Papers, please!
As a white person — have you ever given a moment’s thought about what it would be like to have to carry your passport around all the time? And your “papers”?
Do you even know what your papers are?
Let me tell you — because I’ve seen during my travels — it could be anything.
We could start with your birth certificate. Carry that around. Not a copy. The official copy. (Do you even know where yours is?)
But I think We should know if you have the right to be right here, right now.
Show me a passport with a valid visa. (Don’t tell me you don’t need one, that you are a citizen. I don’t take your word for it. I decide.)
How about your certificate of residency — a passcard — for your state and your city?
And your neighborhood. (Because I don’t necessarily want you in mine.)
But maybe we didn’t get you right at first glance. Maybe all those rights we afforded you at birth…were in error.
So, just to be certain, a certificate of genealogy proving your heritage is sufficient — let’s say 4 generations on this continent — or, no: how about 10? (Don’t even think about asking for a DNA analysis. We don’t believe the so-called science showing that we are all from common genetic heritage.)
So now, every time you leave your house, you must carry your dossier:
Birth certificate,
Passport,
Passcard,
Heritage card.
Automatic arrest without it. Certainly no health care without it. No School. No public transport. No entry to government buildings. Heck, even some churches are wary of letting you in without these documents.
Hey. Wait, where are you going? Work?
Don’t even think of heading to work without your dossier and, of course, your green card. Yes. I am talking to you. HR will be asking for it.
You will now need to have your green card on you at all times, especially on your way to and from your cubicle — heck also when you log-on to your workstation. Or you will be suspended from employment, your paycheck stopped and punitive fines garnishes until you can prove you are valid. (Burden is on you, dude — not on your government to prove you don’t have those rights.)
Feeling like this is a crazy dystopian scenario?
Try on some empathy. And check your history books. I didn’t make these things up or rip them from a novel. This was Apartheid. This was Nazi Germany. This was WWII U.S. for Japanese-Americans. This is Russia. This was antebellum New Orleans. This is Israel. This is China. This is southern Arizona, Texas, Florida. (And, right you are that these tactics may have only been employed in-part in some places, does that make you feel better about having them enforced, used as a basis for arrest and imprisonment, exile, exploitation, removal of rights to travel, education, medical care?)
Check your beliefs about how things work. Weigh in your mind whether requiring people to be “documented” does more to prevent terrorism or more to create a culture and environment of pervasive fear of the government and each other.
Ask yourself (or your four-year-old) whether you can think of a better way to operate a government and ensure the safety of a country. If you can’t think of anything — I bet you can, though — invite some buddies over, stock the fridge with beer (or wine or soda) and have yourself a think tank.
If you still can’t think of something, go ask your mom where she stored your birth certificate. You’re gonna need it soon.
Looking to do your part? One way to get involved is to read the Indivisible Guide, which is written by former congressional staffers and is loaded with best practices for making Congress listen. Or follow this publication, connect with us on Twitter, and join us on Facebook.
