Resisting SB1070, Tent City, and White History's Lies

 

Excellent reflection below by the director of Puente Arizona on the immigrant rights movement this eve of the decision about SB 1070 from the US Supreme Court. 

Signs of resistance by Peggy Plews. 

 

Please come out to this weekend's:

  Rally and Vigil to Shut Down Tent City 

Saturday, April 23, 2012 at 8pm. 

2939 W. Durango Street

"Imagine no prisons..."

maricopa county jail: tent city

phoenix AZ april 2011

----------------as posted at POLITIC365.com----------------------

Arizona, Arpaio and SB1070 Spur Crusade for Immigrant Rights

BY CARLOS GARCIA

The migrant rights movement in this country is about to enter a new phase and every person, no matter their position, will have to decide how they will relate to it.

While many are waiting to see the decision of the Supreme Court related to the Department of Justice’s SB1070 case, a human rights crisis of epic proportions is already roiling in Arizona.

The status quo we face now and the results of even the best possible decision from the Supreme Court still represent a steady march toward anti-immigrant attrition that the state has constructed over years. First we faced efforts to restrict our ability to function in society: drivers’ license bans, denial of social services, and English only rules. Then they built ways to humiliate and dehumanize us through Sheriff Arpaio’s outdoor jails and Florence’s expanding penal colonies.

From 2007 to 2010, even before SB1070 was introduced, our community faced checkpoints, bore witness to women forced to give birth in shackles, and traveled to work and school on a daily basis already wondering if we would reunite with our families and loved ones at the end of each day. In 2010, Arizona sought to erase us from history with a ban on ethnic studies and remove us altogether through SB1070.

In what amounts to a state of war by attrition on our community, it could get worse this summer as we expect that the injunction will be lifted on some of the remaining portions of SB1070. Further criminalization and tools demanding all law enforcement to investigate and deport in massive numbers is set to become law.

But that will not be our future. We are on the move, and we’re not going anywhere. We’re not running away as the authors of SB1070 had hoped, we’re moving our communities forward, and we will not let the last violent gasps of a dying generation’s prejudice stop us.

This struggle has both destroyed parts of our community and made us stronger. In the past years, we have learned important lessons and developed new ways to fight. The name ‘Arizona’ currently is a mark of embarrassment that makes people think of bigotry. But in the not too distant future, people will think of the birthplace of a new human rights movement when they hear talk about the state.

For more than a decade, we petitioned Congress for immigration reform only to be kicked around as a political football by both parties. We hoped things would change with President Obama but instead of feeling our pain, he caused more of it. Instead of executive action to grant us relief, he gave us record deportations and unprecedented quotas. When all else failed, we looked at the courts but even they seem ready to deny us our humanity.

Since Governor Brewer signed the bill meant to send us running, migrant communities have responded by losing our fear and peacefully defending ourselves. By learning our rights and more importantly, how to defend them when law enforcement tries to ignore them, we have created networks of protection that are prepared for the raids and the wrongful arrests. We have deepened our culture and celebrated our vision for a world without hate. People who before hid in our homes for fear of being picked up by police now are leading marches and supporting neighbors in efforts to keep our families together.

If Arpaio wants to find us, we will instead find him because we have learned that we are safer coming out of the shadows than living in them. When undocumented people confront the system, it crumbles and it becomes clear that they are more afraid of us than we are of them.

If undocumented people are willing to risk everything by confronting Sheriff Joe Arpaio, what are other supporters, allies, and family members willing to do?

As more of SB1070 is poised to go into effect and federal policies spread the same nation-wide, what will you do as we learn to defend our neighborhoods?

We have declared that we will not comply with hate. Every single person and institution must make the same evaluation. Will the federal government willingly deport Sheriff Arpaio’s victims when he hands over those caught in his raids? Will school districts agree to ask kindergarteners for the documents? Will neighbors draw the shades when checkpoints go up on their block?

Or will we refuse to comply and as a result prevent SB1070’s strategy from working?

 

SB1070 signs of resistance

AZ State Capitol, PHX

June 22, 2012

If they are coming for us now, they will be coming for you next. Immigrants are today’s scapegoats but there will be someone next to blame and fill the private prisons.

As undocumented people fill the vacuum of leadership on these issues and demonstrate real courage, all of us are called to follow their example.

The truth is that the suffering in Arizona isn’t caused by the cold hearts and bigoted minds of our adversaries. It is the apathetic souls of those who look upon Arizona and stand idly by. Perhaps people hear ‘immigrant’ and believe it does not apply to them or that we somehow deserve the treatment we receive.

White fear of the re-browning of this continent and general worry over unemployment and economic security has turned many against migrants as an easy scapegoat. But if we look deeply enough, we see that we hold in common both the cause of our troubles and the solution to our suffering. Around the world, people are toppling those who have ruled by broken promises and brutal policies. Arizona and the US will be no exception.

Change has always come when people challenged and broke unjust laws. Nonviolent civil disobedience has been used to historically to challenge racism and inequality from factory floors to lunch counters and buses.

And so, this is a call to action whether you are a community member directly affected, consider yourself an ally, or someone who up until now has been a bystander in the immigration battles. The undocumented youth movement has set an example of what it is to be unafraid, and the bravery they display far outweighs the courage elected officials lack. They have proven that the safest place for anyone targeted by these laws is out, proud, and part of an organized community.

As the migrant rights movement steps into this new phase, we do not do it alone. Allies can harbor anyone targeted, hire anyone fired, and refuse to allow Arizona or Arpaio to become the new normal. At the end of June, we will rally together in Phoenix at Sheriff Arpaio’s self-described ‘concentration camp,’ tent city and begin a summer of resistance in the state and across the country where these laws and their champions are calling for a challenge.

The present may feel heavy but the future is bright. Because love always overcomes hate. Our numbers are on our side. The truth is on our side. With or without those in power, history is on our side. We just have to put our shoulders to the gears of history and push.

Carlos Garcia is the director of Puente Arizona, a Phoenix-based human rights organization dedicated to empowering migrant communities.

