Proscriptions ancient and modern

The other day, in connection with Paul Cella’s article calling for the application of sedition laws against promoters of jihad in America, I was discussing with Mr. Cella whether it is correct to use the word “proscribe” in the sense of prohibit or forbid. It is true that dictionaries give proscribe those meanings, but to me the word proscription evokes something much harsher than merely outlawing a certain behavior. It means the systematic wiping out of enemies, as in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar and in the Old Testament, in which, in some modern translations such as that of the Jewish Publication Society, we read about entire cities being “proscribed.” The literal meaning of proscribe is to write down on a list for execution.

But if proscription can only be used in its ancient meaning, is the word of any use to us today? Well, thanks to our non-discriminatory immigration policies of the last 40 years, it is. In an article at Vdare on Tony Rafael’s book The Mexican Mafia, Lincoln Kahn writes:

Founded in 1957 by a Los Angeles street gang member named Luis Flores, the Mexican Mafia consciously took its name in imitation of its older model. Just as La Cosa Nostra, the Eme has a process for “making” new members. Mexican Mafia members are “jumped in” through a bloody ritual in which they are sometimes shot with a BB so that they will know what a gunshot feels like. Once in the organization as a brother (carnal), the rule is “blood in, blood out”. No member can speak publicly about the group or leave without sentence of death. Those who try to leave the group or testify against it are “greenlighted,” marked for death on “listas,” which are smuggled each day out of the California prison system by members, their families and their (sometimes unwitting) defense attorneys.

Kahn also informs us that the Mexican Mafia commits over 100 murders per year in Los Angeles alone, and that in the last decade it has committed more murders than the Italian Mafia has in its entire history in America. “It also now dominates the prisons of many parts of the West and, as a series of trials have shown, it has successfully penetrated civil service agencies and even many parts of the California law enforcement establishment.”

Posted by Lawrence Auster at July 25, 2007 12:29 PM | Send