7/8/22

By Josh Rubin

We ought to be grateful to the leadership of the Lone Star state. They cut right through the muddle and the sanctimony of our country’s position on the arrival of those driven from their homelands to our border. They don’t pretend, as so many do, that deep down we are working to rebuild a system that acknowledges our common humanity, that our failure to establish humanitarian protocols is just because there is a crisis, among other crises that need our attention.

In Texas, the leadership doesn’t make a fuss about distinguishing the undeserving from those in “real” need. They don’t resist using racist language, like “invasion.” They are a mere breath away from “infestation.”They are preparing to sweep their countryside for folks that look like they might be undocumented, throw them into vehicles, and drop them into the custody of the Border Patrol, now the largest police force in the world, blessed with special abilities to recognize people who “don’t belong.” Or maybe just frogmarch them across the bridges.

In Texas, the leaders don’t wear masks. We can see who they are. They help us see how little difference there is between them and the rest of us who mask what we are doing: turning away families, women, men and children, under many names: Remain in Mexico, Title 42, expedited removal, metering…

Texas is a straight shooter. They went to Uvalde, where Chicano children lately fell to gunshots, to announce their latest escalation in a war against the “invaders.” They don’t worry about the optics, or about doing it standing in the midst of the shattered lives of the parents and families of that fateful place. They have no time for sentimentality. They have a job to do.

They are blazing our trail. To fascism.