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HispanicVista Guest Columnists

 

New Handbook on Hate and the Immigration Debate

This year's coming debate over fixing our broken immigration system is likely to be as contentious, if not more so, as the last time Congress took up the issue in 2007. As we have seen from last year’s town hall meetings on health care reform, certain sectors of the public are willing to go to extremes in order to make themselves heard. 

 Unfortunately, arrayed among the players in the immigration debate are many with ties to vigilantes, White supremacists, and nativists who have been part of the opposition to reforming our nation’s immigration system for decades. Last time immigration reform was debated on Capitol Hill, their message tainted the debate and produced what one of my colleagues called at the time “a wave of hate.” Inaction in Washington forced the debate over immigration to the state and local levels, and this wave of hate spilled over with it. This phenomenon has created throughout the country an environment in which Hispanics live in a state of fear, regardless of their citizenship or immigration status. Since immigration reform was most recently put on the table, hate crimes against Latinos have spiked alarmingly, as have the number of hate groups targeting Latinos. There is no doubt that words have consequences, and hateful words have hateful consequences. 

 Below you will find a link to a guide that is designed to help those interested in immigration reform recognize and sort through the charged rhetoric that will surface during the debate.  This handbook is not designed to quell those voices we don’t agree with or challenge their right to speak.  It’s simply intended to educate readers about the backgrounds and agendas of those participating in the debate. 

 It is the National Council of La Raza’s (NCLR) belief that, as a country, we can debate immigration reform without resorting to misinformation that demonizes the immigrant community and without code words used to engender hate. As the debate unfolds, NCLR will be appealing to the better angels of America's nature—not our worst fears. We want to debate immigration reform on its merits.

 You can access the handbook at http://www.wecanstopthehate.org/site/latest/reporters_handbook.

 If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Lisa Navarrete, Vice President, NCLR, at (202) 785-1670 or lnavarrete@nclr.org.