The University of Iowa College Republicans are having a Conservative Coming Out Week, and while that's funny on a number of levels (picture any one of a number of deeply closeted self-hating secretly gay preachers who've fallen in scandals) this is not funny at all:
The UI College Republicans - part of the College Republican National Committee - will host a Capture the Flag game Thursday at City Park.
The title of this game: 'Catch an Illegal Immigrant.'
Two teams - the "illegal immigrants" and the "border patrol" - will try to cross the dividing line representing the United States-Mexico border. If a team member is tagged, he or she goes to "jail."
Thursday's game is among a series of similar events on college campuses nationwide. "Catch an Illegal Immigrant Day" put the University of Michigan in the national spotlight in September 2006 when the student group Young Americans for Freedom offered a cash award for finding someone posing as an illegal immigrant.
Following protests from minority groups at Michigan, Morgan Wilkins, a contractor for the College Republican National Committee, was fired by the organization.
So not only offensive, but they've been down this road before without learning.
To mock the poor and unfortunate is not just. It's sad that young people have gotten caught in this cycle of marginalizing others, seeing them as lesser beings deserving of ill treatment because they are poor and desperate. We need to hold firm to our beliefs in equality and justice for all, not just the privileged.
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