The above headline not only represents what the Arizona state governor just signed into law on April 23, 2010, but its passage also dredges up the same loathing I experienced as a Mexican-American child raised in the all white backwater communities of Nebraska nearly 60 years ago. “You tell that damn Mexican to leave and he better not ever come back here again”.
Those were the despicable words that seared through my tender mind and heart that fateful day as my white friend’s mother angrily shouted at him when she caught us playing together in their yard.
I had been feeling different for some time, but after that ugly incident the innocence of an 8-year-old child was forever shattered. Tears of heartache surged through me as I was jolted back to those dark periods of my past after Arizona approved SB 1070, which gives all Arizona police the authority to arrest anyone “if reasonable suspicion exists” that the person is an illegal immigrant.
When police anywhere can arrest a person because they don’t look “American” enough that clearly targets specific groups of people (especially Latinos) for racial persecution regardless of their citizenship status. This law must be scrapped to its original garbage bin.
Just as the mother of my former white friend racially condemned me as a child for being Latino, the new Arizona law now virtually demands racial profiling by its own definition.
Born a U.S. citizen I grew up in a somewhat “Grapes of Wrath” type migratory farm labor family of equal citizenship. Although I lived in desperate poverty that didn’t bother me near as much as the racially oppressive atmosphere that all but destroyed my personal identity and self worth – just for being Latino. That, is the most grievous damage that unrestrained racial bias does to the most innocent. That same bias has plagued me intermittently most of my life.
Eventually, I generally recovered and went on to become a teacher with the domestic peace corps (VISTA) in California. There, in addition to other duties, I worked in general association with Cesar Chavez while he nurtured his migratory farm laborer’s union. Later, I became a senior probation officer with the Colorado State Justice Department and worked with troubled children for almost three decades. I’m now a documentary film maker.
Yet, after all those years of solid citizenship and accomplishment, the insidious law now taking root in Arizona catapults me back to that angry white lady’s yard and those detestable words that crushed my innocence and still shocks the depth of my being.
Imagine yourself as a law abiding American who can no longer walk care free of racial persecution and arrest in one of our own United States. Well, my worst fear has now become a reality, as it must be for all American citizens of color.
I know, this is all going on in Arizona, so why should we in any other state be concerned. Because what’s taking place in that state is no longer just about immigration reform.
This law has degenerated into an equal rights issue that attacks the basic civil liberties of all legal U.S. Latinos and other people of color. It also sets a very dangerous precedent which violates the tenets of our constitution under the first, fourth and fourteenth amendments according to legal analysts. As such, this monstrous law must be defeated.
If Arizona is essentially allowed to secede from the union and interpret the the U.S. Constitution at its own discretion, then what’s to stop all the states from doing the same.
Already, Utah, Oklahoma and Texas are planning similar measures. Like Arizona, they will pass state laws that violate federal laws and the rights of its own citizens. Comprehensive immigration reform is still our best solution and is more imperative than ever. However, pending legal challenges to the state laws and reform could take many years to resolve.
Meanwhile, lacking for a better solution, I fully agree with Arizona Rep. Raul Grijalva, who has called for a national boycott of Arizona to stop SB 1070, the law that makes “outlaws” of innocent Americans. Maybe others will learn. Support the boycott. Support your civil rights.
Angel Gonzales lives in Westminster. EDITOR’S NOTE: This is an online-only column and has not been edited.
