"Life is crazy, sometimes I hate life.
Know why? Because I was born a suspect.
All black people are born a suspect.
I came out my momma's stomach, anything that happened within a 3 block radius, I was a suspect." --Chris Rock, "Born Suspect"
Chris Rock uses humor to illustrate a sentiment felt by many people of color in this country. This is the sad, sorry legacy of Jim Crow laws that were meant to divide and suppress a group of people, and it will be the legacy for Latinos if laws like the ones in Arizona are allowed to stand.
Under Arizona's stringent anti-immigrant legislation, a person can be born a suspect because the law now makes their ethnicity "reasonably suspicious."
Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Arizona law. I'm proud of the Department of Justice for stepping in to stop legislation that will create a sense of terror for many residents of Arizona. I'm fully opposed to Arizona's misguided law because it will erode the constitutional rights of U.S. citizens and legal residents who look a certain way. As an African American, I'm all too familiar with the effects of racial profiling and the strain that it places between law enforcement and communities.
Besides being morally reprehensible, the Arizona law will take precious resources from law enforcement and drive a wedge between police and communities of color. I'm grateful to our federal government for clearly stating that legislation that encourages racial profiling and puts U.S. citizens in harm's way is not welcome anywhere in our country.
I'm hopeful that this lawsuit will dissuade other states from mirroring Arizona's ill-advised and unconstitutional law. Fortunately, leaders in Texas from both parties have spoken against Arizona's immigration law, making it clear that it does not belong on our books. Texas is not Arizona.
Click here to read the press release sent by the Department of Justice on the lawsuit.
