Comments on: Cuidado Con El Pendejo: Arizona’s Latest Racist Legislation

By: Tall-in-Heels

Tall-in-Heels — Mon, 17 May 2010 19:37:11 +0000

“Honestly Arizonans don’t seem to be outraged that the illegal Hispanics are taking jobs we might have…..which I don’t understand.”

So it’s been a lifelong dream of yours to labor for 12 hours under the scorching sun picking produce or somesuch? Yeah, right. I’m sure you and others like you are just chomping at the bit to reclaim the types of jobs that illegal immigrants often do in this country. Also, there are a lot of companies that profit from bringing illegals in to do hard labor jobs for pay and under conditions that no legal resident with the ability to invoke their rights would accept. And at the end of the day when the hatchet comes down, it’s always on the back of the worker, and not the company. Funny that.

By: Alice Winfree Bowron

Alice Winfree Bowron — Mon, 17 May 2010 17:54:40 +0000

When I was in grade school all the schools were LEGALLY segregated by race. This was considered perfectly fine by the politicos & “Constitutional” as well. I remember very well when the schools in my town became ‘integrated’ [although of course neighborhoods and jobs remained largely segregated in "progressive" Minnesota]. When the schools integrated there was a great deal of fear-mongering from the rightwing. Cops were stationed in some high schools for example, all of a sudden, in schools with no history of violence. This is the way that apartheid maintains itself – and clearly in AZ the white Republicans and their stooges are feeling the pinch of demographic change away from “white bread.” Their response is to bring back segregationist and Nazi-style propaganda. Anyone who stands by and does not act to fight this vicious racism is AIDING-AND-ABETTING!

By: philosophyerin

philosophyerin — Mon, 17 May 2010 17:07:33 +0000

@Legislation Forum Arizona: “Don’t break the law and you’ll be ok”? Maybe that’s true if you don’t “look” like someone who might be illegal. If you, however, happen to appear otherwise–and you only would appear otherwise if you have certain racialized/phenotypic characteristics–then you can legally be subjected to police harassment and be required to produce documentation of your status. This is not just being ok, *especially* if you happen not to have such documentation on you–and if you’re an American citizen who “looks illegal” it’s unlikely you would. (Do YOU carry your birth certificate to the grocery store?) The fact of the matter is that this bill allows certain people to be subjected to searches that would be illegal under the 14th amendment for everyone else, and does this based only on what they happen to look like to some member of law enforcement.

By: Legislation Forum Arizona

Legislation Forum Arizona — Mon, 17 May 2010 02:03:09 +0000

In my opinion the recent out cry over the proposed SB1070 anti illegal immigration bill is more political than anything. It’s not likely there would be a fuss if it were coming from our neighboring state of New Mexico which is governed by Democrat Bill Richardson.

It should be a known fact to everyone by now that our main stream media favors our new president so naturally they are going to jump on the bandwagon on this issue.

I have lived here a year and love it! I vacationed here many years before that. We love our LEGAL Hispanic neighbors. We even love the illegal ones IF they are not causing problems but that has not been the case in recent times. Arizonans understand this. The media has dropped the ball on this one.

Honestly Arizonans don’t seem to be outraged that the illegal Hispanics are taking jobs we might have…..which I don’t understand.

Anyways, I would never hesitate to vacation here…even if I didn’t have my papers in order. Don’t break the law and you will be OK.

I would encourage everyone to read the bill. It can be found here.

Share your opinion of SB 1070 at http://www.azlegislation.com

By: bluebears

bluebears — Sun, 16 May 2010 17:15:47 +0000

No lie when I first heard news reports about this I thought it was some sort of joke, the premise being hahaha They’re so racist and hysterical over there they’d even ban an ethnic studies class! ba-dum bum.

Sadly…

By: KathleenB

KathleenB — Sun, 16 May 2010 15:46:01 +0000

Isn’t there some kind of wingnut conspiracy theory about how Latin@s are going to rise up and take over the Southwest? Or re annex the border states back to Mexico? Because this legislation would make a hell of a lot more sense if folks are convinced that ethnic studies classes are a gateway to ethnic secession.

By: BeckySharper

BeckySharper — Sat, 15 May 2010 22:14:09 +0000

@philosophyerin: Yeah, that reminded me of when I was in college and signed up for an African-American lit course and one of my fellow (whitey-white) students groused: “Why don’t they have a Caucasian-American literature course?” I gave her the side-eye and said, “What do you think you’ve been studying for the past 13 years?”

And as a pura gringa who’s spent a ton of time on Latin-American language and literature, I can testify that speaking Spanish and having some knowledge of Latino culture in no way reduces the white privilege accorded to me by our racist society. There’s no actual threat here, just race-baiting and xenophobia.

By: philosophyerin

philosophyerin — Sat, 15 May 2010 21:17:24 +0000

This is so gross I don’t even know what to say about it. Also, I love how these people assume that anything that isn’t “ethnic studies” is just neutral, instead of “white people studies.”

By: Spark

Spark — Sat, 15 May 2010 16:56:07 +0000

I just had a similar conversation about how feminism is depressing, and children should be shielded it from it so they can be happy. As if oppression only exists when you give it a name. Giving it a name gives you power over it, and that’s a good thing. It’s not just oppressed people who benefit from understanding these dynamics. It’s essential for privileged people to understand too, so that they can learn not to continue oppression, and to generally not be assholes. As time goes by, it’s the classes/lessons I had on feminist, ethnic, and disability studies that resonate the most and have made me a better citizen and neighbor.

By: libhomo

libhomo — Sat, 15 May 2010 09:53:32 +0000

These racist loons in AZ have done a really good job of convincing me that I don’t want to vacation there. Even more bizarre is that they think by spewing more racist hate, I will have to vacation there just by the force of the very bile that keeps me from wanting to go there.