Meet "Juan Crow"

The final days of Boubacar Bah's life read like an account of a political prisoner in a gulag.

Bah, 52, was shackled to the floor of the prison's medical unit where he was left to moan and vomit until prison officials moved him to a "disciplinary cell."

He would stay there for more than 13 hours -- alone, unresponsive and foaming at the mouth, the apparent result of a head injury. He would later die in a coma at a hospital.

But as the New York Times account of his death explains, Bah wasn't a political prisoner.

He wasn't a terrorist held at Guantanamo Bay. And he wasn't the kingpin of an international crime syndicate.

Bah was a tailor from Guinea who overstayed his tourist visa in the United States. He was an "illegal."

And he's a casualty of America's new war on immigrants.

In the South, Latinos call it "Juan Crow." Just as Jim Crow laws in the South once ensured that blacks remained "in their place," the hysterical over-reaction to illegal immigration is turning immigrants into second-class citizens.

In a Juan Crow world, human rights are trampled, communities terrorized and families torn apart all in the name of getting tough on "illegals." Anyone who looks or sounds "foreign" is a suspect. Just ask Justeen Mancha. She was getting ready for school one day at her south Georgia home when armed immigration agents barged in, shouting, "Police! Illegals!"

Justeen, who was 15 when this happened, is a U.S. citizen of Mexican descent. She was terrified by the ordeal.

A March 2008 report to the United Nations Human Rights Council stated the obvious when it found that "xenophobia and racism towards migrants in the United States has worsened since 9/11."

Loudmouth bigots on the airwaves are fanning the flames of hate, spreading propaganda and conspiracy theories that often originate in white supremacist organizations and blaming immigrants for everything from leprosy to invasion plans. The number of hate groups in the country is rising rapidly. And pandering politicians across the country have flooded state legislatures with bills designed to isolate, demean, humiliate and impoverish immigrants. No fewer than 18 state Houses of Representatives have passed resolutions opposing the "North American Union," a plan to merge the United States with Mexico and Canada, even though no such plan exists.

It's no wonder nearly two-thirds of Hispanics surveyed by the Pew Hispanic Center last year believe Congress' failure to enact immigration reform has made life more difficult for all Latinos.

America's war on immigrants is claiming victims, and the human toll is rising. Bah's family still has questions about their loved one's death. Justeen Mancha worries that agents might storm her home again. And we, as a nation, are in danger of losing sight of our most fundamental beliefs about human dignity.

Comments

[breakfast]

It is purely a matter of numbers.

If only a relative few were coming across the border illegally, then no one would much care.

But in fact, they are streaming across the borders by the millions, year after year. To say that because we are a nation of immigrants, it is all good, is sheer stupidity.

These millions coming in to our country illegally constitute an invasion, which the federal government is required by Article IV, Section 4 of the Constitution to protect against.

And, by the way, we get over a million legal immigrants every year.

Estimates now are that there are 30 million or so illegals here now.

Why ask for trouble?

[clr2]

There is no "war on immigrants" ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS need to be deported period. That's not a war that's enforcing our LAWS.

[Skepticat]

Long before I started following US current events there have been hispanic immigrants sneaking into the states to find work. Until the economy went South it was always there - but never really a huge issue,
However over the last few years of outsourced declining economy the Hispanics have replaced the Jews as the scapegoats for a failing economy. Corporatist politicians can hardly expect to gain votes by saying we facilited globalization, gave tax cuts to corporations outsourcing your jobs and ruined your lives for our own personal benefit. It's much easier - and more profitable to blame someone else.

[clr2]

Hispanics aren't the "scapegoat". We are tired of paying BILLIONS of dollars to support ILLEGAL ALIENS. I don't care where they come from - all ILLEGAL ALIENS need to be deported and those who hire them should be heavily fined and jailed.

[MARTYB]

They are here illegally, they are turning parts of OUR country into 3rd world conditions, they are racists,
and despite all what my fellow liberals say, they have taken jobs from AMERICANS.­. Here in California
i have watched entire buildings go up with nary a black or white face in sight. I KNOW personally black
and white small business owners/workers driven out of jobs by being undercut by people who should not even be here. Incredibly enough illegal aliens demand rights while waving a foreign flag and all during the primary season i i saw story after story of why those pushing for illegal aliens would not vote for a Black man. Some tried to hide it by saying they knew the Clintons better, what a load. I had more respect for those that just plain ol said they would not vote for a Black, the same way the people
in KY,WV,TENN, etc said they would not

[Necron99]

You can blame poor people struggling to feed their families (just like you & I) as long as you'd like to...or you could try to figure out who is 1) exploiting them for their cheap labor, 2) profiting from the cost of paying less for yours, 3) & pitting various groups against each other in order to continue 'business as usual.'

I'd say big ag has something to do with it--as well as you & your neighbors who make one kind of economic choice when you need some yard work done, and then realize you're only getting $8/hour for something that used to pay $15...

Trust me on this--the other people making $8/hour are not the people to blame...

[clr2]

ILLEGAL ALIENS shouldn't be here they should be deported and those who hire them should be fined and jailed.
Why don't you go to their countries and fine out why they are sending us their poor? We need to take care of our own poor.

[devadasi]

MARTYB, I'm a liberal democratic, and an Obama supporter but I agree with your basic premise. illegal immigrants are illegal, period. They have no busines being here. They're being exploited and at the same time they are taking away jobs from Americans. America, a land of immigrants, yes, but I would venture to say that from the beginning most immigrants that come here are opportunists. I have visited the villages where my ancestors came from, and you know what in spite of the hardships they endured in the old country, the ones who stayed behind are doing just fine.

