Why is everything about race to you?

First off I would like to say Nick, the author of this Letter to the Editor that appeared in today's Evergreen, is a good friend. Politically we are polar opposites and when it comes to politics I try to steer clear of touchy subjects because we are both pretty politically active. I have actually spoke to Nick about doing a point-counterpoint on The PES.

What kind of message does a fence send? How about "stay the f--- out."

More or less, but I would probably choose not to say a bad word. The point is there is a proper way to come to America.

I was offended by the Republican wall

I will argue until the day I die that you choose to be offended. No one at birth is born with the idea of something being offensive. You have to make a conscious choice to want to be offended by things. The reason why I make that point is because someone chooses a course of action should never mean that I must change what I have done to "make" the other person offended.

Like the Arizona initiative to make English the official language of that state, symbols such as walls are invoked to mobilize the bigoted base of the Republican Party.

An English major upset about English being an official language? Just wait until our dollar bills are four-feet by four-feet in order to say "One Dollar" in about twenty languages because everyone believes that it is not nice to be forced to learn English.

The image of a fence protecting America from foreign "invaders" is sufficient enough to get the xenophobic and bigoted members of the Republican Party to the polls.

Invaders in quotation marks? How come? Are people who illegally come to a country not an invader? I don't care what country someone is from and what country they go to, if it is done illegally then I would call that being an invader. What would you call it?

What it does do is stir up racist sentimentalities among conservative voters before election time.

What election? Why do conservatives have to be racist? I would argue that liberals are racist. Conservatives could care less about race. Who is it that always brings up race in to issues? Liberals.

The same fears of immigrants have resurfaced throughout American history. ... It's unacceptable that in the 21st century, these insidious tactics are still used and that people can hide behind the transparent guise of "National Security" to conceal their bigotry.

People who favor forcing immigrants to come here legally are bigoted? How come? What does that say about people who claim that those who want a fence are bigoted? Like I argued on The PES on Monday, it seems pretty racist of someone to assume that illegal immigrants are minorities. Is that a liberals way of saying the a white person cannot be an illegal immigrant? And this also goes to show what I said above, the liberals are the ones who bring up race. They have an infatuation with race. I personally don't argue for a fence for due to national security concerns, I argue a fence because our laws are being broken and the fence will go to slow down that law breaking.

To anyone who wants to argue that an illegal immigrant only comes here because he is trying to make a better life for himself -- That he is only coming here because we have things that they don't have -- That we are better off than them and that it is not right of us to keep them from getting access to a better life ponder this:

I hope that you remove locks from your doors and windows. I hope that you welcome anyone who wants to come into your house and use your TV, eat your food, use your shower, take some clothes, and sleep on your bed. Because after all they are just trying to make a better life for themselves. You are better off than them and you are morally obligated to not shut them out. You have NO RIGHT to protect your stuff from other people. You have NO RIGHT to lock your door.