I read a lot of blogs focusing on a wide variety of issues. I read a pro-choice blog, an anti-conservative blog, and anti-racist blog, an anti-tea bagger blog, etc. Mainly they are just ways to pass the time when I'm not busy, ways to have a good laugh. More and more frequently, however, reading these blogs has become very disturbing, for a number of reasons. First, the amount of suggested violence on the part of the "bigots," "right-wingers," "anti-choicers," "tea partiers," etc. is very unsettling. Though I have never seen a "liberal" (or rather a "non-vitriolic conservative") suggest violence on or against anyone, I am sure it has happened. It alarms me that we as a country have apparently completely polarized ourselves. Either we are extreme liberals or extreme conservatives, there can be no middle ground. To me it reeks of civil war, which I am sure many conservatives would be pleased with (go ahead, Texas and Virginia, break away from the Union). When I think of the modern two-party system in America, I have visions of a World War I battlefield, with trenches dug on either side of a muddied field, with decapitated trees and lifeless grass laying immobile surrounded by the rigid bodies of young people sent far from their homes to defend an intangible cause.
It truly scares me, to know that there are people in this very country who feel enough hatred of gays, liberals, pro-choicers, non-Christians, non-whites, etc. that they would put their lives on the line. Often in the name of Christ.
It's really terrifying, if you think about it. I want to move to Canada so badly some times, but the process of becoming a Canadian citizen (while easier than becoming an American citizen) is daunting, and only if you have a job offer or a family member petitioning for you can you begin the citizenship process. I looked into going to seminary in Canada, but the Lutheran Church of Canada only ordains males and is one of the few Canadian organizations that openly does not acknowledge the Canadian ruling to allow same-sex marriage. As someone who is strongly considering seminary post-undergraduate graduation, and unwilling to switch denominations, it seems as though a move to Canada is out of the question.
Thinking of these things got my blood boiling regarding immigration in the United States. The other day I read an article about a young illegal alien who, driving drunk, killed a nun and injured two others. The nuns' order is ashamed that the killing of this nun by this young man has caused such a political debate surrounding immigration. The young man had MANY infractions against his driving record, he had driven drunk many times and it was not his first drunk driving accident. In 2008 a judge was set to rule at the closing of his deportation hearings, but the ruling has apparently been in limbo for the past two years, as he has not been deported. We religious folk are commanded to be forgiving (hard as it is almost all of the time), and certainly those three nuns would forgive this young man, if they could, though they would also likely want him to pay for his crimes (grant under Caeser what is Caeser's, after all). But the fact that he is an illegal immigrant complicates the situation, to the extreme.
So I got to thinking, aren't we all technically illegal immigrants, besides 100% Native Americans? If you look back on the history of this hemisphere, North, Central and South America have always been populated by native peoples. During the shifting of the continents the native people were separated and lived nomadic lifestyles of hunting, gathering, fishing and worshipping. While in Europe, the Middle East and Asia technology began to rapidly expand (as a result of all of those civilizations being so close together), the indiginous peoples of the Americas survived and thrived in their own ways. In Central and South America the Aztecs and Mayans flourished, creating technology that to this day is neither understood nor appreciated. Spain, in its lust for gold, conquered South and Central America, under the guise of wanting to "Christianize" the heathens they murdered them with disease, raped them and diluted their gene pools, made them slaves, sent them back to Europe to be palace pets for the King and Queen, etc. Much earlier, in the far north of present day Canada, Vikings began exploring the American north-east. To this day there is a native tribe in Northern Canada that bears the lasting effects of the Vikings (recessive blonde hair and blue eyes), though the Vikings ostensibly did not rape and pillage these people but rather integrated themselves with the already existing culture.
England and France, feeling that Spain should not be the sole benefactor of America's gold-rich soil, sent ships to what is today North America. The clash with the Natives in North America was not as violent at first as it was with the Spanish, who more of less destroyed everything in their path. In present day Canada the tribes were preserved by their ability to move across the snow and ice, leaving the settlers without access to their villages, hunting grounds, etc (at least for a short while). The United States, though, was perfect for building, colonizing, stealing resources and land. These "explorers" were no more than murderers, killing anyone or anything that got in their way. Never once did they pass a security check point, where they were forced to present proof of citizenship, or even a passport. No one questioned their authority or identity.
Today if you are driving along the highways of Utah, Arizona or Nevada you will likely see the remanents of the rape and pillage of the American Indian. One room cement and mud shanties, with tin roofs and a dusty yard. Alcoholism, casinos, drug use, a much much much higher statistic for the number of women and girls raped, almost rampant illegal activity, all as a result of "illegal immigration." When someone with brown skin attempts to cross the border into the modern day United States, they might be shot, or deported, or they might live for a few years in their new country, then fall victim to drugs or alcohol and kill a nun. Not many years ago, this was not the United States, Mexico was not Mexico, and Canada was not Canada. There were no borders, besides tribal borders. Individuals were bound to their tribes and their peoples. With the "illegal immigrants" from England, France and Spain came a lack of respect for brown skin, a lack of appreciate for neighbourly love and respect and a complete lack of concern for the sanctity of human life.
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