We heard just the other day that a Federal Court judge had put a stay on implementation of much of the Arizona iimmigration law. This stay is based upon the judge's belief that these aspects of the law overstepped constitutional boundaries, and intruded in federal jurisdictions. It is a decision that is seemingly unpopular with many, one the Arizona governor Jan Brewer has appealed, and one the local sheriff apparently plans to flout. But it is one applauded by many religious leaders, especially within the Roman Catholic Church.
I recognize that the Arizona law is in part a reflection of frustration with the inability of the Federal Government to come to grips with immigration. There have been attempts to rectify the situation, but there hasn't been the political will to accomplish reform, in part because there is no consensus on what to do, as well as conflicting agendas. There are business leaders who are largely Republican that want to broaden access for migrant workers, because they need these workers. These are also the folks who are hiring undocumented workers. On the other hand there are Democrats who are concerned about civil rights, and thus concerned about the civil rights issues involved, and yet they have constituents concerned about loss of jobs. Then mix into this a growing nativism, and you have the foundations of a stalemate.
As for the law itself, it simply goes way to far. Not only does it step on the toes of the federal government, but it creates untold numbers of problems, including potential for abuse of civil rights. Proponents of the law say they don't understand why there is all the fuss about producing documents. But, most of these proponents are white and unlikely to ever be asked to produce such documents such as a birth certificate. How many of us carry proof of citizenship? Few if any. But, if you're Latino, well that's different. Why? Because you fit the profile of someone who society believes might be here illegally. Therefore, one could be a Brit living here illegally, probably having overstayed one's visa, or maybe even a Canadian, but no one would ask for documents, but one could be Latino, having lived here legally one's life, but be required to produce documents -- because they fit the profile. Suspicions are based on profiles. You can train the cops and mean well, but the pressure is on in Arizona to show results. And so rights will be abused.
Now, what would be best would be for Congress to get behind a reform measure that is realistic and that provides needed security. I realize in today's political climate that's not likely, but this would be helpful. It is also time for a broader discussion about immigration. Why people have come here to the US, and why they continue to come. Its time w reflect on the benefits that immigration provides to the nation. After all we are a nation of immigrants. Even Native Americans migrated here from Asia thousands of years ago. We also need to recognize that migrants aren't the cause of drug related crimes. Yes some are involved, but they're not the cause. The cause is the insatiable appetite on the part of Americans for cocaine and other drugs, signs that the American "war on drugs" has been a failure.
My hope is that the Supreme Court will throw this law out so that we can get on with resolving the real problems.
I say let em secede. Cut off Federal funding to these jackasses. As a matter of fact. They can have the South if they want it. Can't stand the South. Never liked it. (although I am not ready to give up Florida or Texas.... two of my adoptive home States). I would be ready to fight for Texas or Florida. But the rest, they can have. lol
Well, when Arizona Law SB 1070 passed, a whole lotta Black folks were like, ' good', because they have resentments towards the Latino community.
Let me make this clear. I believe I'm to right of the rest of the FP bloggers when it comes to immigration. I don't only dislike illegal immigration, I'm not too fond of legal immigration. The whole ' nation of immigrants' thing - try it on someone whose ancestors weren't brought here stacked up in the hull of slave ships.
But, for me, this wasn't about immigration. Even Rev. Al admitted that on The Ed Show: he was like, ' yeah, I guess we gotta do immigration reform, but that's not why I'm against this bill'.
Rev. Al saw it as I did:
the attempt to CODIFY RACIAL PROFILING INTO LAW.
There's a Black person, more likely, a Black Man, racially profiled EVERY DAY in this country.
The only way that we've remotely been able to fight this, is because it was ILLEGAL.
Now, if this happens when it's ILLEGAL, what do you think is going to happen if they make it LEGAL?
Well, I'm not willing to find out.
IS there a Black person out there that thinks that doesn't recognize THAT WE ARE NEXT ON THE LIST?
Please point to me something in the history of Black folk and Law Enforcement in America that could make me conclude anything OTHER than this.
So, it's opposition to SB1070 for the selfish reason of SELF-PRESERVATION for me.
But, you couldn't possibly have thought that they were going to stop with SB 1070, did you?
Measure prohibits classes that advocate ethnic solidarity By JONATHAN J. COOPER
PHOENIX - Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer has signed a bill targeting a school district's ethnic studies program, hours after a report by United Nations human rights experts condemned the measure.
State schools chief Tom Horne, who has pushed the bill for years, said he believes the Tucson school district's Mexican-American studies program teaches Latino students that they are oppressed by white people.
Public schools should not be encouraging students to resent a particular race, he said.
"It's just like the old South, and it's long past time that we prohibited it," Horne said.
