I'm going to spare you my long narrative justifying the actions I'm about to propose : Figure it out and if it's something you can do let us know the results - we'll start a blog dedicated to dealing with incidents of racial profiling and how the community can deal more effectively with it.
1. challenge racial-profiling: drive only with the minimum ID needed to identify you as the legal driver, that you are properly insured, etc. Leave any documentation you may have indicating citizenship at home. Ask police if they can independently verify your citizenship. If the police doubt your citizenship, it is up to them to prove they are wrong. Now keep track of two things for us:
What do white people get pulled over for to begin with?
How long do white people get detained pending verification of their citizenship?
Send your answers to my email.
2. Congregate at the Tuscon courthouse where Walt Staton will be sentenced for littering. That will be August 11. I'm sorry. That's all I know. I'll try to keep updated. Anyway, bring a jug of water, because the sentencing judge is going to ask him if he can refrain from continuing to commit this particular crime, and if 100 or 1000 people raise their jugs when he says no, he's going to keep doing this, then something's got to be done about this stupid choice of laws to enforce. Why is there no outcry over dead bodies littering the scenery in the Wildlife Refuge? It is because this has nothing to do with litter.
Showing posts with label littering. Show all posts
Showing posts with label littering. Show all posts
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Saturday, July 25, 2009
No More Deaths' Day In Court
Just some interesting clips. Read the whole thing at the linkFrom today's AZ Republic Editorial: re Water Effort...
"Men, women and children continue to die along Arizona's southern border. According to the Border Patrol, 124 people died in the Tucson Sector from Oct. 1 to June 30. ..
...Members of No More Deaths have been found guilty of littering after leaving bottles of water on the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge for just such migrants. One member faces a possible year in prison or a $10,000 fine when he returns to federal court Aug. 11."
--------------------------------- now this is my editorial.
I think thousands of people should show up with jugs of water the day of Walt Staton's sentencing. The court, the department of justice, the state in all its crazy forms needs to know that if they put that man away for even one day, they'll have to put us all away. And he shouldn't have to pay a single dime. Humanitarian aid is never a crime. Right?
So, August 11. Keep it open. (Is that considered "conspiracy?")
Friday, July 10, 2009
URGENT: No Más Muertes; No More Deaths.
Volunteers trying to save lives along the border areas are once again being ticketed, threatened, and penalized for their humanitarian practices. At least one No More Deaths volunteer is facing up to 1 year imprisonment and/or a $10,000 fine for littering by leaving a jug of water in the desert. Now the campaign against them has become aggressive.
Please read both articles and get involved this summer - whether as a No More Deaths volunteer, a donor, or a vocal and visible opponent to the criminalization of people coming to the aid of the desperate and dying. Until meaningful immigration laws are passed, groups like No More Deaths are critically needed, not only to save lives in the desert, but also to help the rest of us remember our own humanity.
If you are inclined to deal with legislators and bureaucracies, keep in mind that the offending agency here is the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Department, so federal offices and legislators should be targets of complaint and protest. It is symptomatic of the attitudes of both the state and the feds that the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge administrators are more concerned about trash left behind by immigrants than about the bodies they may leave.
The No More Deaths website is http://www.nomoredeaths.org/
Defiant humanitarian border group once again cited for littering
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 07.09.2009
Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge officials issued littering tickets to 13 volunteers from No More Deaths on Thursday for setting out water jugs, according to a press release from the humanitarian aid group.
Thursday’s arrests marked the latest incident involving the Southern Arizona group which says distributing water on the refuge is a humanitarian act aimed at preventing deaths of illegal immigrants and U.S. Fish and Wildlife officials who see it as littering. The refuge is located about 45 miles southwest of Tucson.
No More Deaths had planned to set out the water on Thursday despite not having authorization from refuge managers, and had sent out press releases announcing their plans.
The Tucson-based No More Deaths is a faith-based aid group that regularly helps illegal immigrants by offering them food, water and medical aid in Arizona's borderlands near Mexico.
On Feb. 22, 2008, No More Deaths volunteer Daniel Millis was the first to be cited for littering when he and three other volunteers were setting out full water jugs. In September, a U.S. magistrate ruled that he was guilty of littering but suspended any sentence.
In December 2008, fellow volunteer Walt Station was cited for the same thing. After being found guilty on June 3 in U.S. District Court of knowingly littering on a national wildlife refuge, Staton said he would continue to set out water on the Refuge. Staton is scheduled to return to federal court Aug. 11 where he faces a maximum of one year in jail or a $10,000 fine.
