Good Afternoon, America
By Randle Loeb on Jul 29, 2010 | In Caring and Surviving, Citizenship and Stewards By Randle Loeb
Yesterday, and on any day there was a rally on the doorstep of El Centro Humanitario at 2250 California Street, across from the Blair-Caldwell Library of a decision with respect to a federal judge on an injunction against the onerous parts of a law passed by Arizona State Assembly, which stated that it was lawful for police to stop and search suspects who may be undocumented and on such a basis arrest them. This judge said that it is unconstitutional for a local law enforcement organization to determine to determine status of citizenship and that the federal government is the only legitimate place to determine the status and procedures of citizenship. Some parts of this new law in Arizona were not addressed in the court's decision striking down these requirements. Rights of undocumented people are hanging in the balance. The present administration has arrested and incarcerated more people than even in the previous administration.
Undocumented citizens have contributed more to the economy of America than most people realize, or care to acknowledge. One of the artists in the Biennial of the Americas did an installation on the floor of the McNichols Building that had a penny for every million dollars of contributed work of such people to this land. There were more that 3.756 pennies sitting side by side. The artist is donating the pennies to a local Latino organization at the end of the exhibition.
What overruns our imagination of this dramatic exhibition is the insignia on the penny, which states, "E pluribus Unum," Equality for all, is on the face of the penny.
The federal judge prescribed a cure for the ill of Arizona , which has set a standard for the neglect and harm of segment of our populace. Let us regard our neighbor in our image and see that all belong here.
« ![]() | ![]() |



