It's Time to Boycott Arizona

[The_Lady_Snow]

Originally Posted by cody

yes our government here is messed up.. lack of eductation yes.. i am saying alot of the stories have been blown way out of perportion then discribed in the media as such.. and yes there are many horiable truths also..
az is not as bad as alot precieve it to be and alot of the same things happen in the other "boarder states" .. not just az..
i am not a hater by anymeans.. but if you want to come to the states from canada,russia mexico or anywhere else please take the legal steps to do so..
i am aware its difficult for latinos here when they are pulled over out of random because they have the "look" at the same time i feel we need to get a grip on the influx of people blue eyed or brown eyed that come here esp. to suthern az. we are already a "broke" state and have no way to tax illeagles for servces rendered .. medical.. housing..ect..
as a whole this is an awsome state there would be no reason for the words boycot az if so many people didnt love it here and want to live here. its is painful when i see the words boycot az. yes we need help with many issues as do may states.

Do you realize the Governor of your state tried to pass a law that started racial profiling??

Have you really read the whole thread?

Do you think your state is broke cause of all the undocumented (not illegal) people in it? Could it be cause we had W as a president for 8 years???

Do you really think they are gonna pull you over and ask for verification of your race? What is the look??

Cause lemme tell you Cody Az is full of "that look" you have Native Americans, Chicanos who have been there longer than most of the white people there who will be harrased and tagged as having "that look" and they will be pulled over WAYYYYYYYYYYY before a Canadian, Chinese, or Russian undocumented worker.

I am gonna be honest I am a tiny bit offended by your term "that look" what does that mean?

What "look" does one have when one is of Latino Heritage?

Your Governor is a racist pig who tried to pass a law that would of made racial profiling legal.

If you can't see how gross that is then that is because your white skin allows you to have the safety of having that never happen.

[asphaltcowboi]

Originally Posted by The_Lady_Snow

Do you realize the Governor of your state tried to pass a law that started racial profiling??

Have you really read the whole thread?

Do you think your state is broke cause of all the undocumented (not illegal) people in it? Could it be cause we had W as a president for 8 years???

Do you really think they are gonna pull you over and ask for verification of your race? What is the look??

Cause lemme tell you Cody Az is full of "that look" you have Native Americans, Chicanos who have been there longer than most of the white people there who will be harrased and tagged as having "that look" and they will be pulled over WAYYYYYYYYYYY before a Canadian, Chinese, or Russian undocumented worker.

I am gonna be honest I am a tiny bit offended by your term "that look" what does that mean?

What "look" does one have when one is of Latino Heritage?

Your Governor is a racist pig who tried to pass a law that would of made racial profiling legal.

If you can't see how gross that is then that is because your white skin allows you to have the safety of having that never happen.

i know all this first hand... and all i can say is "think" and "say" what you will i love my state and always will...
i will never be able to get my point across az is beautiful an i will not take other opinoins as personal but treat them as i do our local government.. shrug my shoulder and walk out wishing there werent so many haters in the world.

[The_Lady_Snow]

Originally Posted by cody

i know all this first hand... and all i can say is "think" and "say" what you will i love my state and always will...
i will never be able to get my point across az is beautiful an i will not take other opinoins as personal but treat them as i do our local government.. shrug my shoulder and walk out wishing there werent so many haters in the world.

You can accuse me of being a hater all you want. It's fact, the people that were elected to run your beautiful racist state are and would pass racial profiling laws if you let them. A LOT of people (whites) backed this decision because "people with that look" were taking over their jobs, their women, their lands blah blah blah.

No one is telling you not to love the racist state you live in, you can love it and support it all you want, as I said your white skin gives you that security and freedom to do so. What I will never grasp is how a queer a part of the minority can shrug their shoulder off to the racial bullshit in the very place they live...

[Nat]

[The_Lady_Snow]

I would still like to know what a member of my online community considers to be "that look"

Cause I bet it has nothing to do with sunshine and lollipops or anything positive.

[Julie]

I just need to say...
Sometimes I am so disappointed in the members of my community. This community (not only online).

