It's appalling to make such a suggestion when President Obama is justifiably concerned about how counterproductive this law is with respect to Latinos.
Instead of working for true immigration reform, campaign-year Republicans are attempting to divide Americans on an emotional issue by pushing forward this draconian law that could lead to a legalized form of racial profiling.
Barack Hussein Obama has really given new meaning to the term "socialist." He has now put 1,200 troops on the border, but has insisted to Mexico that the troops won't be used to stop criminal illegal aliens. Apparently, it doesn't matter when criminal illegal aliens destroy the value of American education, rape the welfare system and fly Mexican flags in favor of the American flag. Our forefathers must be spinning in their graves.It's interesting to hear the term "socialist" from this writer, who again resorts to a word similar to what was used to attack people during the Civil Rights era.
The stupidity of the excerpt (and its headline) cited above is that it assumes that those who are against the Arizona legalized harassment law are somehow in favor of open borders and crime sprees for illegal aliens. Some have demonized illegal immigrants as dangerous criminals and cast a dark cloud (no pun intended) over all Latinos to be treated as suspect - guilty unless or until proven innocent in a show-me-your-papers state.
It's ridiculous.
8 comments:
[quote]pushing forward this draconian law that could lead to a legalized form of racial profiling.[/quote]
SG:
Real story here. I'd love your viewpoint.
1) A police officer on the campus of Kennesaw State Univ in Georgia makes a stop for a moving violation.
2) "Mama may I see your license, registration and proof of insurance?"
3) "Sorry sir. I don't have a license".
4) "You mean you left it at home?"
5) "No sir. I don't have a driver's license".
6) "You realize that to legally operate a vehicle in Georgia you need a driver's license".
7) She is taken to the police station - STANDARD PROCEDURE.
8) As they attempt to establish her identity - she gives a false address.
9) Upon further investigation they find out who she is. She is a college student who was brought to this nation illegally by her mother more than 10 years ago.
KEY POINT S.G.
Put yourself in the shoes of the officer. You make 40 traffic stops on your 5 day shift each week. Of these 40 about 2 of these drivers DO NOT have a driver's license.
Of these 2 occurrences per week 90% of these "No license"/"No ID" drivers are HISPANICS. Of this group of 90% - 60% of them are illegally in this nation.
SG - For you as a police officer to NOTICE THIS PATTERN are you a BIGOT?
In a world where we take the law enforcement out to the woodshed for failing to CONNECT THE DOTS it seems that you and others want the cops to PLAY DUMB for the sake of political correctness.
What would YOU DO as a cop in the REAL WORLD situation described above?
The situation you described (one which I am familiar with) sounds mostly like a routine traffic stop to me.
As is the case with most professions, I do believe a majority of police officers generally want to do the right thing. But, we have to be very careful because not all police officers do the right thing. And, when a police officer goes rogue, it can put someone in a position to be abused or worse. We saw it in the Rodney King beating and we saw it with the more recent beating in Seattle where Detective Shandy Cobane told a suspect, “I’ll beat the fucking Mexican piss out of you, homey! You feel me?” This was before another officer stomps on the young man.
When people are targeted because of race (in this case it is being perceived as illegal because you appear Latino) we have a problem. I imagine you've heard of DWB (Driving While Black). I think that is part of the reason this Arizona law resonates with a lot of black people (and why it should).
If this is as routine as some say, then why the need for this Arizona law? It seems to me, if it is only enforcing laws that are already on the book then the law is redundant. But, the law is not redundant because I believe it serves one of several purposes: To put Latinos on notice and to strike fear. Arizona wants to send a message of xenophobia that some people are not welcomed and to get those who are not welcomed the state of Arizona is quite willing to absorb the damage of potentially profiling other Latinos who are here legally.
This law is nothing more than legalized racial profiling. I doubt they will be going after illegal immigrants who look like they're from Sweden.
[quote]To put Latinos on notice and to strike fear. Arizona wants to send a message of xenophobia that some people are not welcomed and to get those who are not welcomed the state of Arizona is quite willing to absorb the damage of potentially profiling other Latinos who are here legally.[/quote]
SG:
You are correct on the one hand. The AZ law is little more than an attempt to codify in to state law what is already the case in Federal law. In as much as the Federal government is failing the state this law is mean to force the issue, trigging the Feds to do their jobs.
With that said (and I do support the law) - you focus upon the "message" that is attempted to be sent to the Hispanic Community. I am more interested in understand, in fact, what have US citizens of Hispanic descent have said to MEXICANS who are queuing up at the border.
You see, SG, if I went through the legitimate immigration process for citizenship in the USA and then note that there are "people who look like me" that have cut in line - it is intellectually dishonest for this group (and their activist spokespeople) to feign outrage that someone has observed what is going on and begins to more critically inspect their GROUP. In as much as they have been silent about the illegal immigration they are complicit to the problem.
I would love to hear the message from Americans to Mexicans saying:
"My brothers and sisters at the south of the US border we understand your personal struggle and your desire for economic opportunity that immigration to the USA affords you. However, the more that you flow in without respect to the US laws, the more you trigger scrutiny upon our community in America.
We will press for immigration reform, where a guest worker program will allow you to work here but the American laws can be respected. We will also drive for more US direct investment into Mexico.
We all need to address this strategically. Respect the US immigration laws on your side of the border. We will use the legal channels in the USA to work for your interests on this side."
The biggest problem with this law is that it targets people of a particular origin. This law is not really a positive step toward true reform. It's a step backward toward something from Apartheid South Africa and Nazi Germany ... show me your papers because you look suspect.
Anon,
I share that concern about this law being legalized racial profiling. I also see it as election-year politics. Look at the people championing this law in Arizona and a good number of them are in elections.
Strategies are all well and good, but this Arizona law is counterproductive. A law that opens the door for racial profiling is no way to begin the pursuit of comprehensive immigration reform.
Some people tend to view those who are against the Arizona law as being essentially in favor of an open border. This is misguided and frankly makes no sense. The Arizona law is foul and flat wrong. I think people need to dump this law in Arizona and work toward real immigration reform. Targeting people with brown skin is not the answer here.
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