I was told that we call our color race because we are all in a competition for supremacy.
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That is complete bullsh*t. We have more in common with those who share the same economic background than ethnic background.
That being said, more of us need to band together and realize when one “race” is attacked, humanity is being attacked.
All talk about racial difference does is separate us, and distract us from issues that make it substantially harder to achieve the American Dream we all so desperately crave.
Whether you’re Asian, Black, White, or Latino, you should stand up for justice for anyone who is being attacked.
As of right now, it is plainly obvious that the laws and policies in the United States are subjugating African Americans and Latinos. Just look at Arizona’s SB1070 and New York’s policy of Stop & Frisk.
SB1070 or (The Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act) requires illegal immigrants over the age of 14 who will remain in the U.S for over 30 days to have their identification on them at all times.
Additionally, the law makes it a state misdemeanor for an illegal to walk around without his documents.
This is an obvious attack on Latinos. You think law enforcement in Arizona is going around stopping white men with British accents, asking for their documents?
This sounds just like the laws of the 1800s that required all freed slaves to carry their freedom papers on them.
SB1070 makes Latinos feel like they don’t belong in this country, and serves to oppress those based on superficial differences.
SB1070 NYC’s practice of stop-and-frisk harasses innocent young minorities on a daily basis.
Of the 685,212 New Yorkers who were stopped last year, 88 percent were totally innocent, 53 percent were African American, 34 percent were Latino, and only 9 percent were white.
I guarantee you the majority of those stopped were in low income areas.
According to famed sociologist George Herbert Mead, treating someone like a criminal makes that person more likely to engage in criminal activity.
So these laws and practices are doing nothing to protect us, they are actually conduits for crime.
NYC is no stranger to these laws that are essentially coded forms of racism.
Take a look at the draconian Rockefeller drug laws that were enacted in 1973.
These laws mandate extremely harsh prison sentences for possession of relatively small amounts of drugs.
Unsurprisingly, these laws disproportionally affect Latinos and African Americans. Of the 12,000 people in the New State prison population, 90 percent are African American and Latino.
These laws and practices essentially led to institutionalized slavery for the modern generation.
The Emancipation Proclamation outlawed slavery, except as punishment for a crime. Therefore those who are incarcerated are legal slaves.
If we truly want to consider ourselves the land of the free, we all must do our part to make sure that these laws and practices are permanently abolished in this country.
I’m not African American, Pedro is not Latino, Xian is not Asian, Bob is not Caucasian. We are all American.
If one of us is being oppressed, a precedent is set which says it’s OK for the government to subjugate its people.
Contrary to popular belief, you and I do have a voice, it’s just a lot louder when we are speaking in unison.
Go out and support civil rights and community activists who are working tirelessly to ensure our freedom, or the next group to be oppressed could be you. I love you all.
