New Mexico Mercury

Atop their dusty perch, the Albuquerque Journal’s editorial board adjusted their monocles last week, put on their flag attire, and took a stab at defining patriotism.  The piece was entitled, “Why celebrate the Fourth? Try asking a Guatemalan.”  While the piece neither quoted, referenced, or made any attempt to include the voice of an actual Guatemalan, it did spew forth a surreal, Bush-esque view of American Exceptionalism that equates to ‘Shut up and wave the flag.'

The Journal’s honed craft of editorial openings was in rare form:

They don’t do the Fourth of July in Guatemala.  That’s because Guatemala’s equivalent of our Independence Day is on Sept. 15.

Apparently the arcane concept of other countries not being part of America proper is best spelled out for its target audience. 

Never one to switch out of ideological autopilot, the Journal used the recent influx of Central American immigrants, many of them children, to explain to American complainers why they should be grateful.

They [brown migrants], apparently, aren’t persuaded by continual harping by President Obama and his followers about all the things wrong with our nation, including income inequality and the plight of the poor and of minorities…

In the Journal’s twisted world the only people that raise grievances in this country, especially in regards to minorities and the economically disadvantaged, are kool-aid drinking Obama zombies. 

…No, their actions show that to them, this is still the land of opportunity for those willing to seek a goal, even if one must overcome huge obstacles.

The very idea that each of these individual migrants has their own story, their own voice, their own set of circumstances is a ‘foreign’ concept to the Journal.  The Journal speaks for them in the way a plantation owner might have spoken for a slave, ascribing thoughts and intentions to reinforce the master’s privileged world view. 

They know there is no guarantee they’ll make it past the gangs and pimps and bandits to reach the border, or cross undetected by the Border Patrol, or find a place in the United States if they make it inland. But the prize is worth the struggle. So, to them, America is an exceptional place.

There you have it, these people are here because “We’re number 1!” 

While the Journal parades its ignorance of the migrant situation in what amounts to a cheap, partisan belch, many reputable outlets are actually trying to make sense of the situation.  In the world of facts and complexities, there are people who have actually “asked a Guatemalan.” 

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) released a report on the child migrant crisis with a whole section of quotes from teenage Guatemalans and other Central American refugees explaining the reasons for leaving their home countries.  Most of the responses centered around a surge in local violence, including gangs and drug smuggling activity, and instability in their homes. 

The Migration Policy Institute, a non-partisan Washington D.C. think tank, had this to say about the circumstances causing the recent migration spike:

A number of investigations by journalists and studies by nongovernmental organizations have found that children are fleeing their home countries to escape violence, abuse, persecution, trafficking, and economic deprivation. To be sure, murder, poverty, and youth unemployment rates paint a bleak picture of conditions that children may face in Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador in particular. Rising gang violence in some of these countries has become an undeniable factor in many children’s decision to migrate.

Vox, in a piece entitled, “The awful reasons tens of thousands of children are seeking refuge in the United States” explained:

Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, the three countries that make up Central America's "Northern Triangle," are experiencing a terrifying level of violence that's been rising rapidly since the late 2000s. State weakness and corruption have allowed a number of different armed groups — including transnational street gangs, drug cartels, and other organized crime syndicates — to flourish, checked by little but their competition with one another…

Guatemala's police (and military) were so thoroughly infiltrated by organized crime that in 2006 the United Nations had to set up a special agency, the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (which goes by its Spanish acronym, CICIG), to help fight the pervasive abuses committed by "clandestine groups." CICIG has enjoyed some recent successes, but nearly three in four killings committed in Guatemala still go unpunished.

The Journal is either unaware or dismissive of the fact that the U.S. has played a destabilizing role in Guatemala and many Central American countries for decades, with reverberating consequences lasting generations.  Not to mention the unadulterated appetite for drugs in America that is fueling much of the violence. 

Most of these migrant kids and families aren’t journeying to a distant heaven, they’re escaping a local hell partly created by, in this case, a very unexceptional U.S.--emboldened by a media taking a nap on their perch.

But this isn’t simple ignorance, the Journal believes that places around the world that have been lucky enough to live through our liberating bombs or had their governments covertly overthrown by the U.S should be thankful.

Many cynical, native-born Americans may see the country differently after a half decade of a stifled economy and high unemployment; after more than a decade of military action in an unstable, unthankful region… (emphasis mine)

Yes, many, many people see the country differently, but a huge part of any cynicism arises out of seeing institutions like the Journal complacent to be lapdogs to a power structure they are supposed to be questioning.  The Journal should ask the veterans of this country, many coming home from wars that the Journal helped cheerlead with PTSD and committing suicide at a rate of 22 a day, if they are thankful.

Luckily for the thinking public, the Journal’s brand of patriotism rolls around once a year.  Perhaps next year they’ll take their own advice and just ‘shut up and wave the flag.’ 

(Eagle image by Purple Slog)