Living in Arizona, a border state, there is a law currently being battled about in Washington that will have some affect here. That is the law on immigration, and it would make being an illegal citizen a crime. I've listened to the debate and discussion on the topic in my own house, and while I think some regulation is needed this might be going too far. The law has no provisions for day laborers that come here to work during the day in the border cities. These individuals would also be breaking the law.
I think what has caught my interest most of all in this situation in recent days are the student protests. Students are walking out to protest the law, and today I had my own experience with this. As I've mentioned before, I live next door to a junior high and there is an elementary school right next door to that on the other side.
Earlier this morning, I was standing in my kitchen talking to my brother when I heard some hollering outside, I looked and dozens of junior high students were walking past my apartment building. They had walked out in protest. It reminded me of a similar walk out I had done during my junior high years in protest of Desert Storm. It lasted all of half an hour, but I did something.
Later on this afternoon, my brother told me that one hundred and five students had walked out, and they were all going to be suspended for doing so. This bothered me. Yes, they walked out, but when I did the very same thing about fifteen years ago, I wasn't suspended for the action. I believe they have the right to peacefully protest. The school feels otherwise I guess.
Do you think suspending the students is right? I know they left campus, but they seemed to return just as quickly. The fact is they did what they could to make their voice heard. I think that's important. To me it almost feels as if by suspending the students it is suppressing their rights to speak up and be heard. They might be only in junior high, but I've met some teenagers that age who are quite intelligent. These youngsters will be voting in just a few years time.
On another note, I have chosen a new Blog of the Week. This week, I'd like you to hop on over and say hello to Lisa at Fragile Industries. She is another writer working in several genres from nonfiction and poetry to BDSM. She emailed me this afternoon shortly after placing her bid, and after taking a look at her blog I knew there was not one doubt that it would be chosen for this week's Blog of the Week honor. I'm sure you'll find her thoughts quite interesting, so please take a moment to hop on over to her blog and say hello! Tell her Gina sent you over.
288. Suppressing the voices of tomorrow
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Posted by Regina Avalos at 6:08 PM
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3 comments:
Thanks for the nice plug, Gina. I hope I can live up to the billing!
As for student protests, I support peaceful free speech for students. I started a comment here, but it went on at such length I decided to export it to my blog. Thanks for the idea!
Kids protested here today, too. They weren't suspended, but were given "unexcused" absences.
it's incorrect to refer to illegal immigrants as citizens. Citizenship is a specific term and holds rights and privileges received by meeting the conditions of citizenships.
Those who come here illegally have not done so, and make a mockery of the sacrifices of everyone over the past hundred years who did come here legally.
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