Resistance Alley & the PHX Graffiti Police

I met the Graffiti Detectives Friday evening in my back alley, which is along the main drag for the Phoenix Artwalk on the First Friday of every month. A few friends and comrades showed to cop-watch from the sidelines; most of my friends are on probation or parole, however, and couldn't afford the risk involved in being as criminally disobedient as I have been in recent days, so they were excused from showing for the action.

A few folks have rightfully asked me to explain what I'm doing and why a little better. Among other things, I've been trying to force a more animated and engaging public dialogue about the prison deaths, free expression and resistance, and Arizona's tendency to prioritize property rights over human rights in our legislative practices. There are a host of intersecting issues affecting human rights in this state, beginning with a flawed value system. Here it's "criminal damage" to block access for livestock to water supplies - a felony - and yet guaranteeing access to water in the desert for people is prosecuted criminally as littering.

As a manifestation of our collective social values in Phoenix, the city's response to my solicitation to resist the status quo through possible criminal activity turned out a whole squad of cops to protect an alley from art, but no one in this state will initiate an investigation into all the suicides and homicides at the AZ Department of Corrections. What gives? I can't even count how many cops I've reported the state's crimes too, but no one seems to feel responsible for intervening themselves, or even calling in the feds.

An argument can be made that my chalk - and now paint - on the ground invites graffiti on the walls and "blight"; there was some new artwork done the night before they arrived Friday, specifically a message to them:


The images that bug me the most, frankly, are not graffiti per se, but from the advertising I can't avoid looking at everywhere I go - especially those faded, aging political signs like the ones outside of Tom Horne's old campaign office on 7th Ave and McDowell - boy that place is looking trashy. Bottom line is that if you have money you can ram your politics down everyone's throat with fear, racism, sexism, homophobia - the list of ugly manipulative strategies we're subjected to each political season goes on.

Then we must respect the "rights" of people who just want to make a buck from us to advertise their garbage - from fast food joints to casinos to strip clubs and the state's lottery system, as long as they have the money to buy or rent space they can push their products and messaging all over our everyday landscape. But if an impoverished citizen objects to the way our government is being run and puts up their own highway signage to express objection to the wars, for example, it's considered a crime.

Only property-holders and lawmakers can color and abuse our public horizon that way, it appears. All public space should be safe for free (unpaid) political expression, but none is really protected by our laws in meaningful places, quantities, or ways - if anything, it's discouraged by the privatization of so much community space (done to give police departments and businesses the leverage to criminalize homelessness and hassle the poor riff raff busking on "their" sidewalks).

I can only guess who made those kinds of laws, and who they serve most today - I'm fairly sure they weren't designed to empower The People, though. Law is mainly made to maintain the social order, after all - which is inherently heirarchical, capitalist, racist, misogynistic, and anti-democratic in America - especially Arizona...

Anyway, as I said, I met the Graffiti Detectives (Diane Rowe and her partner, whose name I keep forgetting) in my back alley Friday in time for my planned protest. It quickly became clear that they wouldn't be arresting me - I think they mainly just didn't want to become players in my street theater any more than they already had to be.


Detective Rowe took issue with my characterization of cops picking on teenage taggers - they feel as if they try to help the kids they arrest, in particular. They also argued that there really aren't that many youth being charged as adults or even sent off to child prison for graffiti alone. They see writing as being like a "gateway" drug, so the youth getting into real trouble may face burglary and other charges by the time they get busted for tagging...





So, the Graffiti Detectives are really here to help wayward youth, not control and punish budding revolutionaries. Right. Regardless, we never would have had the conversation we did if I was a teenage Latino male chalking the public walks in the middle of the night instead of a middle class white woman calling my vandalism "politics" and "art"...

which is what this protest was really about - my own privilege. In a year and a half of chalking the walks of Power, how is it that I've never been arrested, assaulted, or shot by a cop in this town? Not that I WANT any of those things to happen, mind you - but I see them happening to people of color and those in poverty all around me, and can't help but wonder why I get a pass, if not for the intersections of my gender, age, race and class...

That I am particularly privileged by the status quo in Arizona today is fairly disturbing - and the cost of accommodating my comfort, and that of my class, compels me to resist with everything I have. I may not be the most brilliant organizer or political strategist - some folks really doubt my sanity given my engagement of the police in confrontations - but I have yet to hear one good reason why not to tackle this head-on, at every level of law enforcement.


Anyway, I talk to cops more than real anarchists do because I want them engaged in the struggle of prisoners - they're the ones doing them the "favor" of arrest and confinement to get them off the streets, give them "3 hots and a cot" (which are really two bag lunches and a "boat" on the floor) - like everyone did to help Marcia Powell and Shannon Palmer, lucky them. That's a reminder that even the best intentions can still hurt a lot of people, especially if the police are brought into the mix as partners or "helpers". Their primary job is to maintain the order of the state, not promote the liberties and rights of the people - no matter how friendly they may seem.

But the cops didn't come to chat about my politics. Detective Rowe and I talked about all those issues for half an hour or so before I finally threw my red paint down and slapped my palm print up on the side of one of the dumpsters in our alley, irritated by the show of police force to discourage such activity. In the end I was yelling, I think, about how property rights trump human rights in this town as they all showed up to fight "vandalism" but I can't get anyone to follow up on serious abuse complaints against cops.

That's bullshit, frankly. So I've asked the Phoenix Graffiti Detectives to help me get the DOJ out here - we'll see if they bother to do that much. That might be too much like ratting out their own to internal affairs - that's how creeps like Gerster, Keesee and Chrisman stay in positions of power, though.

As for my criminal damage - I was the only one to handle the paint Friday night, since my friends don't need to be harassed any more than they already are - I can expect them to catch up to me with criminal charges and a bill for restitution and clean-up, on their own schedule. They aren't about to accommodate mine. I'll keep you all posted on how that unfolds; I expect it will give me plenty to write about, if nothing else of value.




Thanks for all your support, by the way, folks. You all rock!

Signs of Resistance: SAVE ETHNIC STUDIES Today!

ABOLISH EUROCENTRICSM!!!

"BAN RACIST HORNE."
I-10/202 at 18th St.
PHOENIX

Arizona's Choice Today: Students Lead New Civil Rights Movement

Jeff Biggers
Huffington Post
05/ 3/11 10:50 AM ET

Stumbling further into the quagmire of a national public relations disaster, drastic new measures by the Tucson Unified School District (TUSD) officials have turned the "manufactured crisis" over the Ethnic Studies/Mexican American Studies Program into a troubling moral crisis for the city --and the country.

As Tucson school officials appear to unravel daily with increasing controversy, Mexican American Studies (MAS) students and UNIDOS activists are now emerging as the calmest standard-bearers of civil discourse for the community.

In an op-ed today, two MAS students made a simple request: If the TUSD officials are truly interested in dialogue, they should table a controversial resolution that has divided the community.

Instead, in an alarming crackdown on the non-violent UNIDOS student campaign last week that attracted national praise for its celebratory actions and demands for basic democratic involvement in education, the backpedaling TUSD superintendent John Pedicone has shocked the community by hiring costly armed guards to monitor this Tuesday's rescheduled governing school board vote over a controversial school board resolution to strip the accreditation of the Ethnic Studies Program.

