Scary Politics

I don't usually get into political debates, but the news from Arizona has just sent me reeling! The new Arizona Immigration Law smacks of racism and annihilation of rights (human as well as civil).

 

We are a land of Immigrants, with the exception of the Native Peoples who still live disenfranchised lives on reservations in the poorest parts of our country. My ancestors came from Germany and Ireland,from Slovenia and Wales, and while I have yet to be able to find documentation, possibly even Africa. So tell me, why don't I look like an alien?

 

If the Arizona Immigration Law is left on the books, we as a nation will need to do some serious soul searching. How can we ask others around the world to respect the rights of people, when we have a state issuing police protocols that make the SS look like school boys? How can we allow the emblem of our country, Miss Liberty to remain? Doesn't it state on her pedestal the following:
 

"Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,

With conquering limbs astride from land to land;

Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand

A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame

Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name

Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand

Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command

The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she

With silent lips. 

"Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

I understand the issue of illegal aliens, but in solving that problem, we cannot destroy the rights of those who have come to this great land legally, calling it home.