I had an interesting debate with my cousin's lady friend about the well-publicized Arizona law that basically allows them to pull over anyone they suspect of being an illegal immigrant. Her view was that us Latino folk be too sensitive about it and that we all have to carry some form of ID anyway in this country, so what's the big deal? My side is that the law almost encourages racial profiling (at the very least makes it okay) and that no one should have to worry about being pulled over or stopped because of the color of their skin. It seems as though some people just assume anyone dark who speaks Spanish is illegal and should be subjected to taunts and/or harassment. Hell, I know of people who had to deal with that and they were born and raised in this country. But it doesn't seem to matter. Sometimes you're just lumped in with everyone else because people are ignorant. Another part of my argument was that if you don't know what profiling feels like, you can't say it's 'no big deal' or that someone who has been profiled (or suspects they have been) is 'overreacting'. I mean, it's not like anyone has ever been pulled over for being too white.
This conversation was sparked by my uncle's business trip to Arizona. My mom jokingly told him to take his papers to prove he's legal because he is a darker-skinned lad. He was driving to meet a client and was pulled over and they asked for his license, etc. and then let him go without a ticket or a warning or even telling him why he was pulled over to begin with. It could've just been a coincidence or something but it made him uncomfortable and he was very happy to get outta town the next day. I've had a few experiences with racial profiling but the one that's always stuck out for me happened when I was a teenager. Ironically, the cousin who is dating this chick looks like a total white dude; light eyes, lighter hair, lighter skin, but he's very proud of his Latin roots. I'm a darker dude and I only look darker when placed under fluorescent lighting, next to a white guy. When we were teenagers we went into a music store at the mall to just look around for a minute. There was one clerk in the whole place and he was behind a counter, he nodded his head and acknowledged us walking in. Almost immediately, he moved from behind the counter to near where I was and I thought nothing of it. Then I moved to another section and he was right behind me, but trying to be subtle about it. Every time I picked something up to look at it, dude was right behind me and would start trying to make conversation. But he didn't say a word to the cousin or even look up to see where he was at. For all he knew, my cousin could've been a robber and I could've been a decoy. And had that been the case, it would have been an easy score since the register was left completely unguarded while this dude was watching me. I was extremely uncomfortable and we left not long after we'd walked in and, as we were walking away, I heard the clerk tell his manager that the downside of working there was, 'having to follow around every [racial epithet] so they don't steal'. That moment was just...I don't even like to think about it. But it stuck with me. Being followed around was bad enough but the comment just put me over the edge.
My mom, as I've mentioned before, basically looks like a white chick in spite of the fact that she's actually half-Mexican. She's probably the lightest person in the entire family. She always talks about how people would see her with these three dark kids and ask all kinds of nosy ass questions about whether we were adopted, etc. because we couldn't be hers. I don't know of anyone who gets more worked up over injustices or racism more than her, and she's only become more vocal about since she became a grandma to a bunch of kids of different races. She was the first one to tell me about the Arizona law and she made a good point recently that so much of the hate in this country has to do with the mixing of cultures and the rise of minorities. Soon white folks will be the minority and not the majority of the country. But it shouldn't matter. Everybody should have the same rights and not have to worry about being profiled or having fewer opportunities because of the color of their skin. We've come a long way with civil rights but sometimes you realize how much further we still have to go.
