I Am an American

I am an American. I've always been an American. I was born and raised in Tucson, Arizona and have not once lived a day in Mexico. I love this country and every opportunity that it has given me from my religious freedom to my ability to vote. I believe in following the law of the land. I consider myself a law abiding citizen other than of course that speeding ticket on I-10 on my way to Phoenix one Saturday. I'm not perfect and to many my views may seem broad but I always take that as being a compliment.

The day that our Gov Jan Brewer signed into law the infamous SB 1070 I was appalled. Now I have to make some things clear. For one I am totally AGAINST anyone being in this country illegally. I along with everyone else in this country do not want criminals and drug traffickers coming here. I think it is and has always been pretty idiotic of our government to give people who are not citizens free health care with our hard earned tax dollars. We need to keep our borders secure and the truth is we haven't done enough to do so. There are parts of the US/Mexico border where there isn't even a fence and people can just walk across like nothing. One can argue that there are hardworking people here who simply come here illegally for a better life. I totally understand that and am not unsympathetic to the human plight. There are always those exceptions to the rule but either way I still feel like people should do things the right way if they want to be a citizen. Now, I could go back and go on and on how our country is built upon a huge melting pot of immigrants and that would all be true but it doesn't serve a purpose.

My issue with this law is not the pursuit of getting illegal aliens off the streets of America but rather the violation of Legal citizens rights in doing so. You see I have heard people swear up and down that this law will not racial profile anyone but that is a blatant Lie! How else will law enforcement conduct this so called justice to the law unless they single handedly look for excuses to pull over people who are not white. Yes, I did say it! Yes, I did go there because quite frankly, its the truth. They are going to be looking for people of color to harass and this law will be abused. I honestly don't believe it is worth all the hate and animosity that is going on in our state right now. It is racist and to add fuel to the fire they are pulling ethnic studies from schools and letting go teachers with accents. I'm sorry but that is completely Hateful and absurd. If you don't like the curriculum that is being taught in ethnic studies which by the way is open to Everyone, you should make changes don't just pull it out. That doesn't help your argument that we are not a state that discriminates. The whole deal with firing teachers because they have an accent is a bit offensive to me too. I lived in the South for a year and a half and I have to say it was pretty hard to make sense of their accents and they are Americans. Sooo are you telling me that if a teacher from the South with a thick accent came and taught at the University of Arizona, which by the way I attended as well, we are going to fire that teacher too because they are hard to understand? Or are we just looking for teachers who are immigrants? Does that make a bit of sense? Does their accent make them any less qualified to teach? Almost every teacher in Math at the University of Arizona has an accent. I find it hard to believe that every single one of those students never got their degree because they truly couldn't understand their math teacher. Its all just soo stupid to me.

If this law was truly a law that was justified then why all the protest? Why all the boycotts? That's because there IS something very wrong about this law and it is unjust against American citizens of color. No matter how you re-word it its still wrong. If the Justice Department is challenging the law, if the President, (who i Never agree with but you gotta give credit where credit is due) is calling the law "Misguided", If the Tucson City Council is pulling out a lawsuit, If three separate police officers are filing a lawsuit, if the United Nations is scrutinizing Arizona's new law, and I know there is more that I'm missing or unaware of..then you know there is Obviously something wrong!! I cant imagine how awful it would be if we question in our minds every time someone walks in front of us, "I wonder if that person is here illegally" The question would be why? why would you question that? The obvious answer is because their skin color is different. You want to tell me that ain't racial profiling? Which by the way violates constitutional rights.

My solution: Get rid of SB 1070 and put in place a law that actually makes sense and doesn't infringe on American rights. Finish building a fence!!!! Put more troops at the border to fight this war and point your anger at the people who are here illegally not legally. I'm sorry but although she is a Republican Jan Brewer who was appointed and Not voted in, has done an awful job since day 1. Before all this immigration stuff happened she was already making a mess of things. I pray she gets voted out and we get a Governor in office who has a bit more common sense. Our state is a cest pool of hate and anger. This cant continue. We have to reach some common ground before this state destroys itself. I pray for this state, I really do because all of this saddens me. I have heard so many personal attacks on Hispanic people and not all Hispanic people are illegal. I don't defend or justice people who are in this country illegally but I do get my feathers a little ruffled when people start saying hateful things because if you talk trash about Hispanic people you are pretty much talking trash about me. I am aware the law does not state a certain ethnicity but in Arizona there is no doubt that is who we are talking about. Why can't we all just get along? Why cant we all just be One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and Justice for all???

I think We, The United States, needs to "Man up" and realize that we created this problem. For years we have allowed employers to hire immigrants as a means of cheap labor. We have given them free health care and benefits. We have made it so that their children can come to school here without proof of citizenship and we have allowed their anchor babies citizenship. Its like placing a bowl of milk on your porch and then being angry because there are stray cats in your backyard. If we didnt allow all of those things we wouldnt be dealing with this problem. Now its like we just want to get a BB gun and shoot the cats to get rid of them but forget that we brought the milk in the first place.

So that's my little spill about immigration. I'm sure there are tons of you who don't agree but I assume since the rest of the civilized world is giving their two cents in that it cant hurt to throw in mine. I do have to add in here that I Have read the law and these are the conclusions I have drawn from it.

This is a really good place to find facts about SB 1070

http://www.immigrationpolicy.org/sites/default/files/docs/SB1070_Guide_060210.pdf