By Martin Arvizu
It is pretty scary how quickly one’s life can change in the span of mere seconds. How quickly our life can be altered for the better, or shattered into thousands of pieces that can never be put back together, at least not the way it was before. And it is also scary how these life-changing events can change one’s perception of the world, as well as our opinions.
In a matter of seconds three people ceased to exist, and their families were left in the aftermath of such a senseless and brutal act. If it was an accident, one can bring some sort of closure to it. But to have someone empty an assault rifle into a family member’s car over a traffic misunderstanding is incomprehensible. Especially since that someone should never have been in the country in the first place.
Now I know everyone is supposed to be innocent until proven guilty, but when someone fires an AK47 assault rifle within city limits it is hard to miss. I’ve been to San Francisco before, and if the traffic is the same as it was last July, I find it hard to imagine that no one saw anything. According to today’s top story, reported by Associated Press writer, Paul Elias, and published in the San Jose Mercury News, the assailant, Edwin Ramos, was previously arrested after police found a gun used in a double homicide in his car. For some reason that is beyond my understanding, the district attorney decided not to file charges even thought Ramos was in the process of being deported. Four months later Edwin Ramos allegedly unloaded an AK47 assault rifle into a car that carried a father and his two sons over a traffic altercation. The father and the older son (20) died at the scene, the younger son (16) survived only a couple more days in the hospital before dieing.
This story is the reason we need some type of immigration reform. Ramos should never have been allowed into this country. And once he had gotten through, he should have been deported for committing his first felony. His criminal career should have guaranteed him a lifetime ban from the United States; instead he is in jail awaiting trial and a father and two young sons are dead. Meanwhile, politicians, local and federal officials continue to “debate” by pointing fingers, and tragedies such as these continue to happen.
I am not sure what the victims’ families opinion on immigration reform was before this horrible incident, but I would not be surprised to see them at an anti-illegal immigration rally soon. Who could blame them? Pro-immigrant advocates are quick to point out that whites are capable of violence as well. I agree with them. But when it is a Salvadoran with gang ties who already has a violent past say it, it is to bring these fact into the discussion. Do not immediately begin to talk about how it could as easily been a white guy with a “cuerno de chivo,” especially when it was not. The sooner the rhetoric from both sides of this debate ceases the sooner a logical and practical discussion can begin.
As for the relatives of those killed I wish them the best regardless of their old or new stance on immigration.