OK, no, not really. I'm Irish, folks! Well, a quarter anyway. Ok not really a quarter, there's some German and French in there somewhere, too.. just don't tell my Indian (dot, not feather) and Dominican ("Spanish") sides. The point is I've got freckles gosh-darn-it. Well, in the summertime mostly. Whatever.
Look, it's St. Patrick's Day, and I'm an Irish mutt... At least I'm not Mexican!
Ok, ok, I know what you're thinking. Is this crazy lady racist? Nope, just pointing out that "Mexican" is the new "Irish." It's pathetic, but just saying the term "Mexican" these days sounds like a slur.
Mexican, Mexican, Mexican.
There's even a California-based blog and regular L.A. Times column called, "Ask A Mexican!" that pokes fun at this disturbing reality.
But let's get back to me. For a time, I lived just north of a neighborhood in Chicago, Bridgeport, where I hear they used to go so far as to lynch (yes, lynch!) Irish people. My people. That's right, those lazy, drunk, good-for-nothing Irish folks were not to be tolerated in OUR country. Now, not 15 minutes north, and maybe a little east, Mexicans ("Mexicans, Mexicans, Mexicans") and immigrants from most parts of Central and South America, who have no equivalent of Ellis Island, are fighting for their rights to continue to live, raise families, worship, and build the fabric of our nation with their sweat.
Today many Latinos are being targeted with acts of violence or are being pulled over and detained simply because of the color of their skin or the kind of music they are listening to.
To all this I say, look, Mexicans are just as lazy, drunk, and good-for-nothing as the Irish were. This St. Patrick's Day, when you head to the bar to kiss an Irish person, stop along the way and kiss a Mexican person, too. Pretty soon we'll all be having hot multiracial children, and they'll be like, "Dude, what's the big deal with all this immigrant paranoia," and maybe our leaders and our media will get over the blame-the-immigrants-for-everything fetish.
Or at least we'll all have hot multiracial kids.
P.S. How to make an Irish man cry (and it’s not football)!
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PPS. I sort of can't believe that this is the first diary I've written (in my own name) here at Daily Kos. I've been mostly blogging here for America's Voice (where this post first appeared). Anyway, looking forward to the comments and poll results. If you're in the DC area, see you at the March For America this Sunday.