"Arizona is speeding towards being an apartheid state. Some of this rush has to do with repressive laws (including the legalization of racial profiling and the elimination of ethnic studies) that have been recently signed by the governor. Truthfully, however, this move pre-exists the recent legislation, and much of the repression against the Mexican community here is historical in nature and exists nationwide.

On the surface, it is about migration issues. Yet, if we probe a little deeper, it’s about the browning of Arizona. Probe some more and you will see that much of the hate has little to do with peoples’ legal status. That’s where English-only and the new anti-ethnic studies law comes in. It is not simply about our physical presence (red-brown), but about our culture – which is thousands of years old and indigenous to this continent. In this sense, it is beyond physical removal and even beyond thought-control; this is about our souls (they can’t have them).

Mexicans-Central Americans in this country are the primary targets. Also generally targeted are indigenous red-brown peoples from the United States, Mexico, Central and South America, and the Caribbean. Tragically, in the end, as state and federal governments defend themselves against racial profiling charges, they will move toward a checkpoint society in which officials will demand documentation of everyone in the country, of all ages and at all times.

Some of the people in power in Arizona who are directly responsible for this recent move towards apartheid are: Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio – responsible for refining racial profiling of indigenous peoples into an art form; Rep. Russell Pearce – the architect of most of the anti-immigrant bills; State School Superintendent Tom Horne – the force behind the anti-ethnic studies bills and an avowed opponent of Raza Studies; and the unelected Gov. Jan Brewer – who has signed many of the draconian laws in question."

Get the Story:
Roberto Dr. Cintli Rodriguez: Arizona: A critical resistance boycott (Indian Country Today 5/28)

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Editorial: Taking a stance against state's immigration law (5/7)
Arizona tribes worried about state's anti-immigration law (5/3)