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Arizona: Rushing Toward the Wrong Side of History
Before the Dream students made their historic stance in Tucson, Arizona last week—to stage a sit-in, in Sen. John McCain’s office, and thereby subjecting themselves to deportation proceedings – this sun city had already been in the eye of the storm. The perfect storm.
And yet, they were not the only ones to take a powerful stance that week; several hundred Indigenous peoples from throughout the world rallied at the Tucson Immigration Department Headquarters, protesting Arizona’s new racial profiling law; it was followed by the dramatic takeover of a Border Patrol station in Tucson by more than a dozen members of the statewide O'Odham Solidarity Across Borders Collective. They were protesting the state’s draconian and nation’s anti-Indigenous immigration policies. Six were arrested (http://oodhamsolidarity.
That law confirmed that Arizona is governed by extremist politicians. On the day it passed in April, nine human rights activists chained themselves to the capitol building. The anti-ethnic studies law, which was signed in May – resulting in 15 arrests as a result of the takeover of the state building – proved that the state has returned to the Dark Ages as this law sets up a mechanism to censor books and curriculums (It was preceded by a siege of the Tucson Unified School District Headquarters by middle and high school students).
Two days before the racial profiling law passed, 800 military-clad federal agents swooped into South Tucson looking for human smugglers. This unprecedented action, along with the two laws had precipitated protests, walkouts, marches, community forums, boycotts, vigils and runs in both Tucson and Phoenix.
Now, as Dream students gathered in Tucson – something even bigger was about to happen. Dream students from throughout the country – students deemed to be without U.S. legal documents, in this country since they were children – had decided to intentionally turn themselves in so as to bring awareness regarding the approximately 65,000 Dream students who graduate annually and cannot continue their higher education. In the realm of civil disobedience, subjecting themselves to deportation was unfathomable.
But as they spoke of their proposed action, they stated that their historic action was to be taken because they could no longer wait for others to act for them; the leadership of their movement would hereafter be in their own hands. And if they did enter deportation hearings, they believed they might be able to remain in the country between 3-5 years – enough time to bring about passage of the Dream Act.
The Dream Act, in its original form, was first introduced in 2001. The logic of the act is that children are not responsible for the acts of their parents, etc… meaning, that to break a law, one must be conscious that one is breaking a law. Many of the Dream students were brought to this country as infants, thus, incapable of breaking any law. The Dream Act seeks permits such students to continue on with their higher education.
The calculated gamble by the Dream Students has paid off (see: http://www.thedreamiscoming.
The dramatic developments these past two months in Arizona – along with an international boycott of Arizona – reveal that resistance has entered a new phase. And with the addition of Indigenous peoples sending the world a dramatic message – regarding who is legal on this continent – it is clear that indeed, Arizona is rushing toward legal Apartheid.
Despite more than a dozen copycat states, those who fear a brown nation have decided to make their stand in the Arizona desert. Next year, legislators will attempt to revoke the 14th Amendment in Arizona, which guarantees citizenship to all born in this country. The state’s undocumented [unelected] governor, Republican Jan Brewer, is one of those with this fear. Appealing to the nation’s anti-Mexican and anti-immigrant sentiment, she has established a nationwide fund to support her legal retrenchment into the Dark Ages.
Morally, Brewer -- akin to George Wallace of a generation ago -- is on the wrong side of history.
- Posted in
44 Comments so far
Show AllThey'd love to make this issue about racism, but the article didn't mention that in a recent rally that was in favor of this law, many Latinos, presumably legal residents and citizens, 'demonstrated' in FAVOR of the new law, so that pretty much negates the racism card.
In response to another poster from a previous article:
Yes, and an 'equalizing, balancing, or neutralizing' law applies here as well, and that is what Arizona is responding to. They are trying to prevent a lower standard of living (for everyone), which will happen when finite resources are spread thin. Rose mentioned the squandering of these resources already for war and killing. Then there's the outsourcing of jobs to China and other places. The powers that be are trying the neutralize us to lowest common denominator, thinking that this will bring them unlimited profits but, like peak oil, profits will rise to a certain plateau, then fall, and keep falling to a level MUCH lower than it was before they started. With reference to Arizona, it is interesting to note that many legal Latinos were just recently rallying in FAVOR of this new law. They understand, at least on a certain level, what is at stake.