We as LGBTQ know what it feels like to be hated. Just because I am a passing femme - god, sometimes I wish I was not. I have and my children have felt the hate from society. We as a community know what it feels like to be treated less than human.

There are still SODOMY Laws in this country.

Have we not learned from our own personal struggles? Each and every one of us, what it feels like to be hated based on who we are? You do not need to be a POC or a different religion to experience hatred. Go inside of yourself and feel it. Just feel what it feels like and maybe, you will get a glimpse of what it feels like for those who experience Racial Profiling. A glimpse really - because what we experience, is a fraction.

This is why I stopped posting on political threads. Why I like to be the bimbo in the other threads. Because I don't have to think. I don't have to feel what it feels like. It feels dirty and it feels like my barest soul is being exposed, yet again to ignorance and the ignorance is coming from MY COMMUNITY.

I am disgusted.

[asphaltcowboi]

i am a member on this comunity like it or not. and even though im lt brn hair blue eyed i am 1/2 native american.. i live in az and i love it.. i vote to try to change things im not comfertable with.. i do not bash others states or there people.
as far as "the look" i mean the beautiful hispanic and native americans that make up this state.. yes its tuff because the "look" is like alot of the illeagles here. if there was some other way to identfy im sure it would be used.
i was not acusing any one person of being a hater sorry if anyone took it that way... i was only stating i wish it didnt exist.
an excuse us for being to broke to suport all comers

[The_Lady_Snow]

Originally Posted by cody

i am a member on this comunity like it or not. and even though im brn hrd blue eyes i an 1/2 native american.. i live in az and i love it.. i vote to try to change things im not comfertable with.. i do not bash others states or there people.
as far as "the look" i mean the beautiful hispanic and native americans that make up this state.. yes its hard because the "look" like alot of the illeagles here. if there was some other way to identfy im sure it would be used.
i was not acusing any one person of being a hater sorry if anyone took it that way... i was only stating i wish it didnt exist.

I don't even know what to say about your statements that are so filled with underlined racist issues.

WE ARE NOT ILLEGALS.. UNDOCUMENTED WORKERS.

How the hell would you suggest you differentiate between a native Latino or one who just got there yesterday?

No one is a hater who has decided to boycott your racist state, what we are is attempting to let your dislike for this kind of gross profiling be shown. Just remember these same people who don't want us here are the same people who don't like ANY KIND of queer.

I still think it bo be gross how you describe my people by saying "that look"

[dreadgeek]

Originally Posted by cody

i am a member on this comunity like it or not. and even though im lt brn hair blue eyed i am 1/2 native american.. i live in az and i love it.. i vote to try to change things im not comfertable with.. i do not bash others states or there people.

Since you are half-native American (how you pulled off blue-eyed with one Native American parent given that the blue-eyed allele is not endemic to the native population is an issue I'll leave for another time) let me pose this question to you:

You are driving down the street. One of Tucson's finest pulls you over and, given that you are half native and thus would share SOME phenotype traits with the people who are the visual targets of these laws, demands that you do more than just prove you have a license to drive but that you were born in this state. How do you feel? You don't have your birth certificate with you (I'm not blue-eyed and, as far as I know, am nothing more interesting than simply a black American but I don't carry MY birth certificate with me, do you?) and so he then starts to presume you are in the country without proper documentation. NOW are you disturbed by the implications of this law?

One can make the statement that the people of Arizona elected the governor who has become the face of the proponents of this law AFTER she had told lies about beheadings in the desert as a means of justifying this laws draconian tenor without 'bashing' the law. One can boycott the state--as much as that is possible--without 'bashing' anyone.

as far as "the look" i mean the beautiful hispanic and native americans that make up this state.. yes its tuff because the "look" is like alot of the illeagles here.

