Monday, April 26, 2010

Left Speechless

Ok, not really, but oh my goodness...Arizona...as if Virginia wasn't bad enough with this, you have to go and pass an even crazier law...not just a declaration filled with "whereas," but an honest to goodness law!

For those of you who don't enjoy news programming...Arizona's govenor, Jan Brewer, signed SB1070 (click this link for a thrilling read of the actual bill) into law in Arizona last Friday. This law makes it a crime to be out and about without immigration papers, and gives police power to detain anyone suspected of being here illegally. But don't worry, Jan Brewer said the police will be properly trained and racial profiling will not be tolerated. Really? How exactly do you enact this law without racially profiling an individual? And what does it mean to "look" like an American, by the way?

For an overview of the law, read here.

And I'll leave you with a quote related to our xenophobia that I used in a paper in grad school that analyzed another of Arizona's laws (this one relating to educational policy for immigrant students...I know you'll all be requesting a copy!)...I love this author and this particular essay is stellar...for those who live near, feel free to request to borrow the book of essays; don't worry, it's in English.

“The separation of one food from another is analogous to the reserve that characterizes the relations between sexes, races, and classes. In our countries food is communion, not only between those together at table but between ingredients; Yankee food, impregnated with Puritanism, is based on exclusions. The maniacal preoccupation with the purity and origin of food products has its counterpart in racism and exclusivism. The American contradiction—a democratic universalism based on ethnic, cultural, religious, and sexual exclusions—is reflected in its cuisine.”
Octavio Paz in essay entitled,
“Hygiene and Repression”

P.S. Adding what he said...Please note he does understand the magnitude of the immigration issue...he just doesn't agree Arizona has the right solution...

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Another Interesting Link

Well...you can probably tell what I'm interested in, sociologically speaking, but here's an interesting conversation that I'll at least be reading for the next couple days (free mommy time is limited in this house since I have a 2 year old who DOESN'T NAP!). By the way, I read this and many other perspectives because I have to teach my daughter how to react to this ridiculous, maddening racism...the question is HOW? At least I have one definitive thing to worry about as a mom, ha!...all the rest of those mommy "fears" are still unknowns to a large extent. (Written tongue in cheek, of course, because I'd really like to learn how to trust God and not worry, considering that's something He's asked us to do.)

See a potential criminal in every black person (at the blog Stuff White People Do)

Wednesday, April 14, 2010