You know that old bumper sticker, "If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention"... I always thought it was kind of a played out cliche and went against my more even-keeled nature.
But since Arizona passed it's draconian and highly racist, constitutionally unjust law SB 1070, I have been outraged. And I'm in fine company with this righteous anger. It seems many of us are seeing red on this matter. SO GO AHEAD AND SHOW ARIZONA THAT YOU CARE!
Today, SF City Attorney Dennis Herrera calls for a sweeping boycott of the State of Arizona until the law is repealed.
Mr. Herrera is the first Latino to ever hold this office and is a highly respected advocate for Equal Rights, having been a champion of LGBT marriage during the Prop 8 fiasco. And now Mr. Herrera joins Civil Rights minded people everywhere calling for a boycott of Arizona, which is one of the best means of seeing an end to this unjust and wholly Republican law.
First, a little painfully ironic update... you know your law sucks when Tom Tancredo says it goes too far. OUCH Arizona. h/t to Timaeus for that gem.
http://www.ktvu.com/...
San Francisco's city attorney has called for a boycott of the state of Arizona over newly signed legislation that outlaws illegal immigrants under state law.
City Attorney Dennis Herrera issued a statement Monday calling for a "sweeping boycott of Arizona and Arizona-based businesses until this unjust law is repealed or invalidated."
But rather than just kvetch about it, Mr. Herrera is prepared to terminate SF City countracts with Arizona State entirely, as well as to offer his highly coveted Civil Rights oriented legal services...
Herrera called the law "draconian." He offered the services of his office to help terminate city contracts with Arizona and businesses based there, and to assist in any legal challenges to the law.
"Arizona has charted an ominous legal course that puts extremist politics before public safety and betrays our most deeply held American values," Herrera said.
Herrera, whose father immigrated to the U.S. from Colombia, noted that civil rights groups have assailed the legislation as inviting harassment and discrimination against Latinos, whether they are U.S. citizens or not.
The Asian Law Caucus, based in San Francisco, also released a statement condemning the new law.
Some Truck Drivers are boycotting the state, as I have written aboutpreviously.
Mr. Herrera is also joined by Rep. Grivalja, the Co-Chair of the Progressive Congressional Caucus & Vice-Chair of the Congressional Hispanic caucus, Santa Fe's Immigration Committee, The Arizona ACLU,and La Opinion, the Spanish Daily Paper for Los Angeles, CA -- and the Second Largest Newspaper in Los Angeles:
We call on those who believe in the U.S. Constitution to boycott the state of Arizona.
The anti-immigrant bill signed yesterday in Arizona is a violation of our right to be free from police harassment based on the way we look.
SB 1070 requires the police to question people about their immigration status if they suspect they are in the U.S. illegally, without any objective basis for that suspicion. This gives free reign to racial profiling and the discriminatory actions that will ensue for being —or appearing to be— Latino.
The law is a violation of basic civil rights. It also wrongfully asserts that states can set their own immigration policy when that is the exclusive jurisdiction of the federal government.
The Arizona law is based on inflammatory depictions of the undocumented —repeated by Governor Jan Brewer when she signed the executive order— to justify such a repressive piece of legislation.
There are two ways to fight this law: one is in the courts and the other is through direct action. As for the first, lawyers will be filing lawsuits challenging the law's constitutionality. The latter, direct action, is a call to boycott the state of Arizona.
We express our outrage in the face of this abuse of power. We call for a boycott of all goods and services from Arizona and pledge to avoid tourism in the state as well. Let's send a signal of our disgust with an arrogant state government that asserts powers it does not have in order to persecute a minority population.
In the name of protecting the people, this law puts the public’s safety in jeopardy. The undocumented will be too afraid to report a crime for fear of being deported. Police departments across the country (who incidentally oppose this law) understand the need for the public to have trust in authorities so they can fulfill their mission.
Racial profiling is unacceptable. It is a serious mistake to think that you can tell an undocumented person by the way he or she looks. This law is a product of ignorance and an act of irresponsibility. Say "No" to Arizona.
NY Mayor Bloomberg, Rep. Chuck Schumer, the Rev. Al Sharpton, and many from the Jewish Community have also agreed that the situation is untenable and must be stopped.
Did I miss anyone? The American Immigrations Lawyers Association. They're also boycotting Arizona.
So let's get back to how this relates to us.
Because by now, I hope we're all on board with this one.
If you're not outraged...
No matter what we've agreed upon or disagreed upon in the past. This is an issue that any sane, self-respecting Democrat, Socialist, Independent, or non-wingnut should well be able to GET ON BOARD WITH.
