History Repeating Itself in Arizona

Apartheid lasted in South Africa for 46 years. There were laws passed to classify citizens into four races: white, black, coloured and Indian. The blacks and the coloured's were not allowed to vote and were deprived of their citizenship. The country was divided into living areas according to race. Residents had to carry an identity card that stated their race. If you were in an area where your race was not allowed, you were arrested. Families were separated if one member was determined to be of a different race or of a mixed race. There were many laws passed that continued to systematically oppress non-white citizens.

What happens when a specific group is oppressed?

They find a way to organize and protest. They tend to start out peacefully protesting but things turn violent...as with the Sharpeville massacre where 69 people were shot and killed by police in South Africa in 1960.

Nelson Mandela was arrested just two years after the Sharpeville massacre. He was charged with sabotage and crimes that were considered treason. He was sentenced to life in prison. During that time, the government offered to release him if he'd give up the fight against apartheid. He never agreed and he was eventually released 27 years later, after apartheid had ended.

Other countries also placed trade sanctions on South Africa because they disagreed with the politics.

This all sounds vaguely similar to what's going on in Arizona today.

Arizona passed a law to that allows law enforcement to detain citizens and ask for citizenship papers based on race. Apartheid started out with one law in 1950 called the Population Registration Act. This act segregated citizens based on race and introduced the identity card that each person 18 years and older was forced to carry.

There are several states that are refusing to do business with Arizona. Much like the countries that placed trade sanctions against South Africa (the Unites States was one of those countries).

We are supposed to learn from our mistakes. The saying "history repeats itself" could not be truer than it appears to be in Arizona.

So, what can be done about Arizona becoming the South Africa of the 1980's?

They could open their history books, read a little and realize they made a mistake and overturn the law. Obama could pass a federal law that negates this state law because federal laws override state laws...yet this won't stop people from being arrested in Arizona because of the long and complex legal process.

The best solution is for Arizona to repeal the law and place the burden on the companies that are hiring employees who are not legal citizens. The state should pass a law to help fund this by perhaps providing tax breaks to companies with a clean record of not hiring illegals for a period of 5 years or more. This forces businesses to front the cost of performing the validation and gives the state time to find the money to reimburse them.

This is not going to be popular with voters but it's better to do what's right in the long run than to do something that is leading our country down a very slippery slope for political gain today.

1 http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/apartheid