II live in a working-middle class neighborhood; over the the last 10 years we have been invaded by a swarm of immigrants from all over, Mexico, Latin America, Eastern Europe; as a result the neighborhood has suffered from overcrowdedness and deterioration. Most Americans want a strong immigration policy; it's the pols who unable to utter the truth, because they are being blackmailed by the Latino community. It's a priviledge to come here not an entitlement. We need to take of our own first.

My 90 year old compassionate chiropractor told me the human system is not equipped to deal with the problems of the world. However, I do not have respect for anyone who says they would not vote for a candidate because he is black; that' is blatant racism. Blacks have been here in America longer than most of us. As far as I'm concerned they're the true Americans.

[rowzeer]

GOP ideology - if you can't outsource the job, insource the labor. That's why on the immigrants go to jail and not the business owners.

[rowzeer]

Right wing ideology-If you can't outsource the job, insource the labor

[MauriceBendix]

I'm sorry but you need a history lesson. Jim Crow was a disgusting, brutal dehumanizing
period in our history. Blacks faced death and lived in constant fear of being lynched. However
ugly, the anti-immigrant xenophobia doesn't consider and the comparison is frankly offensive
belittles the suffering of black folk.

[rowzeer]

You think laboring (slaving actually) in the fields for less than minimum wage without breaks, water and bathrooms in 100 degree weather (in California the central valley reaches the 100's during the summer) with overseers/­contractor­s taking whatever wages they earned for substandard housing.

It extremely similar except the immigrants weren't transported across the ocean. During the Bracero era they were brought over (sponsored) by farmers to work and then many were never paid or paid beneath what they were promised and if they complained they were shipped back without seeing any money.

Many establishments in the south said "whites only" not "no blacks" whites only meant exactly that no Blacks, no Mexicans. Both were served (if they were served at all) in the back or in the basement. So maybe you need to understand their history, too,

[clr2]

ILLEGAL ALIENS came here by choice-no one forced them. They need to go back to their own countries and demand their rights there. We need to take care of our own poor citizens.

[rowzeer]

back breaking work for less than minimum wage may technically not be slavery, but it's pretty close

[rowzeer]

maurice - the comparison doesn't belittle the suffering of Blacks. There are many oppressed people and immigrants/laborers that understand your struggle for social justice. Most Mexicans I know put MLK up there with Jesus and JFK

[devadasi]

Exactly MAURICEBENDIX. it's insulting to compare the black experience with the new wave of immigrantion. I found this article to be filled with propaganda; the premise is offensive. It's always those who live in the best neigbhorhoods or gated communities who support illigal immigration, because they have no idea what a nightmare it is to have your neighborhood invaded. The only illigal immigrants they know are the ones who work for them.

[1will]

Good post. You are correct. You cannot compare what Blacks went through with Jim Crow laws to the current situation regarding ILLEGAL ALIENS. The biggest difference however is Black people suffering under these laws were citizens of this nation while these Illegal Aliens are law breakers that have no right to be here.

[apoyo]

Why isn't hate radio/TV FCC violations?

[jesselee26]

i'm afraid we will be judged in the future based on this moment and this issue as harshly as we deserve. we have no right to criticize other countries' human rights infringements. we have no claim to self righteous indignation on the part of so-called illegals. nothing disturbs me so greatly as how many people who consider themselves liberals and progressives come down on the side of this argument steeped in ignorance and bigotry, especially considering how few people know much if anything about our actual policies.

[clr2]

We need to enforce our laws and we need to take care of our own poor. Why don't you go to the countries that are sending us their poor and talk to them about what they can do for their own citizens? We have enough to take care of here.

[KHAAANNN]

The Republicans learned the lesson of Rwanda well and are using it in this election as their only weapon (because they cannot possibly run on their record.) Racism and Fear are their only remaining weapons and they WILL use them, in fact, they already are.
In Rwanda, right-wing radio and T.V. was successful in whipping up a frenzy of hatred between the formerly peaceful Hutu and Tutsi tribes. These groups had lived amongst each other for many years in peace, until the government of Rwanda needed a scapegoat to explain away their disastrous economic policies that had bankrupted the country. It was so successful that people even murdered members of their own families in a whirlwind of hatred unmatched since the killing fields of Cambodia.
THIS is the template the RNC plans to use against Obama and the Democrats in the election, and it will only get uglier the closer to November we get. I have even heard and read in right-wing blogs, calls to SECEDE from the Union rather than elect a Black Man president. Unbelievable.
The only way to counter it is to PUBLICLY CHALLENGE every utterance of racial and religious hatred that these scum utter in an attempt to obfuscate the policies of the candidates in all political races.
Shine the light of TRUTH on them, and they scurry away to the darkness with the other cockroaches.

[clevelandchick]

KHAAAN wrote

"The only way to counter it is to PUBLICLY CHALLENGE every utterance of racial and religious hatred that these scum utter in an attempt to obfuscate the policies of the candidates in all political races.
Shine the light of TRUTH on them, and they scurry away to the darkness with the other cockroache­s."

Excellent point!!!! Ever notice how every time one of these cretins is exposed to the public and rejected they go away for awhie?

As Maya Angelous says, when people show you who they are...beli­eve them. You can say that about these hatemongers who use poor immigrants as their punching bag. If they ever got their way and kicked every illegal brown person out of the country they'd just find someone else to pick on.

[clr2]

I think you are being racist when you call ILLEGALS "brown people". Not all ILLEGAL ALIENS are brown. All ILLEGAL ALIENS no matter which country they come from or what color they are need to be deported. That's not racist.