Blatant Racism

If this Reuters report is true, it stinks of blatant racism in American policy. According to the story, the U.S. will now require Canadians who have immigrated to Canada from certain commonwealth countries, but not others, to have a visa before entering the United States. "As part of a post-Sept. 11 tightening of immigration procedures, a State Department official said that starting March 17 immigrants to Canada from Commonwealth countries other than Australia, Britain, Brunei, New Zealand and Singapore must obtain visas in order to enter the United States."

This is so odd because now, if somone from India or Pakistan, who is now an actual Canadian will have to obtain a visa to come to the United States, while a white Canadian, or a Canadian who immigrated from Australia or New Zealand will not. Canada complained in November when it first heard about the proposed change in the rule.
"There is, right now, a perception among Canadians that something is going (wrong) there," said Canadian Immigration Minister Denis Coderre, who earlier complained that what he called Washington's "racial profiling" in immigration rules was creating two classes of Canadian citizen.

If Egypt would allow all Muslim Americans to enter the country without a visa, but make all the Americans who are Christians apply for one, the outcry by American politicians and the public would be outrageous, as it should be. This action is totally discrimanatory b/c it is like saying even though someone has been granted citizenship (and pledged their allegiance to that country) they are not recognized as full citizens. I cannot even think of a proper way to describe my outrage. This is post 9/11 jim crow.

posted by sajit @ 4:43 PM