Rick Scarborough, pastor and founder of Vision America, has said something that I find, well, disgusting. He declared that America would cease to exist if it becomes more than 30 percent Hispanic:
In an interview, Mr Tancredo defended his remarks, insisting they had “nothing to do with colour or ethnicity or any of that crap” but “has everything to do with people coming to America and wanting to be American”. That, he explained, means stopping talking your native language and doing everything to blend in. “Under the cult of multiculturalism, we don’t make them do that and that will have great implications,” he said. Looking at a British reporter, he galloped on: “When the Archbishop of Canterbury says there is nothing wrong with Sharia law being practised as well as British law, you say wha-a-at?”
Among the first keynote speakers yesterday, meanwhile, was Rick Scarborough, the pastor and firebrand founder of Vision America, which had its own stall here yesterday laden with books he has written, among them Liberalism Kills Kids. He also wanted to discuss the Tancredo speech which he apparently liked very much. “I didn’t hear racism,” he told this reporter, before spelling out his worries. “America is a country of legal immigrants but the Left has turned it into a country of invaders,” he offered bluntly. “Look at Europe and the rampant invasion of England. They are practising Sharia law and I think this crew is going to fight that.” Mr Scarborough also outlines how the US is a “special country” – more than any other in the world – and that is how God intended it. He adds: “If we are to become 30 per cent Hispanic we will no longer be America.” (And therefore no longer special.) “That would be a bad thing.”
Vision America bills itself as and organization for patriot pastors and Christian activists. By the way, Rick’s group is associated with other groups which are politically active as well.
February 8th, 2010 1:16 pm
wow, Joel!
Great post. and thanks for the facebook link to tancredo’s comments; i have held my tongue long enough: he is a racist playing ignorant.
February 8th, 2010 1:23 pm
Disgusting, ain’t it? I note that he seemingly draws a connection between the Sharia Law and Spanish people.
Tancredo’s statements were disgusting, Rodney, bringing up a mark against not only African-Americans but other disenfranchised people as well.
Call me a liberal, if you want, but this stuff is garbage.
February 8th, 2010 1:31 pm
I almost made a comment about the country being 70% white, but you know, I think that he knows that’s not the case. I think he was meaning something else – such as when America is no longer +50% white. When the majority is only a majority among minorities.
February 8th, 2010 1:33 pm
Polycarp –
Thanks for posting what Scarborough has asserted. Sounds as xenophobic (if – as you tag – it’s also as racist) as Samuel P. Huntington’s fear that the growing Latina/o and Hispanic populations will “divide the United States into two peoples, two cultures, and two languages.” My guess is that neither anglo man can yet hablar español and that Scarborough could care less about anyone in the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference – http://www.nhclc.org/about/news/july2009_4.html
- J.K. Gayle
February 8th, 2010 1:43 pm
Dr. Gayle, I am truly flabergasted. I thought that the former congressperson from Colorado’s speech was too far, but this?
No, I don’t he cares either about the NHCLC or that the One who he supposedly serves was not white either.
February 8th, 2010 2:06 pm
This is jaw-dropping.
A blog-friend of mine has said that although politically he agrees with the Republicans a lot, he refuses to become one because the GOP gives “aid and comfort to racists and racist chatter.”
This is a prime example.
Rep. Tancredo is disgusting, and this bit from Scarborough is just as bad.
For the record, when we cease to be a majority-white country, we will not cease to be America. What we will be is a more-complete test of the actual American Experiment. Can a country stand when it’s not united by a common lineage and land-heritage? Can we really take people from various nationalities and make a single nation out of them?
If we can’t stand the challenge of having that mix be more Hispanic or African and less white, then the ultimate answer turns out to be “no.”
Hmmmm … there’s a post here, I think.
February 8th, 2010 5:20 pm
That is a great IDEA for a blog post, wickl.e
February 8th, 2010 2:17 pm
Scarborough is actually right on target. He just left out an important word.
God only loves America if she’s Betty White.
February 8th, 2010 5:22 pm
Oh, well, that explains it.
February 8th, 2010 2:52 pm
This is crazy. There’s no such thing as ‘Latino’ anyhow when it’s looked at closely–just a set of cultures which speak Spanish or Portuguese or Papimentu and contain people coming from a variety of ethnicities–all manner of European peoples, especially Iberean, peoples from throughout Africa, indigenous Americans, Arabs, etc. There’s no unique hispanic-ness that rots away at society’s insides. Agh!
February 8th, 2010 5:21 pm
I am speechless! Absolutely amazing . . .
February 8th, 2010 5:36 pm
Thanks for revealing this utter nonsense on Scarborough part. I wonder what Bible these guys read?
For that matter, What God do they claim to serve?
God knows that I’m so disturbed.
I can’t wait for the glory of God to fill this earth and rid us of all these human nonsense.
February 8th, 2010 6:08 pm
Amen, T.C.
