Shrill mob would outlaw DWM (driving while Mexican)
Sept. 23, 2007 12:00 AM

Reach Viewpoints Editor Joe Garcia at joe.garcia@arizonarepublic.com.

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepubli ... a0923.html
Not a drinker, I don't worry about being stopped for DWI (driving while intoxicated).

DWM (driving while Mexican), however, could become a real threat if immigrant haters get their way.

In shamelessly exploiting last week's shooting death of a Phoenix police officer to try to change a 20-year city policy, extremists want local police to be mandated to become local Border Patrol agents. advertisement




If there's a brown-skinned person there, question him and make him prove his citizenship.

If there's a brown-skinned driver - or is that merely a deep tan? - pull him over on suspicion of DWM.

A good idea?

Yes, says Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon, if "we want to turn this city over to the criminals."

It makes no sense to tie up a police officer for hours so he can arrest a landscaper, hotel housekeeper, dishwasher or construction worker while thieves, rapists, robbers and killers run wild.

"They're all criminals!" immigrant haters quickly shriek.

Criminals?

If you rob, you're a robber. If you rape, you're a rapist. If you kill, you're a killer. But if you live in the United States without proper documentation, due to a broken federal system and a politically polarized Congress, you are not a criminal.

You may be a truck driver, laundry attendant or grocery-store clerk, but you are not a criminal.

You may be a hospital worker, neighbor or parent, but you are not a criminal.

You are a person without documentation with certain rights and protections. And, under the U.S. Constitution, your children born here are full-fledged Americans.

This is the immigrant hater's greatest fear: that more brown-skinned people will become bona fide U.S. citizens. They would become our equals, a notion immigrant haters can't seem to accept.

In response, with a fistful of hate in one hand and fear in the other, they turn rabid, trying to corrupt the Constitution, thwarting any attempt at realistic immigration reform and attempting to order local police officers to become Gestapo, checking for papers.



The shooter was an illegal immigrant. That fact is not under dispute. But does anybody really believe he abruptly abandoned his lawnmower during work and decided to go on a crime spree?

If you look at his record, he was a career criminal. And if you look at his personal history, for all intents and purposes, he was an American. Brought to this nation as an infant, he was a byproduct of our society, which continues to create more than its fair share of violent offenders - regardless of document status.

The relentlessly repeated lies on talk radio would have you believe that illegal immigrants rule the streets, shooting police officers and everyone else at will.

Nothing could be further from the truth, said Phoenix Police Chief Jack Harris and the mayor, both of whom met with The Arizona Republic Editorial Board on Thursday.

With the death of Officer Nick Erfle, both city officials had many important duties to attend but none more important than to try to contain a wildfire set by an angry mob of arsonists torching the truth, which is: The vast majority of undocumented people are hardworking individuals who are no trouble to police and no threat to society, although sometimes their skin is a little browner.

"The hate is getting out there," Gordon said. "The rhetoric has gotten away from illegal (and moved) to undocumented to Mexican to Hispanic to anybody with color."

In other words, extremists say, let's order city officials to institute DWM traffic stops.

Recognize racism for what it is and the very real dangers it poses to the Valley and beyond.

Let police do their job, which is to catch crooks, not cooks.



Reach Viewpoints Editor Joe Garcia at joe.garcia@arizonarepublic.com.