by Robert Reich The xenophobia has already begun. Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky) in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid today urged him to reconsider immigration legislation because of the bombings in Boston. “The facts emerging in the Boston Marathon bombing have exposed a weakness in our current system,” Paul writes. “If we don’t use this debate as an opportunity to fix flaws in our current system, flaws made even more evident last week, then we will not be doing our jobs.” Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), senior Republican senator on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is responsible for an immigration reform bill, is using much the same language – suggesting that the investigation of two alleged Boston attackers will “help shed light on the weaknesses of our system.” Can we just get a grip? Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is a naturalized American citizen. He came to the United States when he was nine years old. He attended the public schools of Cambridge, Massachusetts, not far from where I lived. Immigration reform is not about national security, in any event. It’s about doing what’s right, and giving
the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in America — many of them here for years, working at jobs and paying withholding taxes, and many of them children — a path to citizenship. It’s about making sure they aren’t exploited by employers and others who know they won’t complain to authorities. And giving their families the security of knowing that they can live peacefully and securely without fearing deportation. That path shouldn’t be so easy as to invite others from abroad to abuse the system, and the nation has every right to demand that undocumented immigrants pay a penalty and move to the back of the queue when it comes to attaining citizenship. But the path should be reasonable, straightforward, and fair. Other Republicans want President Obama to declare the surviving Boston bombing suspect an “enemy combatant,” in order to question him without any of the protections of the criminal justice system. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) says treating him as an enemy combatant is appropriate “with his radical Islamist ties and the fact that Chechens are all over the world fighting with Al Qaeda.” Hold it. Tsarnaev was arrested on
American soil for acts occurring in the United States. No known evidence links him to Al Qaeda. He is Muslim — so is Graham really saying Muslims are presumed guilty until proven otherwise? During the Bush administration, the Supreme Court upheld the indefinite military detention of Yaser Esam Hamdi, an American citizen. But he was captured carrying a weapon on an Afghanistan battlefield, and the Court said the purpose of wartime detention was to keep captured enemies from returning to fight, and that “indefinite detention for the purpose of interrogation is not authorized.” Memo to the Xenophobe Party: The so-called “war on terror” is a war without end. If we arrest American citizens and hold them indefinitely without trials, without lawyers, and without the protection of our system of justice, because we suspect they have ties with terrorists, where will that end? Our civil rights and liberties lie at the core of what it means to be an American, and we have fought for over two centuries to protect and defend them. The horror of the Boston Marathon is real. But the xenophobic fears it has aroused are not. I would have hoped United States senators felt an
obligation to calm public passions than pander to them. We need immigration reform, and we must protect our civil liberties. These goals are not incompatible with protecting America. Indeed, they are essential to it. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License Robert Reich, one of the nation’s leading experts on work and the economy, is Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley. He has served in three national administrations, most recently as secretary of labor under President Bill Clinton. Time Magazine has named him one of the ten most effective cabinet secretaries of the last century. He has written thirteen books, including his latest best-seller,Aftershock: The Next Economy and America’s Future; The Work of Nations; Locked in the Cabinet; Supercapitalism; and his newest, Beyond Outrage. His syndicated columns, television appearances, and public radio commentaries reach millions of people each week. He is also a founding editor of the American Prospect magazine, and Chairman of the citizen’s group Common Cause. His widely-read blog can be found at www.robertreich.org.
LETTERS
Reader seeks change in local NAACP branch The NAACP is an organization that was started as a partnership between both whites and blacks to ensure the political, educational, social and economic equality of the rights of all persons. I have been a proud Golden Life member of the NAACP for over 45 years. As a senior citizen, I still volunteer to participate in NAACP initiatives because I’m concerned about bettering our community. Increasingly, there is substantial member concern about the role of the Augusta NAACP in bettering our community. Many Augusta NA ACP chapter members no longer pay their annual membership fee. Others are fully paid members in support of this important and historic organization,
but are not willing to subjugate themselves to the present local leadership. The mission and purpose of the NAACP remains important and relevant. Unfortunately, the leadership of the Augusta Chapter cannot remove self long enough to identify, prioritize and unite the membership around important community issues. Things of great importance that I have witnessed over time, as well as recently, involve a total disrespect of members whose opinions differ from leadership. Members have difficulty getting items of importance and concern to them on the meeting agenda. Members have no voice to discuss issues. Members are threatened with arrest by law enforcement unless total agreement is accepted with any
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directive from the top. Recently, an eighty something year old member had 911 called on her with a request for law officers to respond. During the call it was reported that the member was being disruptive. This was not factually correct. There was a disagreement on an issue but nothing that warranted the inappropriate use of law enforcement resources. Members have rights that are frequently ignored. Many members are frequently subjected to disrespect. The Executive Board is viewed as a “rubber stamp” body rather than the governing body for the organization. Effective leaders understand and utilize proven leadership principles to influence compromise when points of view differ. The tenants
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that govern the mission of the NAACP are being violated by the very individual charged with implementing these tenants for the betterment of the community. Most egregious is a progressive tendency toward verbal and near physical aggression against members not bowing to subjugation. As a community, we should not allow this important organization to be mismanaged. Stand up, speak up and embrace efforts to bring the Augusta Chapter of the NAACP back into mission compliance. There are real issues of inequality and fairness that need to be championed by the NAACP on behalf of our citizens.
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15 UrbanProWeekly • APRIL 25 - MAY 1, 2013
The Xenophobe Party
The horror of the Boston Marathon is real. But the xenophobic fears it has aroused are not.