Guest Column
Is There No Shame In Wisconsin?
- Is There No Shame In Wisconsin?
By Robert Miranda
The Republican base in West Bend must be proud of their state senator.
During a recent debate on the matter of enrollment equity at the University of Wisconsin, State Senator Grothman, ever the articulate statesman many of his supporters fancy him to be, blurted an openly bigoted comment many today still can't believe he said.
State Senator Grothman stated for a Madison news service, "I think our society is used to giving preference to African Americans," Grothman told a Madison News network. "But why in the world would we give preferences to Hispanics, who've just come here?"
Hmmm..One can read into these idiotic words in many ways, clearly however, the words are xenophobic and to some degree reflect the views and opinions of some, if not most, of the people in West Bend-he is after all, their representative.
Many intelligent and gifted people crafted a policy for fairness in order to achieve parity at Wisconsin's largest university system, but the senator from West Bend joined in the debate sounding like Jethro from the Beverly Hillbillies. To amplify his backwoods knowledge, West Bend's gifted son stated that "historical, racial prejudices have declined, obviating the need" for any policy aimed at helping disadvantaged minorities in the state.
Wow! According to State Senator Grothman, Wisconsin has achieved a color blind society.
Well, I guess all the research that the University of Wisconsin System has compiled over the past decade demonstrating quantitative and qualitative data highlighting the growth of segregation and hate crimes in our state, is all wrong and contrived by left-wing communist leaning professors working alongside Al Qaeda sympathizers and Muslim clerics who hate America.
State Senator Grothman wants Wisconsin to adhere to the notion that helping African Americans is enough and that helping other people of color, especially Mexicans, Cubans, Haitians, and Asians is just out of line.
Indeed, West Bend Wisconsin has produced a genius of a representative.
Are we all to believe in Wisconsin that Grothman is the best thinking elected official this part of the state has?
Is Grothman the example that West Bend wants to put forward as a reflection of its community?
As pathetic as this may be, what is most sinister is how Grothman's message helps fuel the growth of white supremacist groups around the state and country.
I'm sure the State Senator is no supporter of the neo-Nazi movement, and I have no evidence indicating that he is a member or sympathizer of the Ku Klux Klan, however, his statements do indirectly give these groups opportunities to use asinine statements like his as fodder for their growing movement around the state and country.
Indeed, it is 2007 and anti-immigrant racist forces of the era of the reconstruction are experiencing growth in membership around the nation.
According to Mark Potok, director of the Southern Poverty Law Center, a dramatic growth in hate groups took place between 2000 and 2005. Potok states that hate groups rose by 33 percent in new chapters and that Ku Klux Klan chapters rose by 63 percent, all because of their hatred towards immigrants, Muslims, Jews, and Blacks.
Some will say that the explosive growth of the Ku Klux Klan took place because of the immigrant issue, and in part this is true. When politicians release advertisement attacking immigrants so that they can get elected, the residual negative impact is xenophobia, the food of hate and the tool needed to recruit new members to advance that hate.
West Bend, are you proud of what your representative is doing? Bigoted statements like the one he made last week only fuel support for the leaders of white supremacy. His statements help turn people against human beings who happen to only be guilty of having different skin color than the majority of those who voted for him.
Is there no shame in West Bend?
______________________________________________________ - Robert Miranda, a frequent contributing columnist to HispanicVista.com (http://www.hispanicvista.com) is a national award winning columnist, Latino community activist and Publisher of the Milwaukee Spanish Journal. Email at: rmiranda@wi.rr.com
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