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You are here: Home / Immigration / The Brown Enemy Within / GOP Hospitality, North Carolina Style

GOP Hospitality, North Carolina Style

by Tom Levenson|  February 26, 20139:57 pm| 35 Comments

This post is in: The Brown Enemy Within, Meth Laboratories of Democracy

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Following Elon’s post below, here’s one more from the Tarheel state…

Fresh on the heels of the President Obama’s executive order allowing temporary residency for those undocumented immigrant kids brought to the country as children, North Carolina’s Republican leaders have come up with this:

Gov. Pat McCrory says he signed off on the controversial “pink licenses” that will be issued to some young illegal immigrants who were granted protection from deportation for two years.

The new North Carolina governor said he thought it was important that the driver’s licenses for immigrants clearly distinguish “between legal presence versus legal status.”

Critics have decried them as a modern-day scarlet letter. The new driver’s licenses will have a bright pink stripe and bold words “NO LAWFUL STATUS,” written in red capital letters across the front, according to mock-ups. (h/t Think Progress)

I don’t know about you, but I’m sure this must be how you let those from elsewhere feel welcome in your big tent.
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Gerbrand_van_den_Eeckhout_006
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I’ve can’t shake this image:  I’m seeing those old ship bridge telegraphs to the engine room.  You know — the ones with a lever that pulls the marker round one side of a circular dial that reads “Ahead Full; Ahead Half; Slow Astern: and so on.
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Maschinentelegraf
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Except in this case it’s a personality dial and the GOP’s is frozen in place all the way ’round at “Full Asshole.”
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Seriously?  A pink stripe?  Might as well go full Hawthorne and require these young men and women to wear a vivid red U on their persons whenever they summon the temerity to use a public thoroughfare.
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This is just mean, of course: a deliberate slap and perhaps worse, extended to some of our most vulnerable neighbors.  I wish it weren’t happening.
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But there is one useful element to all this. Once again we all see, in this demographically evolving America, just where our friends on the right side of the aisle — and the wrong one of history — actually stand.
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Images:  Gerbrand van den Eeckhout, Boaz and Ruth, 1655.

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Engine-order telegraph, 2001
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Previous Post: « The Future’s So Bright, I Gotta Wear Rose-Colored Shades
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Reader Interactions

35Comments

  1. 1.

    Redshirt

    February 26, 2013 at 10:07 pm

    Awesome. No sense of irony, I’m sure.

    First they…

  2. 2.

    Yutsano

    February 26, 2013 at 10:08 pm

    Ruth is my favourite book of the Bible. Only much later in life did it occur to me it was depicting a beautiful lesbian relationship.

    “For whither thou goest, I shall go, and thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.”

  3. 3.

    Keith G

    February 26, 2013 at 10:11 pm

    You know who else used pink as a way to mark undesirables?

    Yup, that guy.

    Edit…Hell, now that I think about it, I want a pink license. I am sure my GLBT brothers and sisters in the Tar Hell State will want one too.

  4. 4.

    Hill Dweller

    February 26, 2013 at 10:12 pm

    This comes on the heels of McCrory and the legislature making counter-productive, draconian cuts to unemployment benefits.

  5. 5.

    MattMinus

    February 26, 2013 at 10:13 pm

    Seriously? A pink stripe? Might as well go full Hawthorne and require these young men and women to wear a vivid red U on their persons whenever they summon the temerity to use a public thoroughfare.

    Pink’s better because it makes them all gay and stuff.

  6. 6.

    ? Martin

    February 26, 2013 at 10:15 pm

    Wait, this is the same legislation that Democrats in California have been fighting for a decade to get passed and just was signed into law 4 months ago from our Democratic governor. Don’t know if the stripe will be pink, but licenses for those under Obama’s program (estimated to be about a million drivers here in CA) will be visually differentiated from others.

    And this is an important move toward cementing amnesty as policy. The more formal recognition for amnesty-eligible individuals there is by government, the easier it will be stop that legislation. It’s like gay marriage – once someone starts treating a group not as an underclass, it becomes much easier for the rest of the nation to accept them not as an underclass.

    This is a good thing. Let’s not let perfect be the enemy of good.

