I respect ASUO Sen. Jairo Castaneda’s vehemence toward diversity and equality, but I need to draw his attention to several things so that he may control his activism intelligently next time (“Racism at Senate is no joke,” ODE, May 6). This is the kind of “activism” that has been heavily criticized in the Emerald over the last week, and I greatly agree.
Please note that I oppose the new Arizona immigration law, but it is not because it is all based upon perception or the idea that an individual can simply “look illegal.”
Arizona, like Oregon, does not have racial profiling laws. This issue with Arizona Senate Bill 1070 is not an issue of racial profiling or perception; it’s an issue of constitutionality and procedure vs. practice. In fact, the bill states that search is made to “reasonable suspicion,” and that’s a nice little loophole because the Fourth Amendment disallows “unreasonable search.” The U.S. Constitution doesn’t care who is a minority; the Constitution cares that everyone is treated the same (This is a pretty common misconception: Civil rights/equal protection laws in the 14th Amendment weren’t made for minorities; they were made for everyone). Why people are being pulled over (perception) doesn’t matter nearly as much as the fact that U.S. citizens are being pulled over at all! Therefore, the bill is completely fine on paper; the issue is that any error in practice results in a constitutional violation. So please don’t under-educate the Emerald’s readers with loaded reasons as to why the Arizona bill is bad.
As for Castaneda, the next time he wants to be an activist by ignoring his duty, I suggest he look up activism. I agree that Sen. Ben Fisher’s comments were in poor taste, but it’s scary to me that someone who ran for ASUO president follows the mantra of “two wrongs make a right.” Castaneda’s wrong only made more things destructive. His wrong showed far more of an issue in student politics than Fisher’s comment. And I can promise the ASUO voters as your Senate Seat 14 replacement next year that I will never conduct myself in this manner.
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