Arizona a racists' paradise?

[Judi Lynn]

Please take a look at this serious letter to the editor. I live in the midwest and had no idea this was the situation in Arizona:

(snip) Racists 'protecting' Arizona
Jul. 14, 2003 12:00 AM


Rep. Ben Miranda, D-Phoenix, is correct when he called Rep. Randy Graf, R-Green Valley, a "racist or an uneducated fool."

One cannot be an intelligent racist. That would be an oxymoron.

The Protect Arizona NOW initiative is rooted in racism, and anyone who supports it is a racist. The supporters don't care how much money has to be spent by Arizona, how many jobs are lost because of immigrants, or how many prisons have to be built to hold the immigrants. They are doing this out of their prejudice and fear of Latinos.

I always think of racists as being uneducated lower class and, except in extreme areas of the South, unelectable. Arizona racists prove that wrong. I guess it also proves that most Arizonans are basically prejudiced. (snip/...)

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/articles/0714monlets143.html

[acmavm]

1. Okay, what does Protect Arizona Now want? What did they propose?

This letter tells me nothing.

[Desertrose]

2. me neither...but here's a bit more...

not a lot but something...

http://www.azcentral.com/news/opinions/columns/articles/0713pimentel13.html


Our wacky image doesn't need this
O. Ricardo Pimentel
Republic columnist
Jul. 13, 2003 12:00 AM

It will be tempting to label backers of Arizona's proposed anti-immigrant initiative as paranoid nativists or even racists.
Opponents shouldn't even go there.
Yes, the Protect Arizona NOW's warning of the "destruction of our language and our culture" constitutes one great big red flag.

And the name of the initiative group leaves little to the imagination. Protect Arizona NOW conjures images of a state in imminent danger, an image designed to appeal to baser instincts by having us blame much of our state's woes on a single group.

The temptation is there. But opponents shouldn't succumb.
Instead, they should appeal to Arizonans' innate sense of fairness, reason and proportion, their desire for unity over divisiveness and their resistance to unneeded initiatives that waste time and money and divert attention from real solutions.

The proposed initiative would allegedly reinforce the wall present between undocumented immigrants and public benefits, requiring them and all the rest of us to produce proof of citizenship or legal residency to get these benefits and to register to vote.
But, of course, undocumented immigrants are already barred from most major public benefits that aren't federally mandated, such as emergency medical care and K-12 educations.
If voter fraud by ineligible immigrants is a huge problem, this has so far remained largely unremarked upon by our county election officials, the folks at the ground level who would know such things.

<snip>

Backers are aiming to get the measure on the November 2004 ballot. One unintended consequence will likely be to get a larger than usual Latino voter turnout. How our local, state and federal elected officials feel about this initiative might be useful knowledge for Latino voters, traditionally sympathetic to immigrants and immigrant issues.

<snip>

Safe and sane immigration reform could do much to take the hypocrisy out of the equation. Such reform should include amnesty for those already here, reasonable guest-worker programs and making the immigration process something other than just a way to say, "no" for five years or longer.
<snip>

doesn't clear up a whole lot.... :shrug:
Peace
DR