 -----------------

Freewayblogging the SB1070 Resistance

Phoenix, AZ (July 28, 2010)

A DREAM Deferred: The Suicide of Joaquin Luna...

"Share the Dream"
1-10 overpass, Phoenix, AZ
May 2010

----from the World Socialist----

Texas student’s suicide highlights desperate plight of undocumented immigrants

By Ali Ismail
8 December 2011

The suicide of Joaquin Luna, a high school student in Texas, highlights the worsening plight of undocumented immigrants in the United States.

Luna was a senior at Benito-Juarez-Abraham Lincoln High School, where he had a reputation among his peers as a hard-working and driven student. Despite having lived virtually his entire life in the US, Luna was undocumented.

According to his relatives, Luna had been growing increasingly anxious about his undocumented status as he grew older and was worried he’d never fulfill his dream of going to college and becoming an engineer. Luna had been particularly upset by the US Senate’s failure to pass the Dream Act late last year. The bill would have granted undocumented immigrants in higher education permanent residency status.

Luna’s suicide is a tragic consequence of the nationwide crackdown on undocumented immigrants being carried out by both big business parties and the Obama administration. While US President Barack Obama took office pledging to implement a comprehensive “immigration reform”, he has instead presided over a record number of deportations and has overseen massive Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids against undocumented immigrants across the country. The raids and deportations are part of a stepped up campaign by the ruling elite to scapegoat immigrants for the economic crisis and divide the working class along national lines.

On the night of November 25, Luna locked himself in the bathroom of his family’s Mission, Texas home and took his own life using a .38 revolver

Moments earlier, Carlos Mendoza had received a call from his younger brother, Luna, who was at their mother’s house and sounded strange on the phone. “He told me to have a good life, and when I asked him why he was saying that to me, he said: ‘Because I'm not going to be here,’”

Mendoza told the Guardian that Luna said he felt he would never accomplish his dreams. “My road is finished here,” Luna told Mendoza, who lives across the street. “I’m going away.”

Fearing the worst, Mendoza rushed to his mother’s house but arrived just in time to hear the gunshot.

Luna left behind a stack of letters written on notebook paper which he had tucked into a small Bible emblazoned with his name. When another half-brother of Luna’s, Diyer Mendoza, asked a sheriff’s investigator whether the letters mentioned Luna’s status as an undocumented immigrant, his suspicions were confirmed. Last Friday, Luna’s suicide notes were released by the sheriff.

According to Diyer Mendoza, while the letters did not explicitly mention his status, it was clearly implied. “Dear Lord, forgive me for what I am about to do tonight,” said one note. “I know it has to be done because I have no point of existence in this cruel world… I have realized that I have no chance in becoming a civil engineer the way I have always dreamed of here.”

Joaquin Luna was just six months old when his family crossed the Mexican border without visas and traveled 40 miles to the city of Mission, on the US side of the frontier. He had been born in Mexico while the family was on a trip to their native country. All five of his siblings are US citizens.

Luna’s mother and siblings worked as migrant laborers, and Luna traveled with them to Arkansas, Indiana, and Minnesota. Together, the family harvested asparagus, cotton, jalapenos, melons and tomatoes, according to the Los Angeles Times.

In an essay he wrote last January entitled, “Fulfilling a dream in waiting,” Luna described the grueling conditions in which he and his family had to work. He wrote the essay in order to be considered for a scholarship. In his essay, Luna recalled the most difficult job he ever had—picking asparagus in the fields of Big Rapids, Michigan. “I still remember the hot sun and the sunburns my family and I would acquire when picking the asparagus the wrong way. That summer I struggled, it seemed like it was never coming to an end,” he wrote. “My motivation grew stronger as the season was coming to an end. I could see the tiredness and anxiety in my family’s face.”

Seeing his parents and siblings toil in fields to the point of exhaustion had a profound impact on Luna. From an early age, he was determined to make a better life for himself and his family. In his essay, Luna described why it was so important to him that he attend college. “It would make a major impact in my whole family especially to my parents who have struggled practically their whole life,” he wrote. “I want to demonstrate to them that all that agricultural work done and all those days of giving their best would have been worth it.”

At his high school, Luna excelled in college credit classes and ranked 89 in a class of 467. “He was one of the smartest kids at school. His passion was for math and engineering, and he had developed his own blueprint for designing houses by computer program,” his brother, Carlos Mendoza, told the Guardian. According to his friends, Luna avoided dating because he felt it would interfere with his studies.

As he grew older, Luna grew more and more anxious about his undocumented status and whether he would ever be able to work. According to his relatives, Luna was worried that even if he did manage to gain a college education, he might still be unable to get a job since he didn’t have a Social Security number.

Luna grew increasingly frustrated as he followed news reports about the federal government’s crackdown on employers who hire undocumented workers. He was also deeply troubled by the stricter anti-immigrant laws being implemented in states like Arizona and Alabama and recent deportations in Texas. According to his brother Carlos Mendoza, “He (Luna) said the people passing these laws had no heart: how could they leave so many kids without parents and destroy so many lives?”

When the Dream Act failed to pass the Senate last year, Luna was devastated. “He got depressed real bad," said Mendoza. “Every one of us, we all get depressed. Some of us can handle it, some of us can't. Joaquin couldn’t.”

The hopes of many undocumented immigrants had been raised by the election of Barack Obama. During his campaign, Obama, with an eye to winning the Latino vote, had said that mass deportations would be “intolerable” to most Americans and that undocumented immigrants should be given a route to legal status.

But since taking office, Obama has deported over a million people, with hundreds of thousands of others being held in detention centers far away from their families. A recent report by the American Civil Liberties Union uncovered nearly 200 accusations of sexual abuse of immigrant detainees.

In June 2011, the Obama administration claimed it was beginning a new policy of focusing immigration enforcement on violent criminals. However, a recent study by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University has cast doubt on the administration’s claims, revealing that of deportation proceedings that took place between July and September of this year, only 13.8 percent involved people with criminal charges.

