This is a picture of a taxi in Cuernavaca, Mexico. It was found on Laura Martinez's blog Mi blog es tu blog. The English translation of the writing on the back window says, "There is no service available for gringos from Arizona." Looks like the Arizona legislature has created a lot of ill-will toward their state.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Answering Arizona's Bigotry
This is a picture of a taxi in Cuernavaca, Mexico. It was found on Laura Martinez's blog Mi blog es tu blog. The English translation of the writing on the back window says, "There is no service available for gringos from Arizona." Looks like the Arizona legislature has created a lot of ill-will toward their state.
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You been a bizzy boy since I was here last. Thanks for your great blog. Man, it's good to know you're next door. Although I don't have too much room to talk, being from New Johannesburg, AZ, Texas would be a black spot without your beacon.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the good stuff on the Great State of Apartheid. Keep it up, Mijo!
Thanks Pico. It's great to have you back!
ReplyDeleteHeaven help Arizona if this is what they're up against.
ReplyDeleteThe new law would do nothing to prevent this kind of thing.
ReplyDeleteThat's true, but the federal government - Republican and Democrat alike - has failed the border states for more than 20 years by kicking the can down the road and failing to secure the border and institute a fair immigration policy.
ReplyDeleteThere are too many special interest groups with a vested interest in maintaining the status quo:
The Catholic Church loves unregulated immigration because it means more parishoners.
Rich Republican businessmen love unregulated immigration because it gives them a cheap labor force that they can intimidate with threats of deportation.
The unions love unregulated immigration, because it means more dues from workers who are more dependent on collective bargaining than workers who are here legally and can fend for themselves.
The Mexican government loves unregulated immigration because it serves as a safety valve on unrest and allows them to avoid making any meaningful reforms to corruption.
And drug dealers love unregulated immigration because it means more of their product coming into the country.
The people who suffer the most from the status quo are the vast majority of hard working "undocumented" immigrants who have no rights and are lumped together with the violent minority in public opinion. And until the borders are secured and that violent minority is ejected and kept out, the honest majority will suffer, along with the rest of us, like that deputy who was wounded.
The Arizona immigration law was borne out of desperation, and it's wrong. But not because it will suddenly transform Arizona law enforcement officers overnght into a bunch jack-booted Gestapo thugs cracking brown heads together for their own amusement. It's wrong because 1) it's unconstitutional under the 10th Amendment - border security is the exclusive perview of the the federal government; 2) the term "lawful contact" is open to all sorts of interpretation (and potential abuse); and 3)as you said, it will be largely ineffectual in restoring law and order to Arizona.