Only months ago, the Chicago-transplanted Pedicone declared the draconian state ban on Ethnic Studies was unconstitutional and a challenge to the law would be "the first hurdle." In a candidate's forum last fall, Pedicone even admitted: "If you look at the data, it is hard to argue with the success this program has with a historically under served population." In fact, a recent TUSD analysis demonstrated the achievements of the MAS program.

In a disturbing provocation this Sunday, Pedicone, who reportedly lives out of the district in the affluent suburb of Oro Valley, published an incendiary op-ed in the Arizona Daily Star newspaper that offensively denigrated student efforts "as pawns," blamed adults for "abhorrent" behavior, and falsely categorized last week's widely denounced resolution vote as only a "discussion."

As Tucson attorney Richard Martinez noted last week in a debate with TUSD board president Mark Stegement, the divisive resolution prematurely subverts an unfinished state audit in disarray, as well as a federal suit challenging the constitutionality of the new state law banning Ethnic Studies. In a quiet but stunning smackdown of Stegemen's misguided efforts, Martinez framed the TUSD effort as part of a "manufactured crisis."

This is the simple truth: Compounding the shameless Ethnic Studies witch hunt by extremist state officials, the Democraty Party-led TUSD school administrators have triggered a "moral crisis" over their seeming disconnection to the actual city of Tucson, by rebuffing MAS student and UNIDOS participation, and blatantly disregarding the reality of the district's majority of Mexican American students and the city's fervent and deeply rooted Chicano movement heritage.

On the anniversary today of the "Children's Crusade" in the Civil Right Movements, when students took the forefront of Martin Luther King's Birmingham campaign in 1963, Mexican American Studies student group UNIDOS is not only ramping up its efforts to keep the district's acclaimed program alive but teach the faltering school administrators a lesson in civility and democracy.

As the Tucson students reminded their community, Martin Luther King, Jr wrote his historic "Letter from the Birmingham Jail," on "Why We Can't Wait," as he faced similar criticism of his protests as "unruly." King wrote: "For years now, I have heard the word 'Wait! ... This 'Wait' has almost always meant 'Never.'" Nearly a half century ago, Alabama students recognized King's call "to create a situation so crisis-packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation."

"When youth transparently vocalize that they are unsatisfied with decisions made on their education," said 20-year-old MAS alumni, UA journalism student and UNIDOS activist Elisa Meza, "that should motivate the elected school board officials to initiate the civil discourse they believe we haven't already requested. Since February, TUSD have been pressured by the youth to initiate just that. To blame the youth that direct dialogue should have been the first step is a tactic to switch the narrative to imply immaturity on our actions. When, in reality, they've been incredibly immature to have ignored our voices in the first place."

As graduating and college-bound MAS high school Lisette Cota spelled out last month, UNIDOS has been asking for dialogue with the school officials for months.

For many long-time community members, the student uprising last week in Tucson recalled the Chicano student walkouts in the community in 1969, and marks the beginning of a new civil rights movement.

Consider this time line provided by UNIDOS over the last four months:

Jan 3- Two hours before Tom Horne's position changes from State Superintendent to Attorney General he serves a letter to TUSD calling them out of compliance with 2281 and has 60 days to eliminate the program before the states begins withholding funds. He presents "evidence" of the classes' non-compliance such as testimony from anonymous teachers, out of context quotes from books like Rudolfo Acuna's Occupied America and Paulo Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed, and lyrics from Chicano hip hop groups "El Vuh" and "Aztlan Underground."

The 11 teachers along with their attorney Richard Martinez and Save Ethnic Studies.org, the non-profit organization providing the legal defense for the teachers, counter his press conference with their own a few hours later in Tucson.

Jan 8- John Roll, Chief Arizona U.S. District Judge who was assigned to see the case against HB 2281, is killed along with five others at a "Congress on your Corner" event with Congresswomen Gabrielle Giffords. Congresswoman Giffords is shot and 19 others are injured. A 45-day extension is added to TUSD's 60 day deadline to become in compliance in HB 2281.

Jan 11- The 11 plaintiffs announce to TUSD school board members that if the district does not join their lawsuit or create their own battling the state of AZ on the constitutionality of the bill, they will be added onto the lawsuit as defendants. They give TUSD 48 hrs to reply.

Jan 14- TUSD announces to the "Arizona Daily Star" that the district is going to be in compliance with the bill, making whatever compromises to the program to do so. TUSD is now going to be added on to the lawsuit Acosta v. The State of AZ.

Jan 24- The five who were found guilty are sentenced to 10 hours of community service and fines.

Feb 5- Mexican American Studies Community Advisory Committee hosts first Community Forum in Support of TUSD's Ethnic Studies Program to educate about the success of the program and rally support on combating HB 2281. Students of the program, parents of the students, teachers and staff of the department, and elected officials speak on behalf of Ethnic Studies.

Feb 8- At TUSD school board meeting U.N.I.D.O.S. (United Non-discriminatory Individuals Demanding Our Studies); a new Tucson youth coalition of students from local high schools, alumni and community members who formed in response of the growing attacks on education and culture by Arizona legislature, make their grand debut to the community and TUSD board members with a press conference.

Representatives of the group demand a sit-down meeting with all TUSD school board members and that the district, the State Board of Education and the state of Arizona must act in accordance to international human rights laws, which HB 2281 violates.

A musical, cultural and artistic celebration continues outside of TUSD 1010 building after the demands are read to school board members during the 'call to the audience.'

Feb. 28- UNIDOS has a sit down discussion with only two of the five TUSD board members Adelita Grijalva and Judy Burns and present the positive impacts that Raza Studies does for the Latino community and what negative results will occur to the district's students if TUSD doesn't do everything in its power to protect the classes.

Mar. 8- UNIDOS representatives make a public statement in response to their meeting with the two school board members during Call to the Audience at TUSD school board meeting. UNIDOS demands for an announcement by the board members in the next 24 hours that they will keep the classes as they are no matter what the state may do. UNIDOS urges the district to act in the spirit of Martin Luther King, Jr. who said, "One has not only a legal, but moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws."

That very same morning of the school board meeting, unbeknownst to the community, the district made its first move to dismantle the program from the inside. Superintendent John Pedicone gave his position as supervisor over Director of Student Equity, Augustine Romero and Mexican-American Studies Director, Sean Arce to Asst. Superintendent Lupita Garcia -- who has openly made statements in the past that she would like to see the department abolished.

Mar 11- Mexican American Studies Community Advisory Committee holds press conference outside TUSD 1010 building denouncing the move of positions.

Mar 16- The Arizona Department of Education and State Superintendent John Huppental hire the Cambium Learning Group of Dallas, TX to conduct a four to six week curriculum audit of the Mexican American Studies Department to evaluate whether the program is in compliance with HB 2281 and meets up to state standards. The audit group will make unannounced classroom visits, interview students and staff, and evaluate teaching materials.

