It only takes one seed of top-shelf ignorance planted in the finest fertilizer to grow a warped and twisted tree of discrimination, racism and hatred. Unfortunately for us, Alabama has planted that very seed.
The state of Alabama has instituted a new immigration policy that borders on the edge of legality and skims the surface of racism. Alabama HB 56, or the Beason-Hammon Alabama Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act, is an anti-illegal immigration bill whose strictness rivals the seemingly racist immigration policies of Arizona.
Though the bill strives towards a goal of all legal immigration, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it also contains many sections and clauses that are worded as though they are intended to ostracize illegal immigrants.
The bill “require[s] public schools to determine the citizenship and immigration status of students enrolling.” Education, the very thing most philosophers and politicians say everyone is entitled to, is being denied to those who need it the most.
Legality of citizenship is one thing, but to deny someone the right of education is inexcusable. Most of the time, these immigrants are escaping the scourge of poverty and want to get a chance for a better life in the U.S. How are they supposed to overcome adversity when they are denied the key to climbing the social ladder?
Just like the Nuremberg Laws of Nazi Germany, HB 56 makes illegal immigrants seem “less than” in the eyes of the law and in the eyes of society. The law prohibits harboring or helping illegal immigrants, and even promotes turning them into the authorities.
It’s shocking how close the similarities are between the early stages of Nazi Germany and the new Alabama law. Just like Hitler encouraged his citizens to turn in Jewish people, this bill asks American citizens to turn in their neighbors, friends and acquaintances. How can our government encourage the deliberate betrayal of defenseless people?
It’s not as if these immigrants are committing multiple felonies. Their only crime is trying to enter this country illegally because they want to escape oppression or poverty. Just because a person comes from another country and hasn’t gone through the extremely long and tedious process of receiving a green card or work visa does not make them any less of a human being.
They work hard, just like American citizens, and they want to provide for their families, just like American citizens. How can we discriminate against them and act as if they are a completely different breed when in reality, they aren’t very different from you and me.
One can certainly argue the case of really focusing on the whole legality of the matter. Sure, they work hard, but we still need strict laws on immigration, so what’s the problem?
Well, if this law was simply a strict policy on immigration, it may have been more acceptable, however this bill does not only effect illegal immigrants. It impacts the entire Hispanic community of Alabama.
Racial profiling is promoted in the bill, stating if police suspect anyone of not being a legal citizen, they can ask for their proof of citizenship and if there is a failure to provide said proof, then the police have the right to arrest you. This clause is an invitation for racism and a welcome mat for discrimination. It essentially gives police officers the right to arrest you for “suspected undocumented residency” due to the color of your skin.
Why should Latino Americans have to carry around identification out of the fear of being arrested over citizenship? No Caucasian person would ever have to prove their citizenship to a small-minded police officer. All this does is promote bigotry. What this tells them is that if your skin is tan, then you must not be legal. If you speak with a slight Spanish accent you must not be legal.
This bill may have started with the best intentions, but has turned into a modern day version of the Nuremberg Laws. If we as a people stay silent and let this racism stand then where will it end? At new Jim Crow laws? At new apartheid? It may not seem like much now, but it only takes one crazy idea to ignite a Holocaust.
Now there will most likely not be a Holocaust against illegal immigrants, but that doesn’t mean that racism won’t grow out of control. Alabama HB 56 is the seed of ignorance that will grow into a massive tree of hatred if we continue to let it thrive in the soils of acceptance.
Let’s save ourselves from repeating history and nip the tree in the bud.
