Crime or commerce?

Recently an article in the AJC reported that in Cobb County and other places people were being fined for hiring Mexicans to help them with household tasks such as cleaning gutters or moving furniture. It seemed that in some instances people were being fined for merely speaking with someone who was Mexican.

It’s a sad commentary on the state of affairs in this country when some city council declares it is a crime to employ a person for the purpose of some menial labor such as yard work or moving furniture. How is it a crime for two adults to agree upon an hourly amount for a specified task for the duration of several hours? It’s not a crime it is commerce!

Under the auspices of this kind of perverse logic how many kids throughout the country would now be in violation of the law for mowing neighborhood yards for pay? Are we now under the burden of being required to maintain workman’s comp insurance for the neighborhood kid who mows grass in the summer? Are little old ladies going to be subject to fines for hiring the next door neighbor’s kid to paint her eaves?

But wait, that’s not the rub is it? The rub is that the prospective worker is Mexican and the person needing the help is a gringo. Would the cops even have given a second glance had the two people involved both been white or black? I don’t think so.

The so-called crime is really guilt by association. What it boils down to is that now it is a crime for white/blacks to co-mingle with Mexicans. The insinuation is that the only reason any two people of mixed nationalities would have to converse with one another is for the sole purpose of a labor transaction and even if it is how is that a crime?!

Does the mere discussion of work invoke the penalty? Can we be fined for asking someone what time it is? If no money has been exchanged and no labor performed then the so called crime never took place. At least when police put a female officer disguised as a prostitute on the street to catch would-be “Johns” she is wearing a wire and the conversation and the agreed upon amount are recorded on tape. And prostitution is an illegal act. Since when did blowing leaves become illegal? Where is the evidence, the taped conversation, the parcel of drugs? How can this be left to stand? It’s beyond unconstitutional, it’s immoral.

Georgia seems to be regressing back to the fifties, when a black man could get locked up or worse for being seen talking to a white woman. How is society wronged by two adults agreeing to a set price for a set task of honest work? The law is the crime and it should be challenged in court, yesterday.

The disingenuous excuse of it being a safety hazard is the argument of a child. Enforce the loitering laws if crowds gather. Arrest people for trespassing if they are on private property. Tying up police officers in stake-outs waiting for gringos to pull up in vehicles near a crowd of Mexicans is a waste of resources and tax money. It’s also racial profiling at it’s worst. These laws must be repealed.