It wasn’t long ago that Republicans in the New York State were up in arms about the dangers inherent in allowing undocumented people to apply for driver’s licenses. I know some of you won’t pretend that you forget already; the law took effect on December 14 of 2020. Even some skin folk were making a big issue about it just for the sake of joining the bandwagon.
Me, I would be for it as long as Republicans are against it, simply because they are for nothing good, so the idea must have been a good idea? New York became the 13th state to pass the greenlight law, an idea whose time was long overdue.
Ok, you don’t need to answer that rhetorical question; of course, it was a great idea!
Republicans in Erie, Monroe, and Rensselaer counties tried to block the law from going ahead, a sign of just how wicked those people can be when they are allowed near power.
The hateful Republicans bitched against the law. Some clerks said they (will not) issue licenses to undocumented immigrants, saying their offices are not equipped to determine the veracity of documents that can soon be submitted to obtain a license.
Oh, I want to sync up with some friends, one young so-called Democrat who have political aspirations told menhe voted for the local Republican Mayor in my city City, a former cop, instead of the young African-American man who ran on the Democratic ticket to defeat him.
He told me he was dissatisfied with his answer so he voted for the Republican because the Democratic candidate’s answer to his question, “what he intends to do for the city”, was unsatisfactory to him. It will be a cold day in hades when a Republican votes for a Democrat.
I asked him what the Republican Mayor has done for the city since he has been in office? I’m still awaiting a response.
I had previously told him that I would support his candidacy in whatever way I could if he ever decides to run for office; I am glad we had our little conversation that may be out the door.
As the so-called “Greenlight” measure picked up steam last year, the lying Republican hatemongers all upstate whites, issued this statement.
“This session, Democrats have yielded to lawbreakers over and over again.” “We must put the brakes on this unfair proposal which ignores the overwhelming opposition of our citizens to grant this privilege to illegal immigrants. We must Red Light the Green Light bill that simply opens up our system to fraud and places a burden on County Clerks and DMV employees to verify the authenticity of foreign documents as proof of identification,” said Senate Republican Leader John J. Flanagan.
The neighboring state of Connecticut passed the green light law before New York; according to the website democratandpolicy.com, the Migrant Policy Institute, a national think tank on immigration issues, estimated there were 882,000 New Yorkers over the age of 16 without a legal presence in the U.S. Four years after neighboring Connecticut passed a similar law, the DMV there said it had a reduction in hit-and-run crashes and a decline in unlicensed driving tickets.
I was hit on a snowy day years ago by a bunch of Mexican guys in a car; through no fault of their own, they simply slid into my stopped vehicle at a traffic light. Fearing I would call the police, they all exited their vehicle and ran, leaving theirs.
But to understand the Republicans, you must understand that they do not care about data or facts. So the data from Connecticut, which bears out that there are fewer hit and runs, and a decline in unlicensed driving tickets is exactly the opposite of what they crave. They crave confrontations with police and punitive outcomes from those encounters.
They do not care to have fewer unlicensed driving summonses; they want the revenue; they do not care about the even greater revenue stream that comes from having all drivers licensed and the general public safer when all drivers are insured.
We are still listening for the evidence of fraud that was so blatantly predicted by New York’s upstate white Republicans.
Word of caution to you Black and Brown voters, there is no such thing as a good Republican, that ship has long sailed.
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Mike Beckles is a former Police Detective, businessman, freelance writer, black achiever honoree, and creator of the blog mikebeckles.com.