Xenophobia

We were confronted twice this spring with the sight of hundreds of white U.S. citizens yelling anti-Mexican slogans at the border near San Diego. It was a jarring experience, driving home the message that hostility against Mexican immigrants--against Latinos--is rising. The signs of intensifying anti-Latino feeling are many. From New York to California, the English Only movement has relentlessly attacked bilingual education and ballots.

Buried within the General Accounting Office's report on the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act were the results of a "hiring audit" carried out in two cities--Chicago and San Diego--with results more ominous for this country than those related to worker-eligibility procedures. The audit reveals striking differences in the experiences of Anglo and Latino job applicants that put young Latinos at a severe disadvantage.

Not too long ago, Salevaa Fuauli Atisanoe, a 490-pound Samoan-American from Honolulu, seriously considered quitting his dream of making it big, really big, in Japan. Atisanoe--who once summed up his size by saying, "I've been big ever since I was small"--would be a giant in any country. He found his niche on these cramped islands seven years ago in the sumo arena, where mammoth men combine ferocity with agility in an ancient and ritual-laden sport.

Perhaps it should not surprise us that men who are willing to slaughter peaceful protesters are also willing to slaughter the truth. Yet it is worthwhile to try to understand the nature and functions of the Big Lie, which, like the killing itself, is in fact a powerful and carefully considered political tool. What are the Chinese regime's purposes in inventing the truth? One, obviously, is that the truth is embarrassing, and needs to be covered up. More important, though, the lie is an important tool in the "engineering" (Stalin's term, still used in China)