Pawlenty’s Latino Voter Pitch: Immigrants Are Terrorists

By now you may have seen the 2002 gubernatorial ad in which then-candidate Tim Pawlenty suggests that immigrants are all really secret terrorists. You may have also noticed that, as governor, Pawlenty made an awful lot of noise about immigration and immigrants through different legislation he pushed as governor of Minnesota. Finally, you may have also figured out by now that a lot of Pawlenty’s rhetoric is smoke and mirrors — but that’s not to say it’s got no bite.

As I thought we learned with the tragic shooting of Democratic Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, words have power. And while Minnesota’s population is currently 85% white according to the 2010 Census, Pawlenty did his best to grab ahold of the 75% growth of Latinos in that state during his tenure as governor. Using fear and divisiveness, Pawlenty sought to sell a message to his constituents: be afraid of your neighbors, do not embrace them.

That, at least in my mind, is not leadership. It is certainly not the type of leadership that is going to help my country succeed in an ever-competitive global marketplace in which we need not only be more educated, more bilingual and more open, but most importantly, more inclusive. Nationalism is not a viable option in a world where a t-shirt you buy from Walmart was made in China from cotton grown in Egypt and transported to your Minnesota store from a driver from Mexico.

How is it possible to compete in a world like that when you’re telling voters they need to fear each other?

Pawlenty is not the first politician to use fear, specifically fear of Latinos, to rouse voters. I’m sure he won’t be the last, unfortunately, but one thing I know is that “leadership” like Pawlenty’s not only rips off President Barack Obama’s “change” mantra, but doesn’t offer any new ideas. What’s more, I’m certain that the answer to helping the United States compete in the reality of a global community, where people “like us” are increasingly a minority both at home and abroad, could not possibly be fear.

Follow Sara Inés Calderón on Twitter @SaraChicaD