This might seem unimaginable in the 21st-century United States, but the Arizona State Legislature is on the verge of passing a law that would authorize officers to pull over, question, and detain anyone they have a "reasonable suspicion" doesn't have proper documentation. The legislation would essentially legalize racial profiling, creating a police state for immigrants.
The bill will be on the Governor's desk as soon as today.1 This is a moment for all of us to stand with the people of Arizona against this injustice. Please join us in telling Governor Jan Brewer to do the right thing and veto this bill, and ask your friends and family to do the same:
http://act.presente.org/go/arizona?mid=2057-38634
According to the LA Times, "The bill, known as SB 1070, makes it a misdemeanor to lack proper immigration paperwork in Arizona. It also requires police officers, if they form a 'reasonable suspicion' that someone is an illegal immigrant, to determine the person's immigration status... Immigrant rights groups say it amounts to a police state." 2
If this bill passes, Arizona is declaring itself an apartheid state, where people who "look" undocumented are treated differently than the rest of the population. Leading police chiefs and sheriffs have even come out against the bill, saying that it will cause immigrants to avoid reporting crimes, and divert officers' attention from going after violent offenders.3
The future of Arizona is now in the Governor's hands. Please join us in telling Governor Jan Brewer to veto this bill.
http://act.presente.org/go/arizona?mid=2057-38634
Thank you and ¡Adelante!
References
1. "Backers defend AZ crackdown on illegal immigrants," Associated Press, 4-15-10,
http://bit.ly/a47Yjc
2. "Arizona passes strict illegal immigration act," L.A. Times, 4-13-10
http://bit.ly/b6f9IL
3. "Racial profiling, SB 1070 will go hand in hand," Arizona Daily Star, 4-16-10
http://bit.ly/cnoLiP
"Four hostile newspapers are more to be feared than a thousand bayonets."
-- Napoleon Bonaparte
"What you want in a media system is an ostensible diversity that conceals an actual uniformity."
-- Joseph Goebbels
http://hladc-sf.blogspot.com
http://elrinconcitodeaurora.blogspot.com/
1 comment:
AP : Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony on Arizona : German Nazi or Soviet Communist Repression, Children turning in parents, neighbors prying into private lives to report to the State.
The Catholic Church fighting for Human Decency and against Racist Holocausts and Progroms :
Associated Press
Los Angeles Cardinal: Nazism in Arizona immigration bill
April 20, 2010
Los Angeles Cardinal: Nazism in Arizona immigration bill
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jBbaacHSTfwQFWSi7VYGq2utcS_gD9F6VRFO0
Some excerpts :
LOS ANGELES — The head of the nation's largest Roman Catholic archdiocese has condemned a proposed Arizona crackdown on illegal immigrants, saying it encourages people to turn on each other in Nazi- and Soviet-style repression.
The measure wrongly assumes that Arizonans "will now shift their total attention to guessing which Latino-looking or foreign-looking person may or may not have proper documents," Cardinal Roger Mahony said in his blog Sunday — a day before Arizona's Legislature sent the immigration enforcement measure to the Republican governor.
Gov. Jan Brewer has not indicated whether she will sign the bill, which creates a new state misdemeanor of willful failure to complete or carry an alien registration document. It would also require officers to determine people's immigration status if there's reason to suspect they're in the country illegally.
................
But Mahony, whose archdiocese has a huge Hispanic immigrant population, said the Arizona Legislature was passing "the country's most retrogressive, mean-spirited, and useless anti-immigrant law."
Similar laws that were previously passed in other states have been repealed or struck down in the courts, he said.
"The tragedy of the law is its totally flawed reasoning: that immigrants come to our country to rob, plunder, and consume public resources," Mahony said.
"I can't imagine Arizonans now reverting to German Nazi and Russian Communist techniques whereby people are required to turn one another in to the authorities on any suspicion of documentation," the cardinal said. "Are children supposed to call 911 because one parent does not have proper papers? Are family members and neighbors now supposed to spy on one another, create total distrust across neighborhoods and communities, and report people because of suspicions based upon appearance?"
Raciality.com
Vicente Duque
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