by BRUCE A. DIXON
“Americard”/illiustration/Ian Geldard
Last week Georgia’s House of Representatives passed a package of laws that so out-does Arizona’s B 1070 for racist meanness and overreach that some are calling them the Brown Codes, after the post-Civil War Black Codes of the 19th century. Like their namesakes, the new Brown Codes are designed to stigmatize, isolate and criminalize an entire community. But while 19th century laws could be written to specifically apply to former slaves, Africans, descendants of Africans, and anybody with visible African heritage, 21st century custom obliges even the most blatant apartheid laws to maintain a veneer of color blindness in their language, while their application and results are carefully calculated to single out targeted communities.
1. Georgia’s proposed Brown Codes write the racist slur “illegal aliens” into state law;
In the spirit of racist American white nationalism, Georgia’s Brown Codes create a class of person it calls — specifically in the legislation — “illegal aliens.” This is exactly the same as tacking some degrading adjective onto the n-word, and writing that racist calumny into state law. As we and many others have said elsewhere, the term “illegal aliens” is a dehumanizing and racist slur, the kind of thing civilized people should not allow friends, enemies, or total stragers to utter in their hearing without fear of reproach or correction.
The purposeful logic of the “illegal alien” slur is to deprive targeted people of their humanity, to declare them “aliens” rather than humans, so that they can be made “illegal.” After all, even the most racist American xonophobes sometimes find it hard to make their mouths say “illegal person” or ‘illegal humans.” But now, under Georgia’s Brown Codes, humans unable to prove their immigration status to a doctor before treatment, to a school official upon enrollment, to a taxi driver on the way to work, or to a law enforcement officer for any reason or no reason at all are to stripped of their human rights because they are no longer humans. They become what the legislation specifically calls “illegal aliens,” the legal prey of citizens and bereft of most of the rights of humans.
2. Georgia’s proposed Brown Codes create a series of new, immigration-related felonies;
Look for a job, go to jail!
UnderGeorgia’s proposed Brown Codes, applying for a job with a false ID will become a felony punishable by one to five years in prison for the first offense, and three to twenty years in prison for the second offense. If the name or social security number on the ID is that of an actual person, living or dead it becomes “aggravated identity fraud”, a one to ten year stretch the first offense and a three to fifteen for each additional count. The law further specifies that sentences for these offenses may not run concurrently with each other or with any other sentence, that they can only run consecutively. Take that, Arizona!
Give somebody a ride, go to jail!
…
“Harboring” an undocumented person? Go to jail!
Here’s what the Brown Codes say…
“’Harboring’ or ‘harbors’ means any conduct that tends to substantially help an illegal alien to remain in the United States in violation of federal law…including any building or means of transportation, when such person knows that the person being concealed, harbored, or shielded is an illegal alien, shall be guilty of the offense of concealing or harboring an illegal alien…”
“Harbor” seven or fewer, and your first offense? A misdemeanor, with up to a year sentence. Second and subsequent offenses are one to five felonies. More than seven? Accepting money for this favor, or making a profit? Felony, one to five for the first offense.
Black Agenda Report for more
Please sign the PETITION
Georgia Green Party for more