Editorial:
Notorious Arizona Sheriff, Joe Arpaio, made a short visit to Escondido this past Tuesday and was greeted by 200 people, shouting “stop the hate” to protest his appearance in San Diego County. Arpaio defiant as always strolled out into the crowd of protesters to “exchange ideas.” Arpaio didn’t really care about sharing ideas; he just wanted to make a physical statement, to show that the protesters did not intimidate him.
But it is Arpaio’s attitude, his dogma, and authoritarian style of police control, coupled with his support of the xenophobic SB 1070 Arizona legislation that has galvanized the Hispanic into a mobile political force of action.
The protest in Escondido is but one example of many protests held by Hispanics and others in the U.S. to voice opposition to SB 1070. The protests aimed at the law, Arizona legislatures, and the state of Arizona has led to an economic boycott that to date has had a major impact on Arizona. The hysteria and hyperbole about the impact of immigrants into Arizona by self serving politicians has been debunked by statistics and research. For good example AZ governor Brewer claimed that crime along the border “had risen” when in fact according to the FBI serious crime along the border has declined!
Another ridiculous example of Gov. Brewer’s outright lies is her claim that, “Our law enforcement agencies have found bodies in the desert either buried or just lying out there that have been beheaded.” It turns out there is not a shred of evidence to support her claim. It was this type of propaganda spouted by the Hitler Nazi regime that was used to justify the atrocities against the Jews. Today this anti-Hispanic rhetoric has been recognized and galvanized the Hispanic community, and has also started to open the eyes of persons of goodwill.
Because of this racist rhetoric right-wingers have begun to flirt with the idea to fundamentally change the Constitution of the United States of America. Many Republicans with the support of racist right-wingers are calling to change the basis by which the U.S. was founded, that created the greatest nation in the world for the sole political purpose of stopping the growth of the Hispanic community. Republicans have called for changing the 14th Amendment in order that children born in the United States to undocumented persons will no longer be considered citizens. This is yet another reason for Hispanic voters to mobilize against the right-wingers and extremist that have found their home in the Republican Party.
We applaud the actions of the Hispanic community in protesting, boycotting, and being involved. But, protesting and boycotting can only be sustained for so long. To have an everlasting impact the Hispanic community will have to mobilize and continue the process of registering Hispanic citizens, educating them on the issues, and impressing upon them the importance of voting. Short of this action, politicians such as Joe Arpaio, Brian Bilbray, Duncan Hunter, etc. will continue to wade out amongst the protesters and our communities with impunity, fully confident in the knowledge that come next election they will once again be re-elected.