arizona debate...continued part deaux

Greetings!

My apologies for being in a rush, and as a result, not employing the use of 'spell check', or reading my first post thoroughly.

To pick up where I left off, my dentist became extremely animated and almost angry at this debate. His anger was not directed at me, nor was he yelling at me..he was just extremely passionate about this.

Like I mentioned before, his main justification for his railings, were that, the new movement in Arizona is not racist, and that California's lawmakers should be reprimanded for not supporting AZ and boycotting them.

He did not mention the fact that this law could lead to racial profiling; he just could not see it.

This leads me to my main point. Somehow the party of Lincoln' as they dub themselves miss the points on a lot of issues that underscore race. The simple ignorance, lack of insight, or downright cluelessness and sensitivity to this type of issue is what I like to dub 'socio-economic ignorance'. Certain classes of people do not/have not ever socialized with any minorities, and as a result, either make statements, or in this case laws that affect them.

My point is supported by the advancement of the law that was recently signed by Gov. Brewer that limits ethnic studies in high schools in Arizona...citing...'patriotism', and negation of 'hateful attitudes' towards America. She and a school superintendent also advised that having ethnic studies in place makes the students feel as if they are victims! How can this be? We are all Americans, here! How can anyone outside of my socio-economic group dictate to me, how I feel? A feeling of pride at a particular culture does not undermine the patriotism that a student feels..b/d they are still American. That's asinine. Again, ethnic studies constitutes American history, because America does not consist of just one race/group/cultural structure. This is an asinine law and undermines strides and contributions that our fellow citizens have made in our great nation.

To further this, I have met and encountered fellow students at my alma mater who advised that they had never ever socialized or met a Black person, a Mexican person, and had class with a few Asians. Without knowing the cultural traditions, and the values, it's easy to make ignorant assumptions, and to advance exclusive agendas that hurt, rather than advance our great nation.

This brings me back to my original question that I will pose to lawmakers: WHAT IS YOUR INTENT, AND WHAT IS YOUR DESIRED GOAL of proposing this legislation?

I can speculate, and can really theorize what I THINK they are, but what is the undermining purpose. Not communicating this, and incorrectly using terms, such as patriotism, victimization undermines our democracy, and the principles, that as the 'land of the free' we enjoy as American citizens.

-DG