Over the past three years the hopes of undocumented immigrants like Luna have been dashed by the reactionary policies of the Obama administration.

While immigration activists have been accused of “exploiting” Luna’s death for relating it to his undocumented status, his relatives are certain that his status and his lack of hope drove him to suicide.

“I know he did it because of his legal status,” Diyer Mendoza said at his funeral last week “I lived with him; I shared time with him. I know what I know.” Carlos Mendoza told the Guardian he believes his brother took his own life for a purpose. “Everybody has a mission in life and I think this was his—to communicate to people what’s going on in America.”

Alabama, Goddam!!! Juan Crow laws dawn.

The tune at the end is my own commentary on the Juan Crow story of the day: Alabama's HB56. Nina Simone wrote it in response to the racism of the Deep South in 1963 and the murders of the Birmingham school girls; radio stations were flooded with broken copies of her records after that. She's one of my heroes.

Too many states are taking after Arizona, digging deep into their roots to justify depriving hard-working families of the basics of life, like running water and medical care. How selfish and twisted we have become in this land of plenty, criminalizing even more of the poor. I hear there will be a water strike in solidarity with our migrant brothers and sisters in Alabama this week. Blessings to you all from the Deep Southwest, where our own racist legislature is also fueled by hatred, greed and fear...

--------this summer from the Huffington Post-----------

Alabama's Immigration Law: The New Jim Crow

Maureen Costello
Huffington Post
Posted: 06/15/11

Alabama's new law -- with provisions against hiring, harboring or transporting undocumented immigrants -- is bad enough for adults. But it is potentially disastrous for kids.

By requiring schools to determine the immigration status of every student at enrollment, the law makes it hard to tell the difference between educators and immigration officials. It already has immigrant parents asking, "Should we keep our children out of school in September?"

On the surface, Alabama's H.B. 56 appears to be fashioned after Arizona's infamous S.B. 1070 law. But the real model wasn't so far away. Take a good look. This law was inspired by something a lot closer to home: Jim Crow.

H.B. 56, which goes into effect on Sept. 1, justifies the requirement in order to keep track of just how much money the state is spending to educate the children of undocumented immigrants. Never mind that immigrants -- both legal and illegal -- support schools by paying Alabama's regressive sales tax (10 percent here in Montgomery, including on food) and local property taxes.

Some will argue that children brought here illegally should not get a public education. But the Supreme Court ruled otherwise almost 30 years ago, in Plyler v. Doe. In 1982, the court ruled that Texas schools could not deny enrollment to the children of undocumented immigrants. The decision found that children -- even those here illegally -- had 14th Amendment protections, should not be punished for the actions of their parents, and were safe from discrimination in the absence of substantial state interests to the contrary.

Wanting to "take account" of the costs of ESL fails the substantial interest test. The majority in Plyler also said that refusing to educate these students "raises the specter of a permanent caste of undocumented resident aliens," a permanent "underclass" of illiterates who would burden society far more than the cost of educating them.

Maybe history has inured Alabama to such an underclass. The law requires school officials to keep track of students "born outside the jurisdiction of the United States." But it goes even further. Schools must also determine which U.S. citizens among their students have parents who are "aliens not authorized to be in the United States."

Alabama didn't go the Texas route and outright deny the right to an education. But H.B. 56 is a thinly veiled way to discourage immigrant parents from enrolling their children in school. It reminds one of the poll taxes and literacy tests that made voting, although theoretically legal, an impossible act for so many African Americans a half-century ago.

It's unclear exactly how schools will identify the unauthorized parents, and that's part of its poisonous charm. Birth certificates don't include the legal status of parents. Will all parents now be required to prove their legal status, or only those who look like immigrants? Must educators infer which soccer mom is a likely prospect? Will children be asked where their parents were born? In the absence of evidence to the contrary, schools are instructed to presume that the student should be tracked under the new law.

All of these scenarios are ugly; they will make immigrant parents unwilling to enroll their kids. But as a nation, we can't afford to leave them behind. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 20 percent of the students in grades K-12 in 2009 were the children of immigrants. Policies that don't meet their educational needs or encourage their parents to keep them from school will leave us all behind as a nation. The cost will be far more than what Alabama pays ESL teachers.

The new law is likely to drive some undocumented immigrants away from Alabama, as its authors intended. But it will also set in stone the underclass that the Supreme Court predicted. Like Jim Crow, the law strips away rights, from having legally enforceable contracts to accepting a ride to the bus stop. Like the segregated schools of Jim Crow, this law puts obstacles in the path of immigrant parents who want their kids to become educated.

Educators have not shown great enthusiasm for the law, and they shouldn't. To his credit, Joe Morton, Alabama's state superintendent of education, has decided that the law doesn't take effect until after schools enroll students for the 2011-2012 school year. So it won't be enforced until August 2012. Morton's most likely counting on the law being declared unconstitutional by then.

No teacher or principal relishes the prospect of turning students or parents over to Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE). None would want to help divide families. Yet Alabama teachers will soon be doing just that. Although the law includes nominal privacy protection, it specifically exempts requirements related to ICE. "Every state actor" must report known illegal immigrants.

Obviously, any children pulled from school will suffer. The rest of us suffer, too. As a state and as a nation, we need as many well-educated people as possible in the years ahead. And for educators, already struggling as society's latest whipping boy, the law is a blow to professional integrity. Teachers' very ability to succeed depends on being trusted allies of students and families. That's going to be tough to do after Alabama makes them deputies of ICE.

Follow Maureen Costello on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Tolerance_org

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

A million hearts just shattered: the execution of Troy Davis.

Solidarity Vigil for Troy
Arizona State University Hayden Lawn
September 21. 2011

Troy Davis was murdered tonight by the state of Georgia and the US Supreme Court,

and a million hearts were shattered.

Blessings to his family, who lost the most. We will not give up this fight.