Okay, here we get into a problem. Let's be clear, the 'outsiders' here are anyone whose ancestors were NOT here 2000 years ago. The relevant regions around the border have been inhabited since 9000 BCE (11,000 years ago). The people who are being termed 'illegals' are the descendants of those people. The border between Mexico and the United States has only existed since the mid-19th century. This is not enough time for the population north of the border to have diverged from that south of the border. This means that the two populations are going to be both genetically and phenotypically identical to one another. The problem, as I see it, is that this law targets American citizens who happen to share a phenotype with people who live one mile south of the border.

if there was some other way to identfy im sure it would be used.
i was not acusing any one person of being a hater sorry if anyone took it that way... i was only stating i wish it didnt exist.
an excuse us for being to broke to suport all comers

Laws have consequences. Arizona passed this law and now Hispanics are leaving the state (a quite sensible response if you ask me--I know that if Oregon passed a similar law targeting blacks, I'd be looking for the exits because this kind of thing *never* turns out well). This may be what the proponents of this law, its supporters and apologists believe that they want. However, I think that in a year or two, they may discover that the law of unintended consequences is as irresistible as gravity. Right now, many may be saying "and good riddance" as Hispanic families drive away. However, each family that leaves AZ is money flowing out of AZ. Those are sales tax dollars that aren't being collected. Those are dollars that are not being spent at restaurants, supermarkets, gas stations, and convenience stores. At last estimate ~100,000 Hispanics have left the state since this law has passed. That is going to start to add up. What's more, these things tend to have feedback loops which play out like this:

Law gets passed, so Hispanics leave the state. This means their money leaves the state with them. So businesses have to lay off some people. The layoffs get blamed on Hispanics who remain in the state so some *new* punitive law is passed. So more Hispanics leave the state. Which causes more economic hardship, which gets blamed on the remaining Hispanics, who leave the state, which causes yet more hardship...

I may be wrong about this. It may play out differently but right now, it appears to be playing out more or less in this fashion. Be careful for what you wish or vote in favor of, you just might get it.

Cheers
Aj

[MsDemeanor]

Originally Posted by cody

wishing there werent so many haters in the world.

Yeah, me too. If there were less haters then Brewer couldn't get enough votes to win re-election and this terrible law would never have passed.

Brewer's scum for more than just 1070, though. Local reporters have been investigating her and her office's connections to private prison firms. It seems that her administration is deeply connected with those firms. Not only are they working to privatize all of the prisons, they were connected to the writing of 1070, which gives them more business in the private prisons they already have in the state. Bottom line - 1070 is all about putting money in Brewer's cronies pockets. Typical republican crap - money matters and screw everything and everyone else.

[Julie]

I conducted a number of years ago tolerance workshops for Jews. Surprising to me, because a number of these Jews survived the Holocaust. Some showed me their numbers tatoo'd on their arms. The room was filled with Racists.

As a Jew it gave me permission to speak to them differently. I reminded them, that in this country they were safe for the most part. They were European Jews, many with blonde hair and blue eyes - many with black afros and brown eyes. Yet, clearly white european. Interestingly enough - They took offense at being called white. I understand this, I take offense, even though I am white of skin - Genetically I am not, as most Jew are not.

We discussed what it was like to watch their villages burned. We discussed what it it like for a POC in this country to watch their family and friends being beaten down and yes, even 10 years ago racially profiled.

I pass with my fair skin and green eyes. I have been around hateful people in social settings. I have been spoken to, as if I would understand... "Hitler had it right when he gassed them." I have heard worse. Because I pass. Sometimes, I am tired of passing for a non-jew - even though, I am ashamed and often embarrassed by my people and their ignorance.

Ignorance and Propaganda does indeed kill. Everyday in the world, people are still experiencing Ethnic Cleansing. I hear about this daily through my work. I get emails begging for help. I cannot help these people. There is nothing I can do. Except pray for them. Hope the work I do changes our future adults.

What's happening in Arizona is no different than what happened in the Ghetto's. It starts with Propaganda and a government which supports Racial Profiling. Do not think for a moment it cannot happen again. Do not think for a moment, we in this country will not do this.

LOOK AT WHAT WE DID in Afghanistan to the prisoners of war.

I will always go back to this. WE are better than THAT!

We are BETTER THAN THAT!
Aren't we?