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Wealthy, Black celebs who push conservative, anti-immigrant speaking factors appear to be shaping up as a disturbing development within the Black popular culture area forward of this 12 months’s elections. Particularly, speaking factors that painting migrants as grifters who suck up tax dollars that may in any other case go to poor People.
Comic Katt Williams — who, you could bear in mind, made a half-hearted apology for telling an viewers member to "go back to Mexico" in 2011 — is simply the latest instance. On a latest episode of Joe Rogan’s podcast, Williams asked, "How are we allowed to have a international coverage after we are violating the insurance policies right here?” He added, “What do you mean the immigrants are getting a check and we’re putting them up in places?”
Rapper 50 Cent expressed dismay that New York Metropolis was supplying immigrants with debit playing cards to assist them purchase meals. And ESPN host Stephen A. Smith, who's a frequent visitor on Fox Information, has also criticized the city's humanitarian efforts.
Right here’s the factor: Irrespective of what number of instances the claim will get undermined by the facts, scapegoating migrants for receiving assets that may in any other case be used to profit poor folks — significantly less-wealthy Black folks and different minority communities — is a widely known tactic used by conservatives to engender xenophobia amongst these teams.
As at present’s Republican Get together looks to fuel anti-immigrant sentiment forward of this 12 months’s elections, the conservative motion appears elated that Black celebs are adopting anti-immigrant speaking factors for his or her audiences (observe the reward from Fox Information for 50 Cent’s rhetoric.)
However it's not even that onerous to see how doubtful the "immigrant vs. American poor" argument is — and it is even simpler when it is wealthy people who're pushing it. Think about that every of the rich Black dudes who's railing in opposition to authorities help for migrants is any person who seemingly benefited from the Trump-era tax cuts. If these tax cuts are prolonged subsequent 12 months, that is projected to cost the U.S. roughly $3.8 trillion in tax income over the subsequent decade — income that might go towards applications to help the working-class folks these guys purport to care about.
Did any of those males talked about above protest Trump's tax cuts? In 50's case, he actually inspired folks to vote for Trump in 2020 because he opposed Biden's plan to increase taxes on the wealthy. Satirically, the immigrants these males are maligning are, collectively, projected to add $7 trillion dollars to the U.S. economy over the next decade.
I’ve been crucial of efforts that seem to target Black people with hatred of migrants forward of the 2024 elections. I additionally reject the false selection between investing in America’s working class or America’s migrant group (which consists of many working-class folks). If Williams, 50 and Smith wish to have a look at a real waste of taxpayer dollars, they shouldn’t level fingers at migrants; they need to collect a bunch of their wealthy pals who benefited from the Trump tax cuts and stand in entrance of the largest mirror they'll discover.
Evidence suggests putting money in migrants’ hands is a far better investment than giving it to millionaires and billionaires. And no quantity of finger-pointing and fearmongering will change that.
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