Immigration and Ferguson: A country divided
By:   //  Op-Ed

by Editorial Staff

President Barack Omaba’s announcement of his immigration program has sparked a flurry of Internet commentary, both for and against. The president has offered temporary relief from deportation to the parents of U.S. citizens and permanent residents who have been in the country for more than five years. He’ll also extend a program that already allows undocumented migrants brought here as children to stay in the country.

There’s a host of unanswered questions that come with Mr. Obama’s plan, questions that only the future can answer. How many of the five million illegal immigrants will file for public assistance benefits? How many will work a low-income job and qualify for the Earned Income tax credit? How many will need legal aid to complete the process? How is this move going to tax an already over-taxed population of legal citizens? What about the other six million or so illegals?

Mr. Obama’s most hypocritical statement was made when he said the illegal immigrants want to obey the laws. They came in through the back door illegally and have been living here illegally. That’s obeying the laws? It’s statements like this that are infuriating the public and causing the president’s favorable rating to nosedive.

Mr. Obama has been referred to as a king and an emperor by his opponents while many in the Hispanic community are calling him a hero. What this action does to the next presidential election remains to be seen, but it is presumed Mr. Obama has added millions to the voter registration rolls.

The Republican’s say they want to impeach the president, but how does that address the immigration issue? While impeachment might look good to a percentage of the population, no one is taking action on the pressing matter, and no one wants to because it’s such a hotbed of divided opinion.

Of course, immigration is a complex issue and many rely on the mainstream media to keep informed. But how much does the mainstream media really tell us?

Following Mr. Obama’s Thursday night speech, Facebook debates were rampant. In one debate, James Meech, whose LinkedIn profile lists him as a broadcast engineer for CNN, states that he see’s everything from “a very unfiltered perspective.” We’re not sure what he means by that, but it could be interpreted that CNN is filtering the news. The Conservatives and Moderates could have a good time jumping all over that statement.

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As the debate rages on over immigration, tension mounts in Ferguson, Missouri as the country awaits the grand jury decision in the Michael Brown case. Brown’s father has called for calm while Al Sharpton stated he is on “high alert.”

It’s another issue that has divided the country and called race into question. A black man is shot by a white police officer and a town takes to the streets to protest and sometimes riot.  Blacks kill blacks, whites kill whites, blacks kill whites, and whites kill blacks. When white police officers shoot and kill unarmed white men, there’s rarely a protest or riots. It’s usually nothing more than the day’s headlines and forgotten. A number of years ago when a police officer shot an unarmed intoxicated man in downstate New York, it received two column inches of newspaper space. Al Sharpton was no where to be found.

In a perfect world, race wouldn’t be an issue, circumstance and facts would be the deciding factor. When incidents and issues turn to black and white, it only further serves to divide a country- a country that, for the most part, had moved away from the Archie Bunker mindset.

The Michael Brown case is fear-driven- fear blacks will be angered, fear whites will be angered, fear of riots, and fear of fear. While a local grand jury may pass down a no-bill against Darren Wilson, the feds may because well… that may bring a balance of justice, or so they believe.

It’s time to weigh all the issues on fact and the fact is this country will not be better served by reverting to the 1960s. It’s time to accept what is what, and not what is what based on race, creed, or color. Unless we do something now, as a country, we will only continue to strangulate all that is good.

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