The College Republicans' "Find the Illegal Immigrant" event, held last Thursday, was an insensitive and unscholarly method of pursuing discussion about the problems of illegal immigration. President Sexton already expressed this in an online statement, and College Republicans president Sarah Chambers openly admitted "the event was held to generate controversy" and that "Sometimes, you have to be politically incorrect" in an article in WSN's Feb. 23 issue. However, a deeper concern than the College Republicans' bad "quality of dialogue," as President Sexton put it, was illuminated last Thursday.
The event ignited a protest consisting of hundreds of people, mostly NYU students. But what exactly were they protesting? The "Find the Illegal Immigrant" game? The Facebook event photo of what is assumed to be a Mexican family running? The idea of illegal immigrants? Or the College Republicans' general insensitivity?
Protesting the game itself amounts to protesting the College Republicans' right to hold such an event. President Sexton explained in his statement that NYU is committed to "the free exchange of ideas," which is why he allowed the event to occur. The club has a right to voice its opinions, unpopular though they may be at NYU.
Many protesters called the event "racist," and the protest's Facebook event cited racism as a major reason for speaking out. But nowhere in the "Find the Illegal Immigrant" Facebook event was anything about race or ethnicity mentioned. The accusations of racism were based solely on the Facebook event photo of a sign depicting a group people - one wearing a sombrero - running. To call the College Republicans racists because of the photo is an overreaction. Signs like the one posted actually do exist around the Mexico-U.S. border, where illegal immigration does occur. WSN quoted Chambers: "By calling us racists, the protesters are implying that there is only one race of immigrants," and there is truth to her argument. Racism is a serious and hurtful accusation, and should be made cautiously and only when concrete evidence exists.
Some protesters held signs saying "No one is illegal," "Immigrant values are family values," and other similar messages. The former implies that the sign-holder does not recognize the existence of illegal immigration, while the latter mistakenly assumes the College Republicans' event targets legal as well as illegal immigrants.
That idea most merits protesting - or at least disdaining. And as previously mentioned, Chambers divulged a purposeful attempt by the College Republicans to be politically incorrect to spark discussion about illegal immigration.
I can understand the desire to protest this insensitivity; I too want niceness and civility to permeate the NYU campus and all its student activities. But the protesters of the event returned rudeness with rudeness. Chanting "Racists out," tearing a certificate from their game, holding signs reading "Deport College Republicans," jeering and name-calling are foul forms of protest. Juxtaposed with such behavior, the College Republicans emerge looking better behaved than the protesters. I am not suggesting that a protest is useless, or that last Thursday's protest did not produce some desired results. Public protest is a valued and important aspect of American history and society. But public protesting is not always the best strategy for dissent.
The ambiguity of the protest, illustrated by the different sentiments of its signs, rendered much of it irrelevant or ill-targeted. A protester is quoted by WSN as saying the protest was a successful way of "letting people know we're not going to pay attention to these types of tactics to promote an event." But the protesters could have instead ignored the "Find the Illegal Immigrant" event rather than stooping to uncouth behavior to protest it. They also could have organized their own open discussion about immigration, dedicated to academic and civil standards of integrity, which would have shamed the College Republicans much more than the protest did. The College Republicans were asking for it, and the protesters gave it to them.
Rachel Fried is a contributing writer for WSN. E-mail her at opinon@nyunews.com.
Be the first to comment on this article!