Xenophobia in the U.S. of A.

     I am usually not one for writing about politics, however with Barack Obama's publishing of his birth certificate, I decided to put out my two cents. 

     The controversy of whether or not Barack Obama is truly an American has been being tossed around the table for over three years now and for what reason? Because his name doesn't sound like your next door neighbor's? Because of how he was raised? Because he is black? It's sad to say, but that is the main reason. Let's look at our presidential history. Barack Obama is the first African American president and the first president to be publicly forced into publishing his birth certificate on the internet. I do not recall George W. Bush, his father or Bill Clinton having to publish their birth certificates in the Times. And that's probably because they didn't have to. But neither did Barack Obama.

     Since it is a requirement to be an American born citizen to be president I would guess that congress and the supreme court made a copy of his birth certificate or at least took a look at it to make sure he was actually an American born citizen, you know, those checks and balances we learned about in government. If a person takes Presidential office, I am going to take a leap of faith and assume it is safe to say that they are an American. If congress or the supreme didn't check that would be a major oh sh!t moment for our country, and we already have quite a few of those lined up. 

    This whole controversy is part of a much bigger problem in America. We assume that anyone of a different skin color is probably going to kill us, kidnap us, mug us or possibly hit us. I guarantee that if our president had the last name Rodriguez or Chang, their birth certificate would be demanded as well and Rush Limbaugh would find a way to connect them to Al Qaeda or Jihad. 

     Also, take a look at the countries we boarder. To the North Canada, and the South Mexico. These are the two boarders crossed legally and illegally most frequently each year. Can you guess which is number one? Canada. Now I can understand some increased security around Mexico given that there are the dangers of narcotics and weapons trafficking. But is a wall that completely blocks us off from them going to fix the problem? No. It is a non-cost efficient solution that is not plausible and neither are thousands of man hours in boarder control. The fact is that thousands of people die in those deserts every year because of that wall when what we should put that money towards is affirmative action. They need help not a wall. We can't be afraid of what's different than us. That's what America is. We are built up of everyone that was different and now we say we only want the same. It's very hypocritical.

     I am proud of my heritage. I love the look on people's faces when I get to tell them "I'm half portuguese" because it's interesting. Our heritage is beautiful and we should love human beings because of their heritage and not hate them for it. We should not be divided by our races, our state lines or our country lines. We are one species: human. And we need to work together if we are going to get anywhere.