Presently, the way this evil world is structured, immigration must be controlled and structured so that it be an ORDERLY process, not a rampage across the border. Strive instead for equality in the world, so that borders in general become less necessary. Look for ways to do this in your personal life. Many of those who support open borders have their hearts in the right place, but completely ignore the practical ramifications of such a policy, both with regard to worker exploitation, and the use of limited resources. Racism and profiling are thrown out as a smokescreen to divide people and prevent them from seeing what is really going on, or so they ignore the consequences of uncontrolled immigration.
And, here again, Obama and his corporate enablers purposely avoid going after businesses that violate immigration law.
Most studies, regardless of origin, address the difference between the cost of immigrants on our economy versus the contribution of immigrants to our economy as negligible - some leaning one way and some leaning the other.
Every study admits, to one degree or another, that no one really knows how many illegal immigrants are in the US. The estimates range from 9 to 20 million, but no one is certain.
The percentage of illegal immigrants that come from Mexico, South America, and Central America is estimated to be somewhere between 50% to 75% of all illegal immigrants - but again no one is certain.
The effect of immigrants on unemployment is almost universally agreed to that it impacts only the high school drop out and unskilled labor force.
And yet, with all this uncertainty, mostly what we hear is how the Mexican, South American, and Central American illegal immigrant/economic refugee is a threat to our way of life.
This sounds racist to me.
And if there were any doubts surrounding Arizona's SB 1070 law being racist inspired, the Arizona government erased them with the passage of their HB2281 law banning ethnic studies - a bill so patently pointed toward Hispanics that it is shameful.
More than two-thirds of Arizona Latinos surveyed are AGAINST 1070. Sure, they dug up a few Uncle Toms for their paltry rally (2000 at most, vs. more than 50,000 who rallied against the bill) but most Latinos, legal or otherwise, recognize this as blatant racism against those with brown skin, including Native Americans who often don't carry the required "papers."
It is better to be alive than dead, most of the time. The Yaqui in Mexico, didn't even make peace with the Mexican Governemnt till the 1960s or 70s. The Mexican government tried to get them to make peace earlier, but the Yaqui enjoyed playing football with the Mexicans instead. Of Course they only liked playing with the Mexican's heads minus the body.
Mexico has it's own drug problem, or haven't you noticed. Not all that yeyo is going up gringo's noses.
Every racist movement has included people of the oppressed race.
The movement is racist because it demands racial profiling, not because it is supported by white people. There's actually nothing intrinsically wrong with white people, and sometimes they support bills that are not racist at all.
The law does not demand racial profiling. It will be the police that enforce the law who will be making the decision to stop, or arrest an individual for a perceived violation of the law. The fact that Arizona is on the border of Mexico and not Canada will do much to influence the decision of the law enforcement officer, as to proceed with a citizenship search. The State is now in cooperation with the federal government.
What is the answer? No enforcemment of Immigration law? Another Amnesty?
Militarize every inch of the border? A viable worker permit law? Heard about that one for at last 30 years. The employers don't want to pay. The illegals and the taxpayers pay, low or no wages, and higher taxes respectively.
Deport the illegal immigrants to Califormia, seems to be catching on in the Grand Canyon State. The movie Star state is already 28 billion in the hole. Obama will just have to print more money
MORE DUMB LAWS, mostly white people in AZ.
In Arizona twice they tried to make Arizona an English only state. Eventually Arizona will be a Mexican American state, regardless of whether there are illegal aliens living there or not. The "English Only" law would of set a precedence, which would most likely be followed by a "Bi-lingual Law" or "Spanish Only". This could occur after the population dynamics change to a Mexican American majority. This is going to happen regardless of any law that is passed. Spanish is so much more precise than English anyway. More people speak it. It doesn't have any funny exceptions to it's grammar either. (ie. e bfore i except when it comes before a Etc....
Arizona also tried to pass a bill to make the state a Christian state. Other religions were to be tolerated, but Christian values must rule state values.
Then there was making it legal to carry concealed weapons in bars and restaurants. I think that passsed.
