Part 4: If They’re Not Human, We Don’t Need to Treat Them As Human

The subtext of dehumanizing fearmongering 

This is a four part series. If you haven’t read part one, two or three, start here.

It is not possible to talk about racism in this administration without talking about immigration. While this involves more brown than Black people, the narrative here is unsurprisingly like that of Black people coming out of enslavement. Despite the facts, the narrative of this administration is that they are criminals, violent, unintelligent, untrustworthy and now? Add released/escaped from mental institutions.

You remember his rhetoric - They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They are vicious murderers;  They're rapists…They're eating the dogs, the people that came in, they're eating the cats - They're eating the pets of the people that live there…

Doesn’t this narrative demand the question, how can you let these animals become citizens? And remember, true patriots are not afraid to act when attacked – so Trump has used an executive order to essentially revoke the first sentence of the 14th amendment to the Constitution. 

The 14th amendment to the Constitution is the source of Birthright Citizenship – it is guaranteed in the first sentence:

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. 

In 1898, the Supreme Court ruled that the amendment meant what it said: Immigrants were subject to birthright citizenship protections. 

But this administration’s position through his press secretary? “This administration believes that birthright citizenship is unconstitutional.” 

White homeowner displays racist sign asserting the U.S. is a white country as neighbors are rounded up for internment.

Why would a President claim that the Constitution is unconstitutional? To advance a narrative to exclude people of color from this country. To begin to widen the gap between us vs. them. A false narrative cut from the same cloth as that used against Black people – with the literal intent to wipe them from our history – to “clean them out” if you will.

The actual history behind an event that was important to the passage of the 14th amendment took The Who We Are Project to Memphis, Tennessee to film a pilot for a docuseries on major events from our history that are not well known, and now there are people working to keep them that way. More on that later.