Getting with the program – some of us are taking longer than others

I’m sure there are those people in our society who saw the scene on Thursday and somehow felt overrun.

The president of Mexico got to speak before the U.S. Congress, and got significant applause and cheers from those politicians representing that segment of society that realizes the need for us all to adapt to the coming realities of the 21st Century. Does this truly come across as a subversive activity, seeing the president of Mexico speak to a joint session of our Congress? Photograph provided by the Mexico federal government.

FELIPE CALDERÒN HINOJOSA made comments completely in line with his previous statements on issues such as immigration reform (he wants the two countries to work together to develop a policy that doesn’t dump on people because of their ethnicity) and firearms (he wants the U.S. to impose tougher restrictions so as to reduce the flow of automatic weapons into his country).

So for people like Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, to rant that Calderòn was “out of line” by saying such things is ridiculous. What else did anyone expect him to say?

But then, the people who get all worked up over this issue aren’t surprising. It is the usual ethnic prejudice coming from people who can’t handle the realities of our society in the 21st Century.

Several polls have documented that people see this prejudice occurring. The newest of them was released this week by GfK Roper Public Affairs & Media, which said that 61 percent of all surveyed think Latinos are the brunt of discrimination.

WHILE THAT FIGURE is increased by the fact that 81 percent of all Latinos perceive discrimination against our ethnic brethren, it isn’t inflated that much. The poll claims that 59 percent of non-Latinos think that Latinos receive some level of discrimination.

If anything, that figure encourages me because, when combined with the continuous rate of growth of the Latino population, it means a significant mass of people who in the not-so-distant future are going to look back on all the nonsense rhetoric being spewed by those who oppose immigration reform and try to defend Arizona and are going to feel a sense of shame.

I’m not sure if former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is destined to become the 21st Century equivalent of onetime Birmingham lawman “Bull” Connor with some of her verbal whoppers – particularly her attempt to involve herself in the “issue” of a suburban Chicago high school that does not want its girl’s basketball team to partake in a tournament in Arizona. But she is likely to become one of the comical characters of our era; one who likely will cause us to shake our heads and wonder how anyone could ever have taken her seriously?

Of course, there is some denial.

THE NEW POLL (paid for by the Spanish-language Univision television network and the Associated Press wire service) showed 55 percent of Latinos see the level of discrimination against us as “a lot,” while only 24 percent of non-Latinos agree.

That could just be people being more aware of one’s own situation over that of other people, since the poll also offers up several figures claiming that other groups also perceive the discimination against themselves at higher rates than other groups do.

Personally, I am inclined to think that the level of discrimination usually depends on the circumstances of the individual – some people are in situations where they get hit with it more than others do. That should NOT be construed as some sort of support for those people who want to believe that any hostility toward Latinos is somehow brought on by themselves.

But it means I think the solution ultimately has to be increased exposure to each other – even though the kind of people who want to define immigration reform as more deportations are the kind who want to take our society to the other extreme.

WHICH ULTIMATELY IS why I get a bit of a kick out of the reception Calderòn received from our Congress.

Applause and praise for some (Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., went so far as to invite Latino activists from his home state’s significant city of Chicago to share in the experience) with hostility from people like Hatch – and silence from much of the Republican caucus.

I’m sure the day will come that some of those GOP members of Congress who kept quiet will wish they had lightened up just a bit to share in the joy of the chief executive of our neighboring nation saying how much he wants to work with the United States to make life better in both countries.

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