Long before any white European immigrant set foot in the New World (later, the United States of America), there were already indigenous folks living, hunting, fishing, gardening, trading, fighting, birthing and dying on this land. At the beginning of the 1830’s there were an estimated 125,000 Native Americans living on millions of acres of southern land - land that was deemed valuable and begrudgingly coveted by White immigrant settlers who were moving into the area. These settlers did anything they could to get that land - from looting and burning Native American homes, stealing their livestock to squatting on land that did not belong to them.
Remember the Trail of Tears? Thousands of Native Americans were forcefully removed from their lands, walking hundreds of miles to reservations on what was then called “Indian Territory” in Oklahoma. Many died enroute or were killed, unsuccessfully defending their lands. In 2003, these forced removals and resulting deaths were rightfully described as a genocide.
Now, nearly 200 years later, a different but just as cruel, form of discrimination is taking place again in America towards people of color. People who come here for a better life for themselves and their families; people escaping war; people escaping dictatorships; people escaping drought-ridden countries (due to climate change), looking to America as their safe haven only to be cruelly treated and discriminated against.
Hence, this call to action.
There are proposed bills at the State House targeting New Hampshire's immigrant communities.
- SB 13 would needlessly seize many undocumented immigrants who drive across state lines into NH, even if they have a valid driver's license in another state. Immigrants, like us, need to be able to drive, and if they enter NH with a valid driver's license from another state, then they deserve the ability to move freely and care for their families without fear of arrest or deportation.
- SB 62 bypasses local government by requiring a police department be the sole decision-maker on whether to take on the role of the federal government in participating in the federal 287(g) program, a program focused on immigration enforcement and detention that has a long record of racial profiling and other civil rights violations. This eliminates local government control and further bars any input or discretion, even community discussion, around the issue of police taking on federal immigration work.
- SB 71 requires police officers to essentially function as federal immigration enforcers (ICE) in local communities. This would destroy any relationship between police and the community they serve, would be a major financial burden on local law enforcement and taxpayers, and may even encourage immigration enforcement in sensitive places like schools.
Contact your state senator. Let him or her know that anti-immigrant policies like these are cruel and insulting to all people of NH and is a waste of state resources that could be used for other, more important, issues. Takes only moments to speak in defense of a fellow human being.