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- By Levi Rickert
Opinion. Democrats and Republicans agree immigration reform is long overdue.
For this reason, this past February, a bipartisan group of U.S.senators crafted an immigration bill that, frankly, some Democrats felt went too far in concessions to the Republican senators.
The bill would have hired 1,500 more border agents and “stem the flow of fentanyl” entering the United States.
Then, the ex-president Donald Trump unscrupulously killed the bill because he wanted to keep the immigration issue in the forefront during the current presidential election.
“I think the border is a very important issue for Donald Trump. And the fact that he would communicate to Republican senators and congresspeople that he doesn’t want us to solve the border problem because he wants to blame Biden for it is … really appalling,” Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) said in February,
It is all about playing politics on an issue that needs to be addressed.
During last Tuesday’s presidential debate, Trump took playing politics to the extreme when he became flustered and perplexed by Vice President Kamala Harris' prosecutorial relentless style of debate.
Trump repeated a baseless claim about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio eating dogs and other pets.
"They're eating the dogs, the people that came in, they're eating the cats," Trump said. "They're eating the pets of the people that live there, and this is what's happening in our country, and it's a shame."
When David Muir, one of the two ABC moderators, pointed out that the city manager in Springfield had told the network there were “no credible reports of specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by individuals within the immigrant community,” Trump replied, “Well, I’ve seen people on television.”
Trump is masterful at inflaming his base with misinformation and lies. What makes matters worse is Trump attempted to demonize immigrants. In this case, he attempted to demonize Haitians.
Native Americans know something about being demonized.
Afterall, the United States was established on the “merciless Indian savages” narrative that is in the Declaration of Independence: “the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.”
The “merciless Indian savages” line immediately put Native people in a less-than category because the Declaration of Independence’s second paragraph begins:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
In “Remarks concerning the Savages of North America,” Benjamin Franklin addressed the issue by writing: “Savages we call them, because their manners differ from ours, which we think the perfection of civility.”
The premise was then that if you devalue the Indian by saying he was uncivilized, it was easier to justify taking the land from the “merciless Indian savages.”
Fast forward to the dialogue to last Tuesday’s debate.
The demonization of Haitian immigrants by Trump caused bomb threats being called into government buildings in Springfield on Thursday and Friday. And, then on Saturday, bomb threats were called into two Springfield hospitals.
On Sunday, Trump’s running mate Sen. J.D. Vance *R-OH) doubled down on the false claim. "If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that's what I'm going to do,” the Republican vice president nominee said on CNN.
Vance admits it is permissible to make things up to drive home lies that vulnerable and non-intellectually curious people can embrace. The tactic is to make them afraid of dark people in order to win their votes.
While Democrats and Republicans agree immigration reform is long overdue, they certainly don’t agree on the tact for messaging the need.
Unfortunately, the MAGA crowd believe the lies spewed by Trump and Vance.
As a Potawatomi man, I know the United States is a nation taken over by immigrants centuries ago. I even remember reading President John Kennedy’s book A Nation of Immigrants decades ago. In the book, Kennedy highlighted the contributions of immigrants to the United States. “Everywhere, immigrants have enriched and strengthened the fabric of American life,” Kennedy wrote.
As a Potawatomi man, I get that the land of our ancestors was lost—some could even argue stolen—centuries ago. I understand that white, European immigrants flowed into this country for centuries by the millions.
What I don’t get is now that black and brown people want entrance to the country, the Republicans feel it is time to close down immigration into the United States.
I am glad David Muir called out Trump for his lie and I am happy the dogs and cats are safe in Springfield, Ohio.
My hope is truth will prevail at the voting booths across America this election season so that a better future can be built in this nation of immigrants where we as Native people co-exist.
Thayék gde nwéndëmen - We are all related.
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