Immigration – Generation Justice

Arizona SB 1070 is to go into effect at 12:01 am, Thursday July 29, 2010.  Today, U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton blocked or delayed the most controversial sections of the bill.

The ruling has delayed the unavoidable clash between immigrants and protestors and the police forces, and gave many immigrants reason to be relieved.  What astonishes me is the amount of support for this bill and the possible future laws in states such as our own New Mexico.  Blatant racism has become common, even for kids my own age at my diverse, accepting, and welcoming private school.  Who are we to judge whether others are fit to live in our country? Our country was populated by those seeking refuge from persecution, my great-grandparents came here to escape religious persecution, and now we have become the persecutors.  If we are basing legality on race, I am German and Russian, why am I worthy of living in this country over others? Just because my family and others arrived years ago doesn’t make them any less German or Russian or immigrants.

America has always been the land of freedom and opportunity, it is the melting pot of the world, a mix of so many cultures and races, and I refuse stand by and let America become a country where a human of any race cannot live peacefully.  I refuse to let my generation of Americans and America become known as anything but the land of the free.

By: Abby Magnus

photo credit: Fibonacci Blue