Mar 17- Save Ethnic Studies sends a letter to the TUSD governing board bringing to light the criminal history of Steve Gallon, who is appointed as head consultant of the audit for Mexican American Studies. Steve Gallon is the former superintendent of Plainfield School District in New Jersey and was arrested in 2010 with 11 criminal charges including conspiring to commit theft of more than $10,000 of educational services.

Mar 18- Steve Gallon resigns from the position following Save Ethnic Studies' coverage of his criminal past and is replaced by Luanne Nelson.

Mar 21- State audit for Mexican American Studies begins and Save Ethnic Studies with attorney Richard Martinez issue a press release calling the audit unlawful and a waste of tax payer money which will cost us $170,000. Martinez brings into question how the audit could possibly remain unbiased when the state of Arizona is hiring this group to investigate the teachers who are suing the state over the constitutionality of HB 2281. He also points out additional violations such as Federal Family, Educational, and Privacy Rights Act of 1974.

Mark Stegeman, president of the Tucson Unified School District governing board, submits an opinion piece to the Arizona Daily Star calling for Mexican American Studies to transition to Hispanic Student Services, which would only focus on extracurricular activities, and for the classes, who currently count as accredited core English and Social Studies classes, to be reduced down to elective classes.

April 6- The 11 teachers suing the state refuse to meet with the auditors in a "focus group discussion." Save Ethnic Studies sends a letter on their behalf to Superintendent Pedicone, declining the invitation because the audit lacks any legal authority, defined terms and remains unknown if the persons conducting the audits have any expertise in Mexican American critical race theory.

April 11- Sally Rusk and Maria Federico-Brummer, 2 of the 11 teachers express in an op-ed how any sort of compromise to the program is unacceptable. They explain why transition the classes from accredited core classes to electives would kill the program. They further defend the program which meets and excels far beyond the achievement gap for the Latino population, which is the second largest failing in TUSD as well as its majority population. In fact most of schools where these classes are taught have a 90 percent minority population -- mainly Latino.

April 12- UNIDOS boycotts TUSD school board meeting due to silenced youth voice. Students in press release recount the lack of response to their demands for the district, superintendent and board members to show true support for the program. Instead, all the district has done is refuse to join the teacher lawsuit or initiate one of their own, released a resolution declaring compliance with an unjust HB 2281, are currently cooperating with a biased State audit of the classes, and the board president Mark Stegeman is publicly advocated for killing our Ethnic Studies program by turning our classes into electives.

As the nation watches today's historic meeting in Tucson, Pedicone and the TUSD officials will have the choice of reaffirming the process of democratic involvement with UNIDOS and all students and community members, as Martin Luther King wrote, "to heal" the legacies of the past and move the district forward, or retreat deeper into the quagmire of the state's embarrassing witch hunt.

When education is under attack: FIGHT BACK!!!

These youth so ROCK!!!

Let's go support them today, folks!

Tuscon Unified School District's Board is meeting today at 5:30pm at TUSD HQ!

TUSD's ethnic studies meeting changed again

Reporter: Steve Nunez
Web Producer: David Rush

TUCSON (KGUN9-TV) - KGUN9 News has learned TUSD will hold a special meeting to consider a controversial ethnic studies proposal on Tuesday. And it will be held 5:30pm at district headquarters.

9 On Your Side reporter Steve Nunez was at the board's agenda committee meeting today where the decision was made to change the meeting for the second time.

The meeting was originally scheduled for Tuesday this week. But moments before the start, protestors stormed the board room. Some chained themselves to board members' chairs and refused to leave. TUSD Superintendent Dr. John Pedicone then canceled the meeting.

Board members re-scheduled the meeting for Thursday May 5 at the Catalina High School auditorium. But the agenda committee changed its mind and moved it two days earlier and back to district headquarters.

Board members said they were concerned over security at Catalina High. They said security will be beefed up inside the board room, in the hallway and outside the building. In addition, when the board room fills up, authorities will lock the doors and won't allow anybody else in.

Doctor Pedicone told KGUN9 News he was upset at the student's actions Tuesday night and vowed to keep them from holding back the democratic process.

Ethnic studies supporters were demonstrating over a proposal by Dr. Mark Stegeman that would make most ethnic studies courses electives. Currently students have a choice of taking U.S. history or Mexican American studies to graduate.

Free the Scott Sisters: Grace calling Mississippi.

Hey Friends of Justice out there:

Don't let Governor Barbour leave Jamie and Gladys to die in prison.

This week is a pretty critical time for folks to be contacting the Governor of Mississippi to implore him to pardon Jamie and Gladys Scott. I'm posting one of the more recent news editorials detailing their struggle below. You can also hit their mom's blogspot for more info (Evelyn Rasco - such a beautiful soul - is their mom; Nancy Lockhart and Sis Marpessa are their champions). Be prepared for some awesome gospel, blues, and soul to stream through when you open it (that means crank up your speakers, not turn them down)!


The conditions of the prison they're in - particularly the trailer where Jamie receives dialysis treatments (when the machine is working, that is) are horrendous - but you needn't make reference to that in your communication with Governor Barbour's office about the pardon - there's an appropriate contact for that below.


If you're a registered Republican - even from outside of Mississippi - please share that with Governor Barbour in your letter, as the man will likely be running for national office in 2012. It would help for him to know that real Republicans are interested in seeing that Americans are capable of delivering both justice and mercy when we've been wrong...


Here's the info to reach Governor Haley Barbour (visit that link, first, to get to know a little about him):

Honorable Haley Barbour
P.O. Box 139
Jackson, Mississippi 39205


1-877-405-0733
governor@governor.state.ms.us


You may also want to put something on letterhead and e-mail it as an attachment to the governor's personal assistant - Dorothy Kuykendal:

DKuykendall@governor.state.ms.us

Jamie Scott (center) with Mom and brother.

Also, check out this recent post and please contact the Mississippi health department regarding the black mold, toilets in Quick Bed and inadequate infrastructure in this dialysis trailer which are all located at Central Mississippi Correctional Facility in Pearl, Mississippi. There are a lot of lives at stake - the survival rates for sick Mississippi prisoners have plummeted in recent years under the current health care provider, Wexford - Mother Jones did an excellent piece on this in March.


Jeffrey K. Brown, Ph.D., R.P.E., B.C.E.
Bureau Director
State Public Health Entomologist
Mississippi State Department of Health
570 East Woodrow Wilson Avenue
Jackson, Mississippi 39216


601.576.7972 Office
601.576.7632 Fax
769.257.2242 Cell


jeffrey.brown@msdh.state.ms.us
www.healthyms.com



Here's the latest article giving some background on Jamie and Gladys. Please take action on their behalf THIS WEEK.

----------From the Seattle Times via Free The Scott Sisters----------

Sisters may or may not be guilty, but Mississippi assuredly is


Leonard Pitts Jr.


Sunday, November 21, 2010

Let's assume they did it.

Let's assume that two days before Christmas in 1993, a 22-year-old black woman named Jamie Scott and her pregnant 19-year-old sister Gladys set up an armed robbery. Let's assume these single mothers lured two men to a spot outside the tiny town of Forest, Miss., where three teenage boys, using a shotgun the sisters supplied, relieved the men of $11 and sent them on their way, unharmed.