The bill on gun rights for teenagers. Young man got kicked off the city transit bus for carrying his 22 rifle with him on the way to ROTC shooting range. What a travesty, his rights were being violated. What BS. No, I don't know if the gun was loaded.
Personally it is the upswing in violence associated with illegal immigration, that is my problem with whats going on in AZ. Illegal immigration was a means to a better life for many of the poor. Now illegal immigration is a way of making money by some real cutthroat individuals.
We have let the corporate world and it's race to the bottom mentality in control..now they want us to blame each other for our condition...wake up people stop lettting them manipulate us like a bunch of retards.
Being an illegal immigrant is a crime of status. Driving without insurance is also a crime of status. If you are a law enforcement officer, how do you decide if you are suspicious that someone is driving without insurance? What behavior does someone exhibit to be suspicious of being illegal? Faded paint on their auto, poor English, a tan?
Furthermore, why all the anger surrounding this issue now? It seemed O.K. when day labor was more in demand. Businesses were happy to have their second class citizens work for cash and stimulate the local economy despite the fact that it lead to school crowding.
What's most disturbing is that people are so anxious to blame broad classes of people for what's going on -- government workers, illegals, etc. Maybe we could start by looking at two wars that have been draining the government coffers for almost a decade now. Maybe look at the fact that you haven't had much of a raise over the last decade and much of the spending was driven by borrowing instead of by wage earning.
I'm not happy either with the way things are going but let's not saddle one class of people with all of our vitriol.
"Being an illegal immigrant is a crime of status. Driving without insurance is also a crime of status. If you are a law enforcement officer, how do you decide if you are suspicious that someone is driving without insurance?"
The registration tag of the suspicious car is out of date. Can't get a current tag without proper proof of insurance and identification. Unable to Identify oneself at a traffic stop, will mean fingerprinting downtown to verify. This does get quite expensive, and does consume some of the police force's time, officers, jailers, fingerprint guy, etc...
I have some apparently very shocking news for the U.S. population who think that this new law is just all about enforcing the law; please consider it. It comes along with a little 'thought experiment,' just not the Einstein kind.
First, the shocking news: Laws are broken all the time (!), and in much worse ways than immigrating illegally. In ways that result in folks being hurt or killed! Do you see police stopping people for traffic issues and then using that stop as a proxy to make sure that they are complying with all firearms laws? That all of their firearms are legally registered? That their firearms are properly secured? I know I have not seen this; after all, it would be unconstitutional to do that, right? However, guns are used in crimes all the time, and it is likely that many of the firearms are not legal. From the Bureau of Crime Statistics (http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/guns.cfm):
1) According to the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) in 2008, 303,880 victims of violent crimes stated that they faced an offender with a firearm.
2) Incidents involving a firearm represented 7% of the 5.1 million violent crimes of rape and sexual assault, robbery, and aggravated and simple assault in 2008.
3) The FBI's Crime in the United States estimated that 68% of the 16,929 murders in 2007 were committed with firearms.
So, try this simple thought experiment, if you believe that the Arizona law is all about Law and Order. Do you think it would be popular in AZ (or any other state) to institute laws that require all persons in the state to carry documents pertaining to the status and storage of their precious firearms? Just to be safe, we should also subject all residences to say, twice annual surprise inspections for illegal firearms and failure to secure them properly. So what, if this violates 2nd, 4th and 14th amendments? I mean, surely, sometimes, it's better to enforce the law no matter what, even if it violates constitutional rights, yes? According to the SB1070-is-all-about-enforcing-the-Law crowd's own reasoning, such laws as proposed above for firearms would be a no-brainer...But I guarantee if you question these people about whether they would support such intrusive investigation of their gun habits, they would flatly reject them...Why? Because they would violate constitutional rights. So does the AZ law (4th and 14th amendments), but SOMEHOW THAT'S OK by them, given such an 'imminent threat,' from illegal immigration. Sorry, you can't have it both ways. If the fact that the racist AZ law is accompanied by other racist laws is not enough to get your logic circuits powered up sufficiently to see the law for what it is, try the thought experiment out. You will not be able to explain why you favor one, but not the other-at least, not honestly.
