So, I really have nothing to say about the Mariners’ trip to Chicago, other than I am really glad that I didn’t Liveslog it, after they manage to lose ALL THREE FREAKING GAMES in the White Sox’ last at-bat, with two walk-off homers and a bottom-of-the-eighth shot. Shit. Milton didn’t play, but he did continue his pattern of attributing his problems to both the media and racism, arguing that most sports writers are middle-aged white guys who cannot write about him since they cannot understand who he is. OK, so I’ll stop trying.
Meanwhile, in Arizona—if people wan to fuck up the enforcement of this new anti-illegal immigrant law, here’s a couple of civil disobedience methods I think would work politically.
First, any time a cop has a conversation with you, you should demand the chance to SHOW your papers. Show a cringing desire to go along with getting rid of illegals (who are not all Mexican! Some are Irish or Polish!) while not racially profiling by OFFERING every cop whose path you cross you identification.
Then take some time finding it. Dig through your purse, claw through that wallet stuffed with receipts, take your time. Just when the cop gets frustrated and tries to go, pull it out and say, “ah, here, thanks Officer for letting me prove I’m an American citizen. Sieg Heil.”
Second strategy: say you’re in line at a place where you might run into cops. Not to profile or anything, but donut shops come to mind for some reason. If you spot a cop within earshot, start talking with an eastern European or Irish accent amongst yourselves (or to yourself) about over-staying your student visa, and how glad you are that the cops are just going to hit the Mexicans since that leaves more jobs for you to steal from Americans. It’d be very nice if someone was getting this on their cellphone video feed. If the cops do ask for your papers, just give ’em the straight-arm salute and present your driver’s license. If they don’t, get their badge number and complain to the police department that they’re not doing their damn job, since you saw this clearly Not-American person who was white get away without being checked.
I suspect the law will never go into place since it seems unconstitutional on the face of it, but just in case it does I think these two strategies would annoy on-the-street law enforcement without getting anyone tasered, create political and media heat, and make the point that this is a fucking fascist law aimed at brown people.
From the looks of it, no one has been going to Mariner games anyway. And why would they? They have 2 players worth watching and 1 of them is a pitcher. It’s a Seahawks town, deal with it.
an Arizona driver license will suffice. You cannot get one here unless you prove citizenship. Yes, it will be a problem for people driving though.
the bill says “determine the immigration status of a person during any legitimate contact made by an official” I don’t think banging down doors and barging in houses is legitimate contact. it wont happen, not without severe punishment to the officers.
My point is, people are painting us to be as bad as Nazis: evil humans who killed brutally out of fear and hate. We are not killing. We are not rounding up people and starving them in camps. We are preventing our schools and hospitals from closing because of people who use them without paying taxes or medical bills.
The law is not perfect. I’m not saying I’m even really in support of the bill. But the federal government is not helping us, and even they agree something must be done.
But shame on those who demean both the people of Arizona and those who died in the Holocaust by making such outrageous associations.
April, being in possession of an Arizona driver’s license that doesn’t expire for another 40 years, I can tell you that you absolutely do not have to prove citizenship to get one– check out the ADOT MVD page. How would foreign students, expatriate workers, and other non-citizen residents who need to drive here be licensed? Your visa can lapse long before your license expires– in fact, it’s a common way of staying in the United States and working illegally. In those cases an illegal resident could easily have a valid license. (Many illegal workers do pay taxes out of their income, but of course that doesn’t support the narrative that they are dangerous and harmful.)
“Banging down doors and barging in houses” is an immigration raid. Those already happen here and they have nothing to do with this bill. This bill is about stopping people on the street or in a car; it’s about a law that gives police the power to arrest others based on their skin color, accent, and appearance. Some people prone to using hyperbole to make their point might say the “fear and hate” surrounding illegal immigrants that pushed the legislature to suspend civil rights for Mexican people in Arizona is Nazi-like; others just recognize that it is wrong and un-American. Either way it’s difficult to defend, as you note. Americans around the country are angry at the subset of Arizonans who support this law. Of course we’re not all like them, but some Arizonans are definitely filled with irrational fear and hate and a desire to take away the rights of a minority group in the name of national security. And they are a dark cloud over our beautiful, friendly state.
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” -Ben Franklin.
I hear Arizona wants to quarter troops in my house.
What should I do?
@ 55 – Hate to break it to you, Will, but the Third Amendment hasn’t been incorporated against the states – except in the Second Circuit (New York, Connecticut, Vermont). You may be screwed.