Preventing slave revolts

I’ve been listening to a Teaching Company course entitled “History of the British Empire.”   In the lecture on early British Jamaica, the professor explained that one of the ways planters kept the slaves divided was by ensuring that their slaves came from different African tribes.  Because the slaves were divided by language and culture, they had a difficult time organizing meaningful resistance.

I thought about that when I read Mr. Wargo’s recent column in the Times News.  Don’t bother to look it up--the whole column was a screed against Mexican immigrants and how they are a threat to the American way of life.

Think about this.  If you had to assign responsibility for the current economic crisis in the U.S., how would you apportion the blame?  What percent do you think was caused by Mexican immigrants, and what percent was caused by Wall Street cowboys, mortgage companies, stock traders, insurance firms, bankers, financiers, white guys in suits and ties?  

So why do people attack those who have little?  Because they are different.  Because they speak a different language.  Because it is easier to kiss the butt of those above and give the boot to those below.