First of all, let me ask those of you out there who know me:
Do I look like an illegal immigrant to you?
Last week Oklahoma's House passed a bill nearly identical Arizona's immigration law passed last year. This new, but all too familiar bill will give local pork (specifically the extra greasy ones having completed some federal training program) the power to inquire any given person's immigration status. Representative Faught, sitting up high on a House/Senate committee, claims the bill is part of a greater effort to put some serious "focus on public safety." Last week the same bill was introduced to Pennsylvania as well. This wave of right-wing officials working to follow in Arizona's footsteps is hitting Minnesota, Maryland, North Carolina, Nebraska, Idaho and of course, who'd of guessed: Texas.
South Carolina's rep is not far behind, of course another Republican. Sponsoring a bill allowing his local pigs to verify any given person's legal status and the power to authorize warrantless arrests of citizens merely suspected of being illegal residents and workers.
So I'll ask you again: Do I look like an illegal immigrant to you? Does your neighbor? How about Obama for hells sake? Let me remind the world out there that this union was built upon a foundation of immigrants coming together to create a free country. The fourteenth amendment seems to have disappeared into thin air: equal protection under the law. The gaps in the levels of protection and prevention throughout various communities is quite evident.
I read through SB1070 during the climax of the whole situation. I was knocking on doors, stopping you on the street, calling you and whatever else I could do. This was just days before we would get the news that the bill beat us, but to make us feel better, some parts were not implemented. What happened in Arizona should have stayed in Arizona. Where are the progressives, or the liberals? I mean, maybe a democrat or two? We are taking racial profiling in the ass pretty hard right now. What's next? If you look like a drug dealer you can be stopped on the street and asked to empty your pockets without reasonable cause? The cops wouldn't be in white America looking for these people, I can tell you that much. Mentalities will move to two opposite sides of the extremist spectrum: right-wing extremists on one side, and the far left on the other.
We are becoming a land of less opportunity. We are closing our doors and locking our windows. Not that this was not predicted prior to these events, but in exactly what direction are we supposed to be going with this?
In my opinion, it's the extra strength and ambition it takes as a person of color in this country to make it. That extra hard work and determination results in widespread humility throughout the non-white community, and sometimes the complete opposite in the other.
I'm not here to bash on the whites, I have very many in my life that are very dear to me. I also know plenty of white Americans who are able to look beyond race. But when this crap is written into law, what are we supposed to do? Sit by and allow ourselves to be subject to such an ethically fucked up system? There's going to have to be a revolt sometime soon if this ends up being the case from sea to shining sea. How long is present day America's majority expected to pretend they are still the minority? I suspect we wont be going down without a fight. These look-a-like bills are not just promoting ignorance, but reestablishing stereotypes that should have been eliminated decades ago. I love this country, but we are taking steps backwards. Big, giant steps from the looks of it.
I don't know who else out there will agree, but we aren't going to take it. Hold your shiny pens in your voting sessions, tally up your counts, and pass all the far-right, racial profiling bills you can come up with in those shiny power-hungry heads.
America's majority will take a stand when the time comes. The beginnings of a new movement are in the making. Shit will get real when the majority takes their freedoms into their own hands. Power in numbers. While you waste money to legalize chasing around America's other-than-white population demanding proof of legal immigration, we will be one step ahead of you. We have to be.
-J
