In Indiana, the scapegoating is on. Never mind that we will probably spend $2 trillion on the wars in Afghanisan and Iraq with nothing but death and chaos to show for it. Or that people are losing their homes at record rates.
Lets go after the latinos!
Tbe Indiana statehouse is busy finalizing details of SB 335. This immigration bill would be one of the harshest pieces of legislation for undocumented workers in the nation. Oklahoma and Arizona have passed similar legislation with many an unintended consequence. As one Oklahoma Republican said, ” You really have to work hard at it to destroy our state’s economy, but we found a way.”
Anyway, yesterday at the Indiana statehouse, pastors were pleading with legislators to take their time with this issue and consider that the well being of tens of thousands of people are at stake. SB 335 author Sen. Mike Delph (R-Carmel) was having none of it. He released a statement to these pastors that “Jesus obeyed the law.”
Jesus obeyed the law? Not in my bible.
Really, he did? I am not sure what bible they preach out of up there in those big mansions in Carmel, but last time I checked disobeying the law was what got Jesus strung up on the cross in the first place.
If you could listen to the posted above Youtube video long enough, Delph even quotes Martin Luther King, Jr to support SB 335. Yikes! Here is a blog with a good take on the use of Dr. King—who broke many laws– in this debate. According to Delph, he is doing immigrants a favor by running them out of town.
Rev. Richard Clark, Delph’s pastor at Carmel Christian Church, is backing SB 335. He was one of the few pastors who spoke in favor of the legislation, but he wanted to put more of a social justice spin on it. He, pretending to do his best Cesar Chavez impression, claimed ““These companies, many of whom take unfair advantage of (employees’) illegal status, pay them below-standard wages.”
He is right I guess. But by causing a mass migration out of Indiana isn’t really supporting worker’s rights.
A Real Path to Citizenship
If Clark really wanted to stand up for worker’s rights maybe he should get involved with some of the union campaigns that are going on in Indianapolis and Carmel. Latino janitors are in the middle of negoiating a union contract and Latino hotel workers are in the middle of fighting to to get their union recognized.
Instead of creating a climate of fear like SB 335 would, these union campaigns are actually trying to pave a path to both real and economic citizenship.
And ultimately, I think that is what Jesus would prefer.
Filed under: Immigration, Indiana State House, POlitics, progressive , Carmel Christian Church, HERE, illegal immigration, Indiana politcs, martin luther king, MIke Delph, SB 334, SEIU, undocumented workers, UNITE, UNITE HERE
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