CNN Opinion Contributor: Securing Borders is Racist

CNN's opinion contributor LZ Granderson goes straight for the race card in considering the border debate.

Does 'secure the border' mean 'keep America white'?

As a good liberal, he announces he's acquired a hidden Republican/Right decoder ring to helpfully decode all these code phrases and he'll share it with you:

In case you plan to see Wednesday's GOP debate, allow me to offer up some crib notes so you don't get lost.

First, when you hear the candidates talk about "job creators," that's just another way of saying "rich people" or "the guy bankrolling my super Pac."

When someone says "family values," that's to remind the audience that they don't like gay people; "religious freedom" means "Christianity"; and it's not really a GOP debate until a candidate attacks the "liberal media" for asking questions they're too afraid to answer.

Now there will be plenty of other buzz words and euphemisms that will be tossed around during the debate, but since it is being held in Arizona, chances are the most popular phrase will be "secure the border."

He then goes on to claim that securing the border with Mexico is racist unless equal attention is made to the US-Canadian border.

They all will receive applause, and it will all sound great ... until you realize that "secure the border" is slang for "keep the Mexicans out."

Oh boy, here comes the black guy playing the race card again.

Yep, that's me -- pointing out that the Canadian border is largely ignored in this dialogue despite being more than twice the size of the Mexican border and less than 1% secure, according to a 2011 report by the Government Accountability Office. Even if we were to disregard the 1,538 miles between Alaska and Canada, the 3,987 mile border connecting the lower 48 to our neighbors up north is still much larger than the 1,933-mile stretch that connects us to Mexico.

And yet the attention we give the northern border is miniscule at best when compared to the resources we allocate to the south.

Of course he doesn't mention that we don't have an influx of millions of Canadians immigrating here illegally, soaking up the social welfare net and demanding to use Canadian Matricula Consular cards in place of driver's licenses and identification.

If indeed we have recently been facing a massive illegal immigration wave of millions of Canadians, I think I would have noticed them going around and saying "eh?", eating poutine, and pouring maple syrup into car radiators. In short, we just don't have one.

Mr. Granderson also completely whether by accident or by deliberate intent overlooks the close cooperation that the US and Canadian governments unlike Mexico have on border security and that yes indeed, that border is a known area of concern and is being addressed, much to his chagrin had he been paying any attention.

Mr. Granderson then makes the leap that since there isn't a push for equal time and attention on the Canadian border, the whole border issue is just white people's fear of the browning of America.

You know, this whole immigration discussion would be a lot more productive if the people leading it would be more honest and stop pretending as if it's only about national security. It's a part, but the larger truth is that nonwhite people will be the majority in this country by 2040 and this browning of America scares the hell out of a lot of people, particularly some white people. The thinking goes that if the country can deport the Mexicans who are illegally here and stop new ones from coming in, maybe that trend will slow down or even reverse.

Yet another unsupported assertion and claim of a "larger truth" from him, perhaps he found that "thinking" using his secret decoder ring.

This is just the standard liberal columnist approach of claiming to know the motivations of your opponents, then construct a straw-man with these supposed motivations to strike down, ignore all the facts counter to the construct and then declare victory. Feh.