Illinois is about to become a hotspot for the nativist element, particularly those people with a particularly irrational hang-up with regard to all things Mexico.
For it was in Illinois this week that Gov. Pat Quinn signed into law a new measure requiring that history courses across the state include references to the mass deportation of Mexicans from the United States back during the 1930s.
AS THE BILL that will become law effective Jan. 1, 2010 states, more than 2 million people were shipped out of this country by force to Mexico – many sent so far inland from the border that it was thought they could never return.
The reason this particular outbreak is remembered, and deserves to be taught, is because the U.S. government showed a particular ineptitude when it came to determining what constituted a Mexican.
A large percentage of those people who were deported were people who had been born and raised in the United States.
In short, United States citizens were kicked out of their own country just because some hacks with “la Migra” thought they looked foreign. Families were split up, usually with no notice, warning or any confirmation after the fact.
SOME PEOPLE JUST “disappeared.” Others endured years-long struggles to return to their families in the United States (which I’m sure the nitwits of our society will want to classify as a criminal act in and of itself).
In short, this period of U.S. history (which was a response to the Depression, since a lot of Anglo politicians got it into their heads that all these “Mexicans” were taking what few jobs remained) is not one of the nation’s high points.
But state Sen. William Delgado, D-Chicago, pushed for the measure, thinking that schoolchildren in Illinois ought to know what happened.
Of course, the public reaction thus far has been predictable. News-oriented website comment sections and Internet messages are already loading up with rants about “PC BS,” how “Paco” needs to “learn to live with it” and how, “it’s a damn shame we can’t do that to the illegal invaders that have polluted this country.”
PERSONALLY, I TAKE such comments as being the evidence of why people need to be made more aware of what happened some eight decades ago – because there are too many people who would be inclined to “repeat” history because they didn’t study it.
In the current climate where there are those among us who think the growing Latino population is one of the United States’ problems, we need to realize the consequences of how our irrational behavior caused our nation to act badly in the past.
We gave in to our worst fears and wound up betraying the ideals of Democracy that we like to think makes the United States a superior nation on the face of Planet Earth.
It would be nice if we could have learned from our bad behavior of the 1930s and would not make the same mistakes again. Perhaps that is all the more reason why this sequence is needed.
AFTER ALL, IT’S not like anybody’s talking about a completely separate course on the matter. I would suspect most high school history courses would devote part of one day to the matter some time during the spring, then move on to the Second World War.
And while I realize that the lack of time often results in history teachers being unable to make it through to the present, personally I would not have any problem if an extra hour spent talking about this situation meant one less hour talking about the “greatness” of Ronald Reagan.
But then again, I should not be shocked about any of this.
The fact that some people want to behave badly over and over again is part of human nature for some people, even though it ought to fall upon the rest of us to try to keep their flaws in check so they don’t drag down the bulk of our society.
IT’S NOT EVEN like this is an exception to the U.S. character in the 20th Century alone. Let’s not forget the years of World War II when people of Japanese ancestry (even those born and raised here) were put into internment camps (unlike those of German or Italian ancestry).
I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that the same people who rant about time spent on Mexicans being a waste are among those who also think we make too much of what happened to people of Japanese ethnic descent.
There is one other point we ought to take into account. Just because something gets taught in the schools does not mean the proper lesson will take.
I can remember being taught during my elementary school years about the hysteria that cropped up during World War I against things that appeared to be German – going to the extremes of people renaming hamburgers “Salisbury steak” because it sounded too much like Hamburg in Germany.
WE WERE SUPPOSED to laugh at how ridiculously people behaved. That is, until the early years of this decade, when the cafeteria for Congress changed the name of French fries to “Freedom fries” because those blasted Frenchies didn’t blindly follow the leader of George W. Bush in making war against Iraq.
We learned nothing from that episode. So it shouldn’t be surprising that some of us want to learn nothing when it comes to Mexico.
-30-
EDITOR’S NOTES: The bill (http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/BillStatus.asp?DocNum=1557&GAID=10&DocTypeID=SB&LegId=44110&SessionID=76&GA=96) itself.
