I don’t really have a problem with “immigrants”. It isn’t the word I would choose, but it’s not that big of a deal.
But this?
I don’t like it because it issues a harsh judgment against the people who subverted the system by sacrificing their lives. And if you think about it, they were actually the intelligent ones. They knew the dream of freedom was never going to come for them or their children. The people brought over in slaves ships who clung desperately to an idea of being free were by and large NOT proven right…not unless we’re going to consider 300 years a quick turn-around time for a dream to come true.
I also don’t like it because it equates the desire to be free from shackles to the “American dream”. I don’t think America deserves a big pat on the back for giving black Americans this “opportunity”.
This is a nasty thing to say. It, and the sexist criticisms of Conway, should stop.
Sometimes folks who’ve been enslaved get denied agency even in historical narratives. It’s good to be able to recognize them as people beyond just being victims, people who had agency and desires. But the way he went about it seemed to reinforce the utopian vision of the United States, and that’s really ahistorical.
So the people who were murdered, died under horrific conditions, succumbed to disease, or killed themselves to escape a lifetime of hell didn’t have brains? Or enough gumption? Or failed to recognize they were on the path to achieving the American dream?
Carson is too stupid to be evil and I don’t think he meant any harm by his unfortunate choice of words. He obviously did his undergrad at Betsy DeVos University. I think it’s offensive to refer to incoming slaves as immigrants. Immigrants are people who choose to come here. It’s possible to pay tribute to how they survived such oppression without whitewashing history, and obviously Carson is clueless as to how that’s done.
Regarding Conway, besides looking like a high school girl emailing her friends, I don’t see the harm. Unless, of course, there is some historical value to the couch but I think not in this case. There are some older pieces in say the Blue Room where I don’t think it would be appropriate to put one’s feet, but this is just a freaking couch.
There are some contexts where it’s not offensive–but these involve looking anthropologically and historically at cultural patterns and how they interact with other cultures and with geography. If I’m examining Appalachian culture and history, I need to look at voluntary immigrants from Ireland, native Americans, and enslaved immigrants from Africa, and what all three groups contributed to Appalachian culture.
But if I’m speaking in broad platitudes about the American Dream, that’s not a good context for this sort of talk.
Different language, but I think in this case we can agree the connotations are close enough for the definitions to be valid. RAE says that inmigrante is “from the verb inmigrar: who inmigrates”, and that inmigrar is:
From lat. immigrāre.
intransitive. Said of a person: To arrive to a foreign country with the intent to set roots there.
intransitive. Said of a person: To set up home in a different place from that where they previously lived, within their own country, trying to get a better standard of living.
intransitive. Said of an animal or plant: To set up in a territory which is not their original one.
English dictionaries may not include the “intent” part, but I think usage does.
The issue isn’t just that he used the word ‘immigrants’ to describe people brought here forcefully as slaves. It’s that he then went on to assign them some bullshit American Dream doe-eyed optimism about dreaming that some day their children would have it better than them (if what? They buckled down and worked hard like good slaves?)
Really? Are you absolutely sure that Carson didn’t attend a fictional university? Maybe we need a cite for this obviously very serious assertion that you’re refuting.
And the utter bullshit about how the country ‘allowed’ slaves to become successful? Not in any history I’ve ever read. Talk about whitewashing history. And that’s sure as hell the way it comes out.
His goal was to say something about black American history in a manner that appeals to white conservatives. I’ve come to realize there are these people running around who profit off their ethnicity by reflecting what white people want to hear back at them. Ben Carson was doing that in his speech. It might not have been intentional but it’s out of habit because this is how he markets himself. Another example is Muslims pundits who speak of a need for a “reformation” in Islam. That’s to sell books to white people. In reality, these people are completely divorced from the political interests of the group they in some part identify with. There’s nothing at all wrong with being divorced from the group you in some part might identify with, but there is something slimy about going along with the human failing of making judgments on superficial things like skin color or apparent ethnicity, learning what those judgements are, and then regurgitating them for political and professional gain.
His behavior is getting the level of outrage it deserves. I am sure it will die off in a few days.
Imported. Deportation is done by the government of the land you’re being kicked out of. So, it would apply to Brits being sent to American as indentured servants in lieu of debtor’s prison, or to Australia as punishment, but not to slaves.
Counterproductive broad brushing (the Islam practiced by most American Muslims, including servicemen and women, is a perfectly decent religion), IMO, and off-topic, I think.
You decided to write a post that delved into Carson’s intentions. I felt your analysis was missing key information. You ignored Carson’s audience and so you didn’t understand what he intended.
Given your ludicrous views of Islam and what it needs, may I recommend Asra Nomani? She would like your money.
Not particularly. His parents split up when he was eight, his mother worked as a domestic, was hospitalized for depression and attempted suicide, and his family received food stamps. If you think that is more comfortable than that enjoyed by other blacks, well, that is the sort of thing I would expect in such a nasty racist post.