Being Mexican is not a crime
"Papers? I don't need no stinkin' papers!" -
Floyd, a Mexican born in the USA, vetoes Arizona's new law.
I saw a Facebook group today called “Boycott Arizona”, and felt like I should let folks know not all Arizonans support the new law signed by Governor Jan Brewer last week. The law, a hot topic that has polarized much of the state, is currently the strictest immigration control measures in the US, allowing and encouraging police to request documentation from anyone they suspect may be here illegally.
So basically, it legalizes racial profiling. The federal government has given very little thought to viable solutions on illegal immigration, so now individual states are taking a crack at it, at the risk of disastrous results.
This is an embarrassing black eye for Arizona, a state I’ve lived in for 15 years and dearly love. Makes us look like a bunch of backwards fools. Never have fully grasped the politics here, being a Chicago Democrat at heart—but I’m always willing to listen to opinions different than my own. This new ruling is against basic civil rights. It promotes hatred, racism, fascism.
Arizona has only been a state for 98 years. Before that, it was a territory, and before that it was part of Mexico. There are generations of Arizona-born U.S. citizens with Mexican heritage that extend back far longer than most of us more recent arrivals.
Jan Brewer was not elected-- she was appointed when Janet Napolitano, our popular 2 term Democratic governor was selected for Obama’s cabinet, as Secretary of Homeland Security. Napolitano vetoed this same bill the first time it came up. She was also savvy about tourism’s importance in our state, unlike Brewer who has cut Arizona Office of Tourism’s budget by 70%, and closed half a dozen state parks. Jan Brewer is causing damage that will have a lingering impact long after she’s out of office, leaving a wake of bad publicity, boycotts, and negative feelings for the beautiful state of Arizona.
I am more frightened of the Arizona lawmakers than any illegal immigrant. Besides that, this says nothing about natural born Americans with Mexican heritage who are now targets of the police for no other reason than their heritage.
The irony of it all? The part that makes me laugh? Maybe the Navajo, Hopi, Yavapai Apache, Supai, Tohono O’Odham and Pima Indians ought to start asking all of us for our documentation!
Being Mexican is not a crime
"Papers? I don't need no stinkin' papers!" -
Floyd, a Mexican born in the USA, vetoes Arizona's new law.
I saw a Facebook group today called “Boycott Arizona”, and felt like I should let folks know not all Arizonans support the new law signed by Governor Jan Brewer last week. The law, a hot topic that has polarized much of the state, is currently the strictest immigration control measures in the US, allowing and encouraging police to request documentation from anyone they suspect may be here illegally.
So basically, it legalizes racial profiling. The federal government has given very little thought to viable solutions on illegal immigration, so now individual states are taking a crack at it, at the risk of disastrous results.
This is an embarrassing black eye for Arizona, a state I’ve lived in for 15 years and dearly love. Makes us look like a bunch of backwards fools. Never have fully grasped the politics here, being a Chicago Democrat at heart—but I’m always willing to listen to opinions different than my own. This new ruling is against basic civil rights. It promotes hatred, racism, fascism.
Arizona has only been a state for 98 years. Before that, it was a territory, and before that it was part of Mexico. There are generations of Arizona-born U.S. citizens with Mexican heritage that extend back far longer than most of us more recent arrivals.
Jan Brewer was not elected-- she was appointed when Janet Napolitano, our popular 2 term Democratic governor was selected for Obama’s cabinet, as Secretary of Homeland Security. Napolitano vetoed this same bill the first time it came up. She was also savvy about tourism’s importance in our state, unlike Brewer who has cut Arizona Office of Tourism’s budget by 70%, and closed half a dozen state parks. Jan Brewer is causing damage that will have a lingering impact long after she’s out of office, leaving a wake of bad publicity, boycotts, and negative feelings for the beautiful state of Arizona.
I am more frightened of the Arizona lawmakers than any illegal immigrant. Besides that, this says nothing about natural born Americans with Mexican heritage who are now targets of the police for no other reason than their heritage.
The irony of it all? The part that makes me laugh? Maybe the Navajo, Hopi, Yavapai Apache, Supai, Tohono O’Odham and Pima Indians ought to start asking all of us for our documentation!