The Crying Game - My take on illegal immigrants
If you don't know by now, I am an African American male born and raised is the U.S. This disclaimer is necessary for the opinion I have on illegal immigrants. A friend of mine once game me a scenario about the law to see what my take on it my be...it goes like this:
A man steals your wallet and he is later apprehended. This is where you are given two perspectives, while in custody you are told in one scenario that the assailant stole your wallet because he was down on his luck and he used your money to buy food for his family. In the other scenario, you're told the assailant stole your wallet to buy drugs. The question posed to you is, Do you think the prosecution should be different for each scenario?
The reason I disclosed my race in the beginning is because being a black man (not politically correct but easier to type), we don't usually have an option and this reality is how we are raised. Don't trust the law because the law will not give you consideration. It's not a matter of right and wrong because I know plenty of black men who were doing nothing wrong but the law thought differently. We don't get the benefit of the doubt and we tend to get the book thrown at us with every wrong or slight we're apart of (or not apart of) in society. I wasn't shocked like many Americans at the presidential loss of Hilary Clinton because she never really took accountability for the 1994 Crime Bill. Bill Clinton orchestrated a bill which brought about mandatory minimums which threw plenty of men and women (mostly African American) in prison for years. And throughout history, it is well documented about the trials exercised against African Americans for wrongdoings, perceived or otherwise.
Now, we have these Latinos (and other races but mostly Latinos) who have entered the country illegally and established families. I understand they fled poverty, violence, and/or lack of opportunity to make a better life for themselves (similar to the wallet snatcher). But why should they get the benefit of the doubt, why should they exist on a different plain that anyone else. Once you do something illegally, why should there be a condition to bypass accountability for that act. That is not the reality I was born and raised and challenged and harassed in...why should their quest be any different. The standing argument has always seem to be, the problem has gone unchecked for so long that illegal immigrants have become embedded in out society and removing them would be a determent to America. The closest analogy I have to that is when the 1994 crime bill was passed and there were more inmates than the prisons could hold, what did they do? They built more prisons. They didn't review the law or recognize any malpractice of legislation, they kept enforcing the law.
Don't get me wrong, this is not an indictment on illegal immigrants. I completely understand their plight. But as a black man, it seems the fight for illegal immigrants is a misappropriation of justice and considerations we were never afforded. I can not ignore the hypocrisy in this application of justice. Justice rarely shows us any mercy and it's time those feelings go beyond the African American community.
For every family torn apart and/or dream deferred, know that there is a Black family that has gone through similar persecutions over generations. Welcome to America.
A man steals your wallet and he is later apprehended. This is where you are given two perspectives, while in custody you are told in one scenario that the assailant stole your wallet because he was down on his luck and he used your money to buy food for his family. In the other scenario, you're told the assailant stole your wallet to buy drugs. The question posed to you is, Do you think the prosecution should be different for each scenario?
The reason I disclosed my race in the beginning is because being a black man (not politically correct but easier to type), we don't usually have an option and this reality is how we are raised. Don't trust the law because the law will not give you consideration. It's not a matter of right and wrong because I know plenty of black men who were doing nothing wrong but the law thought differently. We don't get the benefit of the doubt and we tend to get the book thrown at us with every wrong or slight we're apart of (or not apart of) in society. I wasn't shocked like many Americans at the presidential loss of Hilary Clinton because she never really took accountability for the 1994 Crime Bill. Bill Clinton orchestrated a bill which brought about mandatory minimums which threw plenty of men and women (mostly African American) in prison for years. And throughout history, it is well documented about the trials exercised against African Americans for wrongdoings, perceived or otherwise.
Now, we have these Latinos (and other races but mostly Latinos) who have entered the country illegally and established families. I understand they fled poverty, violence, and/or lack of opportunity to make a better life for themselves (similar to the wallet snatcher). But why should they get the benefit of the doubt, why should they exist on a different plain that anyone else. Once you do something illegally, why should there be a condition to bypass accountability for that act. That is not the reality I was born and raised and challenged and harassed in...why should their quest be any different. The standing argument has always seem to be, the problem has gone unchecked for so long that illegal immigrants have become embedded in out society and removing them would be a determent to America. The closest analogy I have to that is when the 1994 crime bill was passed and there were more inmates than the prisons could hold, what did they do? They built more prisons. They didn't review the law or recognize any malpractice of legislation, they kept enforcing the law.
Don't get me wrong, this is not an indictment on illegal immigrants. I completely understand their plight. But as a black man, it seems the fight for illegal immigrants is a misappropriation of justice and considerations we were never afforded. I can not ignore the hypocrisy in this application of justice. Justice rarely shows us any mercy and it's time those feelings go beyond the African American community.
For every family torn apart and/or dream deferred, know that there is a Black family that has gone through similar persecutions over generations. Welcome to America.
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