By Gustavo Ramírez Díaz. SPR INFORMA. Mexican Press Agency.
In 1963, Malcolm X, the American civil rights activist, described the difference between the “house slave” and the “field slave.” He said, “House slaves lived in the master’s house, dressed fairly well, and ate well because they ate his food—the leftovers he left behind. They lived in the basement or the attic, but they lived close to the master and loved the master more than the master loved himself. They would give their lives to save the master’s house—quicker even than the master himself. That’s how you can identify the house negro.”
While acknowledging the differences with the American system of slavery, Malcolm X’s description can help us identify the Mexican politicians, commentators, and journalists who revealed their servile spirit in response to the demonstrations in the streets of Los Angeles against the persecution carried out by the state under Donald Trump.
In their deep servility, they condemned the violence in these protests, as if such violence originated from the millions of working-class immigrants—ignoring the fact that for years they have been victims of violence from Donald Trump’s communication apparatus and are now victims of violence from U.S. government agencies.
In their entrenched servitude, they justify the violence and narrative of the master—the same one who for years labeled migrants as criminals and rapists—when crime statistics in the United States show that U.S. citizens commit more crimes than immigrants, both documented and undocumented. In addition, 86.4% of those arrested for drug trafficking at the border are also U.S. citizens.
The journalists and politicians who serve this violent master—who, faced with a lack of economic and political results, finds in immigrants a convenient common enemy to distract from his failures—ignored the fact that the protests began as an effort to defend workers targeted in a raid in a Home Depot parking lot in downtown Los Angeles and another raid at the Ambience textile factory.
Servility is never free—it always expects something in return. These 21st-century subjects are not seeking freedom or sovereignty for our country, nor the rights of our fellow Mexicans in the United States. The desire of these new “house slaves” is simple: the return of the master to Mexico, so they may eat and live off his scraps.
Related: The Tax Collection Myth: When the State Doesn’t Collect, the People Pay
Mexican Press Agency is part of ALMA, which is dedicated to news and information about Mexico and Mexicans in the United States and is a fiscally sponsored project of Social Focus, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in Redwood City, California.
