5.01.2010

Why Minorities Hate the Arizona Immigration Law

Alright, so most bloggers seem to be white dudes or chicks who, while aware of the fact that the Arizona law can be horribly racist, are getting hung up on the fact that it's not "technically" racist.

Here's the thing: my parents are both immigrants. I'm a first generation child born in California...so while I'll probably be a foreigner someday (although to be fair South Carolina will most likely get there first), I am a natural-born U.S. citizen with the right to be President.

And it would nothing short of insanely insulting to be stopped on the street and asked for my papers as if I were some loudmouth foreigner tromping all over the good ole' values of a totalitarian Chinese...oops.

On occasion I've been mistaken for a Hispanic or, once, a Greek (possibly of Turkish origin...the nose is a bit of a giveaway). Brown is a pretty generic color.

While we were in Greece, we were told to keep our passport or a photocopy of it in our wallets at all times--mostly, I think, because there is a certain amount of street violence (a bunch of us were harassed by youths, allegedly not of Greek origin at all: there are a ton of immigrants from other parts of the Balkans and Turkey). And I think the situation's kind of similar in China--didn't affect me in India because we were with relatives the whole time....

In short, this is disgusting. And if you're going to look at this issue, try to see it from the perspective of the non-Caucasians in this country. America is not going to be majority white for much longer.

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