Roberto Lovato: NPR Crosses Dangerous Racial Border, Asks Candidates if Citizens Should “Report” Immigrants

Contrary to what the Times tells us, such a line of questioning is not just “provocative”, but is, in fact, more like DANGEROUS. In a political environment that already lends itself to countless forms of racial profiling (and to smashing the distinction between federal and local law enforcement under the guise of immigration policy), such a line of questioning only serves to further legitimate another formerly wacky idea, an idea one could, until recently, only find in the netherworld of white supremacist websites. Even those who constantly ask me, “What don’t you understand about the word ‘illegal’?” should recognize the inherent danger in NPR’s approach.

Yesterday’s questioning of the Democratic presidential candidates around immigration seems to indicate that NPR is willing to use public airwaves to provide broader forum for formerly fringe ideas. Public airing of such questions will only exacerbate racial tensions against Latino and other migrants that even the FBI tells us are the object of a disturbing increase in hate crimes (and that’s just the tiny minority of anti-immigrant hate crimes that are even reported).”*

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