After an onslaught of new controversial laws surrounding ethnicities and the population of the state, Arizona has proven once again that intolerance is a difficult issue to resolve.
Controversy has surrounded the state ever since its crucial decision to pass Arizona immigration law sb1070a, a law instituting strict illegal immigration regulations focused on identifying, prosecuting and deporting illegal immigrants.
However, many human rights activists and residents alike feel as though the laws allow for persecution and racial discrimination against Hispanics whether they are legal citizens or not.
This feeling is largely due to the law’s main premise which allows the police to detain anyone suspected of being in the country illegally who also fails to present immigration documents at the time of their questioning.
Condemned even by President Barack Obama, the laws have proven that intolerance is still very much alive in the United States.
Supporters of the law can rationalize its existence in any way that they wish, but that still doesn’t change the fact that it is an attack on all people of Hispanic decent. Through the law, the police were given the just cause to question anyone who fits the stereotypical description of an illegal immigrant, or in other words, racial profiling has just been legalized in Arizona.
No matter the issues of immigration in any state, legalized racial profiling by the police is not the answer. The fact is by Arizona’s legalization of such a law, they have opened up a can of worms in the form of racial tensions that may last well into the next decade if something is not done soon.
The government has made it seem alright to target stereotypes and thus, non affiliated groups are sure to site these ideals as a source of their legitimacy for intolerance.
As the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund put it, “Governor Brewer caved to the radical fringe.”
The statement continued to predict that the law would make “a spiral of pervasive fear, community distrust, increased crime and costly litigation, with nationwide repercussions.”
Also, within the past week, Arizona has moved on to pass two laws specifically targeting education. The first was aimed at eliminating Arizona teachers with accents who work with children learning English and the second was a law banning public school classes which “advocate ethnic solidarity.”
Though at first glance the two new laws appear to be a positive step in improving classes and public schools, the reality is that both laws have specific targets.
The first law has the more obvious of these targets, being the teachers with accents. With the slew of ethnic based laws coming out of the Arizona legislature and being ratified by Governor Jan Brewer, it has been inferred by many activist groups that once again, ethnicities are being targeted regardless of their citizenship. Arizona has proved that even through a tone of voice, segregation and intolerance can be instituted, a huge step backward in our society.
The second law specifically targets ethnic studies classes or the Mexican American studies program offered in the Tucson Unified School District. These classes were created to offer students a look at government through the eyes of a person of Hispanic heritage. However, due to this law, the classes are illegal due to the laws prohibition on any classes that are “designed particularly for students of a particular ethnic group.”
This influx of unjust notions and laws from the south, starting with the Texas School Board’s decision to rewrite their curriculum in a more conservative tone of voice, has put a scar on 21st century relations in the United States. It is a shame that government can portray itself in such a negative manner just through sheer intolerance and discrimination against those who truly embody the American spirit.
Immigrants of all races and ethnicities are the ones who truly worked hard to come to our great nation to be Americans. They did not have the fortune to be born into such a great country, but instead had to work hard for their dreams.
The fact is that the normal American today takes too much for granted, and if you ask me, I would say that these targeted immigrants are the true Americans.
Discrimination and racism did not build our country, and shouldn’t be allowed in our government.
God bless the United States of America and all those who embody its spirit.
