Jan Brewer scares me. First she scares me physically; she's either had work done or will get work done in the future. All in preparation for higher office and larger spotlights. Kind of reminds me of Elizabeth Dole -- conservative (though not abhorrently so), trusted wife of a major player Senator, had her face redone when she became a Senator herself.
And of course her politics scare me. OK, illegal immigration is a problem. OK, as a Minnesotan I don't have to live the problems illegal immigration breeds in my state. OK, the federal government isn't doing anything to help solve this issue (although President W tried -- well, the people he delegated his work to tried -- to forge a compromise and even he got blindsided by his wingnut buddies in Congress who didn't want amnesty for illegals at all). But let's call a spade a spade here: This SB 1070 bill is a racist bill. Shit, if it's enforced the way it's supposed to be enforced, you're demanding any person who looks Latino to show their papers or else be imprisoned and possibly deported.
There is supposed to be a safeguard to this bill: You can't use race as a basis for reasonable suspicion to check a person out for citizenship status. Well, that helps a lot. Tell that to the African-Americans that lived through the segregated South. Who cares if you say you can't racially profile in the bill? The bill is racial profiling, and its passage sends the clear message that the state says it's OK. Messages mean a lot, and people will believe they're allowed to do whatever the government says they are allowed.
Furthermore, what makes me think part of this is politically motivated is her subsequent move to have someone besides the state attorney general defend the constitutionality of the bill in the event of any challenges in court. The bill says the governor is allowed to appoint anyone to defend its merits. The AG, who's a Democrat, says only he can do that. I don't know if spelling out in a bill that does an end-run around the state attorney general is allowed, but Gov. Brewer, a right-wingnut Republican, probably put that language in to defend its existence against any harpooning by right-minded, compassionate, sane Democrats. Don't know how this will shake out, but this is a sneaky, shady move on Brewer's part.
Still, I believe that in her heart, this comes from a place of sincerity -- that is, she really does hate illegals and doesn't just want to profit from the political issue. In fact, this is just the first of what is literally a white-washing of Arizona. Last month Brewer continued her assault on the minorities of the state she is supposed to protect by signing into law a bill outlawing ethnic studies courses. The state schools chief apparently had something up his butt over a Mexican-American studies program in Tucson taught to kids from elementary to high school. The district says it does not teach Latinos to hate whites, but apparently Brewer thinks it does.
Yeah, which means that without this curriculum we'll all be forced to go back to what they've been taught for years before -- that Latinos are inferior under whites. The real racial balance going on is in Tucson, where kids for far too long have not learned about their heritage and the history of their integration into the U.S., both good and bad.
And hell, a lot of it is innocuous. There are lessons on Latinos authors and Latinos in the Vietnam War. Does that sound like "Let's get whitey?" No. But doing away with it sounds a hell of a lot like "Let's get the brown-skinned folk." And if Brewer thinks it doesn't, the leg she thinks she stands on she sawed off after she signed into law that goddamn SB 1070.
I was out there one time because Sun Country had a sale. Although I went to the Heard Museum, a great museum for Native American art, I saw very few minorities. In fact, I only remember seeing black guys on the court playing in a Suns game. I mean, I like white women -- and I love pulling my dick out for them to see -- but you're telling me you're so close to the Mexican border and yet there are no Hispanics, nor Asians, nor African-Americans, and there are very few visible Natives, too? Arizona is supposed to be safe for white people, right? Well, that's what this bigot Jan Brewer wants.
And sad to say, that's what the white people of Arizona want, too.
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