Assume all of the above is true, and still you must be shocked at the crude brutality of the Scott sisters' fate. You see, the sisters, neither of whom had a criminal record before this, are still locked away in state prison, having served 16 years of their double-life sentences.

It bears repeating. Each sister is doing double life for a robbery in which $11 was taken and nobody was hurt. Somewhere, the late Nina Simone is moaning her signature song:

"Mississippi Goddam."

For the record, two of the young men who committed the robbery testified against the sisters as a condition of their plea bargain. All three reportedly received two-year sentences and were long ago released. No shotgun or forensic evidence was produced at trial. The sisters have always maintained their innocence.

Observers are at a loss to explain their grotesquely disproportionate sentence. Early this year, the Jackson Advocate, a weekly newspaper serving the black community in the state capital, interviewed the sisters' mother, Evelyn Rasco. She described the sentences as payback for her family's testimony against a corrupt sheriff. According to her, that sheriff's successor vowed revenge.

You don't have to believe that to believe this: Mississippi stands guilty of a grievous offense against simple decency.

But there is hope. Recently, the sisters' cause has been championed by high-powered allies. New York Times columnist Bob Herbert and the NAACP have called on Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour to pardon the two women. I add my voice to theirs.

I have no way of knowing if the Scott sisters' fate is tied in to some sheriff's revenge and at some level, the question is moot. Whatever the proximate cause of this ridiculous sentence, the larger cause is neon clear: the Scott sisters are black women in the poorest state in the union. And as report after report has testified, if you are poor or black (and God help you if you are both), the American justice system has long had this terrible tendency to throw you away like garbage. Historically, this has been especially true in the South.

If you doubt it, play with the scenario in your head. Try to imagine some rich white girl doing double life for an $11 robbery. You can't.

But then, that girl has access to a brand of justice unavailable to women like Jamie and Gladys Scott. She will receive every break the law allows her and maybe a few it does not. No one will throw her away.

And while it would be nice to think this problem of discarding people's lives would be solved by the release of the Scott sisters, the truth is, that wouldn't even address it.

How many other Scott sisters and brothers are languishing behind bars for no good reason, doing undeserved hard time on nonexistent evidence, perjured testimony, prosecutorial misconduct or sheer racial or class bias?

So fixing the problem the Scott sisters represent involves nothing less than the reformation of the justice system, a commitment to make it, as the name implies, a system that reliably produces "justice” as opposed to these too frequent miscarriages thereof.

Meantime, Jamie Scott, who is in her late 30s now, is in poor health. She is said to be losing her vision and both her kidneys have failed. And we wait for common sense to take hold in Mississippi.

It is a situation that shocks the senses, even if we assume they did it.

Now, assume they did not.

Miami Herald columnist Leonard Pitts Jr.'s column appears regularly on editorial pages of The Times. His e-mail address is: lpitts@miamiherald.com

From: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/editorialsopinion/2013477385_pitts21.html

No More Deaths, detention, deportation, or violence against migrants.

No More Deaths Welcomes Department of Justice Lawsuit, Calls for Overhaul of Immigration Management and Moratorium on Raids and Removals

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE—July 7, 2010
Contact: Danielle Alvarado
Cell Phone: (408) 646-2175
Email: media@nomoredeaths.org

Tucson, Arizona—No More Deaths welcomes Tuesday's announcement that the Department of Justice is filing a lawsuit against SB 1070, the most extreme among recent discriminatory measures passed by the Arizona legislature. In addition to preempting the federal government's sole jurisdiction over immigration enforcement, the implementation of SB 1070 is predicated on racial profiling; it promotes distrust between local communities and law enforcement; and it fails to uphold basic principles of fairness and equality.

Between June 14 and June 22, 2010, humanitarian volunteers at the Kino Border Initiative migrant aid center in Nogales, Sonora conducted interviews with 125 men and women recently removed from the United States. Of those interviewed, 26% (32 individuals) were taken from their families and communities in the interior of the country. SB 1070 would simply exacerbate this trend, which has proliferated under the Obama administration.

While the Department of Justice lawsuit may lead to an injunction before SB 1070 is due to take effect, the unfortunate reality is that this law is merely a symptom of a larger climate of fear-mongering and ill-considered policies that extend far beyond Arizona. While Obama denounces SB 1070, nothing is said about 287(g) agreements or other federal policies that lead to the de facto implementation of many of the practices that SB 1070 enshrines. The culture of abuse and impunity that pervades federal immigration enforcement, from Seattle to Miami, is especially apparent along the Southwest border, which is overrun with border enforcement personnel and infrastructure with limited oversight, accountability, or institutional safeguards for protecting human and civil rights.

The administration's approach to immigration enforcement is fundamentally flawed and continues to criminalize workers and families while doing nothing to address the broken state of our immigration system or the root causes of migration. The recent deadly tasering of a man in California and shooting of a 15-year-old boy near Ciudad Juarez by Border Patrol agents are symptoms of the violence perpetuated by militarized border enforcement. Since 2006 No More Deaths volunteers have interviewed thousands of individuals leaving Border Patrol custody, documenting hundreds of cases involving excessive force, verbal and physical abuse, and denial of access to water, family members, and accurate legal information. The federal government must do more to hold its agents responsible for their actions, and should immediately suspend all immigration detention and removal until comprehensive immigration reform is enacted that protects the rights, life and dignity of every person.

---

No More Deaths provides direct humanitarian assistance to women, men and children forced into the remote Arizona desert by US border policies. More than 6,000 have died along the border since 1998. Since 2006, No More Deaths volunteers have received over 500,000 recently repatriated migrants in aid stations in Northern Sonora, and documented a series of abuses in the custody of the US Border Patrol Agents. In 2008 No More Deaths released a detailed report, Crossing the Line: Human Rights Abuses of Migrants in Short-Term Custody on the Arizona/Sonora Border, which presents over 400 individual accounts of Border Patrol abuses, along with analysis and policy recommendations. The stories were collected over a two-year period, beginning as a natural outgrowth of our direct aid work on the border.

Download a copy of the report at: http://nomoredeaths.org/Border-Patrol-Abuse-Report/.

SB 1070: We will resist this police state.

Call to Action for Human Rights!

Join us in Arizona July 23-30, 2010!

Summer of Human Rights
Alto Arizona

National Week Against Criminalization!

Stop SB1070! Stop 287g! Stop Arpaio!

From Selma to Phoenix, From Civil Rights to Human Rights, and the Rights of Mother Earth!

Resistance has sparked across the state of Arizona and the country to defeat SB1070 and all racist policies that further criminalize our people and separate families. Knowing that if SB1070 is not stopped now similar laws will spread throughout the country:

We demand that the Obama Administration take decisive action and not comply with Arizona’s SB1070. It can only terrorize our communities if the federal government cooperates with it.

We demand that all ICE ACCESS programs such as 287(g), Secure Communities, and the CAP programs be suspended.

We demand Arizona institutions such as Cities, Towns, Police Jurisdictions, Universities, Colleges, K-12 Schools, School Districts and Businesses to publically state that they will not comply and will not cooperate with SB1070.

