"I always had trouble distinguishing between what happened and what merely might have happened, but I remain unconvinced that the distinction, for my purposes, matters." -Joan Didion
In this second episode of the occasional series, "Do You Know What Your State Just Did?!", we get to marvel at how Virginians thought what Arizona was doing was so awesome, they wanted to do it, too. They saw another state beating them in racism and thought, that's not right.
Prince William county passed a law that requires police to question anyone they think is an undocumented immigrant. Actually, they say that police should stop and question all illegals.
A person can't be illegal. Her/his status in a place can be illegal. An action can be illegal.
But a person?
A person cannot be illegal.
When we use language like that, it dehumanizes people, which makes it easier for those with any kind of power (in position, in national status, in ability to speak out) to get away with worse and worse actions against those not in power.
Virginia, you don't even have Arizona's excuse of being on the Mexico border.
And please, stop trying to disguise your racism against Hispanics and black people with claims of national security, and citing 9/11. It's tacky.
(Oh, and it's also not accurate. But I think we already know you aren't all that interested in facts, anyway.)
I am won over with offers of:
(1) plane tickets, theatre tickets, concert tickets for anything folky;
(2) late start times, obsolete alarm clocks, afternoon brunch;
(3) charming personal anecdotes, a good bullshit story, choosing one’s own adventure;
(4) pickles, multiple forms of the potato, every form of chocolate;
(5) and dogs. All of them.