Joy Ann Reid: America Has Used Central America as a ‘Giant Plantation,’ History Doesn’t Begin at the Border

EXCERPT:

REID: “The United States' southern border with Mexico is not the only important issue that matters to the world. Those seven countries have a long history with the United States, much of it troubling. The United States used much of Central America as essentially a giant plantation. Google the United Fruit Company. We have a long, sordid, torrid history with this region. The history does not begin at the border where people are showing up. That is not the only important thing that matters. There’s a whole history that long precedes people arriving at the border between Mexico and the United States. And to reduce what we just heard, ten minutes of that, to 'Are you going to the border?' to me — strikes me, personally, as missing a huge opportunity.”