The rants in the “commentary” section are more interesting than the actual story (http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-il-mexicanrepatriati,0,46282.story) itself.
For it was in Illinois this week that Gov. Pat Quinn signed into law a new measure requiring that history courses across the state include references to the mass deportation of Mexicans from the United States back during the 1930s.
AS THE BILL that will become law effective Jan. 1, 2010 states, more than 2 million people were shipped out of this country by force to Mexico – many sent so far inland from the border that it was thought they could never return.
The reason this particular outbreak is remembered, and deserves to be taught, is because the U.S. government showed a particular ineptitude when it came to determining what constituted a Mexican.
A large percentage of those people who were deported were people who had been born and raised in the United States.
In short, United States citizens were kicked out of their own country just because some hacks with “la Migra” thought they looked foreign. Families were split up, usually with no notice, warning or any confirmation after the fact.
SOME PEOPLE JUST “disappeared.” Others endured years-long struggles to return to their families in the United States (which I’m sure the nitwits of our society will want to classify as a criminal act in and of itself).
In short, this period of U.S. history (which was a response to the Depression, since a lot of Anglo politicians got it into their heads that all these “Mexicans” were taking what few jobs remained) is not one of the nation’s high points.
But state Sen. William Delgado, D-Chicago, pushed for the measure, thinking that schoolchildren in Illinois ought to know what happened.
Of course, the public reaction thus far has been predictable. News-oriented website comment sections and Internet messages are already loading up with rants about “PC BS,” how “Paco” needs to “learn to live with it” and how, “it’s a damn shame we can’t do that to the illegal invaders that have polluted this country.”
PERSONALLY, I TAKE such comments as being the evidence of why people need to be made more aware of what happened some eight decades ago – because there are too many people who would be inclined to “repeat” history because they didn’t study it.
In the current climate where there are those among us who think the growing Latino population is one of the United States’ problems, we need to realize the consequences of how our irrational behavior caused our nation to act badly in the past.
We gave in to our worst fears and wound up betraying the ideals of Democracy that we like to think makes the United States a superior nation on the face of Planet Earth.
It would be nice if we could have learned from our bad behavior of the 1930s and would not make the same mistakes again. Perhaps that is all the more reason why this sequence is needed.
AFTER ALL, IT’S not like anybody’s talking about a completely separate course on the matter. I would suspect most high school history courses would devote part of one day to the matter some time during the spring, then move on to the Second World War.
And while I realize that the lack of time often results in history teachers being unable to make it through to the present, personally I would not have any problem if an extra hour spent talking about this situation meant one less hour talking about the “greatness” of Ronald Reagan.
But then again, I should not be shocked about any of this.
The fact that some people want to behave badly over and over again is part of human nature for some people, even though it ought to fall upon the rest of us to try to keep their flaws in check so they don’t drag down the bulk of our society.
IT’S NOT EVEN like this is an exception to the U.S. character in the 20th Century alone. Let’s not forget the years of World War II when people of Japanese ancestry (even those born and raised here) were put into internment camps (unlike those of German or Italian ancestry).
I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that the same people who rant about time spent on Mexicans being a waste are among those who also think we make too much of what happened to people of Japanese ethnic descent.
There is one other point we ought to take into account. Just because something gets taught in the schools does not mean the proper lesson will take.
I can remember being taught during my elementary school years about the hysteria that cropped up during World War I against things that appeared to be German – going to the extremes of people renaming hamburgers “Salisbury steak” because it sounded too much like Hamburg in Germany.
WE WERE SUPPOSED to laugh at how ridiculously people behaved. That is, until the early years of this decade, when the cafeteria for Congress changed the name of French fries to “Freedom fries” because those blasted Frenchies didn’t blindly follow the leader of George W. Bush in making war against Iraq.
We learned nothing from that episode. So it shouldn’t be surprising that some of us want to learn nothing when it comes to Mexico.
-30-
EDITOR’S NOTES: The bill (http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/BillStatus.asp?DocNum=1557&GAID=10&DocTypeID=SB&LegId=44110&SessionID=76&GA=96) itself.
The rants in the “commentary” section are more interesting than the actual story (http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-il-mexicanrepatriati,0,46282.story) itself.
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