Fear, Loathing and Globalization: The Vilification of Brown Bodies

There are two ways to define globalization; one being from a free market perspective in which globalization would begin in roughly the 1940’s with the spread of multi-national business, or by a more socio-historical definition in which globalization is viewed as the Western expansion beginning in 1500 and defined by expansionist or colonialist ambitions. By defining globalization as a period marked by an ethnocentric urgency to “civilize” other nations and peoples, then we are able to view the Spanish and Portuguese crusades, the British colonialism, and American Imperialism as all being variant forms of the same sort of outward expansion. The borders and nations that have resulted from globalization are rife with contestation, with the very idea of a colonial border carrying with it the weight of ethnocentrism, of cultural evolution (ala the philosopher Hegel) of the white mans burden and issues of internalized colonialism. Religion, slavery and genocide have all played important parts in formation of the modern word and its conflicts and globalization has created a situation where nationality and identity are transient and mutable terms.

 

The current form of the United States imperialism is at once isolationist and expansionist. The United States is closing its borders to Hispanic immigrants and all “brown” bodies while at the same time trying to create American style democracy in the Middle East. “Fighting them there so we don’t need to fight them here”, as explained by our current president. Because of these two policies we have created a society, media and government that effectively lumps together Hispanics and Arabs into one category: Brown bodies who threaten our White-Anglo-Saxon God Fearing, Freedom loving country. American expansionism and isolationism have worked together to vilify Brown bodies.

 

When my father and sister visited the Midwest shortly after 9-11 they were asked by several frightened strangers if they were Arab to which they replied that they were Hispanic. Gomez-Pena explains that “since 9/11, the semiotic territory encompassed by the word “terrorist” has expanded considerably. First it referred strictly to Al Qaeda and the Taliban, then to Muslim “fundamentalists,” until it engulfed all Muslims, and finally all Arabs and Arab-looking people.” And by Arab looking people, we are now referring to any ambiguously ethnic looking person, including the equally vilified “Illegals” or undocumented immigrants. The United States mainstream media and Government rhetoric are obsessed with maintaining the White strong hold and nothing terrifies them more than the inevitable “browning” of America by Mexican immigrants or the possibility of an Arab presence in America. Bill O’Reilly perhaps sums up the American xenophobia best in these two media clips:

O’REILLY: All right. There you go. White privilege. The browning of America. There it is. There it is. Bottom line on this? That’s what it is. Change the complexion of America. Have an open border where Hispanics, people who live in the Caribbean, people who live in Africa and Asia can walk in and become citizens immediately. And there you have the white power structure would decline, of course. Because the numbers of people coming here would be people of color. Right? That’s the hidden agenda.

And in an interview with John McCain:

Bill O’Reilly: But do you understand what the New York Times wants, and the far-left want? They want to break down the white, Christian, male power structure, which you’re a part, and so am I, and they want to bring in millions of foreign nationals to basically break down the structure that we have. In that regard, Pat Buchanan is right.

 

The result of the current anti-immigration and anti-Arab sentiment pervasive in the U.S. administrations rhetoric and parroted by the main stream media is that Brown Bodies have been dehumanized and Other-ed, seen as an invading and hostile force intent on “destroying America.” The implications of this are frightening. By demonizing all “Brown Bodies” the United States has effectively created a grouping of people who are seen as enemies, as sub-human, and disposable and dangerous. Looking back at history, this sort of Othering is what has lead to humanity’s most horrid atrocities. Genocides, slavery, and other brutal abuses all stem from a society that views a group of people as being less human then they are. The detainment of undocumented immigrants and the disappearances and torture of Arab peoples point to a society that condones the mistreatment of a particular sector. The terrible abuses against Arab and Central American bodies are met by the majority of the American people with silence, or worse- lauding.

 

Genocide and mass hate crimes are not, as we would like to believe, a result of power gone awry. They are rather a result of social pathology. Genocide can not happen with out the consensus of the people. It is group-think at its worse, it is the collective sense of hatred and need for violence that is felt by a society as a whole. Although it may seem alarmist to compare pre-genocidal societal behavior to the current political and cultural climate in the United States, the comparison is not terribly far off. The thousands of Iraqi civilian deaths that are so easily cleansed from our popular conscious are vividly accounted for by other nations who view our actions as imperialist and murderous. And the building of the Mexican American wall is seen by the international community as apartheid and reminiscent of both the Berlin Wall and the Israeli separation barrier. By taking a step back from our nation we can see that all of our actions amount to a racist policy of exclusion, dehumanization and violence.

 

The irony in the United States current predicament, or social illness, is that in seeking to protect our ‘American-ness”, we have effectively dismantled the nation’s foundation, broken down its crumbling infrastructure, made a mockery of our founding principles, and alienated ourselves from the rest of the world. Freedom can not coexist with pervasive and paralyzing fear, growth can not occur with isolationism, democracy can not function when the population is ignorant and terrified, and equality can not be achieved when part of the population is viewed as outsiders and enemies.

 

This was written for Advancement Project’s Blog

www.justdemocracyblog.org

by Clare Bakota