Self-loathing editors equated anti-immigrant stance with racism

Letter date: 
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
Letter publisher: 
East Oregonian
Letter author: 
Lyneil Vandermolen
Letter body: 

The editor who accused the state representative campaign of racism displayed the fear of truth that plagues most journalists today. Illegal immigration is a behavior and a fact, not a race — and accusing a candidate of racism for warning against the effects of illegal alien driver cards represents a phobic avoidance of reality.

I have collected a sickening record of deaths, rapes, assaults, thefts, welfare fraud, ID theft, drug dealing and welfare fraud committed by illegal aliens in Oregon. Allowing driver cards to attract more of these problems is a matter of action and consequence, not race. Twisting this subject into a racial one indicates the editor’s attempt to change the subject. He refuses to admit that illegal aliens create problems. He even tried to dismiss illegal alien-on-American crime by claiming they hardly have anyone around them to assault but Americans. Poor dears.

Your editor believes it’s too racist, especially in politics, to mention the damage we suffer because of illegal immigration. Ironically, this new ethnic right to break the law doesn’t strike him as being a form of prejudice against citizens. All change agents try to shame aggrieved citizens into silence, but journalists who stoop to it are advocates for mob rule. I believe your editor should leave earnest candidates alone and instead, confront his own self-loathing, white guilt and reflexive indifference toward victimized Americans.

Lyneil Vandermolen

Tualatin