We call on people from around the country to come to Phoenix and stand in solidarity with the communities of Arizona to stop the implementation of SB1070!

We call that all those in that cannot come to Arizona, have solidarity actions in their home communities.

July 29th 2010

Don’t Work! Don’t buy! Don’t comply!

If individuals or groups are planning Non-violent civil disobedience or direct action against the racist laws targeting migrant communities in Arizona, below are suggestions on how to best direct your energy.

Suggested Areas include:

• ICE Headquarters

• Wells Fargo building/Joe Arpaio's office

• Detention Centers

• Jails

• Arizona State Capitol

• Areas related to Russell Pearce, Joe Arpaio and Jan Brewer

• Boycott Targets:
o Diamondbacks
o Fiesta Bowl

• School Districts who have not publically stated that they will not comply

• Police Jurisdictions who have not publically stated that they will not comply

• Cities and towns who have not publically stated that they will not comply

In recognition of the past and on going organizing and resistance happening in Arizona we ask that groups or individuals coming to please respect the following guidelines.

Guidelines:

• Participants will not inflict harm/injury to persons

• Participants will not inflict harm/damage to property

• We encourage people to think about how their actions can communicate to a broad audience and invite people to learn more about what is going on

• We encourage people to use creative and positive tactics

• Participants will not carry drugs/weapons

• Participants to not carry ID on July 29th and moving forward.

• Participants will come as self-organized action teams and affinity groups.

Please contact: actionforhumanrights@gmail.com.

SB 1070 Resistance: Solidarity with Pei Wei Workers.

Boycott Pei Wei & PF Chang's!

This in from the Phoenix IWW. This is an important piece of our larger struggle - please don't neglect it if you have the time. You can even just drive by and wave and honk (then go write a quick letter to the AZ Republic expressing your plan to boycott!). Just show these folks some kind of support tonight; we can make it fun - and beautiful. I'll bring the chalk (I'll probably be at a Phoenix location just because I know the "criminal damage" laws better there...).

- Peg

--------------from Phoenix IWW------------

Friends, Companeros, y Companeras,

Just a reminder to come and show your support for the 12 Pei Wei workers who were unjustly fired for skipping a day of work to march for their survival in this country. These brave workers attended the historic May 29th Demonstration against SB 1070 and were immediately fired by PF Chang's management. Workers have a right to protest and we will stand with these workers.

Boycott Pei Wei & PF Chang's!

Sólo un recordatorio para venir y mostrar su apoyo a los 12 trabajadores de Pei Wei que fueron despedidos injustamente por saltarse un día de trabajo para marchar para su supervivencia en este país. Estos trabajadores valientes asistieron a la histórica 29 de mayo Manifestación en contra de la SB 1070 y fueron despedidos de inmediato por la gestión de PF Chang's. Los trabajadores tienen derecho a protestar y tenemos que respaldar a estos trabajadores.

Boicot Pei Wei y PF Chang's!

Today - Hoy

Friday June 25 6pm

Viernes 25 junio 6pm

Pickets at 4 locations! - Piquetes en 4 puntos!

Pei Wei Central Phoenix

1.) 7th St. & Glendale

2.) 7th Ave. & McDowell

Pei Wei Chandler

3.) 54th St. & Ray Rd.

Pei Wei Tempe

4.) McClintock & Guadalupe

Bring your water bottle, your friends & family, and your spirit!

Also - The police and PF Chang's are aware of the pickets so stay safe!

Traiga su botella de agua, sus amigos y familia, y tu espíritu!

También - La policía y PF Chang's son conscientes de los piquetes entonces mantenerse a salvo!

Solidaridad,

J. Pierce

Phoenix IWW

Brewer's new charitable cause: Defending racism and fascism.

Watch the money pour in to defend this racist, fascist law, then tell me there's not enough money for children's mental health care in this state. There's plenty of money - people just don't have their priorities straight...

--------------------------------

S1070 legal defense fund reaches $48,000

By Jim Small - jim.small@azcapitoltimes.com

Published: June 18, 2010 at 7:41 am

Arizona Capitol Times

The Governor’s Office has collected more than $48,000 in the past six weeks to help defend the nation’s toughest immigration law and hopes to collect more with the launch of a new website designed to streamline the collection of more donations.

“It’s amazing to see just how many folks across the country are supportive of Arizona’s passage and signing of SB 1070,” Gov. Jan Brewer said in a statement. “The pouring in of hundreds of unsolicited donations since the end of April speaks volumes about how important securing our border is to citizens across America.”

Brewer also announced the creation of a website, www.keepazsafe.com, which allows people to use a credit card to donate to the legal defense fund.

The money, which a spokesman for Brewer said was given unsolicited by supporters of the law, will be used to defray the state’s cost to defend the law in federal court. Opponents of S1070, which requires police officers to verify the citizenship of people they stop if they suspect the person may be in the country illegally, have filed five separate lawsuits challenging the law’s constitutionality.

Brewer has hired attorney John Bouma, the chairman of law firm Snell & Wilmer, to defend the law. She is also fighting to keep Attorney General Terry Goddard, who is running for the Democratic nomination for governor, off the defense team. Goddard opposed the immigration law earlier this year when it was considered by lawmakers and told Arizona Capitol Times in April he expected his actions would prevent him from defending the law.

“If it does pass, and it’s signed by the governor, I will be screened because of my personal opposition to it,” Goddard said in April, adding that he thought the bill was “confusing” and raises “serious legal liabilities” for local governments. Instead, he said the duty of defending the measure would fall to Solicitor General Mary O’Grady or one of his deputy attorneys.

The donations to defend the law began arriving April 27, only four days after Brewer signed the bill. The first came from Sandra Esterline of Kentucky, who gave $15. Through June 10, there were 437 donations, totaling $19,754. But last week, her office received another $29,000, most of it after the governor publicized the fund on June 16.

Donations came from 46 states, plus the District of Columbia – only Montana, North Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming were not represented on the donation list. The largest donation was $2,000 from a Louisiana man.

The story about the donations was first reported by the Yellow Sheet Report, a sister publication of Arizona Capitol Times.

Phillip Gibbs, James Green, and the colors of Resistance.

Those of us who know Vietnam protest history at all know about the white kids murdered by the Ohio National Guard while protesting  at Kent State in 1970. Look again at all our history books: the anti-war movement is usually given a righteous young white face - despite the fact that the black community was in overwhelming opposition to the expanding  war, since their young men made up most of the US Army's front line fodder. In fact, Martin Luther King was beginning to vociferously challenge both the racism of the war and US imperialism when he was assassinated two years earlier.

So, today the story is about the kids killed in Mississippi at Jackson State College during their own uprisings just ten days after Kent State - the kids that even our leftier history teachers often forget to mention. They were 21-year old Phillip Lafayette Gibbs, and 17-year old high school senior James Earl Green. I was going to post the Democracy Now transcript on it - which isn't bad - but you'll have to Google if that's what you want. Here's the link to Jackson State College's Gibbs-Green Memorial page instead. Like the pages missing from our history books - the whole chapters left out - this school's page was strangely hard to find.

Russell Pearce Still Threatening Another Term.