  7. 7.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    February 26, 2013 at 10:23 pm

    We all have pink licenses in Ohio. Officially, I believe the tone is called “salmon,” but it’s pink (though with a coral tone). The reasoning was that such a tone would be difficult to replicate convincingly on the street. I haven’t talked to any of my old vice buddies about how well that’s worked.

  8. 8.

    Keith G

    February 26, 2013 at 10:23 pm

    @? Martin: I do not think he (the gov) understands what it means to visibly mark/identify a group in this way. It creates strong solidarity where little may have existed before. If this plan goes through, I predict that the Pink Licences will become a symbol of pride and a rallying point for stronger group support from both insiders and outsiders.

  9. 9.

    Gravenstone

    February 26, 2013 at 10:28 pm

    @? Martin: Illinois has done this as well within the last month. I believe theirs is differentiated by the background color alone.

    I think NC adding in the No Legal Status barb is a step over the line, though.

  10. 10.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    February 26, 2013 at 10:29 pm

    This is better than their first idea, tattoos on their forearms.

    Yeah, I went there.

  11. 11.

    Mike in NC

    February 26, 2013 at 10:29 pm

    Our new wingnut governor is also poised to sign a bill that will prevent tens of thousands of NC residents from being able to afford health insurance.

  12. 12.

    ? Martin

    February 26, 2013 at 10:30 pm

    @a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): That’s no longer that hard to forge. Technology lapped that solution ages ago. Same with light blue.

  13. 13.

    Gravenstone

    February 26, 2013 at 10:33 pm

    @a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q):

    We all have pink licenses in Ohio. Officially, I believe the tone is called “salmon,”

    Complete non sequitur,but the whole pink/salmon thing reminds me a running joke from EverQuest involving the cleric quest armor. We ragged on our clerics relentlessly for their pink platemail. Ah, the memories.

  14. 14.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    February 26, 2013 at 10:37 pm

    @? Martin: That was my actual thought when the “pinks” were mandated – um, dude, it’s actually not gonna work now. But nobody asked me, and now I have a pink ODL.

  15. 15.

    Democrat Partisan Asshole

    February 26, 2013 at 11:24 pm

    No yellow stars? Pikers. Look to the master, GOP.

  16. 16.

    Joel

    February 26, 2013 at 11:36 pm

    That’s okay. When I’m governor of North Carolina, I’m going to press for legislation that requires registered republicans to have a Purple Heart band-aid stripe on their licenses, with the words “RAGING ASSHOLE” emblazoned underneath.

  17. 17.

    fuckwit

    February 26, 2013 at 11:37 pm

    The Godwin is strong in this one.

  18. 18.

    TriassicSands

    February 26, 2013 at 11:46 pm

    With gestures like this the GOP will be pullin’ down 60-70% of the Hispanic vote in no time.

    Keep it up, lunatics, you’ll be in Oblivion before you know it.

    @Odie Hugh Manatee:

    This is better than their first idea, tattoos on their forearms.

    Lacking subtlety, the Modern Republican would be more likely to opt for the forehead (after all, humiliation is a vital ingredient in any worthwhile program), but your comment certainly captures the essence and appeal of today’s GOP.

  19. 19.

    Short Bus Bully

    February 27, 2013 at 12:05 am

    I fully support this new GOP “outreach” program. I think it’s got wheels and will definitely help them in 2014, 2016, and beyond.

    The good ideas are just flowing…

  20. 20.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    February 27, 2013 at 12:18 am

    @Joel:

    You would have my vote if I lived there.

    @TriassicSands:

    “Driving illegally” has a whole new meaning in NC.

  21. 21.

    Misterpuff

    February 27, 2013 at 12:21 am

    @TriassicSands: Barcode on the forehead? MARK OF THE BEAST! That darn Obama!

  22. 22.

    pseudonymous in nc

    February 27, 2013 at 12:39 am

    The forced, rapid southcarolinification of North Carolina.

    The fuckers know that they’ve created a few gerrymandered years of power without accountability, and they’re going to settle every score, try out every ALEC-dictated bit of wingnut legislative fuckery, and piss off every non-Gooper in the state. Going to be a rough ride, and I’ll probably not stay around for it.

