very least.  While demanding cooperation from businesses and trying to lay the blame for our economy on immigrants, most members refuse to be identified.  They're afraid of discrimination or harassment.  Those poor folks, being picked on for being white and bossy.  Can you imagine how they must feel?  My heart goes out to them.

They won't reveal who they are, but send letters as an organization.  They say they are only concerned about illegal immigrants, I can personally say I know otherwise.  The rhetoric I've heard sounds frightening and unreasonable.  It plays on emotions, stirring up hate and confusing protecting ourselves with harming others.  I'll come right out and say it, it reminds me of the White Supremacist crap I've heard my entire life.  And yeah, the article confirms all the members are white.

They fancy that they create a shield around the Ozarks, protecting us from "unwanted" immigrants.  A shield where brown people can't come through, preserving our standard of life. Very little of what I've heard said really involves business or economic reason.  It's about hate, and a really chickenshit way of expressing it.  I've heard slurs, jokes, insults... none of them had anything to do with improving our area.  It had to do with hating "the invaders" who want to rape our women and steal our jobs.  Come on folks, tell me that doesn't sound familiar.

I don't need them to save me from the invaders.  I need for our country to devise a strategy to allow immigrants to flourish here while setting (and enforcing) an expectation that they will contribute back to the system that supported them.  That's right, that's fair, and that's worth working towards.  The rest is bigotry barely masked with false concern.

We must be able to see the difference.

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