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

The Death of Troy Davis

Atlanta Journal Constitution

September 21, 2011

By Andrew Cohen

The Georgia execution, carried out amid so many reasonable doubts, marks a watershed in America's grim experiment with capital punishment

In a perfect world, the execution of Troy Davis Wednesday tonight in Georgia would herald a new era in America's grim history with the death penalty. It would shake the criminal justice system out of its self-satisfied torpor and force government and the governed both to face the ugly truth about capital punishment in the United States in the twenty-first century. It would propel this question to the forefront both of the nation's political debate and the Supreme Court's docket: How many exceptions to the rule must we allow or tolerate, how many legitimate questions must linger beyond the death chamber, before we either fix the system or end the experiment?

When the state kills those whose guilt is in serious doubt, or when the state kills those to whom it has not given fair justice, it doesn't just perform an injustice upon the individual, the rule of law, and the Constitution. It also undermines the very legitimacy of the death penalty itself, for its continuing use as a sentencing option derives its civic and moral strength mostly from the fiction that it can be, and is, credibly and reliably imposed. Once our confidence in that credibility is shattered, as it should be now that Davis is gone, all that's left of the death penalty is state-sponsored retribution and the hangman's noose.

In a perfect world, the haunting execution of Troy Davis would spawn vital reforms to the clemency and parole process in states like Georgia and Texas, where such proceedings routinely make a mockery of the idea of reasoned justice. It would light a fire under local prosecutors to ensure that witnesses in capital cases are not coerced by law enforcement officials. It would cause jurors to think twice about rushing to judgments. It would force a supine Congress to reevaluate its so-called "effective death penalty" statute, which neuters legitimate post-conviction appeals. And it would at long last shame state court judges to cast off the yoke of their campaign contributors, who push them to be "tough on crime" at the expense of fealty to the Bill of Rights.

Georgia says that it has given Davis more due process than any single man would have a right to expect. Up the state appellate ladder and down again. Up to the Supreme Court and back. Hearing upon hearing. Brief upon brief. At some point, Georgia says, there has to be finality in capital cases. At some point, the justice system has to accept the work of judges and juries and impose the sentence that was initially given. There is truth to all of this. And there is both rhyme and reason to many of the rules which govern appellate law and practice in capital cases. But those rules almost always place the state's interest in finality ahead of the condemned's interest in accuracy. "Enough is enough" is a great campaign slogan -- but it's hardly a worthy motto for a civilized nation's death penalty scheme.

Here's what Davis was up against, to cite just one example. Last summer, at the request of the United States Supreme Court, U.S. District Judge William Moore held an evidentiary hearing to examine the new claims, and new evidence, presented by Davis and his attorneys. Under federal law, Judge Moore reminded the litigants and the world, Davis had the nearly insurmountable post-conviction burden of establishing by "clear and convincing evidence'' that no reasonable juror would have convicted him based upon the new evidence. Applying that standard, which flips on its head the standard applied at trial, Judge Moore unsurprisingly held that Davis had failed to meet his burden.

In a perfect world, Davis would have had his new evidence evaluated under a legal standard more tuned to ensuring the reliability and accuracy of his conviction rather than upon the timing of his execution. His case wouldn't have been shoved like so many of the rest down a sterile and formalistic legal hole forced upon the federal courts by the Clinton-era Congress. And, even if it somehow were, even if the justice system failed, Davis would have had a parole board willing to acknowledge what seems so self-evident; that an uncertain death sentence harms more than just the executed.

Last week, in an op-ed which appeared in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, William Sessions, the former federal judge and FBI director, and a man not known for willy-nilly considerations, once again called upon Georgia to halt Davis' execution. His view of the 2010 hearing is the most accurate view I've read yet and is quite chilling. Judge Sessions wrote:

What the hearing demonstrated most conclusively was that the evidence in this case -- consisting almost entirely of conflicting stories, testimonies and statements -- is inadequate to the task of convincingly establishing either Davis' guilt or his innocence. Without DNA or other forms of physical or scientific evidence that can be objectively measured and tested, it is possible that doubts about guilt in this case will never be resolved.

Alas, the world, and the world of capital punishment in America, are far from perfect. When Georgia executed Troy Davis, despite the grave doubts cast upon his capital conviction, it wasn't just thumbing its nose at the new evidence which tends to exonerate him. It wasn't just ignoring the considered judgments of experts in criminal justice and capital cases. It wasn't just winking and nodding at the protections of the "cruel and unusual" clause of the Eighth Amendment. It was instead declaring war on all of that. It was proudly proclaiming its infidelity to a fundamental premise of American law -- that the courts, and the state, will always try their best to get things right no matter how long it takes.

Now that's he gone from the face of the earth, and whether he was guilty or not, Troy Davis will leave one of two legacies. Either his story will fade with time, as have the stories of so many other men executed under a cloud of questions about their guilt, or his story will propel meaningful change in this area of the law. His many supporters, in and out of public life, hold in their hands the ability to determine that legacy. What they could not accomplish during his lifetime they may still try to accomplish in his death; a renewed appreciation for the notion that no man, neither the high nor the low, neither the rich nor the poor, neither white nor black, deserves the lamentable injustice done this day.

This article available online at:

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/09/the-death-of-troy-davis/245446/

Arizona's tax base eroded by anti-immigrant legislation.

Even the cookie monster says: "STOP SB1070"
Resistance Alley, Phoenix (June 4, 2011)

Apparently, America's undocumented immigrants paid $11 billion in taxes last year, while the multinational GE paid NOTHING. No wonder Arizona's economy is still in the gutter - we chased away all the honest, hard-working taxpayers, while cutting extra breaks to freeloading, exploitative corporations...So, thanks a lot SB1070, ALEC, Russ Pearce, and Jan Brewer - and all the idiots who voted for the right wing last election thinking they were protecting their own interests. You screwed us all.

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

Unauthorized Immigrants pay taxes too.

Immigration Policy Center

April 18, 2011

Estimates of the State and Local Taxes Paid by Unauthorized Immigrant Households

Tax Day is an appropriate time to underscore the often-overlooked fact that unauthorized immigrants pay taxes. The unauthorized, like everyone else in the United States, pay sales taxes. They also pay property taxes—even if they rent. At least half of unauthorized immigrants pay income taxes. Add this all up and it amounts to billions in revenue to state and local governments. The Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) has estimated the state and local taxes paid in 2010 by households that are headed by unauthorized immigrants.