Let us remember as well that Sarah Palin at the Tea Party Convention said that American was ready for another revolution. Putting everything into its place, I’m kinda scared.
February 8th, 2010 5:43 pm
truly amazing, but nothing we in the Uk haven’t heard from the British national party (BNP), which is racist in a new media savvy way: we like foreigners, just not here.
I take it this came out of the Tea party convention; i was readingg up on it on the BBc, and saw Va mentioned. that’s another scary thing, more of the god, guns and guts that made America great, line. i can see charlton standing there with his semi in the air.
This chap obviously doesn’t read very well, since the Archbishop wasn’t endorsing shari’a law, only aspects of it not in contravention of British law, just as we allow jewish people to run their own mediation courts, etc for their cultural and religious needs.
February 8th, 2010 6:10 pm
But, Antony, Jews are clearly white….
The illogic which must be applied to allow this reasoning to go along with ‘Christianity’ is disturbing. It does fall into place though, with their radical opposition to the President.
February 8th, 2010 9:20 pm
I don’t want to promote any cult of America, but y’all might want to know a bit of our experience here in California where immigrants are everywhere (along with 32% of the nation’s welfare cases), and what the complaint of the immigrants themselves is regarding the immigrants!
For example, I know millionaires who move to the US and pretend to be hardship cases to get low income university admission and scholarships along with other benefits. My favorite is when they buy a $500k house and get a low income subsidy! There are also plenty who come here and never learn the language, but it doesn’t matter because they can get free government services to cover all their life needs communicating entirely in their native language. Then there is a third group that come here and work a few days, then go to a doctor that specializes in permanent disability fraud. Suddenly the employer is forced into a $500k payout with no way to challenge, even when the supposedly disabled worker is filmed working at a family business with no problems. And this is just the tip of the ice berg …
Is it racist for a foreign immigrant to be upset about these things when they are done by people of the same nationality?
February 8th, 2010 9:27 pm
Since none of what you’re saying has anything to do with Rick Scarborough’s statement that 30% Hispanic means no America … what’s the point?
February 8th, 2010 9:40 pm
WKen, did you read Scarborough’s statement? The current system is unsustainable. I am relaxed, however, because I don’t believe the Kingdom of God needs America.
February 8th, 2010 9:44 pm
Looney, Scarborough’s statement was not about sustainability, but about racial make-up. Do you believe that America needs to be over 70% white to sustain itself?
February 9th, 2010 9:19 am
Yes, I read it in all of its xenophobic and theologically stupid glory.
Your case is much better than his, because yours has actual facts behind it. He’s just out there race-baiting with Tancredo. My suggestion is that you cut him loose and argue your point, which is that social welfare systems are the problem, not Hispanics per se.
There are a lot of white people on welfare, too, you know. They’re as much part of the problem that you’re describing as anyone whose skin is a different color.
February 9th, 2010 9:29 am
I am reminded that we are called to give to those who beg, without qualification and loan to those who need it.
How many congregations do you know which support those who are chronically unemployed continuously? Is it the system which is broken or people? Is capitalism evil? Or do people take advantage of the others? Is socialism evil? Or would people usurp too much power?
Even a tyrant can create a utopia if people weren’t broken.
February 8th, 2010 9:47 pm
Looney,
I’d argue, ultimately, that the problem isn’t Hispanics or immigrants, but rather a system that insists on subsidizing everything and the inborn sinful nature of white people, black people, hispanic people, asian people, arab people, etc. In a morally degenerate and inefficient State, there’s no doubt that immigration will be a problem.
But the idea that having more than 30% of our country being of hispanic origin is just as disgusting as previous hatred toward blacks, jews, pollacks, irishmen, or italians. All these peoples have come and made themselves a part of the U.S. as contributing citizens, and I believe millions of hispanics have been and still are doing the same thing.
February 8th, 2010 10:28 pm
@Polycarp & Mitchell, I don’t like expressing things in terms of race either. The merits of each person must be considered one by one, but cultural differences are also real and inescapable.
Polybius (203-120BC) wrote about the collapse of Greek democracy. A key factor was when a majority of people were voting to sustain themselves from the wealth of the few. With immigrants being deliberately enticed to move to America and assimilated into a multi-generational welfare culture/mindset, aren’t we just repeating the end game of Greek democracy? It is in this sense that I see a grain of truth behind Scarborough’s statement, although the manner of expression is offensive. God has used many nationalities throughout history as vehicles to spread the gospel. After Babylon was conquered, God’s chosen people thrived in Persia, not in Democratic Greece.
February 8th, 2010 10:36 pm
I have a deep distrust of the welfare state, but I think that an unsustainable method of economics based on welfare will collapse whether or not immigrants show up. When a system is collapsing or in danger people tend to want scapegoats, and I’m afraid that America uses immigrants as a scapegoat for its self-inflicted economic wounds.
