There Is No "Us" Without Us

... or rather, there is no "U.S." without Us.


On Sunday, April 25, 2010, The History Channel began its broadcast of "an epic 12-hour television event" titled America The Story of Us "that tells the extraordinary story of how America was invented." Seriously, tune in and let's remind ourselves who lived on this land originally, and who the original immigrants were.

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Earlier in the week on Friday, April 23, 2010, Randal C. Archibold wrote in a NY Times article titled Arizona Enacts Stringent Law on Immigration:


Gov. Jan Brewer of Arizona signed the nation's toughest bill on illegal immigration into law on Friday.  Its aim is to identify, prosecute and deport illegal immigrants.


... The Arizona law, he (President Obama) added, threatened "to undermine basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans, as well as the trust between police and our communities that is so crucial to keeping us safe."


The law, which proponents and critics alike said 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 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 worried about the rights of its citizens and relations with Arizona. Cardinal Roger M. Mahony of Los Angeles said the authorities' ability to demand documents was like "Nazism."

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On Monday, April 26, 2010, Richard Fisk and Erin Einhorn writes in a NY Daily News article titled Sharpton, other activists compare Arizona immigration law to apartheid, Nazi Germany and Jim Crow:


"We cannot sit by and allow people to be arbitrarily and unilaterally picked off as suspects because of the color of their skin," Sharpton said.