These households may include members who are U.S. citizens or legal immigrants. Collectively, these households paid $11.2 billion in state and local taxes. That included $1.2 billion in personal income taxes, $1.6 billion in property taxes, and $8.4 billion in sales taxes. The states receiving the most tax revenue from households headed by unauthorized immigrants were California ($2.7 billion), Texas ($1.6 billion), Florida ($806.8 million), New York ($662.4 million), and Illinois ($499.2 million) {See Figure 1 and Table 1}. These figures should be kept in mind as politicians and commentators continue with the seemingly endless debate over what to do with unauthorized immigrants already living in the United States. In spite of the fact that they lack legal status, these immigrants—and their family members—are adding value to the U.S. economy; not only as taxpayers, but as workers, consumers, and entrepreneurs as well.

Signs of Resistance at TUSD: VIVA LA RAZA!!!

The post is from the Tucson Citizen Three Sonorans Blog, written, I believe, by David Abie Morales.


The photos are mine, from the TUSD HQ protest yesterday afternoon. What an amazing crowd was there - hundreds and hundreds of young people, old people, hippies, queers, Brown Berets (in uniform)...and over 100 cops.




This is a good account of the public highlights...I'm just too exhausted to write my own right now.

-----------The Tucson Citizen: Three Sonorans Blog---------

What happened Tuesday at the TUSD meeting?

May 4, 2011
David Abie Morales

To begin with, my phone battery died at around 5:30, as the meeting was starting.

No email/text/facebook until now, 8 hours later. 60 text messages and 66 facebook alerts. So to all my friends, no I was not arrested, and yes I’m alright.

I was inside the TUSD board room capturing video and didn’t know what was going on outside until I was debriefed afterwards. Well, I knew a little bit from those around me who still had juice on their phones. In addition, I went through two camcorder batteries.

Why does the Southern Arizona Leadership Council have leaders that compromise on justice and racist attacks on Mexican-Americans in Tucson?

Preliminary thoughts: John Pedicone royally messed up tonight. There was about a hundred cops there, all armed, some in riot gear, and one would think they were at a G8 meeting, not a local school board meeting.

Not even top elected officials like Richard Elias could get inside. Full pat-downs, metal detectors, and cops after cops after cops.

There was cops in the back board room, a wall of cops of about 5 in front of the board, another wall of cops at the back, more cops in the lobby, and more cops outside to get in, and several dozen outside protecting a barricade of the building.

Helicopters, riot gear, and police everywhere you looked.


This is what a leader from Oro Valley, where John Pedicone lives, thinks of Tucsonans. All a bunch of thugs and criminals. The cops were not there to protect and serve us the community, they were there to arrest us the community.

There were arrests, there was police brutality, and there were other extreme violations of rights.

All of this I will cover more in depth tomorrow. It is still surreal to me. John Pedicone actually ordered the arrest of Lupe Castillo, one of our most loved professors, elderly and disabled. The cops brought her to the ground. Her crime?

Free speech.

This is an example of how Pedicone and Stegeman do not understand the community. Treating her like they did was like beating up our abuelita, our loved grandmother.

Pedicone crossed the line tonight. Lots of veteranos were there tonight that were involved in the student walkouts in the 1960s. They said this is the worse they have ever seen it, even worse that the civil rights movement of the 60s.

And all of this conflict of Ethnic Studies is created by Mark Stegeman and John Pedicone.

It is a crisis that need not exist, but exists solely through the stubbornness of Mark Stegeman and the racially insensitive (or just flat out racist) leadership of the Vice President of the Southern Arizona Leadership Council. For myself, SALC’s reputation has been forever tarnished, and I want nothing at all to do with anything they do. From urban renewal and destroying La Calle, to destroying Mexican-American Studies today, this is not the kind of “leadership” I want leading us.

I have many thoughts, and I will explore them in more detail tomorrow, but I will leave this with one final thought for tonight.

John Pedicone needs to resign.

--------------finally,from Panleft's youtube channel, the Tucson PD at it's best--------

Biking Beyond Bigotry: Rusty Spoke Collective.

From our friends at Rusty Spoke Bicycle Collective...come support anti-racism!

Destination Phoenix: No SB1070. April 23, 2011.

WHY YOU MUST BOYCOTT

THIS HATEFUL STATE,

AMERICA!!!

If you turn out, make it for the rally:

Saturday, April 23, 2011.

From Dennis Gilman Humanleague002

Slightly edited for format only.

(I love this man for what he does.)

"This video shows students in Arizona defending themselves as they are attacked mercilessly on the State Senate floor.

These are some of the young protesters that showed up at our State Capitol in February and March of 2011. Are they gangsters?

You decide for yourself.

This year, Russell Pearce and other Republicans pushed beyond SB 1070 by introducing numerous bills from denying newborn babies their human rights under the 14th Amendment to requiring all school and hospital officials to act as ICE agents.


In a bizarre attempt to sell these bills, racist attacks are made from the Senate floor against Hispanic students lowering the bar for hateful, racist rhetoric even in Arizona. Tom Horne shows up at the Capitol and is quick to call the young protesters thugs in a press release days later. You would think an educated man like Attorney General Tom Horne could tell the difference between thugs. I took the liberty to show Tom Horne what people act like that have never taken Ethnic Studies.

5 of the 26 anti-immigrant bills were voted down due to The Phoenix Chamber of Commerce's pressure on a handful of Republicans. The business community made it clear the current boycotts over 1070 have hurt the economy and they want no more anti-immigration laws passed.


But don't think for one minute we won anything.

While education and health care were cut drastically, millions of dollars of additional money will go to private prisons. There are so many moronic, unconstitutional and racist bills floating around, I simply can't go into all of them.

Arizona has over 117,000 millionaires under-taxed while the rest of us are barely surviving. Maricopa County ranks 5th in the Nation. They are never asked to pay their fair share while drastic and dangerous cuts are made everywhere else."

