Huh?

Somehow, I've become a racist yet again. I'm still trying to figure it out. I was having a conversation with a friend of mine about immigration. I said the two words that appear to act as some modified Bat Signal for the crazies: illegal immigration. Those two words got me branded as a racist, more specifically it got me branded as racist against hispanics. It didn't matter that the friend I was talking to was hispanic. It didn't matter that I grew up in a predominately black and hispanic neighborhood. What mattered was that I dared to speak blasphemy by saying that illegal immigrants are criminals.

"They're not illegal immigrants you cretin. They're undocumented workers."

My response is that undocumented workers are deadbeat dads working under the table to avoid child support. Illegal immigrants aren't defined by the work they do but by how they entered the country.

"So why don't you join one of those crazy white supremacist groups if you hate Latinos so much."

I'm sorry, where did I mention skin color or nationality? Where in the definition of illegal or immigrant does it say anything at all about hispanics? Where does it say that in order to be an illegal immigrant you must speak spanish? Where does it say that only those who cross the southern border of this country are illegal? What about the other three borders? Are the people who enter illegally there not illegal immigrants? What are they then? Just confused peopel who should've taken the left at Albequerque?

To those less than rational beings in the audience(this pretty much includes all the Liberals out there) being against illegal immigration is not a racist stance. I have no problem with people who enter this country abiding by the laws we've enacted. We can have a discussion about whether or not the laws should be changed but it still stands that the law is being broken as it is currently written. That makes an illegal immigrant from any country a *gasp* criminal. Period. End of discussion. How much faith can we put in people who's very first step into our country was in and of itself a criminal act?

No, I'm not saying all illegal immigrants come into the country and go on killing sprees. I know a large percentage of them work lousy jobs for even worse pay in order to make a better life for themselves and their families. I understand that. But if a man is robbing a 7-11 at gunpoint to feed his family do we let him go and not convict him of the crime he committed? No. We realize he had his reasons but those reasons do not relieve him of the consequences of the crimes he committed. When are you people gonna get it through your heads that being an illegal immigrant is not some romantic hero deserving of your protection? I don't care where they're from. I don't care what language they speak. I don't care what color they are. How am I a racist for thinking that a breaker of the law is a criminal?

It occurs to me that the true racists in this case are actually those who automatically assume that illegal immigrant=hispanic. Why? Illegal immigrants come from all over the globe. Mexico doesn't have an exclusive call on crossing the border in violation of immigration laws. Why do you insist on saying that being an illegal immigrant and being hispanic are synonymous? You see skin color and nationality. I do not. You use racism as a smear campaign against those who would want to enforce the laws. I see racism as something to be fought against, not used as a political tool. You decry racism but do not hesitate to use it when you feel it will gain you political points. You are the worst sort of hypocrite. If you had the courage to stand by your convictions across the board I could find some modicum of repsect for you but as it is you are beneath my contempt. You have reached that happy place where you are so pathetic that I can't waste the energy it would take to despise you.

I have been ridiculed. I have been screamed at. I have been called all manner of foul names. Why? Because I dared to see illegal immigration as something other than an issue of race. I saw it as an issue of broken laws. Ironically, according to you, that makes me a racist. At this point, given your application of the word racist to anyone who stands for law and rational thought I will wear that label proudly. I will not wear it as you apply it. I will wear it as a badge of honor that I have exposed your scheme as the pitiful sham it is. I will wear it proudly and without shame. Call me racist. For whenever you do you show the world just how small-minded and contemptible you truly are.


Enjoy the ride.