One of the most disturbing facets of the immigration reform debate was the racism charge that was so casually cast about by supporters of the failed bill, from Ted Kennedy to John McCain and even hinted at by President Bush.
The people who tried to ram this horrible bill through Congress are so insulated, so out of touch with reality, that they truly believe their opponents recoil at the sight of Latinos. But the truth is far different.
What prompts this blog entry is the starting lineup of Major League Baseball's American League All-Star team. David Ortiz is at first base, with Placido Palanco at second. You probably see where I'm going here. While Derek Jeter is the shortstop, the third baseman is Alex Rodriguez, Magglio Ordonez is in left, Vladimir Guerrero is in right and Ivan Rodriguez is catching. If not for Jeter and center fielder Ichiro Suzuki, you'd have an all-Hispanic lineup.
The key here is that all these players were voted as starters by the fans. The American public. And baseball has quite a cross-section of followers over the socio-political-economic spectrum. In the middle of a heated debate over whether to let 12 million illegal immigrants become citizens, the people of the United States voted six Latino ballplayers to the All-Star Game for the AL. And while two are not Hispanic, one is Japanese and the other mixed-race. No white starters. The National League added two more Latino starters, and fans of the senior circuit nearly selected Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano over the far more deserving Chris Young, the Padres hurler, in the Internet balloting for the final roster spot.
You can just feel the racial hatred simmering in this country.
Seriously, you can't get a real feel for what's happening on this subject -- or many others, for that matter -- by isolating yourself in Washington, D.C., or midtown Manhattan. In Southern California, Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, we've been living with Latinos for our entire lives. We know what it's like. You hear all kinds of things about them, such as whether they assimilate. Like just about every other ethnic group that's come here, some of them do and some don't. In a courthouse where I often work, Latinos are heavily represented among the criminals, the bailiffs, the cops, the prosecutors, the defense attorneys and the judges. It's across the board.
Some Latinos become baseball players, and can be very talented ones. As fans, no matter our race or their's, we appreciate their skills and enjoy watching them. Race is a non-issue. It was during the immigration debate, too. Unfortunately, our unethical and ineffectual leaders played the race card because they just couldn't bring themselves to admit that they were trying to swindle the public with their bill.