Brewer's signature on the bill Tuesday comes less than a month after she signed the nation's toughest crackdown on illegal immigration — a move that ignited international backlash amid charges the measure would encourage racial profiling of Hispanics. The governor has said profiling will not be tolerated.
The measure signed Tuesday prohibits classes that advocate ethnic solidarity, that are designed primarily for students of a particular race or that promote resentment toward a certain ethnic group.
The Tucson Unified School District program offers specialized courses in African-American, Mexican-American and Native-American studies that focus on history and literature and include information about the influence of a particular ethnic group.
You see how the courses for African-Americans were lumped right in there, don't you?
So, courses that tell THE TRUTH about a group's experience in America, must be banned.
How the hell are you going to tell THE TRUTH about Black folks', Latinos and Native-American history in THIS country without it pointing to the rotten and evil done to them?
The truth is the truth, and THAT is the truth of the history of the ' IF YOU AIN'T WHITE' crowd in America.
This is about Black folks being able to tell the truth about Black history in this country for our children to be given the ammunition to live their lives with self-respect and hold their heads up high.
Chris Chambers of Nat Turners Revenge discusses the new policy and the distortion of Martin Luther King, Jr. in defense of what they did.
The Arizona Department of Education recently began telling school districts that teachers whose spoken English it deems to be heavily accented or ungrammatical must be removed from classes for students still learning English, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.
The crackdown applies to classes deemed to have students who are learning English, mostly as a second language. Federal No Child Left Behind regulations call for students to be taught by persons fluent in English. The determination of fluency is left up to individual states.
Arizona seems to think that includes accents. Of course, they are wrong - accents do not by themselves measure fluency. And almost every person who is a native speaker of another language is going to have an accent when speaking English, unless they learned English at a young age.
"This is just one more indication of the incredible anti-immigrant sentiment in the state," said Bruce Merrill, a professor emeritus at Arizona State University who conducts public-opinion research.
Indeed. Arizona's action against immigrants didn't begin with the recent passage of the "show me your papers" bill, but it emboldened anti-immigrant sentiment in other states around the country, and apparently in the Arizona educational system too.
Arizona's education department has sent people into schools to audit teachers on comprehensible pronunciation, correct grammar and good writing. Teachers who fail are given the chance to improve, but if not, they must be fired or reassigned.
I bet someone reading this is like, ' well, it's just for students learning English'.
You can't believe it's really going to STAY with the teachers just teaching English. I believe most folks have had a teacher that was hard to understand. But the thick accent doesn't mean they're not good teachers who don't demand excellence from their students and push them to be their best. Think about your own experiences.....did the thick accent translate into you not learning the material? Did the thick accent mean that they were bad teachers? And, if you considered them bad teachers, wouldn't they have been so, if they could speak perfect King's English?
Now, let's be REAL CLEAR about what's going on here:
Nearly two-thirds of Americans back Arizona's new anti-illegal immigration law, which makes it a state crime for a person to be in the country illegally. The law also requires local and state law enforcement officials to question people about their immigration status if they suspect they’re in the country illegally.
Sixty-four percent favor this law, while 34 percent oppose it. But those numbers are essentially reversed among Latinos -- with 70 percent of them opposing the law, and only 27 percent supporting it.
Even though almost two-thirds of the public supports Arizona’s law, nearly an identical number (66 percent) believe it will lead to the discrimination of Latino immigrants who reside in the U.S. legally.
Do you understand that?
Unlike the reaction to when Black folks have been talking about racial profiling for forever and a day that it was ' ALL IN OUR IMAGINATIONS'...
They actually ADMIT, that the law WILL discriminate against Latinos, BUT SINCE IT'S NOT THEM, THEY DON'T GIVE A SHYT.
Now, for the readers of MOA, this won't come as a surprise.....
But, I'd be hard pressed not to believe that this is a shock to some in the Latino community. We'll see if this is a ' wake up call' for them.
I don't need any 'Black/Brown' coalition to act in my best self-interests. That it overlaps with the interests of the Latino community - it is what it is.
And don't believe for one moment that what has been attempted in Arizona is going to stay in Arizona.
The president of FAIR (Federation of American Immigration Reform), Dan Stein, was on the Rachel Maddow Show. It was brutal.
Because of this interview (read: tussle; read: battle; read: slaughter), we have a new word: "Steined"... as in, "You've been Steined by Rachel Maddow".
Is Arizona trying to secede? It looks like they are doing just about everything they can to send that message.
Their symbolic declaration of war will be Governor Jan Brewer signing new immigration legislation into law that would basically legalize racial profiling and discrimination, by wiping out the 4th and 14th Amendments of the U.S. Constitution, as well as a generation worth of civil rights laws. Of course it wouldn't wipe out the Constitution...but it would basically mean that Arizona would ignore Federal laws and precedent. If the law in Arizona is allowed to stand...then other States could do the same....undermining the Federal Government.
