OK..., Now What?

The first piece I submitted to a blog was a diary entry to The Agonist. Much to my amazement..., it was "elevated" to The Front Page. It seems only fitting that it be reproduced here. It was written around the anniversary of Martin Luther King's famous speech.


I Had a Dream...,

Last week I dreamed that I was on a bus in Guatemala. I was rudely awakened from my nap when armed, military uniformed militia stopped the bus at a checkpoint along the highway. They boarded the bus, interrogated each of the passengers regarding their citizenship. One dark skinned young fellow didn’t answer to their satisfaction. As he struggled to explain in a language he seemed unfamiliar with, the interrogator stated, “You’ve already said enough.” The young man was yarded off the bus, arms cuffed behind his back with plastic strip ties, and led away out of site. Our bus was allowed on its way. I was feeling a bit relieved that I hadn’t been yarded off the bus because I was a bit disoriented and confused after being woke up and had stumbled and stammered trying to answer the interrogator. But I couldn’t help but wonder…, what happens to a young man yarded off a bus in Guatemala?

Only…, this was no dream. I didn’t wake up on a bus in Guatemala. I wasn’t in El Salvador, or China, or Iran or Iraq. I was a few miles north of Forks, Washington on a Clallam County Transit Bus. I was on my way home from work on the free and open road of U.S. Highway 101 when the event described above took place. Perpetrated by U.S. Boarder Patrol agents. After reading the Peninsula Daily News story on 8/27/08…, I have to wonder…, did I wake up in Guatemala? The story says, “Giuliano said officers will set up four to six more times…by mid-September.” And, “Giuliano said that checkpoints on the Peninsula will remain a regular occurrence,…”.

I am still seething with outrage that these Guatemala Checkpoints are being allowed to continue. I don’t want to live in Guatemala. I want to live in an America where I am free to drive down the highways and byways of this great nation without having to suffer the abridgement of my civil rights by being pulled over and interrogated at an illegal Guatemala Checkpoint by Border Patrol agents…, or any other military or law enforcement personnel…, unless there is a documented, clear and present danger. We don’t allow them to come into our homes without warrants and probable cause. Why are we allowing them to do it out in the free world? And if we allow this behavior to continue…, how long will we be safe and secure in our homes from such intrusions? How long before people like me who dare to stand up and speak out are yarded off the bus on “suspicion”? What constitutes suspicion? “Giuliano wouldn’t clarify how they determine suspicion,..” the article says.

Fellow Americans…, WAKE UP…, this isn’t a dream. It’s a nightmare come true. Write this paper…, write your congressman and senator…, write the Governor. Speak up, shout it from the rooftops. Tell everyone that you don’t live in Guatemala. Someday…, maybe…, we will be able to drive down the road without being stopped and interrogated at Guatemala Checkpoints.

I Have A Dream…,

AFTERTHOUGHT: How many illegal aliens came across the border while our agents were perpetrating this…, if not illegal…, at the very least…, immoral act? The illegal immigrants are here because the Border Patrol isn’t doing the job where they should be…, on the border.


Scott R. September 1, 2008 - 11:59pm