Don Young's 'Wetback' Comment

Don Young stirred up the racial pot by using the term "wetbacks":

During a discussion about ongoing challenges to the economy Thursday, Alaska Republican Rep. Don Young referred to Hispanic workers as "wetbacks," an ethnic slur used to describe migrant workers.

“My father had a ranch; we used to have 50-60 wetbacks to pick tomatoes,” Young told Alaska public radio station KRBD. “It takes two people to pick the same tomatoes now. It’s all done by machine.”

The term "wetback" is a pejorative term that has been used to describe workers from Latin American countries who swim across the Rio Grande to reach the United States.

Young's comments come just weeks after the Republican National Committee called for candidates and lawmakers to soften their tone when discussing Hispanic Americans and immigrants in an effort to engage Latino voters after getting only 30 percent of their vote in the 2012 presidential election. Republicans are currently working with Democrats in Congress to shape a comprehensive overhaul of the nation's immigration system, and comments like Young's could serve as a distraction from those bipartisan efforts.

In a statement to the Anchorage Daily News, Young said he meant "no disrespect" when he used the term.

"I used a term that was commonly used during my days growing up on a farm in Central California," Young said in the statement. "I know that this term is not used in the same way nowadays and I meant no disrespect."

There are infinite shades of meanings in all this, of course. The Mexican migrant laborers refer to themselves as 'mojados', meaning 'wets'. It's a terminology that started in the 19th Century. Folks south of the border generally don't use the term, except in derision. The laborers north of the border use it for camaraderie, and to remind themselves they are third-class humans here. Similar in some respects to how African-Americans sometimes use the "n" word, particularly in songs, but not quite so harsh. Best beware using the term if you aren't part of the group, however!

Don Young basically looks fondly back on the days when he was 'massa's son', growing up in the vicinity of Marysville. Not necessarily the most sensitive way to go about luring Hispanic voters to the GOP.

In any event, I still love this video, where Dr. Doug Brinkley, a well-known historian from Rice University, basically calls Rep. Don Young (AK - R) a moron to his face, for flunking out of Yuba College when pampered Don Young was a youth, and Young explodes in rage:




Once again, to remind the mojados (who don't need reminding):

I wish I was in the land of cotton,
old times there are not forgotten,
Look away, look away, look away, Dixie Land.
In Dixie Land where I was born in,
early on a frosty mornin',
Look away, look away, look away, Dixie Land.

Then I wish I was in Dixie,
hooray! hooray!
In Dixie Land I'll take my stand
to live and die in Dixie,
Away, away, away down South in Dixie,
Away, away, away down South in Dixie.