Historians, psychologists, sociologists will all have a field day with the mass hysteria prompted by the child refugees from Central America, who came to this country fleeing poverty and violence.
Stoked by irresponsible politicians and a too-compliant press corps, the widespread panic, fear, and animosity has been shameful to witness.
America, which should be a beacon of hope to the entire world, betrayed itself and the innocents who sought its protection, with our leaders promising to send 'em all back, tout de suite.
Gilman offers a wry look at what went down in Oracle.
Texas Governor Rick Perry ordering 1,000 Texas National Guard troops to the Texas-Mexico border to "protect" the Lone Star State from unaccompanied minors eager to give themselves up verges on self-parody. Like something out of a Monty Python sketch.
The irony is, the number of unaccompanied minors crossing the border in Texas is falling, "from an average of 355 per week to an average of 155," as one news outlet recently noted.
The facility in Nogales, Arizona, where up to 1,000 children were being kept at one time, is now empty. Overall, apprehensions in the Tucson sector are the lowest they've been in a decade. The minors everyone is so worked up about were crossing in Texas, not Arizona, for the most part.
And yet the insanity rolls on, with Republican gubernatorial candidates like Christine Jones and morally repugnant public figures like Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu pouring gasoline on the blaze for their own selfish ends.
Dennis Gilman's latest mini-documentary on the insanity in Oracle, where a protest of buses of migrant kids turned into a total farce when those buses never came, offers a wry look at what happened there recently.
Despite the severity of the subject, Gilman keeps the mood light, beginning with a wackjob lady from Mesa railing about the "minority kids" in her neighborhood and ending with a local Catholic couple who will restore your faith in humanity. Or at least parts of it.
I particularly like his use of this song by Jill Sobule, When They Say "We Want Our America Back", What The Fuck Do They Mean?
Gotta love these lyrics:
Before there was Ellis island And that statue we got from the French That whore's still alerting, with strangers she's flirting Inviting them into our beds The guineas, the coolies, the wetbacks, the reds The Jews, now those terrorists And who let in the woman who looks after my kid And the one who is cleaning my mess?
Before the gays had their agenda, before the slaves were free Before that man from Kenya took the presidency
Life was so righteous, life was so clean. Send em all back including me When they say, "we want our America back", Our America back, our America back." When they say, " we want our America back"
Well, what the...fuck do they mean?
Awesome work. Another job well done, Dennis.
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