In Arizona, the hateful bills never stop. They never will as long as Russell Pearce is in power.

See you all at the Capitol April 23, one year after 1070 was signed.

Thanks,

Dennis Gilman

Boycott Arizona: International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

BOYCOTT ARIZONA! BOYCOTT HATE!

Recall Brewer!

Recall Pearce!


---------From the United Nations-----

The International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination is observed annually on 21 March. On that day, in 1960, police opened fire and killed 69 people at a peaceful demonstration in Sharpeville, South Africa, against the apartheid "pass laws". Proclaiming the Day in 1966, the General Assembly called on the international community to redouble its efforts to eliminate all forms of racial discrimination (resolution 2142 (XXI)).

Since then, the apartheid system in South Africa has been dismantled. Racist laws and practices have been abolished in many countries, and we have built an international framework for fighting racism, guided by the International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. The Convention is now nearing universal ratification, yet still, in all regions, too many individuals, communities and societies suffer from the injustice and stigma that racism brings.

The first article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights affirms that “all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights”. The International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination reminds us of our collective responsibility for promoting and protecting this ideal.

"Overcoming racism compels us to address public policies and private attitudes that perpetuate it. On this International Day, I call on Member States, international and non-governmental organizations, the media, civil society and all individuals to engage meaningfully in the promotion of the International Year for People of African descent – and to work together against racism whenever and wherever it occurs."

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Message for the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination 2011

"The rope that lynches" in the Deep Southwest.

Happy Martin Luther King Day, Arizona!

To the rest of America:
Please boycott this racist state before our fear and hate kill anyone else.

Tucson School Board meeting, January 2011.






Visit http://www.youtube.com/user/WhatABCs for more on the state's continuing efforts to "stop La Raza...", and the lame new state Superintendent of Education leading it. The old superintendent behind HB 2281 is our new Attorney General. See, you just can't get into state executive office here without exploiting fear, racism, and hate - then you can help outlaw your opposition, and insure that your offspring inherit the state.

Anyway, as I said, Happy Martin Luther King Day. Youth like Westli are our greatest hope.

Candidates to Vote Down: The Pearce Endorsements

Pulling this post up from an August email I received from Russ Pearce, announcing his favorite primary candidates. I think I got dropped off his mailing list after this, since I didn't get any updates. Anyway, if you love liberty and justice, don't vote for any of his recommended people. And don't vote for him!

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

August 2, 2010

Here's the latest from the Russell Pearce Campaign. Anyone who embraces that man's endorsements right now should be considered by the People to be armed and dangerous and not to be trusted with our tax dollars, much less our laws, lives and liberties. Those who voted for SB 1070 despite not supporting it fully are just as bad, if not worse. They voted from a place of fear, rather than their value base. That means they can't be trusted even if they sound like they might be enlightened.

Note how many of the candidates he endorses have issues with their "constitutionals". That should tell us something. Also note the line of BS he spews about lefty "special interests" (like the poor, the hungry, undocumented immigrants, and peace activists, I suppose?) having "deeper pockets" than his crowd. He feeds that to his own people, you know. They have no idea what the truth is anymore. Perhaps they don't really care.

We've seen your money, Pearce, and we know that your strategy has always been to win by having the biggest bankroll and excluding your opposition from running or even voting in the primaries - it has certainly not been by building a constituency that's authentically dedicated to true democracy. Real Republicans like my grandfather would be ashamed to be seen in the same party with the likes of you - too bad so many of the brave ones are now dead, and the cowards are in hiding, fearing for their political lives.

The typos are all his, as usual. He writes most of his own stuff.

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

Friends,

Many of you have asked me who I support and have endorsed for the upcoming republican Primaries.

Further below is a list of candidates and incumbents that I support and ask you to support also. However, before I share those with you I want you to know that there are several Republican incumbents who worked against the passage of SB1070. If you go to www.azleg.govhttp://www.azleg.gov/> and watch the archived video a nd listen to the vote in both the House and Senate you will hear some very telling things about certain Republicans who did not support the passage of SB1070 but voted for it only because they knew if they didn’t you would have voted them out of office. Now those same members are campaigning saying that they were a sponsor of the bill and they were a supporter of SB1070 all through the bill’s legislative process. So with that said, if you don’t see a Republican incumbent’s name on this list then you may want to do a little research of your own.

See the links below for the video of the House and Senate vote on SB1070. Pay special attention to when someone says “I would like to explain my vote”. House of Representatives Caucus of the Whole video. This vote occurs before the final vote and is very telling. http://azleg.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=13&clip_id=7467http://azleg.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=13&clip_id=7467>

House of Representatives 3rd and final vote. Again, very telling of who are true conservatives are and are not. This video has 2 other bills being voted on before the vote on SB1070. The vote for SB1070 starts 7 minutes into the video so you will have to fast forward 7 minutes. http://azleg.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=13&clip_id=7469 http://azleg.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=13&clip_id=7469< /span>>

Senate Final vote. Again, this vote is telling of who our true constitutional leaders really are. The Bill vote does not start until 19 min and 20 seconds into the video so fast forward. http://azleg.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=13&clip_id=7519 http://azleg.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=13&clip_id=7519>
Please cut and paste the following and send to your lists. - Russell

Candidates Senator Russell Pearce supports:

Governor:
Jan Brewer
US Senate.
JD Hayworth
US Congress:
Rusty Bowers CD1
Trent Franks CD2
Sam Crump and Pamela Gorman CD3 (Senator Pearce supports both equally)
Janet Contreas CD4
David Schweikert CD5
Jeff Smith CD6
Robert Wilson CD7
Jesse Kelly & Jonathon Paton CD8 (Senator Pearce supports both equally)
State Treasurer
Thayer Verschoor
State Attorney General
Andrew Thomas
State School Superintendent
John Huppenthal
Corporation Commission
Brenda Burns
Gary Pierce
Maricopa County Attorney
Bill Montgomery


STATE SENATE

LD1: Steve Pierce - a solid fiscal and social conservative. Senate Majority Whip “A good friend” – Senator Pearce.

