Love-Hate Mail
U.S. of hate
It may interest readers of the Scene
to know that the phrase “illegal immigrant invasion” is not an idea or
phrase originating in the racist mind of ideologue Jim Boyd (“(At)
Largely Loquacious,” July 12). Anyone who Googles the phrase “illegal
immigrant invasion” will find plenty of references and links to far
right, ultra-conservative, neo-Nazi types crawling out from under
rocks, offering a smorgasbord of religious radicalism and ultra-far
right nationalism. These range from The Dustin Inman Society (led by
D.A. King, formerly of The American Resistance Foundation) to Arizona
Rep. Russell Pearce, who talks incessantly about the “invasion,” and
Phyllis Schlafly, another ultra-fundamentalist, religious American
nationalist, who rhetorically asks Mexican immigrants, “are you
assimilating or invading?”
Before
anyone laughs this off and shrugs their shoulders at good ol’ boy Jim
Boyd, check out his ideological credentials and the political and
cultural sources for his so-called “wacky theory about ‘illegal
immigration invasion.’ ” You will find that, under that crusty old
rock, the same religious fundamentalism and extremism can be traced to
the furthest right of the radical right wing’s most radical fringe.
This is the same racist fundamentalism and imperialist-nationalist,
pride-ridden, white-hooded, cross-burning ignorance that history
shamefully eulogizes with epitaphs for Nazi Germany.
Think
really hard before ignoring good ol’ boy Jim “Illegal Immigration
Invasion” Boyd! Ignore him and others like him at your own peril.
RHIO HIRSCH
talkingzen@gmail.com
(Whites Creek)
Polling point
Howard Gentry has not played the race card in this mayoral campaign, but as of your July 12 issue, the Scene certainly has (“Going for Broke”).
Jeff Woods criticizes Howard Gentry for questioning the accuracy of his opponents’ polls. What would the Scene be saying about Gentry’s political acumen if he were not suspicious of his opponents’ polls?
Second,
the fact that blacks are undercounted in polls has been known for
decades. When Gentry points that out, it is neither news nor a platform
for building some kind of case for reverse discrimination.
JACK ISENHOUR
isenhour@bellsouth.net
(Nashville)
Damn usurpers
Having
lived in East Nashville all my life, I’ve had to witness the influx of
white hipsters surging their way into my neighborhood and proclaiming
it as their own (“East Side Story,” July 5). Perhaps it wouldn’t upset
me so much if they wouldn’t proclaim things like, “I live in the hood.”
Five Points is not the hood. Even if it is hood-adjacent, it is still
not the hood. It’s a hipster bubble that’s close enough to the hood so
that you can feel as though you’re living on the edge. New East
Nashvillians talk about their neighborhood’s diversity as if it is
somehow different from that of West Nashville. Even if you can see
homeboys and rednecks from Marché’s windows, if they ever walked
through the doors, all the “East Nashvillians” would be paralyzed with
shock. The yuppies don’t associate with people from the low-income
areas that surround their hipster paradise. They would never push their
stroller down my street in Inglewood; they’re scared, just like the
Westies. Real East Nashvillians see them as outsiders who are trying to
push us out of our neighborhoods to make way for a whiter, hipper, more
costly East Nashville, and we do not think of them as our neighbors.
NKOYO EDOHO-EKET
nre2j@virginia.edu
(Nashville)
Off the beaten path
I
can’t figure out why you stick Walter Jowers’ column in the middle of
the classifieds. I read him every week and it is a pain in the ass to
thumb through the last third of the paper trying to find his column.
Why can’t you put him with the rest of the grownups instead of at the
kids’ table?
JERRY CARNES
carnes647@msn.com
(Nashville)
Timely reply
In
her article “Into the Wilderness,” MiChelle Jones refers to “the
expressions of Manifest Destiny by Frederick Church” (Oct. 13, 2005). I
know that it is standard to ascribe Manifest Destiny to the works of
Church, but if you truly research his paintings, you will find that
they often reflect what is going on in his life, such as the death of
his children, the end of the Civil War, etc. You will also see that
most of his adventures have nothing to do with the West—only South
America and Europe.
LAURIE MOODY
moodyartlover@yahoo.com
(Nashville)