To find out what Arizona's new immigration law means for national organizing efforts, Youth Radio spoke to Community Empowerment Coordinator and attorney Renee Saucedo, from La Raza Centro Legal.
In Arizona, walking to the corner store, or simply driving, can lead to arrests for undocumented immigrants. Bill 1070 gives authorities in the state of Arizona the right to detain, arrest and report a person to immigration, if they suspect the person is in this country illegally. It also makes transporting an illegal immigrant a crime--and that includes giving someone a ride.
Attorney Saucedo said she and her colleagues got to work as soon as Arizona's Governor Jane Brewer signed the bill. "Immigrant advocates of course were horrified by the passage of this law. But some said, at least this might push the debate around passing some kind of immigration reform or legalization law."
But according to Saucedo, it's up to immigrants to change the course of the national conversation. She says anti-immigrants' voices are much louder right now and "if our communities--mainly immigrant communities--organized and demand that a legalization law passed as a solution, then I think it's very possible."
Well if you ever wanted to see what one particular vision of the American Dream looks like in practice look no further than Arizona, where suspicion of being an illegal immigrant is now grounds for being detained. What's more: it looks like the new law has the thinnest of majorities backing it according to the latest Gallup poll.
While there's nothing funny about the law itself... which includes provisions that threaten schools with loss of funding for offering classes that "promote the overthrow of the U.S. government, promote resentment of a particular race or class of people, are designed primarily for students of a particular ethnic group or advocate ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals"... it's the duty of the nation's humorists to find something to laugh about even in the face of political dynamite.
Here's a few choice bits:
Seth Myers from SNL:
More, including the serious stuff, after the jump... Read more...
(Updated on April 29, 2010)
The following was broadcast on KUNM FM, Albuquerque as part of a series Youth Speak Out, a collaboration between Youth Radio, Youth Media Project in Santa Fe, KUNM’s Youth Radio in Albuquerque, and New Mexico's Youth Alliance, made possible by a grant from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation. For more information about Youth Speak Out go to www.youthradio.org/new-mexico.
by Omar Torres
I have never been a very political person. When I was younger, the only thing I knew about politics was from my parents, and it was that they’re dirty. Because of that I grew up disinterested in anything political. Then something hit me: I realized that politics affect me more than I ever knew and that regular people can have an impact in the political world. So then, I thought, I might as well pay attention.
Lou Dobbs, to me, seemed like an ideal person to have in politics--a television news commentator fighting for the middle class, criticizing both political parties for only looking out for corporate America and companies for outsourcing jobs overseas. But he has one significant flaw: his misconception of illegal immigrants.
Read more...
Immigration is an issue that constantly has me on the edge of my seat, always waiting to hear what’s going to happen next. But, as I sit on the edge of my seat, nothing seems to be happening -- at least in Washington. There’s still no immigration reform, yet immigrants continue to face discrimination. In Pottsville, Pennsylvania a group of football players beat a Mexican immigrant to death, apparently just for being Latino. Read more...
