Xenophobia and Anti-Gay Legislation Galore: What's the Matter with
Oklahoma?
By Richard L. Fricker, Consortium News
Posted on May 29, 2008, Printed on May 29, 2008
http://www.alternet.org/story/86683/
The Republican-dominated Oklahoma legislature is defining the frontier
of xenophobic immigration laws, anti-Muslim bigotry, gay ba****ng and
encouragement of gun-toting students -- with Democratic legislators
often too timid to resist.
Rep. Randy Terrill, Republican chairman of the Revenue and Taxation
Committee, has emerged as a hero of the "protect our borders" crowd by
authoring a law, known as HB1804, that makes it a felony even to give
an illegal immigrant a ride.
You also can't provide education, health care and many other services
to undo***ented immigrants, including infants. And, police are
required to check the immigration status of anyone "suspected" of
being in this country illegally.
If you thought such a draconian measure might face stiff opposition --
or at least a drawn-out political battle -- you'd be wrong. The bill
sailed through the Oklahoma House, 88-9, with 35 of the 44 Democrats
joining the Republicans, and then passed the Senate on a 41-6 vote
with two-thirds of the Democrats lining up with Republicans.
After the law's passage, its extreme -- one might say un-Christian --
features prompted virtual declarations of civil disobedience from the
Southern Baptist Convention and the Episcopal, Methodist, Lutheran and
Roman Catholic churches, which announced they would not curtail aid to
anyone.
Terrill then attacked Roman Catholic Bishop Edward Slattery of Tulsa
as "misguided," accusing Catholics of opposing the law out of fear
that it would curtail a growth in population and thus revenues for the
church.
Terrill followed up his legislative victory by floating a "son of
1804," a bill that would forbid the issuance of birth certificates to
a child if one parent was an illegal alien. That bill also sought
confiscation of property for anyone caught violating HB1804.
The property-confiscation idea, however, was deemed too radical by the
Oklahoma business community, which saw it as a threat to cor****ate
owners. So, the follow-up bill got sidetracked.
Undeterred, Terrill proposed another anti-immigrant bill to make
English the official language of Oklahoma.
When that bill died on a procedural vote in the Senate, Terrill
enlisted the Wa****ngton lobby group ProEnglish, whose specialty is
robo-calling, to make constituency calls to state senators.
One senator took umbrage and forwarded his calls to Terrill's office.
Furious at this "cowardly act," Terrill crossed the rotunda
threatening to "whip his ass."
Though Terrill's pressure tactics failed to revive the bill, it is
expected to become a hot-button election issue this fall.
Meanwhile, the Oklahoma business community, which mostly sat on the
sidelines as HB1804 was passed, is now having second thoughts,
worrying that the new law has cut into the labor force and thus
cor****ate profits.
A significant number of Mexicans, both legal and illegal, have left
the state to avoid harassment, while other laborers are living in
fear.
As Terrill and his sup****ters mounted legal assaults against non-
English-speaking immigrants, Republican colleague Rep. Sally Kern
focused on what she viewed as an even graver danger: gays and
lesbians. In April, she went before a local GOP meeting and labeled
that threat worse than the one from al-Qaeda:
"Studies show that no society that has totally embraced homo***uality
has lasted more than, you know, a few decades. So it's the death knell
of this country. I honestly think it's the biggest threat our nation
has, even more than terrorism or Islam, which I think is a big threat.
OK?
"'Cause what's happening now is they are going after, in schools, 2-
year-olds, and this stuff is deadly, and it's spreading, and it will
destroy our young people, and it will destroy this nation."
When her comments showed up on YouTube, Kern claimed her comments had
been taken out of context and expressed outrage that they would be
posted on the Internet. However, she referenced the Bible and refused
to apologize.
Despite complaints from around the country, Kern and Oklahoma's other
Republican leaders held fast behind her anti-gay positions. Re****ts
from inside the GOP caucus described Kern receiving a standing ovation
from the party faithful a couple of days after her statements were
made public.
Kern's sup****ters also staged two rallies at the Capitol Building,
with one drawing nearly 2,000 people.
"I told the people when I was running for this office that I was a
Christian candidate and that I believed we were in a cultural war for
the very existence of our Judeo-Christian values," Kern declared.
In a similar vein, Republican Rep. Rex Duncan concentrated on the
threat from Islam, rebuffing a gesture of multicultural goodwill when
American Muslims on the Ethnic American Advisory Council sent each
legislator a copy of the Quran in honor of Oklahoma's centennial
celebration.
Duncan refused to accept his copy, saying, "Most Oklahomans do not
endorse the idea of killing innocent women and children in the name of
ideology." Seventeen other House Republicans joined Duncan in spurning
copies of Islam's holy book.
However, Duncan's rationale -- decrying Islam as a uniquely violent
religion -- flew in the face of historical and Biblical evidence that
implicated Jewish and Christian communities in horrendous violence
against the innocent as well.
For instance, the Old Testament's Book of Numbers recounts Moses'
destruction of the Midians, including the slaughter of boys and the
enslavement of girls. During the Crusades, Christian forces famously
butchered the Muslim inhabitants of Jerusalem.
Indeed, the history of Christianity -- a religion based on the
peaceful teachings of Jesus -- has been remarkable in its bloodletting
against non-Christians, from the Inquisition and anti-Jewish pogroms
in Europe to the genocide against the "heathen" natives living in the
New World and the barbarities against African slaves brought to the
New World.
Though several interfaith groups expressed dismay at Duncan's
denunciation of Islam, the Rev. Anthony Jordan, executive director of
the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma, said he did not fault the
legislators for their action repudiating the Quran.
The Oklahoma legislature also responded to concerns about mass
shootings on campuses by deliberating on a proposal advocated by
extreme elements of the gun lobby, to permit all university students
to carry guns to cl***** so they could defend themselves in case a mad
gunman went on a rampage.
However, the idea of turning colleges into a modern version of the
Wild West died in a fit of sobriety.
Still, the question remains: Why have these sorts of comments and such
legislation gained traction in Oklahoma and other parts of the United
States?
Some political analysts suggest part of the reason is that Democrats
so dread coming under attack from the evangelical Right that they stay
silent or acquiesce to proposals that otherwise might be transformed
into campaign attack ads against them.
Election 2008 could be a moment when this surge of theocracy tinged
with white racialism might finally be turned back. But, then again,
enough Democrats may find it more appealing to nurse their grievances
from the bruising Obama-Clinton race than to find some common ground.
Richard L. Fricker is a Tulsa, Oklahoma-based freelance re****ter/
writer and two-time winner of the American Business Press Editors
Award for Investigative Journalism.
=A9 2008 Consortium News All rights reserved.
View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/story/86683/
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