Racism on air

There is a moment in which juvenile racist humor crosses over into something far more dangerous and threatening. And two New Jersey talks show hosts have stepped over that line. Craig Carton and Ray Rossi, known as the Jersey Guys, are calling on their listeners to turn over people suspected of lacking immigration documents to immigration authorities. They call their campaign: “Operation Rat-a-Rat/La Cucha-Gotcha” (pronounced to rhyme with the Spanish word for cockroach). 😀

The idea is not original. College Republicans across the country have organized “Catch the illegal” games to draw attention to their anti-immigrant postures. But the Jersey shock jocks have given the fun-and-games an overtly racist cast. By describing people as roaches in their clumsy bilingual word play, Carton and Rossi are not only dehumanizing a segment of the population but also equating undocumented status with Hispanics. Even in the best of times, this type of public call for vigilantism is troubling. It is doubly so in the context of the increasing hate-crime violence directed at Hispanics in New Jersey over the past two years.

The pages of El Diario/La Prensa have documented more than a dozen cases in which someone was attacked, beaten, maimed, or killed because they were Hispanic. The victims were from widely diverse places: Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Ecuador, and the Dominican Republic. Some of the victims were undocumented, others were legal residents and even U.S. citizens. But racist thugs care little for such distinctions.

Let’s be clear. The Jersey Guys do not call for or cause this violence. But to dehumanize someone is the first step towards condoning violence against them. And comparing certain people to roaches; encouraging citizens to take the law into their own hands; and equating being undocumented with being Hispanic shows a reckless disregard for the power of words to inflame racial tensions and a dangerously irresponsible use of public airwaves.
http://www.eldiariony.com/noticias/detail.aspx?section=25&desc=Editorial&id=1602708