We should help others in need
We should help others in need
By the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, Congress required that the states, and citizens in them, cooperate in the return of runaway slaves, and criminalized giving such fugitives any assistance or comfort.
In “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” Mary Bird, wife of an Ohio state senator, after being told that providing a meal to “poor colored folks that come along” would be illegal aiding and abetting, states: “Poor, homeless, houseless creatures! It’s a shameful, wicked, abominable law … Things have got to a pretty pass, if a woman can’t give a warm supper and a bed to poor starving creatures, just because they are slaves, and have been abused and oppressed all their lives, poor things!”
Answering her husband’s comment that “there are great public interests involved,” she retorts, “Now, John, I don’t know anything about politics, but I can read my Bible; and there I see that I must feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and comfort the desolate; and that Bible I mean to follow.”
So, what exactly were the weighty excuses for Hawaii’s recent refusal to become a sanctuary state for immigrants, and Kauai’s representatives Tokioka’s and Morikawa’s failure to endorse the legislation?
Jed Somit, Kapaa
Mr. Jed,
Very nice of you to touch on a few historic points. Civil rights Act of 1964 went the same route. EEOC. If they’re able and capable to work, there will be no discriminating against them. Negro ( espanol ). I take it you may be from a church. If so, you’re doing a good thing.
Wow Jed! Living in a world of your own color? Sanctuary states and cities have been a disaster. One would have to be crazy to live in one, and downright comatose to want one..
Out of one side of his mouth Jed condemns the actions of government (i.e. the fugitive slave act); out of the other side he advocates for government to force us to subsidize & protect illegals.
Typical situational ethics of a confused man. Get a grip Jed.
RG DeSoto
Jed,
I appreciate your use of scripture. That 1850 law was horrible. We should care for the needy and religious Americans tend to do that, all over the world. Studies show that the most religious Americans (top 20%) give around five times as much to charity as the least religious Americans (bottom 20%).
However, we need laws to order a society so that society does not degenerate into a state of misery for most people. Tearing down border laws is a big step toward anarchy, which would hurt almost everyone in the end. Anarchy is not Biblical.
Aloha, Mark
My thanks to Representatives Tokioka and Morikawa for making the responsible choice. Hawaii is already struggling to deal with the homeless and low income populations on our islands. To add additional burdens to our already strapped system would be totally irresponsible.