So a couple of days ago one of the major news sites featured a photograph of Asians over the swine flu headlines.  There wasn’t anything about Asia or Asians in the accompanying article.  Yesterday morning I awoke to hear the radio announcer stating that the Chicago child with a probable case of swine flu is “reportedly Latino.”

It’s the browning of disease.

One of the stereotypes about the brown is how filthy we all are.  A neighbor’s child was taunted at school by classmates who told her she was dirty.  A saleslady at a department store remarked about those “filthy little children dirtying up the merchandise.”  I got the distinct impression she thought the kids were mine.  And I might note that they were some of the cleanest, nicely dressed  and groomed examples of suburban children I’ve ever seen.

But lately we aren’t just dirty, we’re disease-ridden as well.

When SARS was hitting the news,  a colleague was busily and quite obviously trying to avoid me.  He had to drop something off at my house one day; instead, he left it in the street.  I suspect he tossed it out his car window because he called me from his cell phone to let me know it was there.

SARS has faded from many people’s memories, including that colleague.  But now we’re hearing about swine flu.  And in many (white) people’s minds, swine flu is associated with Latinos or other brown folks.  Plus we all know swine are filthy and those people are filthy, so it makes perfect sense.

I ran into a MTALTF (more than an acquaintance, less than a friend) today and teased her about slacking off since she obviously wasn’t working.  But she told me that people at her workplace were so convinced she had swine flu that she took the day off.  She additionally went to the doctor so the doctor could certify that she didn’t have it.

This association (brown people=disease) has been fodder for racist, anti-immigrant sentiment.  Read the comments on some of the news sites and you’ll get a pretty good feel.  It boils down to “They’re dirty and carry disease and we should lock the borders.”   Conservative columnist and hack Michelle M@lkin has been stating that the swine flu is a result of “uncontrolled immigration.”

The Wall Street Journal reported that the swine flu may not have originated in Mexico after all.  This despite the media’s repetitive broadcast of the name and hometown of the young boy who was assumed to be the first case.  A few of the affected individuals in Europe have no known association with Mexico.

Yet the idea that Mexicans=swine flu persists.

So while we’re clamping down on the borders, what should we do about people who have been to visit Mexico recently?  Maybe they should be quarantined at Guantanamo.  That would include all those rich folks who went to Cancun or Acapulco with their kids over spring break.

Because you just can’t be too careful.