The state of Arizona is poised to begin enforcing SB1070 on July 29th. PACH encourages everyone to protest and resist this law. We have endorsed the march organized by IMPACT and MEChA on July 29th in Petaluma at McDowell Park at 6pm.
Please read the following statement from our board member Elbert “Big Man” Howard on the Arizona law.
New Immigration Law: Capitalism & Immigration = Fascism
By Elbert “Big Man” Howard
Arizona’s newly-passed law, SB 1070, firstly, allows police officers to subjectively determine what race they think a person is along with how poorly a command of the English language they believe the person has.
Secondly, this law allows these law enforcement officers at will, based on these racist methods, to stop, detain, harass, question, demand identification, and then decide whether or not the person is in the USA illegally.
The state “bosses” and institutions who control the police have decided it is now perfectly legal to completely ignore a person’s constitutional and human rights by taking into account such racist nonsense as a person’s skin color, type of clothing worn, and even the number of people in a car.
According to this law, the police can now legally harass day laborers and the people who seek to hire them.
This is legalized racial profiling of Latinos as well as African Americans and these violations of human rights have been included in Arizona’s state police training materials and these enforcement guidelines will be distributed to 15,000 Arizona state officers when SB 1070 is set to become absolute law effective July 29th, 2010.
The weak-kneed Obama administration, which spit out lip service concerning immigration reform so as to get the Latino vote, now has abandoned and turned its back on these people and abandoned them. This is no different than the practice of previous administrations which did the exact same thing to African Americans seeking voting, civil and human rights.
Once again, we are faced with a Federal and State government political football game – a dangerous, expensive game costing not only money (“our tax dollars at work!”) but one which threatens massive civil unrest and invites violence.
What these appointed governmental “bosses” most worry about is losing their jobs (licenses to steal from the people) and they understand that by implementing these vicious and racist practices, thereby satiating the fearful elite in Arizona, they may be able to stay in office a little longer.
This reign of terror that is being imposed on the Hispanic and African American communities can be turned in the other direction, against these fearful, racist law-makers (AKA law-breakers).
HOW?
ORGANIZE!
DOOR TO DOOR, STREET TO STREET, BLOCK TO BLOCK!
Everyone able to vote must register and then vote to remove those who create these laws, who practice racism, and who are trying to deprive people of their constitutional and human rights.
We must remove those who refuse to serve the needs and desires of all in our communities.
To achieve this, we must join in solidarity with all our brothers and sisters of all ages, across all ethnic, racial, and gender lines. We must all speak out, loudly and clearly, and let our so-called leaders know that we will not stand idly by, and they will not be re-elected, as long as racist laws like these are allowed to be put into practice.
Solidarity is the key to unity, and in unity there is power.
Power to the People.
Elbert “Big Man” Howard
Forestville, California
July 12th, 2010