Buenos Aires Refuge manager Michael Hawkes has said on multiple occasions that anyone found littering in the refuge would be cited. Refuge managers say they have major problems due to the trash left behind by illegal immigrants.
The volunteers cited on Thursday were placing jugs of water at four spots on Arivaca Road West between Arivaca and Arizona 286 where they say illegal immigrants frequently cross.
----------------------------------
Crosser dies despite boyfriend's call for aid
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 07.10.2009
An illegal immigrant died despite her boyfriend's call for help on his cell phone Wednesday after they became lost without food or water in a remote part of the Tohono O'odham Nation, said a spokesman for the U.S. Border Patrol's Tucson Sector.
The Pima County Sheriff's Department transferred the boyfriend's 911 call to the Border Patrol, which then notified its search, trauma and rescue team, Borstar, said agency spokesman Mike Scioli.
The agents found the two illegal immigrants at 11:30 a.m. near the village of Sil Nayka, about 45 miles west of Tucson, he said. The village is in the eastern part of the reservation. The unidentified woman was dead at the scene, Scioli said. The man, from Hidalgo, Mexico, was in good condition and is to be returned to Mexico.
Please read both articles and get involved this summer - whether as a No More Deaths volunteer, a donor, or a vocal and visible opponent to the criminalization of people coming to the aid of the desperate and dying. Until meaningful immigration laws are passed, groups like No More Deaths are critically needed, not only to save lives in the desert, but also to help the rest of us remember our own humanity.
If you are inclined to deal with legislators and bureaucracies, keep in mind that the offending agency here is the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Department, so federal offices and legislators should be targets of complaint and protest. It is symptomatic of the attitudes of both the state and the feds that the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge administrators are more concerned about trash left behind by immigrants than about the bodies they may leave.
The No More Deaths website is http://www.nomoredeaths.org/
Defiant humanitarian border group once again cited for littering
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 07.09.2009
Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge officials issued littering tickets to 13 volunteers from No More Deaths on Thursday for setting out water jugs, according to a press release from the humanitarian aid group.
Thursday’s arrests marked the latest incident involving the Southern Arizona group which says distributing water on the refuge is a humanitarian act aimed at preventing deaths of illegal immigrants and U.S. Fish and Wildlife officials who see it as littering. The refuge is located about 45 miles southwest of Tucson.
No More Deaths had planned to set out the water on Thursday despite not having authorization from refuge managers, and had sent out press releases announcing their plans.
The Tucson-based No More Deaths is a faith-based aid group that regularly helps illegal immigrants by offering them food, water and medical aid in Arizona's borderlands near Mexico.
On Feb. 22, 2008, No More Deaths volunteer Daniel Millis was the first to be cited for littering when he and three other volunteers were setting out full water jugs. In September, a U.S. magistrate ruled that he was guilty of littering but suspended any sentence.
In December 2008, fellow volunteer Walt Station was cited for the same thing. After being found guilty on June 3 in U.S. District Court of knowingly littering on a national wildlife refuge, Staton said he would continue to set out water on the Refuge. Staton is scheduled to return to federal court Aug. 11 where he faces a maximum of one year in jail or a $10,000 fine.
Buenos Aires Refuge manager Michael Hawkes has said on multiple occasions that anyone found littering in the refuge would be cited. Refuge managers say they have major problems due to the trash left behind by illegal immigrants.
The volunteers cited on Thursday were placing jugs of water at four spots on Arivaca Road West between Arivaca and Arizona 286 where they say illegal immigrants frequently cross.
----------------------------------
Crosser dies despite boyfriend's call for aid
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 07.10.2009
An illegal immigrant died despite her boyfriend's call for help on his cell phone Wednesday after they became lost without food or water in a remote part of the Tohono O'odham Nation, said a spokesman for the U.S. Border Patrol's Tucson Sector.
The Pima County Sheriff's Department transferred the boyfriend's 911 call to the Border Patrol, which then notified its search, trauma and rescue team, Borstar, said agency spokesman Mike Scioli.
The agents found the two illegal immigrants at 11:30 a.m. near the village of Sil Nayka, about 45 miles west of Tucson, he said. The village is in the eastern part of the reservation. The unidentified woman was dead at the scene, Scioli said. The man, from Hidalgo, Mexico, was in good condition and is to be returned to Mexico.
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