Pointing Fingers

When I was in 4th grade, my teacher, Mrs. Guess, once said to the class: “Any time you point the blame
at others, you have three other fingers pointing back at you.”  I cannot remember the circumstances
in which she told our whole class this little bit of wisdom, but as a 10-year-old child, I thought this
was very profound and made a lot of sense. (Most likely the circumstance fit the meaning of the saying,
some child or children blaming each other for something.)  Of course, when she said it, I had to extend
my index finger pointing at the kid in front of me and actually see the “other” three pointing back at
me.  This verified that this was very true and made a lot of sense to me. Mrs. Guess saw me, smiling,
and then asked me stop pointing. I went home and told my Dad this new found wisdom. He laughed
and said it made sense to him, too.

As my childhood went by, I never gave that saying a second thought, until I heard it again at the age
of 16 in Health class.  Mr. Annis was lecturing about Wellness and consequences of choices we make
in our lives, and how others will blame others for their choices, behavior, as a form of deflection, and
then it was like déjà vu.  “You know the saying about pointing the finger at others: you have three more
pointing back at you.”   Wait, what?  I heard that saying before, I remembered the moment Mrs. Guess
had said it.  Well, to be honest, I was disappointed that my favorite teacher did not make it up, but she
still was (is) my favorite.  Regardless, Mr. Annis stated that it was a common saying, so I took it at face
value that he was right.

It is safe to assume that Mrs. Guess and Mr. Annis did not know one another, at least I don’t
think they did.  I mean Mrs. Guess taught 4th grade in Indiana, and Mr. Annis taught health in Illinois,
what were the chances? Later in my life, it was confirmed that this actually was a very common saying.
After hearing it twice, I have kept it close to me. I even taught it to my sons and keep reminding them
of it.  It not only fits when taking accountability for your own choices, but it seems to work when some
one is trying to false blame someone else taking the attention away from themselves. I have forgotten
the psychology or logical term for this.  Red Herring?  Deflection?  Whatever it is, it seems to work on
our most primal instinct.  For example, it works when discussing politics and demonizing other
disenfranchised groups.  It creates the perfect foundation for nativism or xenophobia.  As in:  “There
are too many “illegals”.  The morbidly rich love using this tool to hide the fact that hire migrant slave
labor or ship taking jobs overseas.  And some Americans seem to fall for this argument to attack
immigrants.

So for this writing, this lesson about pointing makes sense when discussing today’s political climate,
but specifically the hatred of nativism  (xenophobia) and racism that are once again circling around. I
contend that neither ever really leaves, we seem to still have a long way to go. And for the past few
years, we seem to have regressed on these issues even more. As many of you know, nativism is just as
sick and ugly as racism or sexism.  Most of the time, racism plays a huge part in the Nativism, and like
racism, a big part of nativism (nationalism) is convincing Americans that they should fear for their safe
ty, whether that is economic, cultural or physical.   Many times the people in power that we should be
held accountable are pointing at the easiest targets, people “different” from the status quo, usually
Christian, male and white.  

In this current trend of nativism, the morbidly wealthy seem best at doing the pointing while they
“ship” jobs overseas in an effort to race to the bottom for wages and maximize profits.  They use their
mouthpieces in the form of politicians and multimillionaire pundits to accomplish their goals.  
Whether any of them really are nativist (or believe the hate they spew) seems to be irrelevant, as they
use this tool of hate to accomplish their agenda for their powerful masters.  And it appears to be
working, especially on white, working class Americans, as well to a lesser extent on non-white working
class Americans.  Pointing at the immigrant to place the blame for lack of jobs and the misery facing
our citizens. Amazingly, right-wing politicians and contributors can point and, instead of blaming the
greed of the morbidly rich, blame the immigrants and other disenfranchised American groups. And in
a frenzied cloud stupidity and fear, it works time and time again.

To prove my point, we can revisit a time in our history in which many American Catholics might be
able to relate.  In the mid- to late 19th Century, the Catholic immigrant, mostly Irish and Italian, was
the target of various nativist movements. Paranoia about the “threat” of U.S. government answering to
the Vatican if the Catholics gained power.  In the 1876 elections, Republicans claimed that the
Democratic Party was being used for the Catholics to take over the public school system.
(Higham, John. Strangers in the Land: Patterns of American Nativism 1860-1925, Atheneum,
New York, 1981, pg. 29). Nativists accused the Catholic church from preventing the Irish from
assimilating as Americans.  Sound familiar?

This manufactured fear was even used in the 1960 campaign against John F. Kennedy. While running
for President, JFK often had to swear that he would not put his religion ahead of his constitutional duty
as President.  In a speech in Houston, he swore:

“I believe in an America where separation of church and state are absolute, where no Catholic prelate
would tell the president, should he be Catholic, how to act, and no Protestant minister would tell his
parishioners for whom to vote.

I am not the Catholic candidate for president. I am the Democratic Party’s candidate for president, who
happens also to be a Catholic,” he said. “I do not speak for my Church on public matters, and the
Church does not speak for me.”
(https://aleteia.org/2017/05/26/how-john-f-kennedy-did-what-al-smith-could-not/)