I wish that were true! If all of these racists moved away, it would be better for everyone!
Still pushing the "pack your bags", routine. Next you will be calling all of us "eurotrash" like the last time. Doesn't that sound racist too you?
My people got here long after your people had already lost it.
"If that takes several lifetimes, so be it."
Truly sad that one would waste even one lifetime on such futility and negativity.
You're not anyone's hero, readbetween. If you're not delusional then surely your own people must think you a fool.
One minute you are a first nation princess, trying to be Russel Means. The next minute you are a knowledgable PHd. You are an "APPLE". Red on the outside and white on the inside. You make no sense. You argue a point that is unattainable. First Nations people lost the entire North American continent. Evolve, be absorbed by the rest of humanity, or die and go exstinct. You are probably as old as the old crone you speak of that runs Arizona. The new law is catching on, other states will be onboard soon.
I thought you were first nation? Native American is a politically correct term chosen by the winners.
We were not booted from anywhere We followed the rules and have legally migrated to quite a few places around the globe. Remember, the United States took a continent from your people. We came after your people had already lost it. The Dutch came and paid for Manhatten Island with $24 of beads. You going to welch on that deal now. The Dutch lost it to the English, and then the Americans. No one is whining over that. Why don't you stop whining.
So, do all the gringos have to leave North America, or only the ones you choose? What about people of mixed blood(Metizos)do these people have to leave as well? Where will they go? They won't be accepted at their genetic point of origin. Most of the gringos are of mixed European lines.
You really are a racist, hiding behind your native identity. We are the bad guys because your Neo-lithic peoples could not compete against the newcomers. You ideas are unattainable, and complete nonsense.
Babar,
I have a question for you. Have you ever really studied U.S. history? Ever heard of the Land Theft of 1848, ahem, excuse me, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo of 1848? Maybe then you will see how naive and ill-informed your comment is.
Well, if they pass the law, let's all follow our genealogies and back to their origin and see if we can come up with the necessary paperwork to prove that we have permission, under tribal law of the Native Americans, to be here. If not, it's back to where we all came from.
And for the "it's the law" crowd, there were plenty of individuals who ran the underground railroad and those who helped Jews escape from Germany. Sometimes, people rise above rules and try to address the humanitarian issue. I know, I know, you're only following orders...
Love your comment. We would also still have Jim Crow laws and segregation, too. Not all 'laws,' are reasonable. But, I argue that this travesty has absolutely nothing to do with enforcing a federal law, anyway. It's really hard to explain away the other recent Racist Laws in AZ with their law-n-order argument, too. Or the public school mural where the artists were painting pictures of actual students in the school on a wall, with little kids from the school assisting, and where these kids were subjected to hate crimes- drive-by racists yelling at them to, "Get that 'n-word,' off the wall! Get that 's-word,' off the wall!" They cannot explain how terrorizing little kids with darker skin at that public school has ANYTHING to do with "enforcing the law." We all know what this is all about- at least, those of us who are not intellectually dishonest.
Forgot to mention, the artists have been instructed to whiten up the faces of the kids, because of the furore and because a city CouncilCreep said on hate-radio, that he thought there was no good reason why "the biggest person on that mural is black." (The student depicted was Hispanic).
Further update; the school has refused to allow the mural to be altered and it is rumored the councilman was fired from the radio station
Artists Boycott Arizona:
http://www.thesoundstrike.net
For all you law and order people, where were you with the banking crisis,Illegal wars,Torture,taking all rights away,only if the little guy breaks the law do people get concerned.
Jan Brewer's legal defense fund was started in response to the Arizona boycott relief fund that they started in Tucson. I support the boycott, and I also donated to the relief fund because I think that it's a great idea!
Why not move to NM and increase the electoral votes? Let AZ dry.
WHO should move to New Mexico: whites, latinos, asians, african-americans, native americans, pacific islanders?
Except for the first one, everyone else? Lots of open space in that state.
Dude, I was talking about moving from AZ to NM.
How do I know your male or female? I dont. I like it out here in Minnesota and Im not moving unless you can make me. Nah nah nah boo boo ! OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO !! LOL !
Already got one. Stupid.