By Roberto Rodriguez
Those who think that there’s an immigration crisis in Arizona are correct; however, this is but part of the story.
The truth is, a civilizational clash is being played out in the same state in which the state legislature questions the birthplace and legitimacy of President Barack Obama and where Sen. John McCain competes with Senate hopeful J.D. Hayworth to see who is the most anti-immigrant.
It is also the same state that several years ago denied a holiday for Martin Luther King Jr., and that today permits virtually anyone — on the basis of trumped-up fear — to carry concealed weapons anywhere.
Welcome to Apartheid Arizona — the land of Sheriff Joe Arpaio, “states’ rights” and a desert that has claimed thousands of migrant lives. By way of the same extremist legislature, the battle here is even much larger and more profound. This civilizational clash is being waged daily here via more bills involving who belongs, what language can be spoken here and who and what can be taught in the state’s schools. This is beyond the notion of who is “legal.”
Whoever said this crisis is proof that the illegal Mexican American War never ended is partially correct because this conflict is even older than that war in which Mexico lost half its territory to the United States. The irony regarding the recently signed SB 1070 — which permits law enforcement to question people about their citizenship, based on “reasonable suspicion” — is that those principally targeted will be those who look the “most Hispanic.”
“Looking Hispanic” has always been a misnomer; what it really means is those who are dark and short and who look the “most indigenous.” Truthfully, here in Arpaio country, that profiling that everyone fears is already here with us. And to dispel illusions, the darkest amongst us have always been subjected to racial profiling by the “migra” and by law enforcement agencies everywhere in the country. This is true whether we’ve been here for a few days or for thousands of years. And to dispel further illusions, this civilizational clash alluded to is national in scope; witness the many hundreds of anti-immigrant bills nationwide since 2006. Only its epicenter is here.
What is changing with SB 1070 is that racial profiling is no longer outside of the law; here it now has legal cover. But to be sure, people of conscience will never accept it as law. And just as Arizona Rep. Raul Grijalva is calling for a national and international boycott of Arizona, many are calling on law enforcement to have the moral courage to refuse to recognize SB 1070 as a law and simply view it as a proposal until the courts decide on its constitutionality.
SB 1070 brings us to a moral precipice. After World War II, a consensus developed here that it had been wrong to incarcerate the Japanese in internment camps because such action was morally wrong. Virtually no one had the courage to assert this while it was happening. Law enforcement has that chance today: to refuse to obey SB 1070, which is both morally repugnant and outside the U.S. Constitution.
Regarding the larger civilizational struggle, the context is akin to when Europeans first came to this continent. The conquistadors came for gold, land and bodies (slaves). The friars, on the other hand, came for souls. Similarly, the migra and extremist legislators want bodies deported; the state school superintendent, Tom Horne, wants souls.
Last year, the state legislature attempted to eliminate ethnic studies from the state’s K-12 curriculum. The real target was Tucson Unified School District’s Mexican American Studies (MAS) program. The bill was defeated, but this year, a similar, yet more preposterous bill is back. HB 2281 seeks to outlaw curriculum that is anti-American and that advocates the violent overthrow of the U.S. government.
The clear target again is the MAS program. Horne is on record claiming that only things from Western civilization (Greco-Roman) should be taught in Arizona schools. Pre-Colombian indigenous knowledge from this continent — the foundation for the highly successful MAS program — is considered outside Western civilization.
Amid the immigration crisis, the legislature is slated to also pass HB 2281 this week. This conjures up the line from the movie “The Other Conquest”: “They came for our souls, but they didn’t know where to look.”
President Obama and Congress may yet nullify SB 1070 and similar bills nationwide, but this will not discourage those who continue to want our bodies — and souls.
This article originally appeared on the site the Cap Times.
Roberto Rodriguez, an assistant professor at the University of Arizona, can be reached at XColumn@gmail.com.
Yes, Let’s call it what it is, apartheid. And ALL of us in the U.S. enjoy the apartheid economy, like it or not. It’s a two tiered system where we have people working who have rights and people who are legal slaves, the legal slaves are the migrant or undocumented worker (and prisoners in the penal system, but that’s similar argument for another time).
Examples: Who picks the produce? Who sews the American Apparel Tshirts? Who makes the shoes? Who details the car at the car wash? Who does the gardening while the hipster or BoBo is at work? Who works for Walmart and does the mandatory overtime (oh yeah!)? Who slaughters the beef, the pork and chickens at the factory farms? Who drives the trucks that contain hazardous waste BACK into Mexico? Who is the nanny in Beverly Hills, and Capitol Hill for that matter? Who does the construction grunt work, the day labor? Who paints your house? Who do you hire from Home Depot or Lowes to help with that home improvement project? Who does the hauling of your refuse when you need the yard cleared or have something to take to the dump?
Shall I continue? (LOL because I can…)
And besides all that about WHO –Let’s talk about WHY.
It is in the WHY this “immigration issue” that we see how this story unfolds and it’s causes –which is how we educate people about what has caused this issue and how we can remedy it.
Let’s talk about how the Mexican economy was decimated by NAFTA and our failed war on drugs. Let’s talk about how CAFTA has fucked Central America, along with U.S. fruit growers and oil companies. And let’s not forget what we are doing to Colombia with our poisoning of crops in the name of drug war, by spraying poisons. Let’s not forget what MONSANTO did to the indigenous corn crops in Mexico. Let’s not forget that NAFTA and CAFTA drove wages down below Mexican poverty and yet U.S. companies charge U.S. prices for goods South of the border. And when the average wage earner is making maybe 60 dollars American per week, they’re going to go elsewhere with the hope and dream, the same hope and dream that White Europeans had in migrating to this country, for a better goddamn life.
Whew. This one is close to home. I live among immigrants in L.A. I don’t see them stealing jobs or abusing welfare, medical care or any of the mythology. I see them working hard to build a better life and contributing to the community.
We have no idea what these people sacrifice in order to get here. (see link below) Then we blame them, call them criminals, when the crime actually lays in the hands of those in power. Those that willfully violate our laws for cheap labor, and violate the laws and ecology of the migrant worker’s home countries.
And if that’s not enough, from the hospital US citizenry, then there’s this:
http://uprisingradio.org/home/?p=13516