Masterpieces of Conquistador Mentality

One of the hallmarks of conquistador mentality is the treatment of minority/ostracized groups as savages. The belief that there is something inherently deformed in the being of these others, therefore their very existence in the wider scope of things is judged using different rules. If they have something that the conquistador wants, then it is taken; if a crime is committed by one of them, then the conclusion drawn by the majority Voice is that all within the minority group is prone to exhibit the same animalistic behavior. An ugly cycle of thinking, but prevalent.

Take, for example, the recent manhunt that was underway in the Miami, Florida area for a suspect that killed a cop. The caption of his picture reads:

25-year-old black male-Shawn Sherwin Labeet

Or how about the Virginia Tech shooting from last spring? The media was tripping over itself to let it be known that Seung-Hui Cho was an immigrant from South Korea. It was a spectacle to watch copy editors embarrass themselves in public with their cultural ignorance; treating the killer like some exotic village dweller who, in reality, lived the majority of his life in the United States.

Coming closer to home, the Phoenix metro area is being rocked by a cop-killing incident of its own. This time, however, the target of journalistic laziness is too juicy, too convenient to pass up. It even makes the headline

Slain cop-killing suspect identified as illegal entrant

The man who shot and killed a Phoenix police officer before he himself later was fatally shot by authorities was an illegal entrant, a federal official said Wednesday.

Erik Jovani Martinez, 22, was in the country illegally last year when he was arrested and convicted on theft charges, said Vinnie Picard, a spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

He said Martinez was deported on March 3 last year, and at some point re-entered the country illegally.

Mayor Phil Gordon called Martinez a "poster child" for failed federal efforts to tighten border security.

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The wide brush of Manifest Destiny hath spoken. Its tip, dipped in a deep pool of arrogance, chooses to paint over inconvenient truths like institutional racism and xenophobia, and declare that, once again, "we" are in danger from some nameless (often brown) horde of criminals.

This is an issue that knows no politics unless it is used to corral the beasts imagined by the system in place. Bipartisanship is achievedat the expense of someone - Mayor Gordon is Democrat - because as long as it does not disrupt the flow of money and influence, there is no stopping the carnage on the canvas. The masterpiece of a shining beacon society will only be completed according to the prescribed rules of the conquistadors. The paint used is among the darkest spectrum of human morality and its blot will find any way to divide.

At 6:30 a.m. Saturday, Assemi was opening her second-floor shop when two men burst out of a bathroom across the hall. They grabbed her from behind, put a gun to her head and forced her inside, she said. There, they slammed her head on a counter, shoved a towel in her mouth, smashed her hand with a hammer and sliced her face, neck, back and chest with a knife and a box cutter, she said.

"They were cursing, ' -- -- Muslim, leave Locust Valley, leave The Plaza. Go back to the place you came from,'" she recalled.

They scrawled anti-Muslim messages on her mirrors and tore the place up, she said. They also stole about $2,000, she said.

"They said if I call the cops, they'll kill me and if I don't leave The Plaza, they're gonna kill me," she said.

After they left, Assemi crawled to her desk and called 911. She was treated later at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset and released. Police said they are investigating the attack as a bias crime.

Police are looking for two men: one was 5-foot-6, wearing a dark shirt and sunglasses; the other 5-foot-10 with a mustache and goatee, wearing a dark shirt and sunglasses and white shoes.

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Their race is left out. One minor convenience for the conquistadors. Again, and Again, and Again.