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So Very Dicey
Apr. 27th, 2010 11:18 amBelieve me, I understand the uproar over illegal immigration. I don't like the idea that people who don't pay taxes may benefit from my tax dollars (I don't like it when U.S. citizens who don't pay benefit from my taxes, either). It screws up school systems when the government doesn't know how many kids are there. I get it.
But I look at the arguments over laws like this one: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100426/ap_on_re_us/us_immigration_enforcement_69
And I get very nervous. What, exactly, are the criteria for "thinking someone might be illegal?" What can they possibly be looking at, other than skin color and language? Being brown doesn't make you illegal. Neither does not speaking English. The United States of America does not have a legally mandated language. As long as people like me are voting, it will not have one. Yes, it makes my life difficult sometimes. But I don't speak Leni Lenape, so really, how could I bitch about not speaking like the natives?
I'm not required to carry I.D. at all times proving that I'm a citizen. I keep my driver's licence on me, but that's required to prove I can legally operate a car. That's not the same thing. If I'm just walking down the street, it's illegal to stop me and ask to see my I.D.
If we start allowing states to demand to see green cards or other I.D.s to prove that a brown Spanish-speaker is legally here, what comes next?
The Martin Niemoller poem:
"THEY CAME FIRST for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.
THEN THEY CAME for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.
THEN THEY CAME for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.
THEN THEY CAME for me
and by that time no one was left to speak up."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_they_came...
If we don't stand up for the rights of every American, no matter their color, language, or origin, then the rights of all Americans are threatened.
But I look at the arguments over laws like this one: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100426/ap_on_re_us/us_immigration_enforcement_69
And I get very nervous. What, exactly, are the criteria for "thinking someone might be illegal?" What can they possibly be looking at, other than skin color and language? Being brown doesn't make you illegal. Neither does not speaking English. The United States of America does not have a legally mandated language. As long as people like me are voting, it will not have one. Yes, it makes my life difficult sometimes. But I don't speak Leni Lenape, so really, how could I bitch about not speaking like the natives?
I'm not required to carry I.D. at all times proving that I'm a citizen. I keep my driver's licence on me, but that's required to prove I can legally operate a car. That's not the same thing. If I'm just walking down the street, it's illegal to stop me and ask to see my I.D.
If we start allowing states to demand to see green cards or other I.D.s to prove that a brown Spanish-speaker is legally here, what comes next?
The Martin Niemoller poem:
"THEY CAME FIRST for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.
THEN THEY CAME for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.
THEN THEY CAME for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.
THEN THEY CAME for me
and by that time no one was left to speak up."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_they_came...
If we don't stand up for the rights of every American, no matter their color, language, or origin, then the rights of all Americans are threatened.