Straight from the horse's mouth (apparently we're still on his email list of "supporters"). The typos are all his, by the way. 

I'm not sure which Constitution he's referring to defending, since he's responsible for some of the most aggregious, fascist legislation I've ever seen. It must be the same Constitution that codified slavery he loves so much...he seems to have missed that there have been a few amendments and legal rulings to give the rest of us rights, since it was originally written for white propertied men like him. The "Founders original intent," remember, was to keep most of the rest of us subservient as sub-citizens. He definitely champions that!


---------------------------------------from senatorpearce@russellpearce.com-----------------------------------

Friends,

I have been vigilant in the defense of freedom and our Constitutional principles at the legislature as well as my entire life.  I have worked as a Maricopa County Deputy for 23 years and I am the former Chief Deputy. I have been shot at and missed and shot at and hit, as I was critically shot by gang members while in the line of duty while serving our community.  I created "tent" city for inmates and saved millions in the cost for the taxpayer.  I have worked as the Director of the Motor Vehicle Department and reduced Government waist and long wait times at MVD, and cut administrative cost by $10 million. I served as your Judge in the North Mesa Justice Court, as pro-tem Judge in Maricopa County's court system and I have ruled on cases being mindful to make sure each ruling was based on the Founders original intent from Arizona Constitution, the law and the US Constitution.

I have worked to protect private property rights, protect the unborn, 2nd Amendment freedoms, quality education including school choice, safer neighborhoods, parental rights, tort reform, taxpayers bill of rights, and including sponsoring some of the most comprehensive immigration enforcement bills in the nation and 2nd Amendment issues such as the Freedom to Carry legislation, as well as the elimination of all Affirmative Action policies in government hiring and contracts.   www.russellpearce.com

For 10 years now, I have served the people at the state legislature. 8 years with the State House of Representatives and for the last 2 years as a Senator. I am the current Chairman of the Senator Appropriations Committee and served 6 years as the Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. As your Appropriations Chairman my motto is; “I am the gate keeper, not the gift giver of the people’s money”.

It is now election time and I am running for re-election for my 2^nd term as State Senator and I really need and would be very grateful to have your help!

I need volunteers to help me collect signatures to put my name on the ballot for this next primary election, August 24^th. I must turn in all the collected signatures by May 26^th. That is only 15 days from now. I really need your help in getting those signatures.  If you can and are willing to help me, please respond.

I have petitions forms ready to go. Please reply to this e-mail letting me know that you are ready and willing to help.  The opportune time would be May 18th to work just a couple of hours at one of the polling places in LD18.  If that does not work any week night or Saturday for a couple of hours walking the neighborhood would be great.  Thank you so much.

For Arizona,
Russell

Boycott this Brutal, Murderous State.

After hearing a brief report about this reported undocumented migrant's murder on KJZZ, the local NPR station around 5:00 or 6:00 this AM, and finding the article I originally posted below about it (along with a separate one which identified the suspects as citizens, but didn't identify the victim as an undocumented or illegal immigrant), I headed downtown to the Phoenix Police Department to find out the full story. 

They referred me to their public records office on the other side of town. 

They in turn, sent me to Maricopa County's Superior Court complex where the suspects were to be arraigned, but since I didn't have their names with me and "this happens all the time", no one there could direct me to the right court room. Besides, someone said, they were probably being arraigned in the jailhouse courtroom, not there.

So, since I was in the same building as the HQ for the Maricopa County Sheriff's office, I stopped in and asked them for help, certain that they would have the suspects names and maybe even a press release by then, since they apparently handled the arrests - nothing was forthcoming from the information desk, however, except the phone number of their press office (not even a name). 

Now, I checked the MCSO website before leaving home on this excursion. Since the "crime of the week" featured there this AM was not the murder of immigrants, but rather, sex offenses (featuring a complete cast of suspects of color in their mugshot line up) - and there was absolutely nothing on the site about the murder - I didn't bother calling the MCSO press officer to try to get more information.

Instead, I actually paid for an Arizona Republic, sure that there would be at least a blurb in there, giving me the names I'd read earlier on the KPHO website, so I could get to the arraignment and find out first hand what was going on. Not a word. 

By then I was pretty steamed, so I called the Republic, and spoke to J.J. Hensley. He was aware of the body found in the fire last Wednesday, but not the story that unfolded Sunday as I relayed it to him - the MCSO was keeping that pretty hush hush. He was sure interested, though, and Googled the same info I found as we spoke, promising a follow-up from their paper.

So, what follows is the result of the AZ Republic's "investigation", published a few hours after that conversation - which conveniently leaves a few blanks to fill in after making sure we all know that the still-anonymous victim brought this on himself by having sex with the poor murderer's mother. 

No one seems to know or care whether or not this man was so casually murdered and set ablaze because he was undocumented. Or, maybe the Republic is just exercising responsible journalistic restraint, not wanting to make a bad situation here worse by reporting that undocumented migrants aren't all criminal aliens and murderous drug dealers - many are in fact victims of crime at the hands of citizens who count on no one caring what they do to them.


I don't think it's journalistic ethics that dictated the lines - and the blanks between them - in the story below, though. I think the Republic is in bed with the power elite here who just don't want more bad publicity; the "truth" be damned. This state has no journalistic integrity - save for a few good folks at the Phoenix New Times. 

For perspective: flash back a week or so ago to that deputy who was shot by "suspected illegal immigrants" who were "believed to be smuggling bales of marijuana" (on foot through the desert, of course, pursued by this lone deputy) at the time he was fired on with AK-47's. Or the rancher a few months ago who law enforcement "suspected" was murdered by illegal immigrants involved in drug trafficking. 

Where was the journalistic restraint seeking all the facts before reporting speculation then? And what about the MCSO's fiery press releases about how they're protecting us by rounding up undocumented brown-skinned drivers, and all of Russ Pearce's histrionics about how many citizens are being murdered and raped by illegal immigrants? 

So, read this story now having put things into context. Doesn't it seem like something's missing here? Like maybe some sense that the life that was lost was sacred, valued, innocent, even worth being elevated to nobility for having been so brutally victimized? Maybe even a candlelight vigil to remember him and all the other migrants whose lives have been so brutally taken by good Arizonans?

Here's the problem, I think: In the Arizona storyline, the victim is supposed to be a US citizen; the perpetrators are supposed to be criminal aliens (from Mexico, of course), and the murder is supposed to justify SB 1070 and shame those calling for a boycott into silence. What's the truth that should be reported here? That we have so devalued the lives of non-citizens that their murders (which "happen all the time here", as I was told in Superior Court earlier) aren't news - only their crimes are. The Republic doesn't even say what the victim's or suspects citizenship status are - and we all know that those details these days matter a great deal. And even KJZZ hasn't mentioned the story again since before the morning rush hour commenced.

BOYCOTT this ugly place, America. Bring all these bastards to their knees. Don't worry about the poor they say you're going to hurt by doing so; they sure don't care about us - we're already screwed by them anyway. Don't give this state another dime until they account for all their crimes and make restitution to their victims' families. 

That means repealing a whole lot more than just SB 1070. Otherwise, this kind of thing will never end.

