Arizona's new anti-immigration laws have me somewhat stunned. This law not only allows racial profiling, it will actually serve to require it of law enforcement.
I know that Arizona has had some serious issues with illegal immigration, and specifically with crime related to human trafficking. These are serious problems, and the citizens of AZ have been begging the federal government to assist for years, to no avail. However, policies of racial profiling are not the way to solve these problems. Much like torture in interrogation, racial profiling is the kind of thing that people may feel is distasteful, but necessary. In reality, both of these things actually serve to amplify the problems they purport to be solving.
Kendrick Meeks, the Democratic candidate for the Senate in FL, recently released a statement in which he said, in effect, that his experience in the highway patrol led him to believe that these kinds of policies are detrimental to law enforcement officers. The problem is that they erode the trust that officers need from the community in order to solve crimes and get witnesses to speak.
So, even if these policies weren't morally abhorrent, they remain ineffective. Still don't believe that they are, in fact, morally abhorrent? Think about the many, many people in AZ who are brown skinned, speak with an accent, and are legal immigrants or American citizens. How can it possibly be okay to hold these brown-skinned citizens to a different standard than their white-skinned counterparts? If it is just too hard for you to imagine what legal and government-enforced racism might look like when it applies to your ethnic group, try watching M.I.A.'s new video.
If you disagree with me, please tell me why in rational, non-vulgar, non-insulting language. If you agree, please take action. Color of Change has a petition going in conjunction with Presente.org. Please go check it out here.
No comments:
Post a Comment