On Friday, we had a stunning conversation (I thought) about this debacle. A few voiced concerns:
Now it is true that some say that a boycott is a bad idea for Arizona. It is true that some are worried about microtargeting being more effective to avoid collatoral damage to the people of the State.
So I took it upon myself to email a friend of mine who used to work with Cesar Chavez in the old UFW days of yore. She said boycott away! but be sure if you live in Arizona, or must travel through it, to give money to immigrant-run local businesses to offset any damages.
Some have also questioned whether it is fair to economically bleed a State. Actually, Arizona has been boycott in the past, for three years straight from 1990-93, over their failure to implement MLK Jr. as a holiday and the State survived fine and well, like a phoenix rising from the flame, to enact the horrific Civil Rights laws they have today after the bloated tenure of Sheriff Arpaio and his tea bagging zombie minions. While normally I'd strike such a sentence down as hyperbolic, in this case, I'll let it stand.
But back to the point.
Arizona IS under financial boycott.
We ARE participating in that financial boycott.
We need to do MORE to ensure that the State is bled in the right economic places... that we boycott the big companies there, like PetSmart, Godaddy, Best Western, Cold Stone Creamery, U.S. Airways, Uhaul, and others, limit traveling through the state, and so forth... so that these big companies go crying to the Chamber of Commerce and Tourism Board, both powerful lobbyists in the State of Arizona. Hopefully, we'll only take a tiny bit off their profits which the state won't feel but the companies will still whine about to legislature.
For a complete list of Arizona-based companies, please look here.
Write them an email, and be sure to follow it up with an email to the Arizona Chamber of Commerce (or if you're altering travel plans, then contact the Arizona Tourism Board -- in this case, they both need to know why they should be sweating a bit).:
Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry
1850 North Central Avenue
Suite 1433
Phoenix, Arizona 85004
ph: 602.248.9172
f: 602.265.1262
email: info@azchamber.com
Arizona Office of Tourism
1110 W. Washington Street, Suite 155
Phoenix, Arizona 85007
Phone: 602-364-3700
Fax: 602-364-3701
Toll-free visitor information: 1-866-275-5816
Many are also calling for a boycott of Arizona's home baseball team, the Diamondbacks.
And others, more ambitiously, would like to see all Sports boycott there until this law is repealed.
Another great suggestion for boycotts is to contact bands and request that they boycott playing in the State of Arizona.
And some have expressed concern about the animals sold at PetSmart, rescued by the Humane Society. I share that concern and would be interested to know if anyone would like to find out what happens to animals that do not sell at PetSmart. Because they are a huge target of this boycott.
But don't worry about Arizona Iced Tea. It's made in Queens, NY and the only threat there is the High Fructose Corn Syrup ;)
Please note: any racially charged slurs will not be tolerated in this diary. The term "undocumented immigrants" is the preferred term used by Progressive Democrats who are involved in the immigration reform community. No humano es ilegal so don't say "i***gal alien" or "i***gal immigrant" here. Those are so 1850 and rank up there with called African-American people "colored, or worse, in my book. Thanks for the Netiquette and general propriety! I kindly ask you to respect my diary please, even if you don't personally agree with the preferred term. There's no need to be inflammatory. there are other diaries to discuss the rationale behind this preference. Thank you!
On a closing note, as a Jewish woman from a Holocaust family, it does make me upset and nervous to hear tale of people now being asked "for their papers" based on the color of their skin. I cannot live in such a society. If we are all not equal, truly, none of us are free.
Thanks for continuing to lend your ear and many thoughts about this boycott. Provide me links and ideas in the comments and I will post them to the body of this diary or in the next one.
And for a great primer on immigration law, check here, for a good place to keep up with some information about the boycotts on Facebook, here, and petitions here and here.
SI SE PUEDE!
~~~ and I intend to fully continue with updates and news concerning Arizona's new Juan Crow South, so I apologize for not yet writing back to those who have offered help with this (I appreciate it greatly). I will be in touch ASAP. Cross my heart, hope to die, stick a needle in this stack of work that I'm totally neglecting. When moved by ethical imperative, it's never the job of an activist to sit back. Like my own blood, this issue courses through me with a pulse far, far greater than my own.
SOLIDARITY MI COMPANEROS.
This is not a black issue, a white issue, a Latino issue, a Jewish issue, a gay issue, a woman's issue, or an Arizonans issue. This is a human issue. Bless up!
Full disclosure: I volunteer with a small immigrant amnesty group, but they are not aware of my posting this on this site, nor am I paid to blog for them (none of my work is paid). My views presented are entirely my own and do not reflect my long-standing volunteer work in the area of immigration reform. Para los Derechos de los Inmigrantes!
Feel free to follow me on Twitter, where I can be somewhat sporadic at times but try to keep on top of the issues. This one, I'm watching like a hawk.