Crime is bad. There are degrees of crimes, but it is generally bad to commit a crime.
I wonder how many crimes I’ve committed this week, probably only trespassing and speeding, but who’s to say, for sure? There are laws on the books that we laugh about; they’re still laws, and violating them is still a crime. Whether or not I’ll be charged and whether or not a prosecutor will pursue the charges is another story. What I’m pondering is how regular people look at crime, how society changes a person to a “criminal,” in a sense stripping said person of their humanity and consideration, and how we can ignore the very same behaviors in ourselves.
There are a lot of Americans up in arms right now about some people who are about 1000 miles away from the United States of America because they honestly believe that these people fleeing for their lives are walking all this distance with their little children to “invade” our country. Americans have murdered other innocent Americans because they truly believe this lie, because they have so much hate in their hearts that they want to believe it and so don’t bother to find the truth. And the “president” continues to repeat the lie knowing the consequences to American people.
To enter the United States illegally is a crime, a misdemeanor comparable to trespassing. Most people who are in the United States illegally didn’t sneak in, though; most overstayed their valid work or travel visa.
But the people who are in that caravan, who have NOT committed any crimes in the USA and are not even close to our border, don’t intend to commit a crime. They are refugees; many of them intend to come all the way to the United States and ask for asylum here. That is legal. They have a right to do so according to the United States AND the United Nations.
Repeating this one for those in the back: seeking asylum is a legal and a protected right.
Now, the “president” says our military will shoot refugees if they throw rocks. He is planning ahead, making them out to be criminals before they even arrive. He’s preparing his followers to support violence against people who are seeking asylum in the USA, people who’ve committed no crime and have no intent to commit a crime. If a member of the caravan should throw a rock “we would consider that a firearm because there’s not much difference when you get hit in the face with a rock.” What do you want to bet innocent people will be murdered in cold blood, and someone will conveniently be able to claim a rock was thrown?
So, the good news is we don’t need to allow the sales of guns in the USA anymore. Rocks are close enough according president Dumbfuck.
The bad news is president Dumbfuck thinks, and said out loud in front of other people, that it’s perfectly reasonable and lawful to shoot a person who throws a rock. In the United States of America. Even though we have laws here that say the opposite, he wants to set up for our own citizens to support more atrocities against people because they are not “us” or because they can be perceived as not “us.”
What kind of precedent is this?
We already shoot people in their own homes and yards, dismissing their humanity and their value if we can find they once, ever, made any kind of mistake. Hell, our police officers do it. I stopped myself before I added “all the time” at the end of that sentence, but I heard it in my head. You probably did, too. And we’re not really wrong. But I also don’t want this already serious issue to be exaggerated, this issue of violence against innocent people, especially when those people are not white. Most of our police officers are good, law-abiding, fair people doing a difficult and stressful job.
Still, are people good when they are sticking up for officers who get away with abusing and murdering human beings because the color of their victim’s skin is a darker shade than theirs/mine? Are we good people when we condemn a person forever for a small mistake? when we look away from atrocities? when we don’t speak up against the atrocities? when we don’t speak up for the rights of those individuals and groups our society ignores or devalues?
Trump this week repeated (it came up during his campaign) that he wishes to end birthright citizenship which is protected by the 14th Amendment (passed by Congress in 1866, ratified by three-fourths of the states in 1868). The “president” believes he can override constitutional guarantees by issuing an executive order. Our Constitutional rights and guarantees. Which he swore to uphold. And a bunch of his idiot followers are cheering this. Seriously.
The Constitution and laws of this country are here to protect us, all of us. It’s not perfect, but it’s the basis of so much of our lives that I fear we lose sight of its value. Will it take losing our rights, losing the protections of the Constitution, for people to truly understand how important it is to uphold the letter and the intent of our precious Constitution? Every day. All the time. For ALL people.
When you consider the issue of trespassing, a crime which I have knowingly and intentionally committed more than once in my life because I wanted to cut a corner or cut through a yard (usually out of laziness), stop and think about the perpetrator. According to many of my fellow Americans I should be shot for it, that is, until they notice I’m an old, white lady. Then it’s not a problem. Why not? It’s vitally important that we uphold the laws equally and evenly for all people. That’s why they are laws and not just guidelines for a bunch of ugly, greedy bigots to pick and choose from (like they do their Bible – yeah, I said it).
If we don’t stand for the Constitution and the law of this land now, who will stand for us later when we cut across a yard? or need to seek asylum? or when we are minding our own business and someone murders us in our own living room because, oops, she thought it was hers?
(Be strong. Their hate is strong, but our love is stronger. No, I am not sorry I referred to that fool as “president Dumbfuck” because he deserves much worse for what he’s doing to good, decent people the world over. Thanks for sharing your precious time with me!)
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Link: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) (See Article 14)
Link: Good People – by E. Brooks at Gray Matters.
Link: Summer Camp – by E. Brooks at Gray Matters.
#GMCriminalBehavior #NoHate #OnlyLove