As if the law requiring Immigrants (Latinos essentially) to carry around “Freedom Papers” – SB 1070 – Arizona is going for the jugular. An Arizona State Senator, Russell Pearce, will introduce a bill that if passed would deny birth certificates to children born in Arizona; denying them American Citizenship. Let’s pause on that… Now, Section 1 of the 14th amendment of the United States Constitution…
Section 1 – all persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
Based on Section 1, Senator Pearce might as well forget his plans because they won’t even happen. If the bill gets signed into law, it will be declared unconstitutional by the courts, so the issue isn’t whether or not it will eventually stay law. The issue is the fact that conservatives continue to push these unconstitutional bills to become laws so that they can be protected from constitutional laws being used in unconstitutional ways – that is just so absurd and so unnecessary. These laws are designed for middle and upper class folks, particularly White middle and upper class folk, to discriminate against people of color that they associate with crime and barbarianism. People are so concerned with getting robbed by an immigrant or someone they perceive to be an immigrant. These are the same people that get robbed by their credit card companies with high interest rates but never race to the streets in protest of them.
And this is my whole argument…people are so distracted by stuff that doesn’t matter. Is immigration important, yes. Is having a proper system in place important, yes. Are these Arizona laws and bills stupid, yes. So then why aren’t we having a constructive conversation about how to properly address immigrant? Because that doesn’t cause a distraction for the credit card and bank companies as they steal your money and mine. You know, poor people and middle class people have a lot in common. The most evident being that they are not rich or wealthy, so then why is there such a great divide between the middle and the poor? There is a greater divide between the rich and the middle. It is because people are distracted. Hopefully, people aren’t as distracted when crazier things happen.