| From a Peasant Highly Developed (PHD) |
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Thanks to Douglas Bruce, I can now change my placa from Pachuco Highly Developed (PHD) to Peasant Highly Developed (PHD). His insensitive use of nomenclature, calling immigrants “illiterate peasants,” was not a Freudian slip. Those kinds of deliberate comments would only come from a literate ignoramus. The legislators should have put a dunce cap on him and placed him in the corner.
His attempt to hoodwink the public backfired; but then in usual fashion, our leaders crawled back into their shells. He was verbally reprimanded but without penance. Bruce should be called on the carpet and action should be taken against his lack of impulse control that spewed out from his forked tongue. It was calculated. It was demeaning. It was racist. He should be discharged from his duties, recalled or impeached. Or is Bruce’s behavior a mere reflection of the constituents that he represents from the south? If so, we can expect more of the same nonsensical comments during his tenure.
What is equally painful is that his behavior is being endorsed by the major newspapers, and sad to say, from the state legislature that has grappled unsuccessfully in shaping comprehensive immigration policy.
The Post apologetically exalted the incident as producing a serendipitous but favorable outcome. In its April 23 edition, it states that because of Bruce’s tomfoolery, several legislatures turned coat. They are now in favor of the proposed Guest Worker program. Apparently, they were suffering from mild amnesia that somehow was magically cured by his diatribe. Douglas Bruce will get his usual slap on the hands and walk out with a smirk on his face.
The Rocky Mountain News in its April 23 editorial and opinion page stated, “Bruce’s comment was, to say the least, uninformed. But not everyone was insulted, as evidenced by the dozens of comments posted to the Rocky’s news story about the event—not to mention the attention it received on local talk radio.” Want my take? His followers found avenues to share the same racist mentality that has been woven into the fabric of the state. Without sounding paranoid, the question of a conspiracy is creeping around in the vestiges of my mind.
Failure to take action constitutes cowardice, even if I might be bold enough to say, from our own community’s legislative leaders. Bruce skated out of this one in the same manner that he slipped out of his last debacle. Do you remember when he kicked a Latino reporter during a spiritual legislative ceremony, then turned around and demanded an apology? He needs to be careful, one of these days someone may decide to kick him back.
As I mentioned in a recent column, silence is betrayal. This unfortunate incident illuminates the unwillingness of our state legislature to act justly. And although, in semi-defense of them, they did silence Bruce for a day, they refuse to hold his feet to the fire. He may not have broken the law which might be contestable; but he did violate the ethics of respect for others. He thinks that his comments were crafted in such a cagy way so as not to appear racist.
As for this spineless pen pusher’s comments about Wal-Mart, I doubt that his self-hate and the venom that must be running through his veins, would allow him to walk into this place of business. If he does, he must wear blinders.
One of the economic realities as Woody Guthrie lyrics in his famous song “Deportee,” states, “The crops are all rotting and the lettuce is wilting.” The age old dilemma of finding cheap immigrant labor continues to haunt those with deep pockets whose only interests are to deepen them more. For the last two years, the prices of head lettuce and other crops have skyrocketed. Field workers willing to be exploited cannot be found. What became an attempt to fatten the pocket books of Bruce’s compatriots turned into another verbal tragedy, hidden in pseudo intellectual terms.
Bruce’s behavior comes at a very opportune time. Oh! Oh! Here comes that paranoia again; a time when other state legislatures are coming out of the closet with xenophobic sentiments as Chicano/communities remain under attack. The latent rage has filled the pens of the Arizona legislature with a musty ink. They are crafting repugnant laws to obliterate anything that resembles, looks like or smells like Ethnic Studies.
They have successfully joined the ilk of purported historians like Samuel Huntington who are on a rampage to defend the destruction of Western Civilization. As our recent Harvard scholar Dr. David Carrasco recently stated in one his lectures, “’Huntington refuses to tell the stories from North to South. He would rather tell the stories from East to West.” On the other hand, the stories from all directions are barefaced lies. They simply twist the truth to meet the needs of those in power. So does Douglas Bruce.
The trumpets are calling. Are we willing to respond?
Dr. Ramon Del Castillo is an Independent Journalist.
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