Fear and hatred, on a large scale, requires some hard work.
People don’t just wake up one day and declare a whole group of people to be evil. Some conscious effort must be applied to achieve this goal.
Our own history provides us far too many shameful examples.
We can start with the story of the freed slaves of the South.
In a 2012 documentary, based on the Pulitzer Prize winning book “Slavery By Another Name,” we see how a change in public perception opens the door for assaults on decency that would otherwise be considered unconscionable.
The film details the story of how even as slavery ended, thousands of freed slaves were pulled back into forced labor, often by brutal means. Deprived of its free labor after the war, the Southern agricultural industry found a new means of securing that labor through a court system in which men, often guilty of petty crimes or no crimes at all, were arrested and compelled to work without pay to satisfy wildly inflated fees and fines that could keep a man bound to the land owner for years, sometimes decades. The system, which was tolerated in both the North and South, persisted well into the 20th century.
But that cruel system could not have emerged without an effort to justify it.
First, the perception of the former slaves had to change.
It might surprise some to note that at the time of emancipation, the perception of blacks was favorable. They were considered to be hard-working, sober, honest, fair-minded and family-oriented.
But as landowners began to rebuild their empires, a campaign of misinformation, distortions and lies emerged. Soon, blacks were perceived to be lazy, prone to thievery, drunkards, violent, fit only for hard-work under a heavy hand.
And when that narrative had permeated the South, it was then — and only then — that “slavery by another name” was given its moral sanction.
We see the same thing in connection with migrant workers from Mexico, particular in the West and Southwest.
For more than a hundred years, the people now derisively labeled “illegals” were welcome to the U.S. They not only provided most of the labor that built and sustained the West’s enormously successful agricultural economy, but made innumerable contributions to the culture of the West we still recognize today.
Like the former black slaves of the South, for years and years, they were perceived as — you guessed it — hard-working, honest, family-oriented, peaceful people. They were accepted as important contributors to American life. The idea they were somehow a destructive influence was a laughable notion.
This perception changed only when the U.S. economy hit rough times and fear and suspicion took hold – as it did in the 1930s during the Great Depression and, more recently, in this century.
Steadily, the false narrative built around these people was that of a people who were drug-dealing criminals, whose sole purpose was to leech off benefits to which they were not entitled. The idea that they contribute little and take much persists to this day. They are viewed with fear and suspicion.
We have seen the same thing with other peoples — the German, Italian, Chinese, Japanese and Irish immigrants of the mid-19th and early 20th century. And, of course, these injustices pale when compared to the treatment of the only “real natives,” the American Indian.
In fact, there is no group of non-white, non-protestant people whose loyalty, character and intentions have not been grossly distorted as a means of subjecting them to second-class citizenship.
Today, that same narrative is emerging with Muslims, even those Muslims who are natives and entitled to the same dignity and respect as any other native-born American.
They, like all other “different” peoples are maligned by the unfair practice of judging a whole by its worst distortion. Are some people who call themselves Muslims, terrorists? Certainly. Are some who call themselves Christians also white supremacists or domestic terrorists? Again the answer is yes.
Yet one group is defined by its most extreme elements while the other group is not held at all responsible for the actions and attitudes of those on its fringes.
This is America it worst, when carefully cultivated hate and fear give rise to an ugly prejudice that brings shame on our country and violates our most basic American principles.
We are better than this.
Aren’t we?
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 41 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.