Crossposted at www.tanproject.org
Leo Berman (R-Tyler), a Texas state representative, filed a bill on Tuesday that would require any candidate for president or vice president of the United States to show his or her birth certificate to the Texas secretary of state in order to be a valid candidate in the election.
House Bill 295 was introduced because "we have a president whom the American people don’t know whether he was born in Kenya or some other place." This is the same representative that called President Obama "God’s punishment on us" at a Glenn Beck rally in Tyler, TX earlier in the year that Rick Perry attended. This kind of legislation seems frivolous and contrary to federal law, but it comes at a time where Republicans have such a majority in the Texas House and Senate that almost any bill that they introduce can get passed with little resistance.
Representative Berman also introduced bills that would make English the official language of Texas and one that would impose an 8 percent tax on any amount of money wired to Mexico or any Central or South American country unless the sender shows proof of US Citizenship or legal residence. This is the type of discriminatory witch-hunt that is being started in Texas following a Republican sweep in the last election. My question is , if I wanted to send money to a friend in Mexico or Ecuador, would I have to show my papers to make sure that I am not an illegal immigrant? Would I have to do that if I looked white? How does this even make sense?
This birther craziness is exactly what people say it is. Racism. Plain and simple. Representative Berman is trying to make the President into a foreigner so that he can be marketed to xenophobes as an outsider and a threat, just like he is trying to do with Hispanics. By 2050, Hispanics will be the majority in Texas. I guarantee that bills will not be introduced trying to change the official language of Texas to Spanish. I also guarantee that racists like Leo Berman will try to make people think that we are trying to.
Crossposted at www.tanproject.org