Democracy or Fascism?

On April 23, 2010, Governor Jan Brewer signed off on the new Arizona immigration law. It was immediately met with protests from many people, and even President Obama criticized it.

However, Most Americans want to see change in America's immigration policy. But is the new law too harsh? In a poll conducted by the New York Times/CBS News, 51% of the participants in the poll thought that the new law was pretty good. 36% thought it went too far. 9% thought it could be harsher, and 4% had no opinion about it [conducted April 28 through May 2 with 1,079 adults, and with a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points].

According to the New York Times, critics of law have said that the new law was "the broadest and strictest immigration measure in generations, would make the failure to carry immigration documents a crime and give the police broad power to detain anyone suspected of being in the country illegally." Opponents have also called it an open invitation for harassment and discrimination against Hispanics regardless of their citizenship status.

Mexico's Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it was concerned about the rights of its citizens and their relation to Arizona. Quite frankly, the Foreign Ministry has reason to be concerned. I remember another leader who required a certain ethnic group to carry around papers, and they could be severely penalized if caught without them. That leader's name was Hitler. Cardinal Roger M. Mahony from Los Angeles said that the new power being given to the authorities were like that of Nazism.

A lot of the people in our class voiced concern or anger for the new law. In fact, I think everyone did. While we all agree that the law is too harsh, I can't help feel we are really removed from the situation living in Iowa.

How does Iowa stand up where diversity is concerned? Iowa schools rank 45th of 51 in diversity of students. In 2006, the schools in Iowa are 86% white students, 5% are black, 6% are Hispanic, 2% are Asian, and 1% are Native Americans. In Polk County, 77% of the students are white, 10% are black, 9% are Hispanic, 4% are Asian, and 0% are Native American. At Drake University, 73% of the students are white, 3% are black, 2% are Hispanic, 4% are Asian, and 0% are Native American.

In Arizona, 45% of students in school are white, 5% are black, 41% are Hispanic, 3% are Asian, and 6% are Native American. Look at the huge difference between Iowa and Arizona. Just something to think about amidst the rants.

Sources:
http://www.cappex.com/colleges/Drake-University-153269
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/24/us/politics/24immig.html
http://projects.nytimes.com/immigration/enrollment/iowa/polk
photo courtesy of http://www.nydailynews.com