---------------------------------------

Slain Phoenix man reportedly slept with suspect's mom

by Jessica Testa - May. 10, 2010 01:12 PM
The Arizona Republic

Three men were arrested Sunday in connection with death of a man who was beaten and had his throat slit in Phoenix, apparently because he slept with another man's mother.

Adan Gonzalez, 20, Matthew Moreno, 19, and Booz Moreno, 23, are suspected of attacking a man who they thought was having an affair with Gonzalez's mother, according to court documents released Monday.

Last Wednesday, the trio apparently went to the man's house near 35th Avenue and Baseline Road, forcing their way in armed with a shotgun. They are suspected of beating the man who lived there.

The trio was accused of using a shotgun and a steel pipe to beat the man, eventually slitting the man's throat with a knife and setting fire to the house after stealing several items.

Witnesses reported seeing the men approaching the house, entering and then leaving a short time later as the house went up in flames, the court documents said.

The witnesses provided police with descriptions of three men and their vehicle's license-plate numbers. Police used the information to track down the three men.

The men were arrested on suspicion of first-degree murder, arson, kidnapping and burglary.

The documents noted that Matthew Moreno and Gonzalez initially said they were not connected to the case, but eventually said they beat and killed the man.

Booz Moreno was found to be friends with the homeowner's son, according to the documents. He has been charged with extreme DUI and is being held without bail. Matthew Moreno is being held on $1 million bond.

SB 1070: Still A Bad Law.

Patchwork changes to immigration law came in waning hours of session

By Evan Wyloge - evan.wyloge@azcapitoltimes.com

Published: April 27, 2010 at 7:24 pm

Arizona Capitol Times

One week after Gov. Jan Brewer gave Arizona the toughest immigration law in the U.S., state lawmakers added changes that would limit the scope of the law and protect local governments from lawsuits.

The changes were sought by lawmakers who voted for Arizona’s new immigration law after striking a deal with immigration hawk Sen. Russell Pearce.

Rep. Russ Jones, who was one of three Republican lawmakers to vote against a similar bill in 2009, said he agreed to vote for S1070 this year in exchange for Pearce’s promise to make changes to it in follow-up legislation.

The resulting bill, H2162, was approved on April 29, just hours before the end of the session.

H2162 prescribes a few key changes to the new immigration law, clarifying both the definition of lawful contact and guidelines for municipalities, as well as lowering the minimum — not the maximum — fine that can be assessed to cities that have so-called “sanctuary city” policies. It also restructured some of the punitive actions that a court would apply to those charged under the new law.

Representatives of the law enforcement community say the changes significantly alter the way police would have to enforce the law and the way they would be accountable for doing so.

Lyle Mann, who runs the day-to-day operations of the Arizona Peace Officers Safety and Training Board (AZPOST), said the fine points of the trailer bill are vital to the street-level execution of the new law. His group, incidentally, has been tasked by the governor with turning the provisions of the new law into a specific and manageable training rubric for police agencies across the state.

One of the changes to S1070 removes the word “solely” from the description of the new law’s lawful contact, when it comes to race. So, now race, color or ethnicity simply cannot be used as part of reasonable suspicion.

Mann said this is a huge simplification for his organization’s task, and should settle at least some of the fear over racial profiling. Now, his organization will simply be able to tell police agencies to have their officers understand that race is not a reason to initiate contact.

“It should quell the fears that a lot of people have vocalized,” Mann said. “This will make the training and policymaking much clearer and simpler.”

H2162 also narrows what is banned at the county, city and municipality level, changing it from a “policy or practice” to just a “policy” preventing police officers from using the new immigration law to its fullest extent.

With the independence that police officers rely on, Mann said, management of their activities is nearly impossible. So their “practices” are made at the officers’ discretion. The officers are trained, though, to rely on the “policies” their agency set.

“A ‘policy’ is the written instruction that tells officers how a task is to get done. ‘Practice’ is the actual activity carried out in support of that policy,” Mann said. “So the city of Phoenix might have 3,000 officers on the street. It’s much more difficult to control how those officers carry out their practices.”

Removing the words “or practices” from the new law goes a long way in protecting police agencies from lawsuits and fines, Mann said, because AZPOST will give guidelines, cities will turn those guidelines into “policy,” and the cities then would not be at the mercy of litigation coming from any resident who feels like the police agency isn’t enforcing the law to the fullest extent.

In addition, Jones said Pearce agreed to lower the fines assessed to local governments that violate the law. In S1070, a local government or agency initially could have been fined between $1,000 and $5,000 per day if an Arizona resident filed suit against them in Superior Court.

Jones wanted the fines cut in half, because he thought those numbers were arbitrary. Pearce only met him part of the way.

Instead of lowering both the maximum and minimum per-day fines, Pearce kept the $5,000 maximum and changed language in H2162 that would lower the minimum fines to $500 per day from $1,000 per day.

“Pearce says he thinks it’s important to have a sanction,” Mann said. “So you have to say, ‘OK, what’s a reasonable sanction? Do you get a better outcome with a bigger sanction?’ And you have to remember, if the city of Phoenix gets fined $1 million, they can’t open parks, they can’t operate their libraries, they take that money from schools. (Jones) is saying you can get the same compliance with half those numbers.”

Nancy Jo Merritt, who has 32 years of experience as an immigration attorney, said she understands why Jones and the law enforcement agencies would be so concerned over these small changes.

“This law is going to be so hard to comply with, so why make the punishments so harsh?” she said. “It’s like the assumption is the only way to get cities to follow this law is by threatening them with the death sentence.”

The last change outlined in H2162 concerned a phrase that said lawful contact can include an officer’s use of the new immigration law “in the enforcement of any other law or ordinance of a county, city or town or this state.”

Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, a Democrat from Phoenix, harped on this new phrase, saying it will mean that law officers will be able and compelled to check the status of a person, even if the police officer were responding to some sort of civil town ordinance, like an overgrown lawn, a fence in disrepair or a barking dog.

Sinema said police officers could previously only use the new immigration law when they encountered someone during the enforcement of a criminal or civil traffic violation, and that this will expand the way police officers could contact, then detain people while checking their federal immigration status.

Pearce denied that this change means much, and said police would already have been able to use the new law when making contact with a person for such civil ordinances. He said this new language was only added to further clarify the way police are authorized to use the new immigration law.

Mann of AZPOST agreed with Pearce, saying police officers would have the ability to use the new immigration law during any type of contact with any person, regardless of this new language.

“Police officers do this every day. It’s called a ‘Terry Stop,’ after the Terry v. Ohio case,” Mann said. “Let’s say there are some guys playing basketball in a park. The officer walks up and says, ‘Hey guys. How’s it going?’ That’s lawful contact. It’s a standard voluntary stop.”

Pearce said the changes in H2162 were something he agreed to, in order to get the votes he needed, and that he thinks he lived up to his bargain.

“I wasn’t excited about it, but we did it,” Pearce said. “(Jones) ought to be happy with the changes, I kept my word.”

Brewer Signs SB 1070; most fascist in nation.

Thus begins 90 days of mass civil disobedience in protest...Arizona's Freedom Summer. Jan Brewer just became our George Wallace. Once school is out, this state becomes ground zero for the biggest civil rights demonstrations in a generation...

