Biden’s border chaos: ‘Django Unchained, Part II’

Watching the imagery, public discussion and now collapsing narrative from the White House about the pictures of a Haitian immigrant apparently being run down by a Border Patrol agent on horseback was difficult, and it likely plucked at the raw nerves of many Black Americans. A Black man running, carrying what appeared to be plastic bags with the boxed lunches provided for the crush of migrants in Del Rio, Texas, brought into focus the feckless “leadership” of the Biden administration, from the president on down.  

My first thoughts were of a scene from the movie “Django Unchained,” in which they are catching runaway slaves, or worse, a real-life memory of the events on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in March 1965, when mounted sheriff’s deputies and dogs ran down Black folks who were peacefully protesting the injustice of segregation and systemic racism in America. All these images of historical horror, whether captured in the Quentin Tarantino film or the real life events in Selma, Ala., were reflections of Joe Biden’s Democratic Party. 

Few white people may know who Edmund Pettus was — a former Confederate general, former Democratic U.S. senator, and former Ku Klux Klan Grand Dragon. Despite years of effort and political spin, the Democratic Party cannot wash off its rich racist history. And Biden’s administration has brought it all back into sharp focus.      

When focusing on what’s unimportant, instead of what’s important, challenging situations quickly turn into unmanageable ones — which can turn disastrous when combined with weak, politically driven leaders at the top. In just nine months, the Biden administration appears to be collapsing. 

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has remained mostly silent on the growing chaos at the U.S. southern border. He snapped at a Republican senator in a recent hearing when asked about the border chaos. Maybe the picture of that unidentified Black man and an agent on horseback will wake up the nation and force accountability. The president should replace many of the people who are running federal executive departments and the Pentagon. Political decisions and reckless policies are costing innocent people their lives. The tragic deaths of Americans in Afghanistan as U.S. troops withdrew were impossible to conceal, but make no mistake, many people are also dying in this border chaos — from dehydration and exhaustion, drownings in rivers, or at the hands of criminals arriving with those who are simply trying to come to America because of what our country stands for.   

Think back a few weeks about how the truth surfaced in Afghanistan after the suicide bombing at Abbey Gate of the Kabul airport. A New York Times report on the subsequent U.S. drone strike resulted in the CENTCOM commander being forced to address the calamity. Although he made some apologetic comments, taking responsibility for the mistake, no one resigned and no one was fired. 

Fast forward to the recent events in Del Rio, Texas. The discussion triggered by the Haitian being grabbed by a mounted Border Patrol agent provoked a narrative of a whip being used. It didn’t matter that there was no whip; the incident illustrated that the core issues playing out at the border are simply wrong and immoral on multiple levels. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki did her part to provide misinformation and aggressive counter-narrative messaging. Her goal is damage control but, for all her skill at “spin,” she cannot easily put this issue to rest.    

What is really happening at the border, and why? There is no policy in place to control our borders. President Biden deliberately suspended the protection of our southern border. Horses were tools given to the Border Patrol to cover difficult and hostile terrain faster and safer than on foot; they are not crowd control tools. The Biden administration has ended the use of horses. The optics of running down a fleeing Black man must be addressed head on — with actions, not with political spin. The Biden administration opened the border and created the flood of desperate humans. Now the situation is quite literally out of control, a stampede. 

The administration wants the Border Patrol to make this go away. Remember the foolish order from the Federal Aviation Administration to close the air space to drones so the public couldn’t see the thousands of migrants? They evidently have no plan, and not enough properly equipped people or competent leaders. In the end, the mission falls to the Border Patrol agents on the ground to do “something,” anything, to regain some semblance of order and control. These agents will bear the brunt of criticism to protect Secretary Mayorkas and President Biden, but it is Mayorkas and his leadership team who should be fired immediately.

Armstrong Williams (@ARightSide) is the owner and manager of Howard Stirk Holdings I & II Broadcast Television Stations and the 2016 Multicultural Media Broadcast Owner of the Year. He is the author of “Reawakening Virtues.”