It isn’t about “the border.” It’s about “the other”
by digby
I missed this controversy last week and I confess that even with what I know of my fellow Americans it surprised me. Mark Anthony sang the national anthem at the All-Star game and really upset some people. Here’s a smattering of the commentary:
Mark Anthony was born and raised in New York. He’s of Puerto Rican background — and they too are American citizens. This little episode lays bare the real issue people have with immigrants and let’s just say it clearly isn’t about “jobs” or “welfare.” It’s racism, pure and simple.
But what really amazes me is that these racists must be baseball fans or they wouldn’t have been watching. So what must they think of the vast number of Hispanic players polluting the playing fields of America’s pastime? Why we even have players from Communist Cuba out there and some of them don’t even speak good English fergawdsakes! I’m afraid these patriots are going to have to give up watching baseball if they want to keep America pure for Real Americans like themselves. It’s full of players of all races and nationalities and has been for decades.
There have always been racists like the ones who treated Jackie Robinson like dirt when he first played for the Dodgers. Today, we have a young black Cuban defector phenomenon named Yasiel Puig playing for the same team and he is adored by the fans. The racist jerks are limited to making cracks on twitter. I can’t even imagine what the reaction would be if they tried that in the stands at Dodger Stadium. The fans would not be amused, I’m sure. That’s progress.
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