Attention Prop. 187 backers: whites get scapegoated too

Attention Prop. 187 backers: whites get scapegoated too

By David Russell Collins

I am writing in response to Dawn Mabalon’s article ("Asian
Americans should oppose Prop. 187," Oct. 5), and before I begin
this article on Proposition 187, you should be advised of an
interesting thing about me: I am white. If you feel compelled to
throw this paper away now because you are afraid the white majority
is about to throw another confusing line of hypocritical bull feces
at you, then I invite you to do so. Having said that …

I am not opposed to Mabalon’s opinions about the quality of
Proposition 187. As a matter of fact, the only reason I registered
to vote is to help vote down the proposition. What I am opposed to
is her scapegoating whites as the bill’s backers.

The truth is that the people responsible for Proposition 187
have only one universal thing in common, and it’s not race. No, the
only thing that Proposition 187 backers have in common is the fact
that they all face re-election following an economic recession
which has hit California especially hard. Their most obvious way to
gain re-election following this crisis is to find a scapegoat, and
this time around the easiest target has been the illegal
immigrant.

In a manner similar to the politicians who use immigrants as a
scapegoat against which to rally voters and gain re-election,
Mabalon uses the white race as a scapegoat to incite people into
action. Actually, she achieves her results in roughly the same way
politicians do, by treating the scapegoated group as a large mass
of identical beings with identical ambitions and abilities. For
instance, while politicians spread myths about illegal immigrants
being uneducated, lazy and living off welfare which should be used
for honest Americans down on their luck, Mabalon fuels the myth
that the white majority adopts a purist philosophy and is afraid of
all people of color who might stain their pure genes.

Ironically, both of these myths are remediable by the same mean.
The only step that we as U.S. citizens need to take is to look at
other ethnic groups (and our own) as a collection of individuals.
If all whites are viewed as one large oppressing majority, it is
very easy to hate us and to blame us for this flawed proposition.
This attitude, however, is self-defeating in that it fosters racial
division, which can only lead to more propositions along the same
lines as 187. Similarly, Proposition 187 is very easy to vote for
if immigrants are viewed as leeches on the welfare system. However,
when one begins to view either whites or the immigrating population
as a collection of individuals, both views are extremely difficult
to justify.

As a final note, in my opinion, both the politicians and Mabalon
have one other similarity in their arguments ­ their outdated
information, thinking and opinions. Mabalon continually pulls
examples from history to strengthen her argument. However, the
majority of her examples come from the turn of the century, and all
but one example fall before 1935. Actually, every date given in
Mabalon’s article is before 1967. The world has changed since 1967
and the fact that no complaint was issued about any event following
1968 is testament to that fact.

Of course, this is not to say that the past is meaningless;
after all, as historians are fond of saying, history does repeat
itself. But history is not a circle, but rather an advancing spiral
which moves steadily forward and backward while all the while
advancing slowly. In my opinion, Proposition 187 and Mabalon’s
column are simply movements in the backward portion of this spiral.
So let us all help advance the spiral of history by voting against
Proposition 187 and by thinking twice when we read columns such as
the one written by Mabalon.

Collins is an undeclared first-year student.