Something like this:
Kellar talks about the wrong kind of pride
By Doug McIntyre[COLOR
Updated: 01/30/2010 09:55:15 PM PST
Like most of you, I'd never heard of Santa Clarita City Councilman Bob Kellar until he appeared in the Daily News proclaiming himself a "proud racist." Given an opportunity to clarify his remarks, Councilman Kellar repeated his claim, so I guess he means it.
"Proud racist" and "city councilman" go together about as well as making toast in the shower. In addition to violating all 10 of the "Top 10 Things Not to Say If You Want to Hold Elective Office," Kellar has another strike against him: He's a white guy and white guys can NEVER invoke racial pride. Not in modern America.
Then again, I've never understood racial pride. My family's roots go back to Ireland, yet I don't feel my breast swell or get all tingly if a McGirk or Fitzpatrick win a race, write a novel or score a goal. "Good for McGirk," I might say. Or, "Hooray for Fitzpatrick!" but I don't take a curtain call for someone else's home run.
I am, however, enormously proud of my American heritage. And here's where Kellar blundered. He confuses national pride with racial pride. The "scandal" shouldn't be that Kellar said something politically incorrect; what he's said is factually incorrect.
And he's hardly alone.
For years on radio, TV and in this newspaper I've been up to my nostrils in the immigration debate. Frankly, I'm sick of it. Google "McIntyre = Racist" and see how many links you get. As the whitest of white men, I've been caricatured by radical Web sites like La Voz De Aztlan as a "Nazi," a "fascist" and "hate monger." I've been sued (and won) and had my life threatened, but my story is nothing compared to Hispanics who dare speak up for America. They're routinely branded an "Uncle Tomases," race traitors, or tagged "Pocho" - brown on the outside white on the inside. It's ugly stuff.
The open border demagogues understand how paralyzing the charge of racism is. I'm sure it was news to Jamiel Shaw Sr., an African-American whose son was allegedly slain by an illegal immigrant gangbanger, to discover he's also a "racist." Mr. Shaw continues to speak out while countless Americans and legal immigrants have been bullied into silence.
Predictably activist groups like AnswerLA.com have jumped on Councilman Kellar's cement-headed gaffe to discredit and further demonize everyone who believes the sovereignty of the United States is precious.
Kellar's blunder provides a distraction from the real issue: The sanctuary city policies of Los Angeles (and virtually every American city) have had terrible consequences not only for the country but for the immigrants themselves.
By encouraging the influx of millions of illegal immigrants, we've hurt America's poor and lower-middle class, including legal immigrants from any country.
We've forced the poor to compete with the poorer. We've created an enormous pool of cheap labor, with Los Angeles as the nexus of immigrant exploitation.
Our schools have become a gigantic remedial program with hundreds of thousands of kids who barely speak English. Neighborhoods have disintegrated as single-family homes became de facto apartment buildings and unpermitted garage conversions spread like the swine flu.
Small businesses struggle to abide by a slew of codes and taxes and permits, but lose customers to unlicensed street vendors. Prolific and horrific gang violence arrived in the wake of a tsunami of graffiti.
The abundance of cheap labor has made it possible for a generation of kids to grow up who never pushed a lawn mower, never raked leaves, never cleaned their own house. We've devalued sweat.
These are real issues our so-called leaders refuse to address and rarely even acknowledge.
Banned from an honest debate, the issue rages on blogs, Web site comment boards, talk radio, barbershops and backyard barbecues and the rhetoric is often nasty and frequently racist.
Get over it.
If we're ever going to move past the same debate we've got to allow the people to be heard, all the people, including Kellar. The truth is not always pretty.
The vast majority of Americans of all ethnic backgrounds embrace our historic struggle for inclusion. But they also understand we're more than a nation of immigrants; we're also a nation of laws. Every country has not only the right but also an obligation to control its borders. A country that doesn't control its borders is a country in name only.
For the record, the United States has the most generous immigration quotas on the planet, a million a year. That's not an opinion. You can look it up.
Allowing the most ambitious people on earth to give up their language and laws, families and friends to make a fresh start here has made America a stronger and better place. But our immigration policy is supposed to benefit the nation, not just the individual immigrant. Obviously, we want new arrivals to prosper - a rising tide lifts all boats - but that doesn't obligate us to embrace everybody who chooses to jump a fence, dash a freeway or pay a drug cartel coyote to smuggle them across the border.
United States citizenship is the highest gift a person can receive. Some of us were born lucky thanks to the happy accident of geography. Millions and millions of others come here through legal means after years of struggle. We disrespect legal immigrants by rewarding the line-jumpers. We devalue citizenship itself by offering the rights and privileges of America without the responsibilities.
While Bob Kellar may be a "proud racist," I'll remain a proud American. Race isn't the issue. It's the alibi.
Doug McIntyre's column appears Wednesdays and Sundays. You can reach him at
dncolumnist@dailynews.com.