Source: CBS News
Summary/ Analysis:
Rob Tibbetts, father of the late Mollie Tibbets, spoke out on Saturday in a column in the Des Moines Register, demanding that politicians stop using his daughter's death as part of a “racist” debate.
He apologized to the Latino community and denounced the way many politicians have used Mollie's death as anti-immigration rhetoric: “The person who is accused of taking Mollie’s life is no more a reflection of the Hispanic community as white supremacists are of all white people.”
Donald Trump Jr. also wrote a column in the Des Moines Register this past weekend. Trump Jr. criticized the far left for downplaying Tibbets’ death in order to preserve their “love for open borders”: “Mollie was murdered by an illegal alien and her murder would never have happened if we policed our southern border properly.”
Tibbetts’ words come at a particular tense time. Latino festivals in Iowa were postponed out of “respect for Mollie” and a fear of racially-motivated incidents. “Deport Racists” was recently spray painted on the street of a predominantly-Latino city near Des Moines. A white supremacy group, “Road to Power,” sent out a robo call to multiple Des Moines residents calling for a “whites only” country and the death of Latinos: “Get rid of them now. Every last one.”
Opinion:
I think that Tibbetts speaking out is very admirable. I have a lot of sympathy for their family -- they have not gotten a chance to mourn because the death of their daughter was almost immediately politicized.
Even though Tibbetts alludes to Trump Sr. and other politicians who are using her death to promote anti-immigration policies, he also encourages people to look beyond the divide of political parties and understand that one murderer’s actions are not a reflection of their entire race or ethnicity. I found his statement on white people and white supremacists particularly powerful.
While the timing of him speaking out is slightly delayed -- news outlets on the far right, and even the president himself, have already used her death as the basis of their fear-mongering -- they are still extremely relevant. Tibbetts’ mention of McCain and Franklin and the way he connected it to the search for his daughter hopefully resonate with Americans, and remind them of the importance of cooperation and acceptance rather than separation and xenophobia.
Sources:
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/aug/24/iowa-latino-festivals-canceled-over-safety-concern/
1 comment:
In today's media climate, it's hard for an event like Mollie Tibbetts' death, which happens to be because of an illegal immigrant, to not become "politicized" in the views of at least one party. If the causes of her death are not given as much attention, there are arguments like Donald Trump Jr.'s that claim her death was politicized to promote open borders. If they are, there's talk of politicizing her death to suggest stronger immigration reform. In my opinion, there's no way to stop this discourse, and it will continue, if not completely intentionally, on both sides.
In this vein, when Rob Tibbetts speaks out about not politicizing his daughter's death to advance "racist" views, he is going to be accused of politicizing the issue himself. The robocalls are a sign of this; according to them, he's choosing immigrants over his own race. However, I think one of the most troubling things about this situation, beyond the gruesome nature of her death, obviously, is that outright racism, such as that in the robocalls, continues to be viewed as one side of a political coin. It should be seen as a separate entity below our politics, but the fact that is seen as a valid political opinion that Tibbetts needs to address is a bit scary.
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