LATINO PERSPECTIVE-Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump continues in the lead with no end in sight. He recently unveiled his plan to deport by force all 11 million undocumented workers residing in the United States. As George Will said, Trump’s roundup would be about 94 times larger than the wartime internment of 117,000 persons of Japanese descent. It would require a massive expansion of the most tyrannical police state powers -- far beyond their already immense post 9/11 explosion.
His ridiculous plan will be impossible to implement. Hillary Clinton’s response to Mr. Trump’s plan: “I find that absurd but appalling.” That’s exactly what this is -- absurd. And not only his immigration plan, but most of his “policy proposals,” if you can even call them that.
I don’t need to remind anyone that Trump called Mexican immigrants rapists and criminals. It’s true that some immigrants are criminals but they represent an extremely small number. Most immigrants are hardworking, decent people whose only “crime” has been crossing the border is search of a better life for themselves and their families.
There are over 2 million Latinos in the City of Los Angeles and I hope that not a single one of them has taken Mr. Trump’s gibberish to heart. I am an immigrant myself and not for one second have I taken Trump’s nonsense personally. There is really no reason to.
That’s why I was disappointed and appalled to hear Univision anchor Jorge Ramos, who, by the way is also an immigrant like myself from Mexico, saying: “This is personal … he’s talking about our parents, our friends, our kids, and our babies.”
I like Jorge Ramos, but the way he conducted himself during that press conference was shameful and embarrassing, and not the way a professional journalist should behave. He actually made Latinos look like a group of whiners, when in reality we don’t really care that much what Trump says. One thing he is right about, though: Trump will never be President of the United States. He can’t win without the Latino vote.
Politico’s political reporter Marco Caputo said this about Ramos: “This is bias: taking the news personally, explicitly advocating an agenda.” Caputo is right when he said, “Trump can and should be pressed on this. Reporters can do this without being activists.” Not only did Ramos not behave as a journalist, but he actually ruins journalism with his “take-it-personally” bias.
It’s true, we can’t just let Trump get away with his BS. But the way Ramos is going about it doesn’t match what most American Latinos really think and really are. The way to fight Trump is with the truth, with facts, with composure. And that’s what Jorge Ramos should be doing.
One can argue that, at the press conference in Iowa, Trump was never going to call upon Ramos to ask him a question and that’s why Ramos decided to interrupt him. But maybe he should’ve waited to the end to find out. Maybe Jorge Ramos should sit out this election cycle…and take a long vacation. He shouldn’t lower himself to the level of Trump. We Latinos are better than that… at least here in Los Angeles.
(Fred Mariscal came to Los Angeles from Mexico City in 1992 to study at the University of Southern California and has been in LA ever since. He is a community leader who serves as Vice Chair of the Los Angeles Neighborhood Council Coalition and sits on the board of the Greater Wilshire Neighborhood Council representing Larchmont Village. He was a candidate for Los Angeles City Council in District 4. Fred writes Latino Perspective for CityWatch and can be reached at: [email protected] ) Edited by Linda Abrams.
-cw
CityWatch
Vol 13 Issue 71
Pub: Sep 1, 2015
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