Editorial:
The rhetoric surrounding Arizona’s SB1070 has escalated the comparisons to Nazi Germany and the imagery of Hitler. The comparisons and imagery from the Chicano/Hispanic perspective are justified. Anti-Chicano/Hispanic propaganda and the profiling of the Mexican worker, the immigrant, and the Hispanic in the United States is dehumanizing.
To some “persons of good will,” the reference to Nazism has been seen as overblown, especially after listening to a radio host of Jewish decent state that, it was an insult to the memory of those who died and those who survived the Nazi Holocaust. We have to assume by implication that the SB1070 legislation to some individuals is acceptable by comparison.
We appreciate and understand this sentiment and in no way are we trying to equate the consequences of SB1070 with the persecution of the Jewish community during World War II. But the Holocaust was the final act in a process that made those atrocities possible. Millions of people died because “persons of goodwill” stood by silently, not willing or able to make their voices heard in protest, millions who at some level agreed with Hitler harbored hostile thoughts towards Jewish citizens living in their countries.
The comparison is not to Hitler’s final act (the Holocaust) but the process and increment steps taken to dehumanize the Jewish race as a people.
Today we are witnessing the same process as was demonstrated in the state of Utah when an anonymous group of individuals distributed and listed 1,300 names of residents that they claimed were undocumented immigrants. This list was almost exclusively comprised of Hispanic names containing detailed information that included social security numbers, addresses, names of children and due dates for expectant mothers. The attempt to publish the list was an obvious attempt to stigmatize and encourage the deportation of the persons listed.
Arizona’s SB1070 is a piece of legislation that encourages racial profiling and will make race baiting respectful. One only has to witness the recent case of official racial profiling by Rep Brian Bilbray (R-CA) who stated that; “trained professionals could identify undocumented workers by looking at their dress and shoes.” Bilbray also stated, “They will look at the kind of dress you wear, there is different type of attire, there is different type of — right down to the shoes, right down to the clothes.” Bilbray continued, “They also know to look out for the ways in which illegal immigrants just act illegal.”
The propaganda heaped upon the immigrant community has been relentless and ongoing for decades. An example of this can be drawn between Arizona Governor Brewer’s statement that falsely claimed that the “majority” of undocumented immigrants who come to the U.S. are “coming here and they’re bringing drugs” and “doing drop houses and they’re extorting people and they’re terrorizing the families.”
Or when in the 80’s then San Diego County Supervisor Susan Golding inaccurately blamed the immigrant community for the rise in crime in the County. The Chicano community made her back down from her claims after it was proven she was wrong.
Another wild example of race baiting occurred in 2006 when County Supervisor Bill Horn in his State of the County speech stated, “the border is another reminder of how vulnerable we are to the illegal importation of chemical, biological and even nuclear weapons.”
In 2010 undocumented immigrants have been dehumanized to the point that white conservatives have gone from “lighting up the border” with cars lined up along the border shining their lights, to neo-Nazi groups posing for pictures for the news media, fully armed with automatic weapons, calling for the shooting on site of human beings for crossing the border.
Arizona’s anti-Mexican SB1070 will go into effect on July 29th, if not stopped by the courts. With all due respect to the Jewish community, the comparisons to Nazi Germany will continue and be drawn upon as points of reference. We have learned from history and will not be silenced as long as some in the United States continue down this road of propaganda, and racial profiling, dehumanizing the Hispanic community.