Arizona Gets SUFA Riled Up… Racial Profiling and Open Borders

I have to say that I was a little surprised to see such a robust discussion happening over yesterday’s article. I had originally intended to not write an article this evening, to simply let the Arizona debate rage on. However, with over 300 comments already, it would begin to get tough to navigate through. So I figured instead of simply replying to individual posts, I would instead write s sort of follow on article that addresses some of the things that were said yesterday, and allows for the conversations to continue with a somewhat fresh start (at least in the number of comments to read through). It was interesting to see how entrenched some folks are in their positions, some so much so that they were unable to see past it to other sides of the debate. That is unfortunate, as it is essential that we all begin to see different perspectives if we are going to somehow find a way to get through all the madness coming out of government these days.

One of the first things I noticed was that, despite my pointing out that this is a completely false statement, some are still sticking to the mantra that this Arizona law requires racial profiling in order to be enforced. This is simply not true. When reading the bill, and especially when factoring in the follow up bill that was passed, it becomes clear that the government was working to eliminate this from being so. But before we get into this, I noticed a discussion about whether it is OK to profile. So I want to touch on this.

I personally believe that racial profiling has become a bastion of political discourse, while those that condemn it refuse to accept the reality of life. The reality is that not only is profiling OK, in my opinion, it is essential for survival in today’s world. Profiling is what we do each and every day, hundreds of times a day. We learn from our experiences and attempt to predict future behavior based on the patterns that we see. We do it with everything. We see a car coming down the street and it slows down, the driver makes eye contact, and we cross the street, because past experience tells us that is the pattern. We see a new employee arrive to the workplace looking disheveled, and we profile them as disorganized and possibly undependable. We see a guy with his pants hanging below his boxers, and we assume that he will be disrespectful or uneducated. Are all these assumptions right? No, but they fit into a pattern of experience. That car might hit you, that employee may be excellent, and the teenager may be a Rhodes scholar.

Patterns are how we move through life without taking an extreme amount of time to identify and analyze every situation as if it has never happened before. Then we get into profiling based on “race”. Allow me to first say that I think “racial profiling” is somewhat of a myth. I think that the person who profiles does so based on circumstance and appearance, not race. A black man with his pants down and a hood up in July is completely different than a black man in a pair of slacks and a button down shirt. It isn’t the color of his skin that creates the profile, it is the way he carries himself, the way he dresses, and the way he acts. And whether we like it or not, the profile is usually accurate. If it wasn’t, it would not be a means of identifying people. That isn’t to say that racial profiling cannot happen, I just believe it is far less frequent than we are led to believe. It isn’t usually the color of skin that causes one to profile, it is usually the way one acts, the way they carry themselves, and the way that they behave. Someone of a different skin color behaving in the same way would receive the same treatment. Perhaps that is my being naive, but that is what I see.

So I have zero issue with law enforcement officers profiling as they work. It is their job to identify possible problems and head them off at the pass. Saying that they must wait until the crime is committed is ridiculous. How on earth do you expect them to protect the public if they cannot act until the crime is done? Does this mean that they are going to question some people that have done nothing wrong? You bet, but as Mathius is prone to say when it comes to spreading my money around, I would much rather err on the side of too safe than not safe enough.

It is patently false to claim that this Arizona law will require or cause more racial profiling. Because the bottom line is this: There are two types of law enforcement officers. The first is one who does his job correctly. He doesn’t harass those who aren’t acting funny or doing something wrong. This is the vast majority of officers. The second, and far more rare, is the officer that is a bigot and who assumes that all people of one race are criminals that must be stopped. This law is not going to suddenly make officers that fall into the first category begin to act like those that fall into the second! What makes you think that the law in Arizona is going to suddenly turn good cops into bigoted bullies? Put yourself in their shoes. Would this law make you all the sudden become a racial profiler if you weren’t one before the bill passed? What kind of thought process makes you think that everyone else would do so? Do you think that police officers are mindless robots that you can suddenly reprogram? Or do you think that they are all closet bigots just waiting for a law that allows them to legally harass a certain group of people? The claim that this bill will cause this is fear mongering at its best. Given what the two laws put into place, and the fact that police officers are caring moral people just like everyone else, it is ludicrous to claim that this law will somehow cause police officers to act in ways that are different from how they acted previously.

Another topic of discussion yesterday seemed to be on the idea that people should be able to come and go as they please. The “open border” concept, if you will. Allow me to be clear on where I stand on this one. I vehemently oppose the open border idea. I am all for immigration reform that makes it easier to get a work VISA or whatever is needed to enter the country legally. However, the very beginning step to immigration reform lies in first securing the border. We are a sovereign nation. As such, we have every right to close our border  and admit only those we wish to admit. Given today’s hostile environment, it is a very necessary step to take. There are many who believe that the best thing they can do is come to America and cause trouble. Terrorists, criminals, etc. We cannot simply allow them instant and free access to our country. 150 years ago, no problem. Today, simply not possible.

It seems that people can believe that sovereign peoples have the right to build nuclear weapons, launch rockets into neighboring countries, and do whatever else they like with no interference from the big, bad USA. And you know what I tend to agree. But when those same people then turn around and tell me that a sovereign nation has no right to secure her borders in order to protect herself, I simply have to say… huh? What any other sovereign nation on earth does, they have the right to do. The second that America wants to do something such as secure the borders, all the sudden you want to jump up and say they have no right. Similarly, we have those that believe that for the greater good, it is OK to seize the fruits of my labor and redistribute it to those who need it, that it is OK to pass laws that restrict what I eat, what I buy, what I smoke, etc. But for the safety of the country, you believe that we have no right to tell people who can and cannot come into our country. We can restrict the amount of salt in a meal, but not who comes and goes across our borders? Contradictions abound, my friends.

Securing the border is the absolute first step towards solving this problem. Mexico’s political strategy is to pawn the poorest of their population on us. Why else would they object to border fences and immigration law being enforced? They do not want people stopped from coming across illegally, benefitting from America’s prosperity, and sending it back to Mexico. Rather than fixing their own problems, they choose to send them north. Perhaps eliminating that option will force them to improve their economy and make the standard of living better for their people. They don’t have a revolution against their horrible leaders simply because those who would do so find that it is easier to simply sneak into the US than to organize opposition.

Our foreign policy decisions have made us the top target in the world. There is no debating that fact. Obviously I want to see our foreign policy changed dramatically, but until that happens and it has time to impact the world opinion of us, we are targets. So long as this is the case, we must have secure borders in order to limit the ability of those that would attack us to access their target. Securing the border is the right place to start, followed by a comprehensive overhaul of the immigration policies in America. We must make it easier to come here legally, and impossible to come here illegally.

There was a large argument over the idea of legalizing drugs in order to solve the problem. I assume that the argument was primarily legalizing marijuana. Because legalizing all drugs simply isn’t going to happen. But I must stress that I don’t believe legalizing marijuana is going to stem the tide of illegal immigrants, and it isn’t going to stem the tide of violence tied to illegal immigration. The violence is tied to many different illegal activities. Drug trafficking, Human trafficking, extortion, kidnapping, bribery. It isn’t just marijuana, and it may not even be primarily marijuana. It is criminal activity. Oddly, simply securing the border would eliminate their ability to do all of those things. Again, that is the first step.

I will leave it at that for tonight. I look forward to everyone’s thoughts. I also encourage all of you who were having good discussions to bring them forward to this article to continue them. This is an issue that isn’t going away soon. We have to deal with it. Arizona has simply chosen to go first. Good for them.