Saturday, May 15, 2010
Monday, May 3, 2010
In My Humble Opinion #2
In my humble opinion the new state law in Arizona that gives police officers the right to stop anyone they think is an illegal immigrant, is a travesty. This law is prime example of discrimination and racial profile in practice. Basically anyone who is Hispanic can be stopped. This law has angered many around the country including Representative Luis Gutierrez, a democrat from Illinois. Gutierrez responded to the new law by saying "To say that somehow we are all this criminal element and to target us with the discriminatory law is wrong. It has galvanized and unified," (http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2010/05/03/2010-05-03_latino_pol_ariz_law_fires_us_up.html) Basically this law has lumped all Hispanics together and puts them at risk for being targeted by the police.
There are those who support this law such as Republican Steve Poizner of California. Poizner states "I support what's going on in Arizona. They've taken, finally, the power in their own hands to do something about illegal immigration in Arizona,". (http://cbs5.com/local/steve.poizner.voices.2.1670262.html) I strongly disagree with Mr. Poizner. All this law will do is create more problems and will not solve the problem of illegal immigration. The police will end up harassing the wrong people which could then turn into lawsuits against the police department costing a lot of money. Also this law could incite riots in Hispanic neighborhoods. This law goes against every law that has been passed in the last half century that deals with discrimination and civil liberties. Supporters of this law say that this law doesn’t promote racial profiling, but that just doesn’t make any sense. The only people this law will affect is people of Hispanic descent. What police officer would ask a Caucasian person if they are here legally or not. That just wouldn’t happen. The fact that only American citizens of Hispanic descent will be affected by this law makes them second class citizens in their own state. This is unacceptable. Illegal immigration is a very big problem in this country and it does need to be solved. However, it should be solved the right way. All this law does is promote racism, intolerance and divides Americans.
There are those who support this law such as Republican Steve Poizner of California. Poizner states "I support what's going on in Arizona. They've taken, finally, the power in their own hands to do something about illegal immigration in Arizona,". (http://cbs5.com/local/steve.poizner.voices.2.1670262.html) I strongly disagree with Mr. Poizner. All this law will do is create more problems and will not solve the problem of illegal immigration. The police will end up harassing the wrong people which could then turn into lawsuits against the police department costing a lot of money. Also this law could incite riots in Hispanic neighborhoods. This law goes against every law that has been passed in the last half century that deals with discrimination and civil liberties. Supporters of this law say that this law doesn’t promote racial profiling, but that just doesn’t make any sense. The only people this law will affect is people of Hispanic descent. What police officer would ask a Caucasian person if they are here legally or not. That just wouldn’t happen. The fact that only American citizens of Hispanic descent will be affected by this law makes them second class citizens in their own state. This is unacceptable. Illegal immigration is a very big problem in this country and it does need to be solved. However, it should be solved the right way. All this law does is promote racism, intolerance and divides Americans.
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