Civil Rights & Being "Different"

I didn't intend to do anymore post on political issues at SPT, but ....

In Arizona USA, a new law will permit racial profiling of people who "look un-American".

A few months ago, heterosexual Americans of color voted in massive numbers to deny gay people the legal right to marry each other - because gay people are "different" than the majority population.

I have been saying and saying and saying - that when one group is discriminated against, those who discriminate will eventually lose some of their civil rights.

You can't always tell when someone is gay so gay people don't need civil rights concerning their sexuality. Right?

Hmm, can you always tell when someone is not American born just by looking?

Well, if you look a certain way in Arizona you will need legal documentation stating that you are an American or have a legal right to be in America.

In my southern hometown, there are more and more people moving here who "look different" than the majority population here. Are they here legally? I was at a store one day and a "different looking" man moved as if he didn't want to block my way. He didn't have the arrogant attitude of an American. I don't care if he was born here or is here illegally, the space he occupies is his.

Now, I wonder if he is a heterosexual American who voted against me having the legal right to get married. I wonder if heterosexual Americans in Arizona, who "look" a certain way, who voted against equal rights for gay Americans, have for one moment thought about the comparison of "looking different" and being "sexually different" from the majority American population.

Do they get it? That the key word is -- American. No matter what you look like, how you dress, worship, love -- each American should have the same civil rights.

We all should have the civil right to not be stopped simply because a cop thinks we "look" un-American. We all should have the same civil rights and privileges but some Americans are denied certain rights simply because the majority population think we are not American enough or human enough or not enough like them.

Should I care that some heterosexual Americans in Arizona who don't "look American" but oppose homosexuality will be denied their civil rights to not be harassed and racially profiled?

Well, ummmm, actually -- I do care.

Which group will be the next to lose a civil right to be a free American -- because they don't look, worship, or behave like the majority American population?

Pretty soon Americans will be wearing uniforms and marching in straight lines chanting some stupid slogan praising a dictator.

Th/4/29/10: With probable cause the police already get to ask for I.D. So why another law? This new law will make it mandatory for cops to ask certain people for I.D. simply because they look a certain way. AND if a cop doesn't follow this new law, he will be in trouble?

So if someone saw a cop not ask someone who looked "un-American" for I.D. then the cop would be in trouble? And if a certain number of people who looked a certain way was not brought in as possible illegals, what action would be taken as an incentive to get more cops to ask more people for I.D.?

This sounded familiar to me. I didn't like history when I was in grade school because it mainly was about European looking people in America (black people were just slaves). But I remember reading something that was similar to what is happening now in Arizona.

Once upon a time in America, slaves were made fugitives if they ran away to be free. White people were made slave catchers even if they didn't want to be. If a black person was walking down the road, by law any white person was suppose to ask that black person for papers saying he had permission to be off the plantation. If the black person did not have papers saying he was "free" or had permission to be off the plantation then the white person was suppose to capture him. And if a black people made it north, white people were suppose to catch them and send them back to the south.

What oh what is America coming to? This country, my country is reverting back to the mean and hatefilled times of the past.

And there has to be a debate on this issue? Yes, something needs to be done but this law is not the way to do it.