RACISM
We cannot deny that there is still racism in this country, but we also have to admit that we have allowed it to get into discussions where it simply does not apply. It is very strange how many other states (Massachusetts, Alabama etc.) have made laws to block illegal immigration, but these states were not called racists or sued by the government.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-07-09-states-illegal-workers_x.htm
In places, especially like Mass., many illegal immigrants are white and come from Eastern Europe. It is okay to kick out the Polish and the Russians, but when you do it to Mexicans, it magically becomes racist. We border Mexico, and it is a geographical reality that has nothing to do with race. The hypocrisy of this is somewhat racist in and of itself. The Eastern Europeans are expected to do things the right way, and if they do not it is okay to remove them. But when Mexicans break the law, it is expected. So what is racist?
There are Latinos out there who do not want to be pitied and treated like children, but want to be upheld to the law and expected to obey it. It may not be easy to become a citizen, and maybe we should make it easier, but these people should be treated as equals, like any other human being who comes here illegally. Is it not somewhat of an insult that the government did not even mention race in the lawsuit, but yet used that as their reason for opposing the law to the public? They dumbed down their argument for Latinos and assumed they wouldn’t understand the constitutional argument, is that not racist?
If we want to fight racism we must fight it from all angles. Not all racists are KKK members and Nazis. Some of them are liberals who do not hold minorities up to the same standard as themselves. Would all these people enter a country illegally? Probably not. So why do they expect others to do so? Maybe because they don’t know any better, after all, they are brown. Do not pity me. I do not see my blackness as a disadvantage, I do not think womanhood is a burden and I do not see childbearing as a handicap. As my fiancé says, “These things are just the way you were born. You should not have shame or pride in them. They are you at the lowest common denominator”. And I think he is right. These things are not earned or achieved, there are sheer accidents.
July 16, 2010 at 7:21 pm
This is very true. Things like this and affirmative action etc. all are basically telling minorties they can’t do as well so we have to cut them a break. I would take it as an insult too! It’s like if your parents expect your sister to do well in school, but expect you to do bad. I think you are right, we should expect everyone to obey the law, not just whites.
July 17, 2010 at 2:01 am
Yeah, thanks for getting my point and posting! I feel like it is an insult to expect less from certain people and I think that is the core of racism. You can hate someone irrationally because of their race but that alone won’t keep them down as long as they don’t let it get to them. But when you truly treat someone like they are inferior and not with hatred but with pity, it is very very harmful to people and societies. Exactly like you were saying, if your mother really didn’t believe in you and expected less, that, in my opinion, is more harmful on your mentality than just having a crazy mom who you could just discount as crazy.
July 17, 2010 at 1:47 am
Yup. Illegals are not dumb. They enter the country knowing full well they’re breaking the law. Whether they agree with the law is irrelevant. It is up to American citizens to cast the law down on their behalf. And it is up to the government to enforce the existing law.
Just like you talk about a standard that is lowered for minorities…why won’t the world hold other countries up to the same standard as America? Folks want immigration reform in America so badly, but you don’t hear a peep about immigration reform in other countries. The reality is that all nations have a responsibility (to its own citizens) to dictate who has and who has not lawfully entered their territory. Who out there against SB-1070 is bothering to compare our immigration law to that of other countries? They might find that other nations are far more prejudical and punitive.
So if no human is truly illegal, and most if not all nations have laws governing the legal status of a citizen, then the fight for immigration reform is by default global. Then where is the outrage over Mexican, Australian, or Saudi Arabian immigration policy? Why is America so particularly racist or xenophobic? Why do we tell the Chinese that SB 1070 is a “troubling trend in our society“?
Its because liberals (sorry Gary) aren’t proud of our country…and they’re more concerned about the respect of other nations than holding other nations to the same standard as we hold ourselves. Some one can say that the argument against SB 1070 is no less valid relative to global immigration policy. But I say to these people that they are obviously not curious enough about international immigration policy….if they are truly so outraged and embarrased by SB 1070.
…Because if they were *not* ignorant of how other countries enforced their immigration laws, they would drop everything and take their “no human is illegal” signs to Iran, Mexico or various African nations where mass deporatations actually occur. Go ahead folks, stand outside the huge walls being erected in Saudi Arabia and India or in the buffer zone between Hong Kong and mainland China. Take the guilt-ridden show on the road…to where illegals really suffer the most.