A disturbing variation of this rhetorical excess has appeared in Michigan on the topic of immigration. The company said it removed the sign one day after it went up out of fears it would offend someone. The sign cited the U.S. Census Bureau for its assertion and included Project USA's Web address. That appears to be the craven position of this billboard company. Similar signs in Muskegon, Grand Rapids and across the country also have drawn protests from citizens who charge that Project USA, or its positions, are racist and anti-immigrant.
Protests are legitimate, healthy expressions of political thought.
And there's no doubt that some proponents of greater restrictions on immigration are motivated by racial issues. That doesn't mean, however, anyone who advocates changes in U.S. immigration policies is a racist who must be silenced. And those who assert or imply that position not only engage in the worst form of character assassination, they also hurt the cause of immigration reform. Ask anyone connected with immigration policies and they will tell you that change must come. The nature of the suggested change might differ, but all are agreed that the current system needs work.