All Things
- Why Do We Hate Them?
Why Do We Hate Them? Episodes of political hysteria are familiar in US history. The people of Massachusetts hanged witches in 1692, almost a hundred years before Independence. Today, we persecute Muslims . These outburst of irrationality no doubt...
- Don't Pick On The Underdog
Don’t Pick on the Underdog. The assault on illegal immigrants continues unabated. After the passage of the anti-illegal immigration law in Arizona, almost 20 other states are considering similar legislation. Other states, for instance Massachusetts,...
- Violence And Forgiveness
Violence and forgiveness. Violence has been a frequent topic in my recent blogs. Not only the street violence that kills 14-year-old boys for no reason whatsoever, or the violence of war, but the violence that permeates every day life. In case after case...
- Persecuting Immigrants. Give Peace A Chance!
Persecuting Immigrants. Give peace a Chance. Undocumented immigration creates real problems. There are millions upon million desperately poor people in Latin America. Will they all come to the US sooner or later? Undocumented workers make very little...
- How To Deal With Undocumented Immigrants
How to deal with undocumented immigrants. The debate over undocumented immigrants is fueled by economic self-interest of employers, by the fear held by low wage American workers of the economic competition from undocumented workers, by the interests of...
All Things
The Nazis are coming! The Nazis are coming!
Rush Limbaugh, the voice of the far right, likes to call his opponents Nazis. That's a bad joke because fascism is today widely infecting American politics, especially on the right. Fascism stands for racism. It stands for contempt for First Amendment rights. It stands for a politics springing from irrational prejudice. While Limbaugh and his ilk pretend to defend individual liberties, they in fact want to use the power of the government to enforce strict mind control and uniformity of political convictions.
TheTucsonArizonaschooldistrict,underpressurefromtheArizonastatelegislature,hasshutdowntheprogramsforethnicstudies,includingMexicanAmericanstudies.Ithasissuedalonglistofbooksthatwillbebannedfromschoolsandtheirlibraries.ThelistcontainsmostlydistinguishedChicanoandnativeAmericanwriters.ButthelistalsocontainsShakespeare'sTempest,Thoreau'sCivilDisobedience,booksbyIsabelAllende,GloriaAnzaldua,PaoloFreire,bellhooks,JonathanKozol,RonTakakiandHowardZinn.ChildrenintheTucsonschooldistrictwillbebrainwashedbygovernmentdecreetobelievethattherearenoracialproblemsinTucson,inthestateofArizona,orinthecountry.AstheGermanNazisdecidedthatJewishcitizenswerenotGermansanymoreandexcludedthemfrompubliclife(beforekillingmanyofthem)sotheTucsonschooldistrictislettingitbeknownthatonlywhiteArizonansare effectivelycitizensandareAmericans.
On Martin Luther King Day, the South Carolina NAACP held a demonstration in front of the Statehouse to protest the legislation passed in more than 30 states that demands photo IDs for voting. It is widely believed that this requirement for identification cards puts an undue burden on the poor, the elderly, and on people of color. It is perceived by many as a repeat of literacy tests for voting or the poll tax. It is one more way to reduce the number of votes of black Americans. It is animated by racist hatred.
At the same time the state of Alabama passed a new anti-immigrant law, that tops any other similar law in its fanatic hatred for Hispanic immigrants, especially if they have no papers. The measure prohibits undocumented immigrants from entering into "business transactions" with the state. "Business transactions" are broadly defined. Some state and local agencies have barred undocumented immigrants from signing up for utilities such as water, prohibited them from living in mobile homes they own and said they cannot renew licenses for their small businesses.
The law also denies bail to any undocumented immigrant arrested for any offense; requires police to check immigration status during traffic stops; and denies court protection to immigrants who have had a contract, such as an employment contract or a lease, violated, the organization said.
In addition, the law makes it a crime for U.S. citizens or legal residents to knowingly assist undocumented immigrants. It demands of every immigrant that they always carry identity papers on their person. One of the first victims of this new law was a Mercedes-Benz executive who was arrested for not having identity papers on him and as a consequence spent a night in jail.
This tremendous outpouring of hatred for people who are different (from whites) is really frightening.
I spent my early childhood years in Nazi Germany. Finally making it to the US, I thought I was safe. But now they come again with their hate, their contempt for traditional US freedoms, their fanaticism.
Wake up America! The Nazis are already here.
- Why Do We Hate Them?
Why Do We Hate Them? Episodes of political hysteria are familiar in US history. The people of Massachusetts hanged witches in 1692, almost a hundred years before Independence. Today, we persecute Muslims . These outburst of irrationality no doubt...
- Don't Pick On The Underdog
Don’t Pick on the Underdog. The assault on illegal immigrants continues unabated. After the passage of the anti-illegal immigration law in Arizona, almost 20 other states are considering similar legislation. Other states, for instance Massachusetts,...
- Violence And Forgiveness
Violence and forgiveness. Violence has been a frequent topic in my recent blogs. Not only the street violence that kills 14-year-old boys for no reason whatsoever, or the violence of war, but the violence that permeates every day life. In case after case...
- Persecuting Immigrants. Give Peace A Chance!
Persecuting Immigrants. Give peace a Chance. Undocumented immigration creates real problems. There are millions upon million desperately poor people in Latin America. Will they all come to the US sooner or later? Undocumented workers make very little...
- How To Deal With Undocumented Immigrants
How to deal with undocumented immigrants. The debate over undocumented immigrants is fueled by economic self-interest of employers, by the fear held by low wage American workers of the economic competition from undocumented workers, by the interests of...