There was an episode on “South Park”, the wonderfully irreverent animated show that appears on various cable outlets, about the “Ginger Kids.”
Eric Cartman, the evil one in the group of four, hates Ginger Kids because they look different. The Ginger Kids are red-headed and freckled-faced. There are all sorts of rumors about these kids and, with Cartman’s help, they become disliked and distrusted.
Of course, his buddies, Kyle, Stan and Kenny, sneak in to his bedroom at night and dye his hair red and paint freckles on his face to teach him a lesson. And Cartman, of course, turns this prank to his favor and becomes the leader of the Ginger Kids.
As with most “South Park” episodes it is a dead-on satirical comment on our culture. And hilarious.
It’s healthy to laugh at our shortcomings. But, as with all satire, there is a sad element of truth and a reflection on us.
The majority, whatever it might be at the time, in the U.S. has had its share of Ginger Kids - Irish, Italians, Jews, Poles, Germans, Muslims and, of course, African-Americans.
The latest group to dislike is Hispanics. That is reflected in political campaigns, in letters to the editor, on the Internet and, sadly, in our Legislature. The ruse is that it’s only the illegal immigrant Hispanic they distrust.
There are some fair-minded people who really want to discuss the problems of illegal immigration in the U.S. There are those who seek a fair solution. But they aren’t the noisy ones.
This is a tactic as old as the republic itself. Isolate an ethnic group, demonize them and then punish them and keep them down. The Ku Klux Klan is expert at this. The KKK was formed after the Civil War with the excuse that it was protecting the integrity of the South from carpetbagging Yankees. What it really was doing was going after African-Americans who they feared might gain a bit of real freedom.
The KKK foundered in the early part of the 20th century but made a big comeback in the 1950s and 1960s when it latched onto the fear surrounding the civil rights movement. Its members recruited new members and went on a decades-long rampage. Yes, they were and are cowards but they murdered and intimidated a minority that had few places to turn for justice. At least they had some funny-looking hats.
Finally, the KKK was broken again in the 1990s through the civil courts. But, make no mistake, the illegal immigrant issue is the KKK’s (and numerous other hate groups) kindling for their hateful fires.
What is it about some Americans that make them hate people who don’t look like them? Can’t they see the irony? That irony is especially thick in Oklahoma where most anyone who was born here has at least four different ethnic backgrounds. Me, for instance. I am Cherokee, Chicksaw, Irish, French and English. I think there’s probably some German in there, too.
So, in Oklahoma we pass laws such as HB 1804 that proponents claim is only on the books to protect the integrity of the state and punish lawbreakers. There are some people who really want to solve the problem, but the harsh truth is that far too many of them simply dislike, distrust and, yes, hate anyone who looks different.
Be careful out there. The illegal immigrant issue needs to be discussed and solved. But don’t let hate get in the way of fairness. Hating is easy. Understanding is hard. Let’s try the hard one for a change.
