Racists, Unite!
I've been called a racist more times than I can count. At this point, it's a badge of honor.
Back in the mid 1990s, when environmental organizations were more than feel-good social justice groups, I was an environmentalist of sorts. I was active in the effort to preserve fragile Southern Utah wilderness for future generations. We were astonishingly successful!
Debating the issue on an environmental discussion list, I pointed out that we could fight for trees, watersheds, and deserts all we liked, but the fundamental driving force of environmental degradation in America was unending population growth. By 1972, American women voluntarily reached replacement-level fertility (2.1 children per woman). Yet mass immigration was - and still is - driving America's population to double within the lifetimes of children born today. The reply? "You're a racist!"
That's an ad hominem attack - attacking the person when you don't have a rational argument against their position.
In another debate on a private discussion list, I pointed out the consequences of unending mass immigration. The reply? "You're a racist!" So I followed up with a humorous response. Humor works pretty well when you're confronted with obtuse irrationality.
That was about the time that the Sierra Club sold out its traditional population policy, which included the impact of mass immigration. Super rich donor David Gelbaum said, "I did tell Carl Pope in 1994 or 1995 that if they ever came out anti-immigration, they would never get a dollar from me." The Sierra Club abandoned their population-immigration policy and coincidentally received $100 million.
From the article, How the Environmental Movement Became a Casualty of Political Correctness and the Leftist Agenda, 2012:
In short, the Sierra Club has shelved its mission of being a non-partisan protector of the earth to become a left-wing diversity organization with hiking boots. It has corrupted itself with both money (the Gelbaum bribe of $100 million to ignore immigration) and socialist ideology, including support for massive immigration to alter American society by flooding the nation with millions who prefer big government. The club now follows the Saul Alinsky leftist playbook of demonizing anyone who disagrees with the party line, such as when it shamefully accused members of racism for arguing against the political switch about immigration. That conflagration of lies occurred during the crucial 2004 election, when one of the reformers running for election to the Sierra board of directors was black (Frank Morris) and another was the former Democratic governor of Colorado, Dick Lamm, who also helped found the campus NAACP at UC Berkeley in 1959! These highly qualified candidates were excoriated by the Sierra Club and its MoveOn.org digital goon squad, and their scurrilous accusations were repeated by the compliant mainstream press.
I was media liaison for the 2005 Minuteman Project to safeguard our southern border. A woman reporter courageously drove up from Mexico to interview me. She asked: "Do you know what the papers are saying? You are racists. You are beating Mexicans and taking children away from their mothers." I explained that none of that was true. All we were doing was reporting illegal border crossings to the Border Patrol, and because our presence, there were no crossings. We clearly demonstrated that little old ladies sitting in lawn chairs could effectively shut down illegal immigration along the Arizona border.
Indeed, I spoke with reporters from half a dozen European countries who came to see our efforts for themselves. They all said that they were quite concerned because of the problems illegal immigration was causing in their own countries.
Then there was a time when a huge illegal alien rally was held near the Colorado State Capitol. I figured you can never have too much fun, so I stood near the front with a big sign: "Tancredo for President!" I got a lot of media attention. One huge Hispanic towered over me and snarled, "You're a racist!" I replied, "No, you're the racist. You're the one with the race-based agenda." He went silent for a few seconds, nodded, and said, "Oh."
I once explained to a woman that just as she locks the doors on her home to control who enters, a nation similarly has the right to control who enters across its borders. Guess how she responded? "Nazi! You're a racist!"
There are two salient points that derive from these anecdotes:
1. It's not that hard to stand your ground on something you believe in - like America as a sovereign nation. Race-mongers are trying to intimidate you into silence. Don't fall for it.
2. When open borders leftists / progressives / Marxists call someone racist for wanting our existing immigration laws enforced, they are reverting to ad hominem name-calling, which is the weakest possible argument against immigration sanity.
It appears that after decades of ad hominem attacks, the open borders crowd is planning on escalating their idiocy:
Pro-Migration Activists Accelerate ‘Hate’ Campaign Vs. Immigration Reformers, Brietbart, December 17, 2021:
Pro-migration activists are escalating their race-themed “Hate” PR campaign against critics of federal migration policy– even though many recent polls show the critics are mainstream, multi-racial, and multiplying.
After trying to cram Critical Race Theory down our throats, they likely think Americans will finally cower in fear of being called racist.
I say, bring it on! Truth and reason will prevail against childish name-calling.
Racists of America, unite!
Update 8 January 2022:
It should be noted that 20 years ago, leftists / Marxists / open borders proponents called those who espoused immigration law enforcement "racist" in an attempt to intimidate and silence them. It was at times effective, especially when directed at spineless Chamber of Commerce RINO Republicans.
The invective today has a much broader connotation, meaning essentially that the accused is not on board the woke / critical race theory bandwagon. So if you don't hate whites in general, you're a racist. Ironically, this means that unless you are a racist, you are therefore a racist.
George Orwell must be turning in his grave.
Related
And a River of Racism Runs Through It
Hit Back Hard: Here’s How You DEFEAT a Racism Charge, by Selwyn Duke, American Thinker, 2 February 2022:
Simply say, "No, you are the racist - because you wouldn't be making your accusation if I wasn't white."
This not only is rhetorically effective but has another upside: It's very often true... "It's disgusting - and you ought to be ashamed of yourself."
Still Think America is Racist? Watch This, by Larry Elder, Epoch Times, December 28, 2021.
The post that led to my termination - BLM Spreads Falsehoods That Have Led to the Murders of Thousands of Black People in the Most Disadvantaged Communities, by Isaac Kriegman, 6 January 2022.
Is Wokeness Almost Over?, by Scott McConnell, American Conservative, 12 December 2021.
Immigration - Global humanitarian reasons for current U.S. immigration are tested in this updated version of immigration author and journalist Roy Beck's colorful presentation of data from the World Bank and U.S. Census Bureau. The 1996 version of this immigration gumballs presentation has been one of the most viewed immigration policy presentations on the internet.
The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life, by Richard J. Herrnstein, 1996.