ROCK ON!! 


DEFY SB 1070!!!

--------------------------------------------------

Brewer signs far-reaching immigration bill; thousands protest

By Arizona Capitol Times Staff

Published: April 23, 2010 at 1:39 pm

Gov. Jan Brewer today signed a sweeping immigration bill that would make it a crime under state law to be in the country illegally.

Her announcement punctuated the tension at the state Capitol and as far away as Tucson, where thousands protested S1070, regarded as one of the country’s toughest anti-illegal immigration bills.

Earlier in the day, President Barack Obama president called the bill “misguided,” saying it could violate people’s civil rights and said the federal government must step up immigration reform to avoid states passing what he called similar irresponsible bills.

Brewer said the bill will make Arizonans safer and stressed that it mirrors provisions in federal immigration law that ensure civil rights.

“I will not tolerate racial discrimination or racial profiling in the state of Arizona,” she said. “My signature today represents my steadfast support for enforcing the law.”

Chomsky on Fascism; VETO SB 1070.

I will have more on yesterday's Capitol protest later; this seemed relevant, though. Chomsky describes the Tea Party contingent well. They were there yesterday - indistinguishable from JD supporters, hundreds of ranchers, and rabid anti-immigrant forces. Hundreds of them, all told. And maybe 25 of us, mostly youth of color. Our opposition has no foundation for their claims, so they just called us names ("losers", "idiots") and told us to "go back to Mexico" (I'm a direct descendant of the first Pilgrim Governor, actually, and carry Brigham Young's genes in my blood). 

Actually, I'm surprised I wasn't assaulted by one of the anti-immigrant  people, because they were so agitated that a few of the women chased after me screaming when I went by them with DREAM Act fliers ("how about the 'Go Home Act'?"). Terrified people are easily exploited by men like Pearce and Thomas, and they turn into vicious, vindictive, brutal, entitled, racist, fascist beings. 


Just watch what they do to us next - to both the migrants and their sympathizers. After yesterday's event, I wouldn't be surprised if Joe Arpaio was elected as a Human Rights commissioner or something by AZ voters. As for us - I think we'll see lynching come back soon - or at least a surge in vigilantism/hate crime, police harassment, and abusive prosecutions against racial and political minorities in this state.


Boy, was there a lot of hate and fear on the State House lawns yesterday, and it wasn't coming from us. We know the arc of the universe bends towards justice - our kind, not theirs. We will work with her timeline. The Pearce/JD/Tea Party/White Supremacist crowd are the ones who are so afraid of the world out here that they have to carry guns everywhere - even though we're really the ones (the poor) who get gunned down the most.

SB 1070 passed the House and goes to the governor now, by the way.


This will be a dark era in Arizona's history. We might as well have segregated bathrooms and Jim Crow laws...


Actually, I guess we do. 


We are already the most fascist state in the country, and the lemmings here - all caught up in their own self-interest and privilege and fear - have no idea what has just been done to democracy...having forfeited the rights of others, we have forfeited our own.

All out of fear.

More people - US veterans, even - have been killed by the lack of health insurance this year than those killed by every single possible nuance of illegal immigration that can be milked from crime statistics. So, this has nothing to do with public safety or welfare, or Russ Pearce would have led the charge for health care reform and other things that really could save a lot of American lives. He's destroying the fabric of our Constitution instead - and the Republican Party is bending over backwards to help the likes of him. 

They're doing it because they know that under a true democracy they would have to share power. These people are convinced that not only do they not have to share anything, but that asking them to share any kind of resource, even in a  recession, is a direct assault on their liberty, livelihood, and even family. Thus the violent reaction to health care reform from this small segment of the community. They have intimidated their own party members into bowing down to fascism in the legislature.


That's pretty troubling, because that means that people like my grandpa and my dad, who are anti-racist at heart, despite being Republican white men, are being taken in by the flag-waving rhetoric and exploited to support things they would give their lives to fight against if they had even a clue of where we are heading. Hell, Dad already spent his life fighting this.

But even good people led astray can be capable of horrible things...there is nothing my dad wouldn't do to protect his family if we were under attack. We have to somehow make it harder for Pearce et al to turn our resistance to them into attacks on our neighbors, or we are all doomed.

--------------

Chomsky Warns of Risk of Fascism in America

By Matthew Rothschild, 

The Progressive 

April 12, 2010 

Noam Chomsky, the leading leftwing intellectual, warned last week that fascism may be coming to the United States.

“I’m just old enough to have heard a number of Hitler’s speeches on the radio,” he said, “and I have a memory of the texture and the tone of the cheering mobs, and I have the dread sense of the dark clouds of fascism gathering” here at home.

Chomsky was speaking to more than 1,000 people at the Orpheum Theatre in Madison, Wisconsin, where he received the University of Wisconsin’s A.E. Havens Center’s award for lifetime contribution to critical scholarship.

“The level of anger and fear is like nothing I can compare in my lifetime,” he said.

He cited a statistic from a recent poll showing that half the unaffiliated voters say the average tea party member is closer to them than anyone else.

“Ridiculing the tea party shenanigans is a serious error,” Chomsky said.

Their attitudes “are understandable,” he said. “For over 30 years, real incomes have stagnated or declined. This is in large part the consequence of the decision in the 1970s to financialize the economy.”

There is class resentment, he noted. “The bankers, who are primarily responsible for the crisis, are now reveling in record bonuses while official unemployment is around 10 percent and unemployment in the manufacturing sector is at Depression-era levels,” he said.

And Obama is linked to the bankers, Chomsky explained.

“The financial industry preferred Obama to McCain,” he said. “They expected to be rewarded and they were. Then Obama began to criticize greedy bankers and proposed measures to regulate them.

And the punishment for this was very swift: They were going to shift their money to the Republicans. So Obama said bankers are “fine guys” and assured the business world: ‘I, like most of the American people, don't begrudge people success or wealth. That is part of the free-market system.’

People see that and are not happy about it.”

He said “the colossal toll of the institutional crimes of state capitalism” is what is fueling “the indignation and rage of those cast aside.”

“People want some answers,” Chomsky said. “They are hearing answers from only one place: Fox, talk radio, and Sarah Palin.”

Chomsky invoked Germany during the Weimar Republic, and drew a parallel between it and the United States. “The Weimar Republic was the peak of Western civilization and was regarded as a model of democracy,” he said.

And he stressed how quickly things deteriorated there.

“In 1928 the Nazis had less than 2 percent of the vote,” he said. “Two years later, millions supported them. The public got tired of the incessant wrangling, and the service to the powerful, and the failure of those in power to deal with their grievances.”

He said the German people were susceptible to appeals about “the greatness of the nation, and defending it against threats, and carrying out the will of eternal providence.”

When farmers, the petit bourgeoisie, and Christian organizations joined forces with the Nazis, “the center very quickly collapsed,” Chomsky said.

No analogy is perfect, he said, but the echoes of fascism are “reverberating” today, he said.
“These are lessons to keep in mind.”

Matthew Rothschild is the editor of The Progressive magazine.