“Sticks and stones can break your bones, but words can never hurt you.” Any child who’s been the object of hateful, hurtful words knows down deep that it’s a lie. Words can hurt, can damage, can, in fact, leave psychic scars that may never heal.
This year’s hateful lineup of words may be the most damaging since the 1960s. Back then the words were “coon,” “boogie” and “n*gger.” Today, the words are “invaders,” “illegals” and “cockroaches.” Each of the words depersonalizes and dehumanizes “the other”; the words incite fear in the hearts of an insecure population already terrified by unspecific threats from the wars on terrorism and drugs and an economy that never seems to get any better despite every new crop of politicians’ promises.
Out of work? Blame an illegal. Can’t live on what you make? Blame an invader from Mexico. Kids on drugs? Blame a Columbian cockroach.
The inevitable result of this newest round of hate rhetoric is a sharp rise in violence against Latinos—35 percent nationwide and nearly twice the numbers of crimes in places like California, targeting brown-skinned immigrants. Traditionally anti-black organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan—the Mississippi White Knights—have taken up the gauntlet thrown down by irresponsible, power-hungry politicians, and irresponsible, loud-mouthed media hosts. Hate-focused speech and hate-focused violence are hurting innocent people.
Mississippi has a long reputation of targeting groups for violence and retribution. In the ’60s, Hodding Carter wrote about the “uptown Klan,” the white Citizen’s Council based in Jackson, which didn’t espouse violence directly, yet created an atmosphere where anti-black and anti-civil rights violence was rampant. It is no different today; supposedly “God-fearing” people running for office have found “illegals” handy for their fear-based rhetoric.
Mississippians should let their legislators know they recognize such speech as a throwback to the “old” Mississippi—one we would like to see permanently in our past—and that we will not tolerate it. As painful as it was to re-elect old-line incumbents in the last election, voters sent a clear message to the Democrats: “We don’t need you to out-conservative the conservatives.”
Such language demonizes human beings and squelches responsible discussion of issues such as immigration and job creation.
Removing hate-speech and hate-related violence from our lives takes courage—the courage not to give in to the fear it engenders. You’re smarter than that, Mississippi. You’ve seen it all before.
