Down the Mississippi

Mississippi holds immigration hearings.

Jackson, MS

Mississippi is the latest state to flirt with Arizona-style immigration reform. The Mississippi State Senate held hearings this afternoon about the issue. Various leftwing interest groups like the NAACP, Immigrant Rights Alliance, and ACLU testified.

Several lawmakers plan to introduce an Arizona-style immigration bill in January 2011 during the next legislative session. Arizona’s precipitous showdown with the federal government over illegal immigration and border security has galvanized conservatives across America.

The familiar coalition of special interest groups that push “comprehensive immigration reform” are opposed to the measure: the Mississippi media, the cheap labor lobby, the NAACP, Hispanic advocacy groups, the ACLU, and human rights organizations.

Illegal aliens cost Mississippi taxpayers about $32 million dollars a year. If a new amnesty or guest worker program were enacted, FAIR estimates the annual cost of illegals could rise to $94 million with a decade.

The state currently has a 10% unemployment rate.

The Mississippi Federation for Immigration Reform and Enforcement is spearheading a grassroots effort to bring Arizona-style immigration reform to Mississippi. Rodney Hunt, the president of MFire, spoke at the state senate hearings. The group recently held a meeting in Hattiesburg that was cohosted by the Mississippi Tea Party and featured several state senators.

Unfashionable Observations

1.) If it were not for Arizona’s national showdown with the Obama administration, it is unlikely that immigration would be striking such a nerve in Mississippi right now. The state only has about 40,000 illegal aliens.

2.) Arizona’s moderate action on immigration led to a polarizing overreaction from the Left that pushed moderates in our direction. This successful tactic comes straight out of the Alinsky playbook.

3.) In Mississippi and Arizona, working within the mainstream and toning down the rhetoric has resulted in a detectable shift in the immigration debate. Last week, Republicans unanimously blocked the DREAM Act in the Senate.

4.) Jim Giles, a rhetorical radical, has spent the last two years ranting in his trailer in Pearl, MS, without accomplishing anything for White people in his state. In contrast, MFire is moving legislation through the Mississippi state senate.

5.) In Mississippi and Arizona, the Tea Party has gotten involved in the immigration debate. Republicans on the national and state level are taking a firmer stance on immigration.

While some Republicans are worthless politicians, Trent Lott in Mississippi being a typical example, this has never been true of all of them. The reasonable course of action is clearly to work with the ones who are persuadable and punish the ones who are not with primary challenges.

6.) The inability of White Nationalists to organize a resistance to the status quo has allowed outside groups to hijack our winning issues like immigration and affirmative action.

Conclusion

Mississippi is a microcosm of a larger truth: working within the mainstream, communicating with people in terms of their own experience, starting where people are at today, prioritizing organization over rhetoric, and using polarization to move the goal posts has consistently been shown to work.

Failure is not an option. There is too much at stake. White Advocates can either adapt or perish.

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