Arizona has adopted a law that may end up being a move back in time towards institutionalized racism. By requiring police to question anyone that is suspected of being in the country illegally the new law is likely to foster abuse and arbitrary harassment by authorities. Will people be suspected of being in the country illegally simply because they appear to be of Hispanic origin? How many legal residents of apparent Hispanic origin will be harassed and assumed to be illegal aliens? How does one eliminate racial profiling when there are few outward indications of one's citizenship and status in the country? And what type of community atmosphere will exist when neighbors start questioning each others' legal status and report them as suspected aliens? How many people will have to be approached on the street and asked by the police to prove that they are in the country legally? If you were stopped would you have your birth certificate on you to prove your citizenship?
Here are a couple of articles from the Huffington Post on this story:
Huffington Post
Will Bunch
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I have to disagree with you.
ReplyDeleteFirst the Arizona law enforces the federal law. Is the federal law racist?
Second, unless one is an anarchist, or one is very sympathetic with anarchist philosophy I don't see how one can object that strongly to this law.
The federal law doesn't require local police officers to question anyone who might be suspected of being an illegal alien. This is the problem. This will invite harassment of anyone who looks Hispanic.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the anarchist statement, defending civil liberties and equal protection under the law doesn't make one an anarchist.
The sentiment against Latinos in Arizona continues with this new education bill. It's incredible how the bill is being framed as a way of fighting racism towards Whites by Latinos. Here are some links on the story:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/30/arizona-ethnic-studies-cl_n_558731.html
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100512/ap_on_re_us/us_arizona_ethnic_studies
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703572504575213883276427528.html