The Week That SB 1070 Brought

A quick "off the top of my head" summary

Friday April 23rd 2010 Governor of Arizona Jan Brewer signed into law the horrendous SB 1070 Bill, which make Arizona a total police state, and allows for legalized racial profiling.

The following week resulted in a flurry of events, some encouraging, some discouraging and some just plain confusing.

The passage of SB 1070 mobilized the somewhat demoralized Pro-Immigration groups and the Latino community. It was apparent immediately on facebook. Some people posted "she signed the bill..." and "legalize Arizona". With in hours vigils were organized nation wide and official responses condemning the bill were formulated. We held a vigil Saturday night in San Francisco.

Harry Reid, Luis Gutierrez et al proceeded to condemn the legislation, while most republicans praised it. Two significant things of note: Tom Tancredo (aka papa racist) said that Arizona was going too far (YIKES you know its bad if HE said this), and Lindsey Graham (the leading Republican Senator on Immigration issues), also condemned it.

The silence from the Obama Administration was deafening. But some time later at a Naturalization Ceremony Obama finally spoke out about the law, saying that comprehensive immigration reform was needed.

Cue the sudden Schizophrenia from the Democrats. Reid followed Obama's cue by saying CIR was next in the agenda, Graham threw a fit, the Democrats back off, Obama said CIR would have to wait, the Democrats introduced a "republican free" version of CIR...and the circus continues...

Republican Pat Bertroche, an Urbandale physician and one of seven Republicans running in the 3rd District Congressional primary, said Monday

“I actually support microchipping them. I can microchip my dog so I can find it. Why can’t I microchip an illegal?" - Iowaindependent.com

Yes, you read that correctly...Dogs and "an illegal". Osea the humanity of the "illegal" is completely stripped out.

Tim James,a candidate in the Alabama governor's race, came out with a very articulate and direct "English Only" ad, check it out: Tim James (Is afraid to learn Espanish)

The insanity doesn't stop, because Arizona also deemed it necessary to BAN teachers with FOREING accents. haha wow. check it here

Love them republicans huh?

Saturday was May Day or Workers Day, which in this movement has become the day to go out and march, as a symbolic gesture of frustration. Demonstrations were held in Los Angeles, San Jose, Dallas, Austin,Houston, Chicago, New York, DC and more. Los Angeles alone had 200,000 people fill the streets.



Representative Gutierrez along with about 40 others demonstrated an act of civil disobedience in front of the white house and got arrested. A signal that the heat is turning up in this debate and new actions are being looked at.

As i write this, on Monday morning, no concrete commitment has been made on reforming the ridiculously broken immigration system.

Still, I am anxious to see what other humorous antics show up this week, if only to take my mind off the immigration debate...

Arizona

I almost moved to Arizona a few weeks ago. A job offer had been made and it involved relocation to Phoenix. I was given one month to make my decision. Talked to a lot of people, did research and thought about consequences. It was a good opportunity, "how many times do you get offered an engineering job" said my friend Beleza.

good point.

Yet, this is the heart of Arpaio Territory we're talking about, and it's seething with anti immigrant sentiment.

With a heavy heart i turned the offer down.

Flash forward to now, the anti-immigrant bill, known as SB 1070, has cleared legislative hurdles and is on its was to Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer's desk.

SB 1070 makes it a misdemeanor to lack proper immigration paperwork in Arizona. It also requires police officers, if they form a "reasonable suspicion" that someone is an illegal immigrant, to determine the person's immigration status.

Huffingtonpost.com

The bill essentially makes Arizona an apartheid state, where it will be ok for police to ask a brown "illegal" looking man or woman for their papers. I won't even delve into how a person goes about looking "illegal" (although target seemed to have their own opinion on the matter), but SB 1070 opens the gateway to legalized racial profiling.

As Alessandra Soler Meetze, president of the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona put it:

"A lot of U.S. citizens are going to be swept up in the application of this law for something as simple as having an accent and leaving their wallet at home."

Religious Groups are coming out against the legislation, the Associated Press reports that:

The head of the nation's largest Roman Catholic archdiocese has condemned a proposed Arizona crackdown on illegal immigrants, saying it encourages people to turn on each other in Nazi- and Soviet-style repression.

We've already seen U.S. Citizens being detained and even deported in the continuing ICE raids that keep separating families. Yet in Arizona this is on the verge of becoming common practice, and where is the Obama administration on this? quietly looking the other way. Once again, change you can believe in.

Prerna, Co founder of Dreamactivist.org and a blogger at Change.org, suggests that the passing of SB 1070 might not be such a bad thing after all. She argues that such an insane law would (and is) energize the pro immigrant movement much in the way prop 8 energized the LGBT community.

If history is any lesson, we can look at the huge latino backlash in California when Prop 187 was passed by then Republican Governor Pete Wilson. The law was declared unconstitutional and shot down, but the damage had been done, and the Immigrant community effectively managed to turn California into a blue state.

The Unites States cannot have 50 different immigration laws, the San Francisco Chronicle puts it best:

If there was any doubt about the need for comprehensive federal immigration reform, Arizona's politicians are putting it to rest.

Jerry Walker: Worst Person of the Week

Inspired by MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann, I have decided to (try to) have a weekly post in which I shine a light on some of the main supporters of the anti-immigration movement. This weeks person?

Jerry Walker, a member of the Maricopa County Community College District's governing board.

During a a school sponsored trip to Washington D.C. Mr. Walker heckled a student while she was giving a demonstration on the DREAM Act to Rep. Trent Frank’s legislative aide (Bobby J. Cornett). The East Valley Tribune describes how the student " broke into tears after Walker, a member of the district’s governing board, incessantly ridiculed her during her attempts to lobby for federal legislation to help illegal immigrant students"

The Tribune writes how according to the students complain Walker continuously interrupted her presentation on the act. Walker allegedly interjected comments including, “you are wrong,” “that is not true,” and “I do not agree with you.” Then at the conclusion of the presentation, Walter apologized to Cornett for the student's "rude" behavior.

Mr. Cornett states "I found it, you know, kind of strange that (Walker) would apologize for something I didn’t even think happened."

At the end of this meeting the student recalls how she " began to pick up my pace in order to catch up with the group, while Mr. Walker began to verbally attack and pursue me down the hall".

The next meeting took place with Sen. Jon Kyl’s legislative aide,at the end of it another student, Christopher Esteen, says that "Walker started to accuse the female student of lying during her presentation, calling the DREAM Act 'stupid' and the student 'dumb'."

The Tribune describes:

The female student attempted to diffuse the increasingly tense situation, according to her complaint. She responded to Walker that he has a right to his opinion, but she disagrees.

Student witnesses said that response only pushed Walker to make his case more loudly.

As it continued, Walker “began to yell at me and tell me that he did (not) care how I felt about his opinion and that 65 (percent) of the citizens of Arizona agreed with him and that was all that mattered to him,” the student’s complaint said.

Walker told the Tribune that he informed the female student that 71 percent, not 65 percent, of voters approved Prop. 300.

The female student then lost her composure. She made her way to a public bathroom.

The four other Maricopa district board members have already sent an apology letter to Rep. Trent Frank’s legislative aide. However Mr. Walker is unrepentant. Instead he wants to spin this by saying that the real victims are "his political views and those of local taxpayers".

Oh best part? Walker is a Baptist minister-in-training.


Feel free to email Mr. Walker at jerry.walker@domail.maricopa.edu


Article at http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/136698