  23. 23.

    Gex

    February 27, 2013 at 12:56 am

    What’s saddest is how pathetic these guys are with their usage of the color pink. They are so convinced that applying a girly-girl color to things is the biggest insult ever. I guess that is true for misogynists like them. The rest of us just think they look like childish idiots. Childish idiots with way too much power and influence, but childish idiots nonetheless.

  24. 24.

    TruthorScare

    February 27, 2013 at 1:42 am

    Sadly, we in AZ are unable to snicker at NC fucknuttery in this regard. Our loons, AKA Jan Brewer’s flying monkeys, refuse to even grant them licenses of any color. Nope, if Pedro’s :not legal, he’s a’walkin. Makes it easier for Sheriff Je’s goons to spot and harass.

  25. 25.

    Ecks

    February 27, 2013 at 6:20 am

    Great idea. Nothing like clarity and transparency so everyone knows who’s an illegal. It’s just not quite bold enough, as you still have to look at their license to see it. Clearly they also need a pink stripe sewn onto the front of their clothes. And why limit it to certain classes of immigrants? There are all kinds of people we could label like that! Those gay marrying types for one, you can’t have them destroying any great institutions that the country relies on, while just blending in with everyone else. Why, nobody might notice any damage has even been done! Surely they could get a pink circle or square or triangle or something sewn on there.

    It’s amazing we didn’t think of this years ago.

  26. 26.

    Patricia Kayden

    February 27, 2013 at 6:24 am

    Great outreach to Latino voters. Keep going, GOP.

  27. 27.

    Ben Cisco

    February 27, 2013 at 8:11 am

    @pseudonymous in nc:

    The forced, rapid southcarolinification of North Carolina.

    Borrowed with attribution for a post title.

  28. 28.

    Paul in KY

    February 27, 2013 at 8:18 am

    @Democrat Partisan Asshole: Soon the Reichsgovernor of Nord Carolina will be looking east to the untermenschen of Tennessee for lebensraum.

    Today Durham, tomorrow der Nashville!

  29. 29.

    Paul in KY

    February 27, 2013 at 8:21 am

    @Paul in KY: The Reichsgovernor (or his scribe) is an idiot to look ‘east’ to Tennessee. Didn’t see that till I couldn’t edit anymore!

  30. 30.

    Brendan in NC

    February 27, 2013 at 9:01 am

    @Paul in KY: Don’t worry – Reichsgovernor McCrory is stupid enought to look “east” to Tennessee. So is his puppetmaster, Art Pope.

  31. 31.

    Barry

    February 27, 2013 at 10:08 am

    @Odie Hugh Manatee: “Yeah, I went there. ”

    Good. They deserve this. My comment is that it looks like North Carolina isn’t that different from South Carolina, after all.

  32. 32.

    Carolina Dave

    February 27, 2013 at 11:44 am

    So begins four years of backward ass governance and appropriate response posts and ridicule on Balloon-Juice. The GOPers have stated their goal is to make NC more competitve with SC and other southern states. FSM help us.

  33. 33.

    Paul in KY

    February 27, 2013 at 12:41 pm

    @Brendan in NC: That makes me feel better :-)

  34. 34.

    NCSteve

    February 27, 2013 at 6:02 pm

    Thank God we elected a moderate Republican. Yep. Moderate Pat McCrory. A moderate’s moderate. That’s what everyone assured me. Not one of those crazy Tea Party fellows. Not Pat. Nope, he’s a sensible, sober, moderate Republican. Why he was very moderate as mayor of Charlotte. I have it on the very best authority. That’s why he very moderately pushed a bill throught the General Teasembly making it illegal for North Carolina to have an exchange or participate in the Medicaid expansion.

    Moderate, a moderate center-right conservative. All the papers said so, so it must be true.

    Jesus wept, it’s going to be a long four years.

  35. 35.

    Carolina Dave

    February 27, 2013 at 9:23 pm

    @NCSteve:

    Oh, how I heard of how he talked and walked like a moderate, and would lead like one and how he “looked like a Governor”, whatever that means.
    The local corrupt Dems brought this amoungst all of us. It will be a long four or more plus years in the “Old North State”.

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