"The GOP seem like that have nothing better to do than to be scared of people and shit out terrible legislation. One day they will have nothing left to do but have Republicans make it illegal to be Republicans. And what a glorious day that will be." - Surfbird
Let's just make this clear: Arizona hates Mexicans. Yup. White people here.....they just hate the shit out of them. Most of the Republicans do at least, and that seems like that's the majority of the people here. Welcome to New Nazi Germany, the Grand Canyon State. It seems like Martin Bohrmann got away after all, and he has been hard at work under the desert sun after all these years.
Which is nothing new, for anyone who pays attention to anything at all. Arizona has had The Minutemen in effect for years now, which are a group of racist vigilantes (not the seminal punk rock band) who are basically a bunch of bored, small-penised hicks turned wannabe border patrol. Amazingly, The Minutemen have even been criticized by such moral luminaries as George W. Bush (the notorious war criminal and dumbass) and Jim Gilchrist, who started the whole thing in the first place. As Gilchrist said a couple years back in an interview, "Am I happy with the out come of this whole movement? I am very, very, sad, very dissappointed." Openly weeping, and looking guiltily at his Mexican interviewer, he seemed to beg forgiveness, perhaps finding in his old grinchy heart, a warm brown spot for the first time. "I very well may have been fighting for people with less character and less integrity than the 'open border fanatics' I have been fighting against....and that is a phenomenal indictment of something I have created."
"When I'm flying north through that atavistic, hick-laden state every spring, I'm always thankful that I'm white." - Forster's Tern
And now we have Arizona SB 1070 on our hands. Among the "perks" of the new bill, now law, is requiring officers to question supsected illegal immigrants, letting officers detain "suspects" before being convicted (which violates due process), and on top of everything makes it a state crime to be in Arizona illegally. So what we have is legalized racial profiling, where basically if you are brown then you are Wrong. If you are hispanic and don't happen to be walking around with your passport all the time, you could legally be imprisoned before you can prove your citizenship. Welcome to the new world order, people. It's simmering in a broth of xenophobia, apathy, and general malaise. An agonizing reappraisal of the situation is badly required.
Legal challenges to the law have already entered the courts (including one from a police officer), and the cities of Flagstaff, Phoenix and Tucson are contemplating taking legal action as well. Hopefully saner, less racist minds will prevail......
"Ya basta!" - White-winged Dove
Huh. I wish the comments I approve would actually post on time.
ReplyDeleteAnyways Jill, I recommend a mix of incredulous outrage with a tinge of sadness about the condition of things over here...that's what I've got going, anyway.