The Second Coming of the Civil Rights War

The past few weeks have seen the opening volleys of what may well prove to be the second coming of the civil rights wars fought in the 50s and 60s. Only this time, rather than being waged by American citizens long-mistreated and denied their rights, the protestors are largely illegal immigrants, demanding not what is rightfully due them--arrest and deportation--but rather that they be given the same status as legal immigrants and citizens.

The appearance of half a million people on the streets of Los Angeles to agitate against enforcing our immigration laws, combined with other rallies being held across the country. are setting a tone of entitlement and expectation that is going to spark a backlash. In addition, violence by those supporting illegal immigration against those who oppose it has been reported from at least one such event in Indiana.

The political posturing has been eyecatching as well. Senator Hillary Clinton revealed either her lack of understanding of the Bible or else the law and the language saying that the House Bill would "literally" criminalize the Good Samaritan. Since it was a parable Jesus told rather than a historic report, there was no person, and even if there had been, criminalizing someone dead for nearly two thousand years seems unlikely. But leaving aside the ridiculous language, she's wrong on the facts too (as if that's a first). Those people who are here illegally have already broken the law, and those who help them are accessories at best.

The fact that Hispanics are now as large a portion of the US population as African-Americans has not yet reshaped the politics of minority rights, but it is about to. The voting patterns of those who are legal to vote (and the availability of a large pool of potential illegal voters) will be shaped, probably for generations to come, by how the issue of immigration reform is handled.

The first civil rights war was long, bloody, and left scars that endure a generation later. The second may well prove to be worse.