Who's behind the anti-immigrant crusade?

[IndianaGreen]

Who's behind the anti-immigrant crusade?

Justin Akers Chacón, co-author with Mike Davis of No One Is Illegal: Fighting Racism and State Violence on the U.S-Mexico Border, analyzes the political forces that are driving the assault, centered today in Arizona, on immigrants and their rights.

June 11, 2010

"CAN YOU hear us now, Mexico? Can you hear us? This land is not your land, this land is our land," proclaimed Atlanta talk radio host Larry Wachs, whipping the crowd of 5,000 into a frenzy.

The intent of the statement was to define the enemy and expose its insidious plot: nothing less than an international conspiracy of Mexico's children to invade and occupy Arizona soil, with the criminal intentions of finding work, raising families and achieving some semblance of social equality.

The attendees at the "Stand with Arizona" rally would have none of this. They were gathered on the evening of May 29 at Diablo Stadium in the Maricopa County suburb of Tempe, a few hours after more than 50,000 people marched against Arizona's SB 1070 in downtown Phoenix. A week later, the right's own "national mobilization" of pro-SB 1070 forces, under the name "Phoenix Rising," drew only 1,000 people, despite expectations for greater numbers.

The keynote speaker at both events was Sheriff Joe Arpaio, whose effort to turn the Maricopa County Sheriff's Department into his personal posse to hunt down undocumented workers helped pave the way for the passage of the new law. Arpaio giddily refers to July 29--the day when SB 1070 is supposed to be officially implemented--as the "magic day."

http://socialistworker.org/2010/06/11/behind-the-anti-immigrant-crusade

[Lint Head]

1. Racist SOB's. That's who. It's easy.

[lunasun]

2. Woody Guthrie didn't say that! Mr Wachs

I've roamed and rambled and I've followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts
And all around me a voice was sounding
This land was made for you and me
As I was walkin' - I saw a sign there
And that sign said - no tress passin'
But on the other side .... it didn't say nothin!
Now that side was made for you and me!
In the squares of the city - In the shadow of the steeple
Near the relief office - I see my people
And some are grumblin' and some are wonderin'
If this land's still made for you and me.

[FBI_Un_Sub]

3. Racism, xenophobia, total ignorance

of the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo (especially the rights granted to Native Americans).

BTW - Don't go Googling the Treaty. It was signed before the Secretary of State established an Archive, and there are dozens of versions of the treaty in state libraries, college libraries, and faculty offices all over the country.

[classysassy]

4. Here in Arizona

near the border where I live the racist thugs are frothing at the mouth and spewing so much hate speech it make me sad that such people live in our country,they are truly evil .

[pinboy3niner]

5. Good analysis, but one factor was omitted

Another reason why the GOP has wedded itself to the anti-immigrant crusade is purely partisan, as Greg Palast pointed out in an article for Truthout:

Behind the Arizona Immigration Law:
GOP Game to Swipe the November Election

Monday, April 26, 2010
by Greg Palast for Truthout.org

Don't be fooled. The way the media plays the story, it was a wave of racist, anti-immigrant hysteria that moved Arizona Republicans to pass a sick little law, signed last week, requiring every person in the state to carry papers proving they are US citizens.

I don't buy it. Anti-Hispanic hysteria has always been as much a part of Arizona as the Saguaro cactus and excessive air-conditioning.

What's new here is not the politicians' fear of a xenophobic "Teabag" uprising.
<snip>

What moved GOP Governor Jan Brewer to sign the Soviet-style show-me-your-papers law is the exploding number of legal Hispanics, US citizens all, who are daring to vote -- and daring to vote Democratic by more than two-to-one. Unless this demographic locomotive is halted, Arizona Republicans know their party will soon be electoral toast. Or, if you like, tortillas.
<snip>

But that's the point, isn't it? Not to stop non-citizens from entering Arizona -- after all, who else would care for the country club lawn? -- but to harass folks of the wrong color: Democratic blue.



http://www.gregpalast.com/behind-the-arizona-immigration-lawgop-game-to-swipe-the-november-election