Will There Be A Trump-Inspired Mexican-American Roundup?

Spic.

Wetback.

Beaner.

Taco bender.

Lawn man.

Illegal.

Light skinned n*gger.

These are all words and phrases that have been applied to me at some point in my life. Starting in high school in the late 1970s, I became aware that being half-Mexican in Oklahoma meant I would be tagged with racial slurs. It also meant that I would endure hearing many "jokes" about Mexicans from white people who were too clueless to realize they were being racist.

White High School Popular Guy: "Hey, Francisco! Are you a wetback? Or a scratch back?"

(They would use my Spanish name when they were about to launch into some off-color joke.)

Me: "What?"

(I was still at the play-along stage then.)

White High School Popular Guy: "Did you swim across the river, or crawl under the fence?"

Never mind that I was born in the United States, as was my father. The fact that I had a Latin sounding name meant the white people who dominated my high school felt free to say shit like that to my face. Not all of them, but a surprising amount. Where I grew up, there were no black people, only a few Hispanics, and quite a lot of Native American people. So, in my hometown of Henryetta, Oklahoma, racist attention was directed at the available minorities.

I spoke with my father about it once. I asked him if I should fight the kids who made fun of my Mexican heritage. He told me to just let it roll off my back. He said fighting wouldn't stop them, and only working harder than them would make a difference. It took me years before I understood what it meant to "work harder," which is about one and a half times more than how hard most white people have to work. When you grow up as part of a minority in America, you start the race behind everybody else, and have to run twice as fast to catch up. Most minority people never do catch up.

My father told me that, one day, there would probably be another Mexican-American "repatriation," like he remembered from the 1930s. A lot of white people don't even know about that sorry chapter of American history, when United States citizens of Mexican descent were forcibly detained and transported to Mexico. This happened between 1929-1936. People who were born in the United States, many of whom were fully legal US citizens, were rounded up and sent to Mexico for the same reasons that we are hearing today: "They are taking our jobs." "They are bringing in crime and drugs!" "They use an unfair amount of public resources!" "Dirty Mexicans are dragging down our neighborhoods!"

It is estimated that during that time period, between 500,000 to 2,000,000 people were rounded up for deportation. Further, as much as 60% of those rounded up were US citizens -- people who were born in the US.

Just like today, the repatriation of the 1930s was supported and egged on by a sitting Republican president, Herbert Hoover. Like Trump, Hoover played on racial and populist sentiments to justify his decisions. And like Hoover, it is highly likely that Trump will go down in history as one of the worst -- if not THE worst -- American president ever to hold office.

With his decision to rescind DACA, Trump and his ever-kneeling suppliant (or suck-pliant) AG Jeff Sessions are sending overt signals to the racists in our nation that say it is okay to harass and even harm those they "suspect" of being illegal immigrants. Like the fat, white dumb ass Oklahoman captured on video telling a woman and her daughter they were "speaking immigrant," and should go back to Mexico, racist people are being emboldened by the "wink and a nod" racists who dominate our executive branch of government right now. I suspect it won't be long before we are reading about calls to "round up" Mexicans and "send them back to where they came from." I won't be surprised if it actually happens. My dark-skinned father saw it coming a long time ago. It is sad to see it all coming true.

Just last night, Trump met with Democratic leaders Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi. After a chummy dinner in the White House, Schumer and Pelosi came out to announce that a deal had been reached to save DACA. Trump followed shortly thereafter to say a deal had not been agreed upon. For Trump, apparently the only way he will agree to a deal is if the Democrats agree to funding his penis-compensating border wall. While Dreamers wait and wonder, politicians haggle over who has the bigger hands and tiniest heart.