EDITOR'S NOTE: In June 2004 I began a new venture as managing editor of both Northfield News and Faribault Daily News. This column originally appeared in the Northfield News on April 27, 2007.
NORTHFIELD - The fact that conservative columnist/blogger/author Michelle Malkin stirred up the passions of St. Olaf College students during a one-hour lecture about immigration Tuesday night was not surprising. The surprise came in that the event actually took place with as little rancor as it did. Malkin, who can be described as a lesser-known Ann Coulter, did have a few pithy exchanges with a couple of the audience members in the question-and-answer session after her lecture. But otherwise, a crowd of about 200 mostly college-aged people respectfully listened to her hour-long defense of tightening the nation's immigration laws and putting some backbone into a system she thinks has none. Malkin's speech was based on her 2002 book "Invasion: How America Still Welcomes Terrorists, Criminals, and Other Foreign Menaces to Our Shores," a book inspired by how the Sept. 11 terrorists gained legal access into the United States. An equal opportunity critic, Malkin blamed the Bush Administration and Congress for not doing enough to tighten the nation's immigration laws, upgrade security at the nation's physical borders and to improve the system of how immigrants apply to get into our country and tracking them once they are in. "A country without borders is not a country," she said in defending her stance and taking a poke at those with an opposing viewpoint who are called the "open borders" crowd. Although Malkin said several times throughout the evening that her "shtick" wasn't to trade barbs with "liberals," or to adopt a "shock jock" mentality, throughout the night she still used the same name-calling and demeaning tactics of those commentators she decries. However, the crowd didn't become as argumentative as a crowd last year did when Coulter visited the St. Olaf campus. Only one incident took place during Tuesday night's event that could have been described as disruptive: During the question-and-answer session, a Muslim student who had asked Malkin about her views about "radical Islam" felt that Malkin wasn't answering his question and so he began to leave in the middle of her answer. Malkin called him on the carpet for not having enough of an open mind to listen to her answer, and the two exchanged some sharp replies. After he left, Malkin quipped: "This is 'Example A' of how higher education should not take place." In her lecture, Malkin said she wanted to debunk some of the major myths about the immigration debate. "I'm here to provide you with a little diversity," she said. "I don't think it's something to fear." First, she said those who insist the country is a "nation of immigrants" are wrong because 85 percent of the people in the country were born right here and are not technically immigrants. Malkin said some want to romanticize their connection to immigrants and make the connection more immediate than it is. "We are not a nation of immigrants," she said. "We are a nation of laws." And second, she said some believe that since we can't protect the long, open borders in the northern and southern parts of the United States, that we can't make a difference in stemming illegal immigration. But Malkin disagreed, saying that just because we can't protect every inch of the border, it's not a reason to give up. She said if the nation cracked down on a couple of high profile companies that employ illegal immigrants, other companies would stop hiring them as well. And if the jobs weren't available here, the illegal immigrants would leave on their own. Malkin was invited to speak on campus by the college's Political Awareness Committee. More information about Malkin is available at her websites which are michellemalkin.com or hotair.com. - Devlyn Brooks can be reached at dbrooks@northfieldnews.com or at 645-1116.
Comentarios