LD2: Sylvia Laughter - ( A Conservative Democrat that votes with us on 90% of the issues, pro life, pro 2nd Amendment, pro SB1070) This is an unusually endorsement

LD3: Ron Gould - a Constitutional Conservative

LD4: Scott Bundgaard - Former conservative legislator running against Tony Bouie. Enough said. Don’t know why? Google Tony Bouie. Bundgaard for Senate - 21424 N 78th Dr, Peoria AZ 85382 - www.ScottBundgaard.com

LD5: Sen. Sylvia Allen - Current Champion of the Taxpayer being challenged by Rep. Bill Konopnicki, the most liberal House Republican in the Legislature. Allen is endorsed by Arpaio, Pearce, Bowers, and others. Konopnicki was one of the Republicans helping to raise money for Democrat candidates. Committee to Elect Sylvia T Allen 2010 - PO Box 952, Snowflake AZ 85937 - No Website Found

LD6: Lori Klein - Longtime conservative activist. Klein has been endorsed by Sheriff Arpaio among others. Klein for Senate - 3637 W Medinah Ct, Anthem AZ 85086 - www.KleinforSenate.nethttp://www.KleinforSenate.net>

LD7: Ray Barnes - a strong supporter for SB1070 and enforcement of all of our laws.

LD8: Michele Reagan - Supported SB1070 and a strong supporter of small business

LD9: Rick Murphy - A good Conservative and supporter of SB1070 and for lower taxes and less regulation on business

LD10: Linda Gray – “A good Conservative and friend” – Senator Pearce

LD11: Rich Davis - Being challenged by Rep. Adam Driggs. Driggs is one of the “Sanctuary Six” and HELPED to raise money for Democrat candidates running against conservative Republicans. Davis is endorsed by Arpaio, Pearce, etc. Rich Davis for Arizona - PO Box 44045, Phoenix AZ 85064 - www.RichDavisForArizona.comhttp://www.RichDavisForArizona.com>

LD15: Bob Thomas - A Conservative in strong support of SB1070, endorsed by Phoenix Law Enforcement Association, Sheriff Joe, Senator Russell Pearce and others.

LD17: Wendy Rogers - Retired Air Force Pilot and great American. Good choice to take back LD17.

LD18: Senator Russell Pearce – a Consistent Constitutional Conservative, Author of SB1070, SB1108 (Freedom Carry Act), Prop 200, Employer Sanctions for hiring illegal aliens, Taxpayer Bill of Rights, etc.

LD22: Andy Biggs - A Constitutional Conservative and fiscal, social conservative. Senator Russell Pearce calls him “A great friend”.

LD23: Steve Smith, a solid Constitutional Republican. A chance to remove Rebecca Rios who is a tax and spend liberal, who opposed ever single effort to secure our borders and enforce our laws, including a no vote on SB1070.

LD24: Don Shooter - a strong Tea Party Candidate from Yuma. Former Farmer and a Constitutional Republican. Running against Amanda Aguirre who opposed SB1070 and worked hard against a balanced budget and fiscally sound policies.

LD25: Gail Griffin - A real chance to take back this district with a common sense conservative.

LD26: Al Melvin - Retired military, a great Patriot and solid conservative on fiscal and social issues. A border Hawk!!

LD28: Greg Krino - for Senate against liberal, liberal Sen. Aboud. Sen. Aboud has fought us on every effort to secure our borders, balance our budget, control spending and fought hard to kill SB1070.

LD30: Sen. Frank Antenori - Facing a primary challenge from former RINO legislator Marian McClure. McClure’s record was weak on virtually every core issue while Antenori is one of the most conservative in the Senate. Antenori for Arizona - 10595 East Ravenswood Street, Tucson, AZ 85747 - www.VoteForFrank.comhttp://www.VoteForFrank.com>

STATE HOUSE

LD1: Andy Tobin - Strong pro business, 2nd Amendment, fiscal and social conservative.

LD3: Nancy Mclain & Doris Goodale

LD4: Judy Burges & Jack Harper - Two great Constitutional conservatives

LD5: Chester Crandell & Brenda Burton - Both fiscal and social conservatives - Great Americans

LD6: Carl Seel & David Fitzgerald III - Both Constitutional conservatives and strong pro-business and fiscal and social conservatives. One of their opponents was Amanda Reeve, one of the Republicans helping to raise money for the Democrats.

LD7: David Smith & Howard Sprague - Both Constitutional conservatives

LD8: Michelle Ugenti & Rep. John Kavanagh - both great Americans and Constitutional conservatives

LD9: Diane Douglas & Debbie Lesko - both strong Conservatives, both fiscal and social conservatives

LD10: Kimberly Yee & Jim Weiers - Running as a team against school board member Bill Adams. Kimberly Yee 2010 - PO Box 83561, Phoenix AZ 85071 – www.kimberlyyee.com

LD11: Shawnna Bolick - Constitutional Conservative & great American

LD12: Steve Montenegro & Jerry Weiers – “Both strong Conservatives and good friends” – Senator Pearce

LD15: Paul Yoder & Caroline Condit

LD18: Cecil Ash & Steve Court

LD19: Justin Olson & Kirk Adams - fiscal and social conservatives (Justin is endorsed by Sheriff Arpaio also)

LD20: Bob Robson & Jeff Dial - A chance to add a strong voice to the House on border security and enforcement.

LD21: Tom Forese and J.D. Mesnard - Both have been endorsed by outgoing Reps Yarbrough and Nichols. Third candidate is educrat Vanessa Whitener, a Rich Crandall Republican. What more needs to be said? Vote Forese -6836 S Birdie Way, Gilbert AZ 85298 - www.TomForese.com and Elect J.D. Mesnard - 1427 W Homestead Ct, Chandler AZ 85286 - JDMesnard.com

LD22: Eddie Farnsworth & Laurin Hendrix – “Eddie is probably the most Constitutional qualified candidate I have ever worked with” – Senator Pearce. (endorsed by Sheriff Joe and Law Enforcement)

LD23: John Fillmore and Frank Pratt - both strong fiscal and social conservatives

LD25: David Stevens & Peggy Judd - great “Americans who we desperately need in the House” – Senator Pearce.

