The Jersey Guys, the radio DJs who are encouraging listeners to report undocumented immigrants in an effort they call “Cucha Gotcha” and Rat-a-Rat, claim they don’t understand why Hispanics are upset, after all, they insist, they’re only after people here illegally.
Let me tell you why I’m upset. I listened to Craig Carton and Ray Rossi’s show Tuesday and a man called in saying he had just been cut off on the highway by an undocumented immigrant. How did the caller know that the driver he had a run-in with on a highway was undocumented?
Undocumented immigrants don’t have vanity licenses that distinguish them as such. They don’t wear a certain uniform. They don’t have any distinguishing features such as a third arm. The caller simply couldn’t have verified the person’s immigration status in the seconds their encounter lasted.
What most probably happened was that the caller saw a brown face behind the steering wheel. Maybe the person who cut him off was driving an older car. And the caller assumed it must be an undocumented immigrant.
Let me tell you why I’m upset. I listened to Craig Carton and Ray Rossi’s show Tuesday and a man called in saying he had just been cut off on the highway by an undocumented immigrant. How did the caller know that the driver he had a run-in with on a highway was undocumented?
Undocumented immigrants don’t have vanity licenses that distinguish them as such. They don’t wear a certain uniform. They don’t have any distinguishing features such as a third arm. The caller simply couldn’t have verified the person’s immigration status in the seconds their encounter lasted.
What most probably happened was that the caller saw a brown face behind the steering wheel. Maybe the person who cut him off was driving an older car. And the caller assumed it must be an undocumented immigrant.
That’s the biggest problem with the DJs’ game. You can’t tell someone’s immigration status by looking at them. When you ask people to identify undocumented immigrants, it’s a task that will inevitably cause suspicion to fall on all Hispanics, because as the largest group of immigrants, we have become the face of immigration. How would the DJs like it if at every turn they had to prove they belonged in this country simply because of their ethnic background? I was born here, and I shouldn’t and don’t want to prove to you or anyone that I belong here.
The Jersey Guys say they started this campaign because they feel undocumented immigrants are disrespecting our country’s history of welcoming immigrants. Huh? What’s disrespectful is comparing people to cockroaches and rats. What’s disrespectful is ignoring the contributions immigrants, documented and not, have made to New Jersey and the U.S. What’s disrespectful is targeting more than 15 percent of New Jersey’s population to get a few laughs.
The Jersey Guys say they started this campaign because they feel undocumented immigrants are disrespecting our country’s history of welcoming immigrants. Huh? What’s disrespectful is comparing people to cockroaches and rats. What’s disrespectful is ignoring the contributions immigrants, documented and not, have made to New Jersey and the U.S. What’s disrespectful is targeting more than 15 percent of New Jersey’s population to get a few laughs.
by Mary Moreno
1 comment:
I am disgusted at democracia,usa for how they did an injustice by wrongfully firing two people. I have news for you democracia,USA you won't succeed in new jersey next year. Democracia,usa call themselves community empowerment what a joke what happened to IRMA as long as someone is kissing her butt thats all she cares about.
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