You’ll be glad to hear that the new law mandating racial profiling in Arizona won’t cost the state economically. The governor, who signed the bill while claiming that racial profiling is illegal in Arizona, says
The bottom line is that when I go about meeting with businesses that come into Arizona … they want to know that we have a safe and secure environment into which to move their businesses here… They want to know that their employees are going to have a quality of life that they’ve had in the places where they’re moving from to move here.
Has any reporter asked her to name a business that wants darker-skinned folks subjected to unnecessary and unwarranted stops and checks? Or where these employees are moving from, or what is meant by quality of life?
Supporters say the measure is needed because the federal government has failed to enforce its own immigration laws. In Tucson on Monday, Brewer said she has written to the federal government five times about the issue in the past year and a half.“[The letters] have been met with complete, total disrespect to the people of Arizona. I mean, we don’t even get an answer back from our letters in regard to securing our border,” Brewer said. “So, given that, I think it was time that Arizonans did step up, and that was one reason why I think that [the new state legislation] was signed.”
Has anyone asked her how many times she wrote during the Bush years and how many during Obama’s time? I’d wager there’s a statistically significant correlation. (Or how she addressed the letters?)
Phil Gordon, Phoenix’s mayor and a Democrat, said his office hopes the City Council will authorize the city to file a lawsuit Tuesday.“Convention [and] tourist business groups have already gotten dozens of calls. We’re pleading with them not to boycott Phoenix or the state because of [the bill],” Gordon said Monday on CNN’s “The Situation Room.” “There will be court challenges. I’m confident that the federal courts will enjoin it at least until it is determined [whether it’s] constitutional and how to enforce it so that officers don’t get sued by individuals alleging civil rights violations.”
Which tells us several things. One is there’s a big difference between Phoenix, at least, and most of the state. Another is that Phoenix doesn’t seem to be hearing from a lot of organizations anxious to hold their conventions there now that they can rest assured the folks on the streets look like Americans. This would tend to be a negative comment on the accuracy of the governor’s prediction on the economy, if Phoenix tourism is any guide, but it may not be.
I'm going to change a few of the facts in this story because if I told it exactly as it occurred my family members might be recognized and I wouldn't want to embarrass them or cause job problems for them and I can't predict how someone will react to this rant so I'll change the story a little bit.
My brother in law is a surgeon in New York city and comes from a Jewish background and the family often engages in the Jewish rituals although are not strict observers of the Jewish faith. About 20 years ago when my niece was a young lady she went with my brother in law to do medical missionary work in Central America, where people would travel hundreds of miles on foot to get to a doctor for such things as cleft palate and the like. And my niece fell in love with the Spanish language. When she graduated from New York University she decided to move to Latin America in Rio De Janeiro and met a highly educated Latin American and they fell in love and he is now making a 6 figure salary as his skills are in demand. He came from a poor family but worked hard to educate himself. They now have two children with another one on the way. It galls me to no end to think that this family, should they travel through Arizona might be treated as Jews were in Nazi Germany in the 1930s and asked for their papers. This is the most appalling and Un-American piece of legislation that I have seen at least since the Bush administration authorized the use of torture on people that we now find out that they knew were totally innocent.
My hope is in President Obama - I am not with the liberals who condemn him - is the best hope we have right now as a nation but this legislation is out of his ability to change but I was glad to hear that he condemned it.
But getting back to Arizona, I am totally appalled that my family could be treated this way should they venture into Arizona. The children, the father and even my niece could be pulled aside and locked up if they happened not to have the proper paperwork with them. And what do parents do about children in Arizona? Are they required to have papers too? Maybe we should just give white Americans who are legal in Arizona a white star to wear on their clothing so that they can feel superior and so that they can be quickly identified. (please don't take that seriously, I am analogizing historically to make my point) I am totally disgusted with John McCain's home state.
Posted by: Buck on April 27, 2010 12:12 PMPhoenix is in Maricopa County, home of Sheriff Joe Arpaio. No thank you to that city, at all.
Posted by: Mike Goldman on April 28, 2010 11:20 PMArizona is the state where a man can wind up on death row because of a forensic dentist's testimony that nobody else's teeth could have produced the bite marks on a dead woman's body, despite the man's good alibi, no other evidence, and no known connection with the deceased. It took 10 years and all his family's worldly possessions to free him.
This was a pale Euro mailman from York, Pennsylvania, who decided to see the world a bit and put in for a job transfer. I can't say I've ever had any desire to visit Arizona.
Posted by: Joyful on May 2, 2010 11:32 PM