LD26: Terri Proud - In a three-way primary for two spots with Rep. Vic Williams and Wade McLean. Terri is the only conservative in the race and certainly needs the financial help to compete. Vote4Proud - PO Box 90004, Tucson AZ 85752 - www.Vote4Proud.comhttp://www.Vote4Proud.comLD30>

LD30: Rep. Ted Vogt & David Gowan - Solid conservatives running against Doug Sposito, an open-borders RINO who was one of the Republicans helping to raise money for Democrat candidates. Vogt For Arizona - 10031 E Falcon Point Dr, Tucson AZ 85730 - www.Vogt4Arizona.com

A Conservative Call To Arms!
Our State Legislative Races

Every two years, self-described moderates, open-border groups, and liberal big-spending interest groups join together to raise a lot of money to support center-left candidates for legislative office. Recently, one big fundraising event raised a reported $275,000 for a group of 12 Republican and Democrat candidates. The fact that these Republicans and Democrats were similar enough in their ideology and records that they were willing to campaign together, or that donors found them all equally attractive, is a serious warning about how far left they will go if elected or re-elected. So this handy list has been prepared to help conservatives all over Arizona learn about conservatives running in key races. We have also included their mailing addresses and committee names so that you can make your own contributions. While our pockets are not as deep as the special interests we are up against, we have the advantage of numbers. Get involved, as donors or volunteers, and let’s keep our Arizona State Legislature conservative!

NOTE: These are just primary contests. We can help out our general election races later in the year!

To help candidates identify our contributions, add one penny to your amount, so if you were going to give $25, give $25.01 instead!

The cost of fascist oppression - and mass resistance.

The Republic gives some credit to the potential damage of the boycott against Arizona, but I think they failed to take into account the cost of policing the resistance by citizens who plan to stay and engage in civil disobedience - not to mention all those folks coming from out of state without their own proof of citizenship (or even driver's licenses). If the police are required to investigate someone's citizenship status if they're suspicious (not showing state-issued ID is being undocumented), and they fail to do that with those of us who are blond-haired and blue-eyed, I believe SB 1070 lets us sue them for not doing their job. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but turning a blind eye to a woman who could be an illegal immigrant from Eastern Europe is just as negligent as letting a Latino with no documents go unchecked.

Just be prepared to go to jail if you're driving without your license (or even if your just wearing all black at a protest), because I don't think either the cops or courts are going to put up with Race Traitors any more than they'll tolerate resistance from the Indigenous and communities of color here. That means have the phone numbers you need to call written on your upper arm (you won't get to use your cell phone if they arrest you). Try and stick with a buddy or two, so if your comrade is arrested you can help mobilize support from the outside...

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

Arizona immigration law costs and savings

Jul. 9, 2010 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic

The upcoming enforcement of SB 1070 has caused many illegal immigrants to flee Arizona. The scope of the monetary effects depends on how much of the illegal-immigrant population leaves. Here's a look at the effects of various exodus scenarios:

Crime and courts
Education
Public opposition
The safety net
Wages and prices

Staff writers Alia Rau, Ginger Rough and Yvonne Wingett contributed to this report.

Loading list...

As much as any aspect of the new immigration law, its impact on police, jails and the justice system is little more than a guess. "Nobody has an idea as to what it's going to mean," said Amy Rex, the criminal-justice project manager for Maricopa County. "The county is looking at what we need to do. It's just that there are a lot of moving parts."

Local police and courts around the state could face a torrent of new misdemeanor cases. If they do, it will push up county jail populations. The law carries up to a 20-day jail sentence and $100 fine.

County authorities estimate that 19 percent, or 24,700, of the 130,000 inmates booked into the jail annually are illegal immigrants, Rex said. The cost to house each inmate for 20 days is about $1,600.

If the number of illegal immigrants booked into the jail rises 10 percent and each inmate serves 20 days, it would cost taxpayers an extra $3.8 million annually.

If the departure of many illegal immigrants causes crime to drop and jail bookings of them decline by 5 percent, taxpayers would save about $2.4 million, based on the current average jail term of 25 days.

Breaking the new law is a misdemeanor, so it seems unlikely to have a sizable effect on state prisons, which typically house felons. A 5 percent change in the 6,100 illegal immigrants in state prisons, for example, could cost or save taxpayers about $6.6 million.

Any cost changes figure to be dwarfed by the amount Arizona is underfunded by Congress each year for incarcerating illegal immigrants who commit felonies or are repeat offenders, state officials say.

The State Criminal Alien Assistance Program provided Arizona and its counties $19 million in fiscal 2009, according to the U.S. Justice Department. There are estimates that the Arizona Department of Corrections alone spends at least $130 million imprisoning illegal immigrants annually.

Gov. Jan Brewer hopes SB 1070 will shrink prison costs as illegal immigrants flee the state, said Paul Senseman, a spokesman for the governor.

There are mixed reactions in police circles as to what the law's effects will be.

Mark Spencer, president of a Phoenix police union, has predicted the law will have little effect on the state's largest city because officers already use a departmental policy that gives them authority similar to what is in the new law. Phoenix Police Chief Jack Harris says the law will corrode relations with the Hispanic community and divert police attention from more-pressing duties.

Interim Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley has said that prosecuting the cases could be more difficult because of questions involving rules of evidence, standards of proof and the 70-year-old federal statute the law is built around.

Apart from SB 1070, Romley has said he will be more selective than his predecessor in prosecuting cases involving illegal immigrants. In minor cases, he will alert federal authorities rather than bring state charges, a policy shift that could affect jail and court costs in Arizona's most populous county.

This is a very long article - Read the rest at: http://www.azcentral.com/news/election/azelections/articles/2010/07/09/20100709arizona-immigration-law-costs-to-state.html?page=1#ixzz0tJpUvfIn