Uninvited Migrant Nearest Thing We Have

Today is the anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, prompting me to ask, What people today comes the closest to being as oppressed as the slaves were before the Civil War?

The undocumented migrants from Central and South America.

No, they are not nearly as oppressed. They certainly are not slaves.

But, they are oppressed, downtrodden. Of what remains oppressed and downtrodden, they are tops.

You may argue that they are law breakers, so they only are getting what they got coming.

Still, they are an oppressed bunch, and if we are looking at what group is the most oppressed in America today, I say it is them.

Some would argue it is the homosexuals, but I beg to differ. Not that the homosexual is not abused. Having people toss epithets against you is abuse. But it is the uninvited, unwelcome immigrants coming across our southern border who face a national outcry against them.

Equal rights? Every one who wants them gone may not feel this way, but some of those opposed to these immigrants suggest they have no rights at all.

Rights are for citizens, they say.

There are dissimilarities between the American slave and the undocumented resident. The slave came against his will, captured out of Africa, while the undocumented migrant comes of his own free choice.

But, there are also similarities. They both come for work, the slave being forced to work, and the migrant, oft-times, seeking to find work.

Both are inexpensive labor.

Both face families being torn apart, part of the family here, and the other part left in the homeland.

Both are common in our southern States.

And, it could be argued, both are denied citizenship, depending on how that term is used. The American slave was welcome here without full, same-as-everyone-else citizenship, whereas the undocumented resident is not welcome, at all.

The lack of citizenship is the reason they both are oppressed. Had the slave had full citizenship, he would have had all the rights and freedom of everyone else, and not have been a slave. If the undocumented migrant had citizenship, obviously, nobody could berate him for not having it.

(For those who read my mention of homosexuals, and wonder what my stand is, I do not agree with the practice of homosexuality, but I do not oppose people being allowed to practice it, and I believe homosexuals should be treated right.)