February 9th, 2010 4:57 am
Everywhere uses immigrants as an excuse and a scapegoat. We’ve heard it all over here: they take all the social housing, get the benefits first, get kitted out with transport, mobile phones and smart clothes, live together in their hundreds to claim housing relief, operate criminal gangs, store coal in the bath, they’re not clean, they eat smelly food, and of course, they steal our women. What is worse is when the media and politicians tap into this xenophobia. The fact is, the largest points of origin for immigration in the UK are the US, and Australia, and it is from them that we have the largest number of non-returns at the end of their visas terms. But when did facts matter? And when did a country have a right to continue not only as it seems to be, but as it seemed to have been – usually some nice homely image of white America from the 50s, or Britain in pseudo 50s Wallace and Gromit.
February 9th, 2010 9:01 am
‘(T)hey steal our women’…long the battle cry in the South, especially when you took the South and assigned the feminine gender to, uh, her. But that is another issue altogether.
Looney, Scarborough is a pastor, supposedly, and he was not talking about a welfare state, he was talking about racial make-up which, once tipped, would remove God’s ’specialness’ from America. It hearkens back to many ugly dogmas and doctrines of the past, and in my opinion, most notably the British-Israeli theory. He is a pastor, and to say that somehow America is more special than any other geo-political unit is somehow, well, wrong, but to say that we are special because we are, at the very least not 30% Hispanic is, well, unChristian, unpastoral, and frankly, racist.
February 9th, 2010 10:40 am
I agree that the manner of presentation is wrong, especially for a Christian. On the other hand, I would have no trouble finding a Buddhist or Hindu immigrant here in Silicon Valley who would agree with Scarborough’s assertions – that America is special, and bringing in lots of unassimilated, government dependent voters will destroy America. There is something more to this than southern xenophobia. Anyway, we are past the tipping point, and my own race (White) is the primary factor. Speaking of “xenopho…”, Xenophon (430-354BC) wrote about voters who would “sell their country if they needed a drachma” (A History of My Times, II.3.48).
As for concern for the poor, consider that we can support at least a dozen families in Mexico for less than the cost of one family on welfare benefits in the US. To reverse the “special” charge, is one poor family on this side of the border worth more than a dozen on the other side? The only difference I see is that the one on this side of the border can vote, while the dozen on the other side can’t.
February 9th, 2010 10:57 am
Looney, it wasn’t the presentation, but his thoughts and intentions. Whether you agree or not, Rick is a racist and harbors thoughts which do not accord with Scripture. Race matters not to God, from the Bible I read, as some of the greatest theologians were Africans and the rest Jews. I would suggest that we remember the parable of the Good Samaritan and remember that Christ told that story to a bunch of racists, demanding that everyone is worthy of help, without qualification. This country is a nation of immigrants – drunk Irish, dirty WOPS, the Chinese, and I could go on, but I can’t bring myself to use derogatory labels from the past when we should have been better. There is no such thing as a tipping point based on race. You are casting your aspersions through the eyes of a Californian, not through the rest of the United States. Further, as you seem to have a pre-determined view of those who need help. Further, you dismiss those who have grown up on the State, gotten off and went on to help others. Or those who need help, for a time.
And you seem to be blaming the system, when in fact, it is the people running it and using it.
Further, a welfare state was not in Rick’s comments. Nor did he mention illegal immigration. He was concerned about racial make-up of this country. Either he is ignorant of the fact that 70% of America is not white, or, as I proposed earlier, he was commenting basing on fear of Hispanics or the fact that he really feared that if Hispanics get to 30% then the American whites will no longer be above 50% as majority and because of that, we will loose our God-ordained ’specialness’. No matter, his presentation indicates taht he believes that a racial make-up is needed to have a God-ordained status.
And atheist believes that America is special. It is not about being a democracy or a land of opportunity, but for Rick and others, it is about a Godly mission, ordained from before time.
Do you agree with Rick, that because American is predominantly white, that American retains a special standing in His eyes?
You know, when I was growing up, we knew that even among ‘white’ people, there was a difference. Those from the English isles, France, Germany, Scandinavia, were the cream of the crop. The lower Europeans, well, they were better than black people, but not by much. I mean, and those on welfare was lazy, good for nothing deadbeats, and the women were breeders, using children for more food stamps which they would trade for crack rock and booze.
February 9th, 2010 11:28 am
Polycarp, I believe that all races are loved equally by God. We have no special claim based on race, and it is a great error to believe we do.
February 9th, 2010 11:31 am
Then we agree on that, Looney.
February 9th, 2010 2:59 pm
Perhaps the mexicans could support themselves at home if the US economy hadn’t ruined theirs, partly by their dependance on cheap labour, and internqational agreements that favour US freedom to trade. It’s always the cry of the empire that the people they put into poverty are now a drain on their resources – unless they have strategic military/political/economic significance of course *cough*haiti*cough*
and the fact is the future is Chinese anyway