He had to ease the fear that the United States would not come a “Papal” state under his administration.
Even after 100 years of the Irish Catholic becoming a part the American Fabric, an American born
Catholic had to address this ignorance that he was “American” enough to run for President.  Sound
familiar?   Maybe replace “Catholic” with “Muslim”, and “Papal” with “Sharia”.  Do you all see how
ignorant it sounds when discussing Muslim Immigrants?  Will it take another 100 years for a Muslim
American to run, and will he/she have to swear their loyalty the same way?   The fear is that Islam
will be instituted in our schools and take over our “Christian” nation and will forced on our children to
become Islamic. Really?  These are the same arguments given in the 1870s only a different religion
this time. Fear that an oppressive religion will take over another oppressive religion? (And for the
record, as a side note, as an American atheist, that fear is faced by me every time I hear politicians
trying to argue pushing prayer and the Bible in public schools.  This same “fear” should want more
Americans to support separation of church and state, so our government is not bound to ANY religion.
Instead, today, it appears as long it is Protestant/Evangelical Christian, we are against this sacred
separation.  The irony is that many private religious schools are receiving public funds in the form of
tax credits/vouchers.  Something that even Americans in 1876 were against, for the wrong reasons.  
Imagine that? More on this another time.) Some Americans would invoke the 3,000 people murdered
by 19 evil human beings on September 11, 2001 to hate a whole religion. It is a tragedy and horror that
traumatized most of us.  It is important to put focus the anger at those individuals who committed the
crime. I will never underestimate the power of fear and willful ignorance to distract us from the real
issues.

The hate for other non-white immigrants stem from our racism, and for some, feeds upon our
economic insecurity. It is even easier to point at brown and black skin humans who speak a different
language, or  “others” who look different or act differently from ourselves.  For example, blame the
immigrant for your job loss, not the bankers who crashed the housing market in 2008.  That even when
the stock market is at record highs, continue to blame the brown and black immigrants for taking the
jobs, instead of companies not hiring at record numbers.  Don’t blame the American farmer who hires
cheap immigrant labor, who work and live in deplorable conditions, so we can get cheap fruits and
vegetables. Don’t blame the manufacturer or investor in the name of profit hired undocumented
immigrants at slave wages, instead of paying a livable wage and hiring Americans (who are protected
by labor rights).  Blame the Mexican immigrant (documented or not) for the opiate crisis
instead of the Pharmaceutical companies that push them. Isn’t that what the wall is about?
We find it easier to blame the powerless than the powerful.  Their pointing seems to have no end to the
power it wields.

Also, I am intolerant of those who express “semi-” nativism. This almost seems worse, because if
someone is at least an outright nativist, it is easier to argue when someone is upfront about their hate.  
Many of Americans are probably part of this sect.  I’ve heard the argument for years from “semi-”
xenophobic people: “I am against only ‘illegal’ immigration.”  And these same people, who are
normally American of European ancestry (white), will claim that their ancestors arrived here “legally”
and magically all their ancestor spoke English or at least learned it right when they stepped off the boat
or plane. One day, I think I’ll research and write about this phenomenon.  

Also, what is truly shocking are the immigrants or 1st and 2nd generation Americans who actually
join the “semi-” nativist crowd.  These are the immigrants who spent hundreds of dollars on their
residency cards and complain that they “did it the right way,” so should the “illegals.”  Then you find
out they received amnesty from Ronald Reagan in 1986 or their parents did.  Before they decide to join
with the “illegal” vs “legal” crowd, they really need to know that the nativist will not stop at your
“papers” or your parents.  We all know that if hate is left unchecked it creates suffering for all of us.

We truly are a land of immigrants, whose ancestors stole from our indigenous, but came from all over
the world, some of us were stolen from Africa into slavery.   The point is that we are all Americans
and what makes our nation so great is our ever-changing fabric.  No other nation in the world has a
tradition where anyone can “become” that nationality.  I am not advocating complete open borders, not
yet, not until we hold those with all the economic and political power accountable. However, as a
human rights advocate, I do believe in taking care of my fellow human beings, whether they are
“documented” or not, in my borders.  I prefer to let those in who are suffering from war or famine.  

Currently, we are facing a refugee crisis at levels not seen since World War II.  In Myanmar, the
Rohingya, a Muslim ethnic group are experiencing genocide.  (We are doomed to repeat history once
again, as we refused many European Jews seeking our help during World War II.) Our expanded wars
in the Middle East have contributed to the refugee crisis. Instead of acknowledging our government’s
role in this crisis, we want to blame the refugees and refuse them entry.  Really? Don’t we owe the
people of Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, and Syria refuge?  Not only our military policies have contributed
to this, but our economic and political policies (both past and present) have affected the people of Haiti,
Mexico, Central America and other nations. Under the current administration, the U.S. ICE agents are
gathering human beings at levels not seen, even under the previous administration.  They are not just
gathering those that committed crimes or extreme violations, but people who have established ties to
their community. Of course, there are the Dreamers, who were brought here as children, and all
American in every way. I cannot think of an immigrant group that deserves some type of Amnesty
with no questions asked.  Also, we need to admit to ourselves this will not stop with “illegal”
immigrants.  This administration is already trying to limit the reunification of families.  The nativists'
hateful rhetoric is not limited to the “illegal” or “undocumented” immigrant but appears to gearing
toward a world I no longer want to see. As a student of genocide and mass killings, any time an arm of
government begins to gather human beings in mass, I worry. I sign petitions, I march, and now I write.
We need to ask ourselves, how far are we going to let this happen? When do we draw a line in the
sand?  When do we hold those pointing accountable or at least question their intentions?

The nativist movement, once again, keeps us from doing the right thing as a nation. Our fear puts
human beings in danger domestically and abroad. As we or let others point the finger at those suffering,
remember there are three more fingers pointing back.

References:

http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/nineteen/nkeyinfo/nromcath.htm

https://www.nilc.org/2018/02/08/new-rules-separate-immigrant-families-keep-accessing-critical-services/

(https://aleteia.org/2017/05/26/how-john-f-kennedy-did-what-al-smith-could-not/)

Higham, John. Strangers in the Land: Patterns of American Nativism 1860-1925, Atheneum, New
York, 1981