The initiative would require local law enforcement (who are busy enough...and understaffed enough as is) to enforce Federal immigration laws...by seeking out those who are potentially in the U.S. illegally. It's essentially a "show us your papers" law. Those who can't prove citizenship would presumably have to face further questioning.... further investigation and detention.
Just imagine for a minute that you are an Hispanic American...living in Arizona...and one day you decide to go for a walk or you want to take your dog to the park a block away. You may decide that you don't want to take your wallet because you aren't going to the store & won't need money...and you are coming right back. For the sake of comfort, you just don't need your wallet or purse. While in the park... the police decide to do what is commonly known as a 'pedestrian check' because you 'fit the profile'. They already suspect something is wrong...because they have approached you. Now when they ask you for your papers and you tell them that you don't have any ID with you, you can be detained and questioned...and you will even be subject to arrest if your story doesn't fly. Better not have a heavy Spanish accent. Is this America? Are Hispanics (or any other group) expected to just get used to being stopped and frisked? Police can check your name and verify drivers licenses without the actual ID.... but what about those legal residents and citizens from out of State? What about legitimate residents who don't happen to drive and don't have a State issued ID card? There are too many variables that the law doesn't seem to address. You can't subject one group to this kind of scrutiny... it just wouldn't work.
It seems as though this Country sinks a little deeper into the crazy quicksand with each passing day. I had to pinch myself when I heard this story.
Of course as soon as this nonsense is signed into law (if the Governor agrees with the nutters and in fact signs it) it would face a Federal injunction within hours. I almost want to see the law go into effect...because I want the nutters to see just how crazy they are. It would be a good lesson for them about the Constitution and how the Country is supposed to work. I want them to see just how fast this law would be knocked down by the Federal Courts.
I'm all for the enforcement of immigration laws. However, I think that the States and the Federal government should know their roles. There has to be a better way to deal with the issue without endangering Constitutional protections for Hispanic citizens. This law was a simple-minded approach to a delicate and sometimes complex problem. I'm pretty sure that if this legislation becomes law, it won't last for more than a few days (if that). It would take a Hell of a loophole for it to survive. From what I have read and heard about the legislation so far, it wouldn't last more than a couple of days. Its intent doesn't seem to be practical. Instead, it seems to be intended as a symbolic gesture designed to send a message to the Obama Administration.
One problem that this might create is a situation where Obama feels the need to tackle immigration reform this year. This is exactly what the Republicans want...and it may be part of their whole strategy. If Obama takes the bait, it could spell big trouble for Democrats. This is exactly the kind of fight that the Republicans would want going into the midterms. The majority of Americans support tougher enforcement of immigration laws....and Republicans have already framed immigration reform as an attempt to give undocumented individuals amnesty and a free pass. It's a losing battle for Democrats.
Obama should steer clear of any major overhaul of immigration, at least in his first term. If he gets a second term... then this might be an issue that he could try to tackle. This is my view...not because I think it is better to play politics.... but because after looking at the issue it seems clear to me that comprehensive "immigration reform" simply isn't doable. It's not a realistic goal, at least not in the current political and social environment. Why should President Obama waste energy and what little political capital he has left on something that isn't achievable, especially when there are so many other things that the Country needs to deal with? It makes no sense. It is not the kind of battle that he can fight and win...especially not in a Country that is so politically and racially polarized (thanks to the Republican Party and its Tea Party wing). This issue could derail just about everything else in Obama's agenda if he decides to push for any major reforms. The fight over immigration would be bigger than the fight over Health care - exponentially bigger. Do we really want to go back to that? This is exactly why I don't believe that Democrats in the Congress will touch it. The issue is too radioactive. But then again...the Dems in Congress aren't exactly the brightest people in world. They have done incredibly stupid things before.
A Republican - George W. Bush - tried this a few years ago...and failed miserably after his ideas were flatly rejected by his own party. What in the Hell makes anyone think that comprehensive immigration reform is achievable for Obama? Sure....he managed to get a watered down Health Care Bill passed...but Health Care Reform was not nearly as partisan an issue as immigration is. On Health Care...the Country was and is basically split down the middle. On the issue of immigration... Republicans are much more energized...and emotional, and support for tougher enforcement leans heavily in favor of the Conservative position...although this is due, in part, to a lack of understanding about the problems that immigration reform could fix.
The nutters didn't stop with just this immigration initiative. They also have legislation that would require proof of citizenship for any Presidential candidate. Those who don't provide proof of citizenship won't be put on the State ballot. Of course this is aimed at President Obama.
Sometime over the next few days we will know if Governor Jan Brewer will sign this legislation into law.
