Arizona, Race, and Generally WTF

So I am sure that most of us have seen all the legislation going on in Arizona. I have my own personal opinions and I know that many others do as well. I think that alot of this stuff is getting blow way out or proportion to an extent. Immigration has been a sensitive topic in this country for quite a long time. I have reached a point where I find alot of what is happening seriously ridiculous. I want to say before I even get started that I am not racist. I believe that all races have those individuals in them that give that race a bad name whether it be White, Black, Mexican, or Asian. I also have no issue with any one who would like to come to this country legally and pay into the social service programs provided by it if they plan in using them. That being said here we go...



So what started the entire fiasco is the signing of Senate Bill 1070 by Jan Brewer the Governor of Arizona. Basically what this "law" does is make it a state crime for someone to be there illegally, requires legal immigrants to carry their documentation of legal status, and forces police officers to ask for said documentation when engaging already in a legal contact with an individual that the officer may believe to be an illegal immigrant. Most of the outrage is over the idea that this law has now effectively made it legal for police in Arizona to racially profile a specific ethnicity. They have since amended this law to make it state that racial profiling will not be tolerated and that special training will be provided to the police to assure this. What I do find interesting is it is kind of hard to to racial profile when you are generally looking at one group of people who are usually the folks violating this law. At the same time as I just said it is one group of specific people who are violating this law, who else would these offices "target"? Another issue people are having is that the law require people to carry documentation on their person to prove their legal status with in the country. I really am not a fan of this as I think it could lead to other things such a national ID card for every American that would be forced on them and would probably bare a fingerprint for identification. It is a complicated issue because on one side I think immigrants coming into this country should have to carry papers proving they are legal. Once they become citizens then they could go to the DMV like everyone else and get a license or ID. I don't think it's too much to ask at the moment, I guess what it comes down to for me is that illegal immigration has gotten out of hand and the ideal of nationalizing people who broke the law pisses me off. I broke the law and I went to prison. Before I move on I want to say what I do find funny is that according to Article 67 of Mexican law, "Authorities, whether federal, state or municipal are required to demand that foreigners prove their legal presence in the country before attending to any issues." Umm, that sounds pretty familiar.

While on the topic of Arizona there was additional legislation passed just today. Here's the link before I get into it.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100512/ap_on_re_us/us_arizona_ethnic_studies

Here's a little excerpt from the article: The measure signed Tuesday prohibits classes that advocate ethnic solidarity, that are designed primarily for students of a particular race or that promote resentment toward a certain ethnic group.
The Tucson Unified School District program offers specialized courses in African-American, Mexican-American and Native-American studies that focus on history and literature and include information about the influence of a particular ethnic group.
For example, in the Mexican-American Studies program, an American history course explores the role of Hispanics in the Vietnam War, and a literature course emphasizes Latino authors.

While I agree that everyone should be able to learn about their heritage I think that these classes should be offered as electives that are open to all students and not specifically designed for one group, race, or ethnicity. The question I pose is how would people feel if there was a class specifically designed for white students to learn their heritage and the rolls they played through out history in the nations they originated in. As we know, America is a "melting pot" and all but the Native Americans were originally immigrants.

I guess as a white male mixed with German, Irish, good ol fashion southern white trash, and possibly Mexican I am a little saddened to see such a great country losing its identity. Our country is America and used to be about Americans. Now it has become and bunch of politicians and "bleeding hearts" who bend over backwards to accommodate every race and religion but our own. I firmly believe that the most discriminated person in the United States today is the white male. There are social service program, funds, associations, and god knows what else set up for every race in this country but white people. People can claim brown pride, black pride, Asian pride, Muslim pride, and everything in between but white pride. The minute you here a while male say white pride he is automatically branded a racist or a KKK member. Why is this? Are white people not entitled to the same pride in themselves as other races are? I know alot of people will say things such as look and the white man's past and you'll see things like slavery and hatred of anyone different. I can't deny this and I won't. On the other had you can say the same for all races and religions. Muslims hate Christians, but is seems everyone hates white people. Let us not forget or distort the truth of some things and remember that is was black people in Africa that originally sold their own people into slavery to people in the Caribbean and that this is where most of the American slaves actually came from. Also many white people were slaves as well but history usually leaves this out or call them "indentured servants" which is a nice way of saying someone who is working for a "wage" but is provided room and board and the wage they make is never enough to pay off the debt they accumulated by the end of the day.

Now as I step down off my soap box I think I want what everyone wants. I want to be free to make my own way and pursue happiness and the safety of my family. The only thing I say is that there are rules and laws that created to help keep me safe and secure the land in which I choose to do this and as I abide by them I ask all others who love this country to do the same. If this country is so awesome and provides the opportunity you need to provide for you family that stick up for it, love it, and stop trying to change it and turn it into the country you left because it was not good enough. I think that says it all. God Bless American.