Is it the land of the free or do you need a key?

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Is it the land of the free or do you need a key? : America’s exclusive consensus

While America’s constitution guarantees every individual a freedom of rights, our nation’s racial standards and regulations suggest otherwise. Racism is still a prevalent part of society, with many minorities living in constant fear, tormented by the thought of deportation without a future. America may be known as the world’s largest ‘melting pot’, but many white citizens have made it apparent that America is a land dominated by whites. This is exemplified by various laws, such as the Alabama immigration law, that have defined America’s role as a nation ruled by the white race. Although America is thought to be a nation of freedom, the Alabama immigration law insinuates fear in the people by establishing a consensus which excludes immigrants.

Our nation once said that no child would ever be denied an education based on unlawful status, only to break this regulation years later by establishing the Alabama immigration law. This provision requires schools to record the immigration status of incoming students and their parents, and to pass this data on to the state. In doing so, immigrants have developed a widespread anxiety that keeps them from attending school due to the fear of being judged by teachers and classmates, and thereby facing possible expulsion, putting their very future at stake. Not only has the number of immigrants attending school in Alabama now decreased by fifty percent, but the people in Alabama have established a consensus which excludes immigrants. The citizens that live within the consensus of Alabama must speak the rhetoric of the consensus in order to remain a part of it. Therefore, it has become ‘uncool’ for children to speak to immigrant classmates, and has even created boundaries that divide white towns from immigrant towns. A source told the New York Times that “A little girl in my daughter’s class asked when she was going to go to Mexico because she was illegal” (Arelley). This exemplifies the fact that immigrants now feel as if they do not belong in America, causing many to drop out of school and return to their homelands. While every nation has a right to restrict its borders, Alabama has usurped the government's role by devising a far-reaching immigration law which blatantly stratifies immigrants as second class citizens, not worthy of our tax dollars.

Furthermore, the Alabama immigration law creates a consensus that excludes immigrants by defining racial standards within its borders. The consensus of Alabama is similar to that of Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible, for both the law and the play establish a consensus that uses anxiety as a means to control the minds of the people. In The Crucible, the people of Salem use the threat of witches as a means to devise a consensus, excluding anyone who opposes the consensus by accusing them of being a witch. Just as the play uses anxiety as a means to control, the Alabama law insinuates a fear in immigrants that has forced them to stop attending school. The Alabama immigration law violates America’s constitution by creating a consensus that enforces fear into a minority group, and is diagonally opposed to the creed in the constitution that all men are created equal.

Word Count: 527

Works Cited: www.nytimes.com/2011/10/28/us/alabama-immigration-laws-critics-question-target.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all