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[Makonero]

A couple of years ago I was sitting on my front porch with my family, when suddenly we saw several Jeeps painted in camouflage rumbling down the street. They were driven by men dressed in black and camouflage. We are all Latinos around here, but the men weren’t. They were much lighter skinned, and some even had blonde hair. It was like we were being invaded by an army. I got really scared and ran inside. The neighbors later said that a man named Rusty was behind all this. They said he’d made an army—a militia—to catch immigrants. They called it “Camp Rusty.”

I’m 15 years old and I live in Brownsville, Texas, a city just across the border from Mexico, where my parents were born. I was born in Brownsville and my parents have U.S residency, but some of my family members don’t, even though they live here.

I’d known about Rusty for a long time before I saw those Jeeps. The first time I heard of him was when I was about seven years old, when my family and I were coming back from Matamoros, Mexico—that’s where a lot of my family members live. My mom was talking about what a mean guy Rusty was, how he would call the Border Patrol every time he thought an immigrant was near his house. I actually saw Rusty not long after, at the neighborhood gas station. He was a huge white man with icy blue eyes.

Even today you can find him at the gas station. He goes there every day and stays almost all day long. He drinks coffee and waits for the immigrants to ask him for some help: money or food. They think he is going to help them because he has a Mexican flag along with his American one, on his maroon Ford truck. But instead, he calls the Border Patrol on his cellphone.

I sympathized with everything he was saying, but I know many people who’ve crossed the river without papers, and they are good people. I didn’t understand why Rusty would have a militia on his property (it’s now disbanded), nor why he would call the Border Patrol—he admitted that he does that. It seems he overgeneralizes about immigrants. A lot of people overgeneralize. But Rusty seemed to have other problems with his mind.

For example, he told me that ISIS had crossed the river right here at Brownsville and were caught by the police, but instead of taking them to the station, Obama sent a bus for them and they disappeared. Another weird thing he told me was that he can tell when someone crossing the river is a Muslim, or “a Mohammedan,” as Rusty said, just by putting his left hand out. According to him, a “Mohammedan” will pull back in fear.

This sounded pretty crazy to me. And Rusty didn’t seem to understand that the racist things he was saying could hurt people, even people like me. He just wanted to talk and talk nonstop. He seemed really lonely. He said he is in so much pain from his cancer that most nights he can’t sleep. I started to wonder how long he’d been living alone. “I made some bad decisions,” he said, “and my wife and kids left me.”

I’m no longer scared of Rusty. In fact, I’m planning to go back someday soon, because he told me he was going to take me to look at the border patrol routes. Now I just think of him as pathetic, and someone to feel sorry for. Still, he’s a dangerous person in my neighborhood. He’s got his cellphone, a cup of gas station coffee…and the Border Patrol’s phone number.

Please read the rest here.

That's a brave teen right there, but he sounds like a garden-variety whackjob. It's sad that people like this have so much power to hurt people.

 

[Muffin1611]

Your cancer doesn't give you the right to be an asshole and destroy other peoples lives

 

[Waddle Dee]

A rusty old asshole.

 

[BriGuy]

Your cancer doesn't give you the right to be an asshole and destroy other peoples lives

He's like a less clever Jigsaw.

I admit it though, I kind of feel sorry for him on some level. To be that consumed by hatred... Just a complete waste of a life.

 

[Silvergun-Blue]

Now I just think of him as pathetic

Me too kid, me too.

 

[Smellycat]

Another weird thing he told me was that he can tell when someone crossing the river is a Muslim, or “a Mohammedan,” as Rusty said, just by putting his left hand out. According to him, a “Mohammedan” will pull back in fear.

Ah yes, of course everyone knows the left hand is what scares them Mohammedans. Good old Rusty conveniently left out the part where he was holding a gun in that left hand...

They are scared of our Freedom!

 

[Jakoo]

Great article. Thank you for posting OP.

 

[Mesoian]

There's no excuse for this man taking out the frustrations of his own life and his own follies on people completely unrelated because it makes him feel something.

I know that when white people say, we need to understand the racist and come together and talk things out, they mean things like this. They mean going up to people who are mean and nasty and cruel for reasons of their own accord and design and attempt to have a conversation with that hopefully doesn't end in waves of racial epithets or violence in order to come to an understanding.

But the results of such things are going to be the same. They aren't broken out of their ways, they aren't made less dangerous, they're still out there on their routine, whether it's calling border patrol on random people who don't look like he does because that frightens him, or using voodoo in order to suss out the good ones from the bad ones, or assuming that a woman who tells a tale of sexual abuse is lying for attention, or complaining on the news about how affirmative action is taking opportunities away from their kids when they know deep down their kids aren't motivated about the path their parents have set for them. Nothing changes. Those people just become more pathetic in the eyes of the masses because now we know the sad story about why their so mean, and nasty, and cruel. But us knowing that doesn't make them less mean or nasty or cruel. Those people are still wrong, and many of which are still in positions of power.

I'm reminded of the Vice expose where they go and tape a modern day KKK rally. We see inside the lives of those people, understand why they're poor, why they're uneducated, how they came around to joining the klan and why they stay even though the klan has a worsening stigma in America, even if it's just being overshadowed by different alt-right groups. And at the end of the day, they're still in the klan. Nothing changed. We listened to them, but they refused to listen to us and kept on their bullshit.

They don't want to change, but they expect us to understand why they are so filled with hate towards people they will never know or acknowledge. And I ask why must we constantly, continually, have to deal with that bullshit?

Take a side already. They certainly fucking have.

 

[Mr-Joker]

He said he is in so much pain from his cancer that most nights he can’t sleep. I started to wonder how long he’d been living alone. “I made some bad decisions,” he said, “and my wife and kids left me.”

So he's gonna die old and alone, while consumed by nothing but hatred and ignorant, how pathetic.

 

[Mesoian]

So he's gonna die old and alone, while consumed by nothing but hatred and ignorant, how pathetic.

But not without ruining as many lives as he can in the process.

 

[Shadow Puppetry]

For example, he told me that ISIS had crossed the river right here at Brownsville and were caught by the police, but instead of taking them to the station, Obama sent a bus for them and they disappeared. Another weird thing he told me was that he can tell when someone crossing the river is a Muslim, or ”a Mohammedan," as Rusty said, just by putting his left hand out. According to him, a ”Mohammedan" will pull back in fear.

So the river is tainted?

 

[IchigoSharingan]

As an aside whoever wrote that should be writing novels/books. He/she has a way with words that keeps me reading and reading.

 

[Makonero]

As an aside whoever wrote that should be writing novels/books. He/she has a way with words that keeps me reading and reading.

The 15 year old reporter wrote it, but it's been heavily edited I imagine. I'm sure she'd love to hear that though, so you should pass that along.

 

[_Ryo_]

What a fucking asshole. He deserves all the pain he receives and more.

 

[studyguy]

There's no way I'd let my daughter go out on a border patrol route with that dude, fuck that noise.

Rusty—also known as Cuban Alfredo Monsees, Jr.—is 69 years old. When he began talking about his family history, I was amazed that it was all connected to Mexico. The most impressive thing was that he said his father was Pancho Villa's personal servant during the Mexican Revolution. He claimed to have pictures (I didn't see them). He even told me about his step-brother who was born in Mexico and still living there now.

I have my doubts.

 

[Geist-]

Sounds like he has mental health issues. But I have no doubt he's always been a racist bigoted asshole who deserves no sympathy.