In Arizona We Trust

Gov. Jan Brewer has enlisted the help of Sarah Palin to help dress up the image of Arizona's new immigration law. What they had to do first was divert the blame from the governor to someone else. Take a wild guess who the blame is being placed on.

Jan Brewer and Palin blamed President Barack Obama for the state law, saying the measure is Arizona's attempt to enforce immigration laws because the federal government won't do it.

"It's time for Americans across this great country to stand up and say, 'We're all Arizonans now,'" Palin said. "And in clear unison we say, 'Mr. President: Do your job. Secure our border.'"

I think we can all agree that our immigration system needs to be reformed. However, when you pass a state law that supersedes federal law and is also explicitly racist, you have lost all credibility in calling out the president for his lack of action when it comes to immigration.

Of course Palin and Brewer are upset that the rest of the country is recoiling in horror at the mere thought of racially profiling people. But according to the governor, that is not at all what they are doing.

Obama and some city, state and foreign governments have condemned the law, which critics say will lead to racial profiling of Hispanics. Brewer on Saturday reiterated her assertion that profiling is illegal and will not be tolerated.

So how in the hell do you intend to implement this law? What would tip the police off that someone was an illegal immigrant? It couldn't be that they had brown skin.

Now the AFL-CIO and the LCCHR have written a letter to DHSS Janet Napolitano urging her to cut homeland security ties with the state. I think that is a great idea. If Arizona wants to make their own version of federal law, then I say let them. Cut all federal funding. Let them rely on the good people of Arizona for their continued survival. Then, when the racist utopia of Arizona is created, all of it citizens can raise their voices together and chant "In Arizona We Trust." But it will only be one group of people that have that trust.

Immigration Reform, or Poorly Veiled Racism?

Immigration reform is supposedly up for debate soon, and tomorrow there will be a rally in Charlotte as well as other cities (I'm thinking about going). On my facebook, there was a pretty benign status update that spawned a long discussion that I wanted to jump into, but one of the parties seemed semi-not-sane so I stayed out of it. The possibly-crazy person shared this link, which is the Colorado Alliance for Immigration Reform. At first it seems cool and all, with a quote by Lincoln and then a passage seeming to call on businesses, not immigrants, to be held accountable for employing illegal workers. But then it devolves into blaming immigrants for everything, and keeps quoting as "research" an organization that only took me two clicks to find out are bigots and racists.

Immigration does have a lot of complex issues, but how hard is it to understand this concept: Punish the employers, not the workers. Fine the shit out of them. It's the greedy asshole business owners who shit Americans out of their jobs when they know the person they are employing is not a citizen, because that person has to settle for less. Why would you blame the illegal worker? They're doing what they need to do, and they're not getting paid a fair wage for it. The anger needs to be directed straight at the top of the food chain, and the people who make the decisions and directly benefit from all this mess.

Downward-spiraling wages are a problem, one that's mostly caused when people who have no other choices are forced to accept less than what they deserve so they can support their families: illegal immigrants and ex-convicts, specifically. I've seen it myself---businesses exploit these people, and that in turn fucks you and me. But we're all being fucked, so don't blame the Mexican guy. Blame your boss. This is why we need reform, and not start rounding people up to kick out. For example, RIFA suggests letting non-citizens still work in the US but register and pay taxes.


Of course, considering that our ancestors, as immigrants, slaughtered the Native Americans, enslaved blacks and other minorites, and spent a good chunk of our history profiting from oppressing others, it's all sadly ironic.