When I was a small boy living in Latin America, I was scared of “duendes y fantasmas” — goblins and ghosts.
Fortunately, they appeared mostly in dreams and eventually faded away.
Over at the New York Times, Héctor Tobar writes that different monsters and ghosts haunt the dreams of Latino children these days.
Some monsters and ghouls are pretty scary. For example, there is “La Llorona” who according to Tobar “is said to moan for her dead children” and the “Chupacabra” which “sucks the blood from farm animals and maybe a boy or a girl if he or she doesn’t behave.”
Fortunately, I have never had any dealings with these monsters.
But I have heard all too often recently about a “new monster” who may be much scarier than all these ghouls combined.
Why more scary?
These children can wake up from their nightmares and hug their parents who can make it all go away.
But if this new “boogeyman” achieves his “dream” and gets to implement his “popular plans” on birthright citizenship and immigration, not only will the innocent dreams of these children be shattered forever, but also their lives will become true living nightmares.
Which children are we talking about?
The children are the hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of innocents born in these United States of America to undocumented Mexican and other Latin American parents.
And who is the monster?
Tobar says, “Now we can add a new boogeyman to the repertoire of scary Latino bedtime stories. His name is The Donald.”
He continues:
Ever since he began his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination with a vicious screed against Mexican immigrants, Donald J. Trump has become a figure of dread and comic-book meanness to the Latino community. He’s a villain in a flaccid pompadour, spewing threats and insults that have filtered down into the bosom of many a Latino family, to be heard by children gathered by the television set or at the dinner table.
Tobar writes about Hugo, “a 7-year-old not much taller than a New York City fireplug,” born in the United States, whose father and mother came to the United States 10 years ago and whose greatest fear is that, if “the monster” is successful, he might be separated from his Mom and Dad.
But it is not only this constant fear of being deported, of being separated, that haunts, offends and hurts these children.
It is also the ugly, offensive, xenophobic language used by this man who wants to be president of our country.
Although 7-year-old Hugo might not fully understand what El SeñorTrump means when he calls immigrants from Mexico murderers and rapists, it makes him “‘sad’ to hear someone call his parents ugly.”
“When Mr. Trump takes to a stage and declares Mexican immigrants to be murderers, his rhetorical daggers strike at the collective Latino psyche. We’re offended, we’re wounded and we’re angry,” says Tobar.
One of those hurt and offended is 9-year-old Alexandra Rubalcava, who tells Tobar: “[Trump] said that Mexican people are bad people, that they want to sell drugs…He wants to kick out the Mexican people from America and just leave the American people. I think that’s pretty much rude. Every one should be fair, and we should all be treated the right way.”
Tobar concludes:
A 10-year-old like Damaris watches The Donald descending an escalator in Trump Tower. Or standing at the border in Texas in a white hat that proclaimed “Make America Great Again.” Even if she doesn’t understand what he’s saying, she can feel her parents, her older brother turning angry and looking worried.
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At that moment, The Donald has unwittingly taught the girl the same valuable message that’s at the heart of many scary monster tales: Be on guard, because there are people out there who might harm you.
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But in the end, fear not, niños. Monsters are really just myth. And you can always make one into a piñata, and beat it until its paper shell breaks and candy falls out.
For these children, for the millions of undocumented Latino immigrant families, for our country, I hope Héctor Tobar is right.
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