Current location:	work
Current mood:	pensive
Current music:	The Pogues - Streets of Sorrow/Birmingham Six
Entry tags:	music, news, omgwtf, politics

Kingdom of Fear
This day in history: The Guildford Four are released after 15 years in prison.

Because I am an ignorant American (not proud of it, trying to do something about it), I probably never would have known about this if it wasn't for Conor and one of our favorite bands, The Pogues. The ninth track on their third album, If I should Fall From Grace With God, was partially written about the incident. (The song is a medly, and I believe the first half is either a traditional piece or a song written about another incident or issue.) Until recently, I thought that the second half of the piece, "Birmingham Six," dealt with something that had happened long ago, so I was more than a little shocked when Conor informed me that it had all taken place in the 70s and 80s. I suppose that growing up in a middle class American suburb had an even more sheltering and insulating effect on me than I had previously imagined, and I'm rather ashamed at my own naiveté. It's something that I'm going to have to remedy; after all, Conor has made an effort to learn about my, er, "culture" (my father and I still maintain that America doesn't have a unique culture like other countries, especially since we took great pains to wipe out the natives), so it's only fair that I learn as much as I can about Ireland, its history, culture, and people. I'll just add it to the list of everything else I want to learn - and try to figure out how to stay awake for days at a stretch so I have the time to do it.

And because I am a geek and want you all to get your daily dose of good music and European history, go check out the lyrics to "Streets of Sorrow/Birmingham Six".

While we're on the subject of discrimination and intimidation, I thought this was a pretty interesting story here: AG: Voter warning linked to GOP campaign. Seems that some enterprising Republicans in California decided that the best way to keep those pesky Mexicans from voting was by telling them that they could go to jail for it. Specifically, the letter, which was written in Spanish, said, "You are advised that if your residence in this country is illegal or you are an immigrant, voting in a federal election is a crime that could result in jail time."

Now, I think that you could be found guilty of voter fraud if you try to vote without being registered to do so, but the sticking point is that or you are an immigrant clause. See, naturalized U.S. citizens can vote - it's perfectly legal, as long as they're registered.

While this doesn't effect me directly, as I'm a U.S. citizen by birth, it still pisses me off. My great-grandparents on my mom's side (grandma's parents) came here from Mexico, so this kind of blatant discrimination still makes my blood pressure spike. Isn't it funny how when illegal immigration, citizenship rights, voter fraud, or the welfare state comes up in discussion, it's always the fault of Mexicans/Central Americans? I'm almost positive that it's this sort of covert (and sometimes overt) bigotry that contributed to my grandmother's mild paranoia about our heritage. (All those "dirty Mexican" jokes I endured in high school didn't help, either.) It's pretty damn sad that I'm at times ashamed to tell people about my ethnic heritage, and even sadder that by and large, I know very little about Mexican culture and heritage. I learned more about Hispanic and Mexican traditions from my high school Spanish courses than from my family, and to this day I still inwardly cringe when I tell people that I'm a quarter Mexican because I'm waiting, just waiting, for a condescending look or some sort of nasty remark masquerading as a joke. And of course, if I object to such a joke, I am "uptight" or "don't have a sense of humor."

Ok, right. Sorry. Moving on...

...and going along with the whole xenophobia thing, check out this New York Times editorial about Dubya's suspension of habeus corpus. Though the editorial says that this suspension doesn't apply to American citizens, it still scared the shit out of me. And then I got to this part:

It sets up a separate system of justice for any foreigner whom Mr. Bush chooses to designate as an “illegal enemy combatant.”

Any foreigner, people.

So let's say that my Boy decides that he wants to come over here to live, but doesn't want to rush into the whole citizenship thing just yet. So let's also say that he and I start up the fanzine (remember the fanzine? We hooked up because of the fanzine), and let's say that we say some critical things about King Dubya in that fanzine. Or we post things in our blogs that Dubya doesn't like or finds threatening. This new law states that Dubya could declare my Boy an enemy combatant, order law enforcement to drag him off, then have him imprisoned indefinitely without knowing why he was arrested in the first place. And hey, if our Fearless Leader was feeling particularly sadistic, he could also have my Boy tortured until he confessed to his "crimes".

Hmm...why does this sound so familiar?

Oh yeah - it sounds a lot like the case of The Birmingham Six and The Guildford Four, except that this time it's not cops framing innocents - it's the very leader of this country himself. And it's all perfectly legal.

It's all far-fetched, but the point is that I shouldn't have to worry about this at all. Because this is America.

Or at least it used to be. I'm not sure what it is anymore.