It's always good when Florida makes it to the national news. Oh wait, no it isn't, it pretty much always sucks. There are a lot of great things about Florida, but it is stuff like
this (and the Dollars and Jessica Lunsford) that make the news:
Tom Macklin, the mayor of this faded city deep in Florida's citrus belt, heard the idea on talk radio and latched on with relish.
A city up north, Hazleton, Pa., planned to root out and punish landlords who rented to illegal immigrants, fining them $1,000 for every such tenant. Mr. Macklin, whose own small city has swelled with immigrants from Mexico, Haiti and Jamaica over the past decade, swiftly proposed the same for Avon Park.
"It was almost as if I was sitting in church at a revival and he was preaching to me," Mr. Macklin said of Mayor Lou Barletta of Hazleton, whom he heard promoting that city's Illegal Immigration Relief Act on the radio show last month. "If we address the housing issue -- make it as difficult as possible for illegals to find safe haven in Avon Park -- then they are going to have to find someplace else to go."
Like Hazleton's proposal, Avon Park's would deny business permits to companies that knowingly hired illegal immigrants. The ordinance, which states that illegal immigration "destroys our neighborhoods and diminishes our overall quality of life," would also make English the official language of Avon Park, removing Spanish from all city documents, signs and automated phone messages.
Typical traditional right-wing reaction to a perceived problem. People in Avon Park seem to think that their local situation has deteriorated and maybe it has. But rather than doing something to actually improve the situation, instead they've decided to find a minority group that is exotic and has little power to fight back and scapegoat them for all the society's problems. Don't think racism is behind this? Check out some more quotes:
"I think it's long overdue," Mr. Koch said of the proposal. "If you don't put a cap on it, it just gets out of hand."
...
"I feel very confident that what we're doing is not only legal, but the right thing to do. I can't sit back and watch my city being destroyed."
...
"When people come to our area," he said, "they see degrading neighborhoods, homes falling down among themselves, four or five vehicles parked in yards. There's a perception for those that come to this area -- looking to perhaps expand a business, move here -- that it might not necessarily be where they want to be."
...
"They're saying they're not even going to let people in grocery stores," Ms. Neff said. "How is that fair? Even a lot of the people who are legal citizens prefer to speak Spanish because it comes easier to them."
...
This week, Ms. Santana said, a sales clerk refused to sell her sister beer because she had a Puerto Rico driver's license, and the clerk said, "I can't read it."
It's clear, there are too many of "them" coming to Avon Park and the local whites don't like it, so they blame the Spanish-speaking people for all of the town's problems. Will this law, which is almost certainly in violation of several parts of the Constitution and numerous federal laws, actually solve these problems. Absolutely not. It's a way for a incompetent local official to rally his right-wing base by appealing to fear and hate. Will it work? Probably. At least in the short term.
But Hispanics across the state (and country) should pay attention, as should anyone who cares about equality, rule of law and the Constitution. This is what Republicans really think of you. They've been in power long enough they think they can do anything they want and they are now doing the things they really want to do -- like attack minorities. Voting for Republicans, in large part, is voting for policies like this that explicitly endorse hate or similar policies that implicitly do so. And Cubans, I know you are still upset about the Bay of Pigs, but the Republicans are just exploiting you, too. They don't really care about you other than the power you can help them get.
Personally, I don't think Hispanics are falling for it. This is the fastest growing group of new voters and Republicans are doing whatever they can to alienate them. If they don't change their tune, things are going to get really bad for them. Democrats, on the other hand, stand for equality and fairness. Who are you going to side with?