Among the many stories about Arizona’s anti-immigration bill, which requires that law officers demand the papers from anyone suspected of being here illegally, a few names surface over and over: Governor Jan Brewer, County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, and State Senator Russell Pearce. Their names will forever be linked to this racist piece of crap legislation. Less known, but certainly one of the most vocal proponents of the law, is J.T. Ready, a former Republican precinct committeeman and current spokesperson for the National Socialist Movement in Arizona.
So today, when many people in our state honor Arizona's cultural heritage and its connection to Mexico by celebrating Cinco de Mayo, J.T. Ready and his goons are going around Phoenix-area neighborhoods passing out fliers that declare Cinco de Mayo “Report an Illegal Day.” According to a local ABC report:
The one-page flier calls on people to fax or email Congress and demand that the border be secured. It also urges people to ask local businesses to participate in e-verify and to turn in people to DHS and ICE.
His reasoning, if it can be called that, is “We don’t celebrate the Fourth of July down in Mexico,” so why should we hold a Cinco de Mayo celebration here? Gee, I don't know, J.T., they don’t celebrate the Fourth of July in Ireland either, so do you think we should put an end to St. Patrick’s here? Or maybe you'd like to "Report an Irishman" that day?
What a buffoon, and his ridiculous comment is a good argument for teaching more Arizona history in our schools. First, this state, before it became a state in 1912, was home to mostly Mexican and Native people long before Anglos from back east wondered into the territory. Like it or not, J.T., Arizona’s heritage is more closely tied to Mexico than a bunch of English dudes on the Mayflower. As one of my Hispanic friends says, “We didn’t cross the line, the line crossed us.”
Also, why in the heck would we even expect Mexico to celebrate July 4th? That country was not settled by American patriots. On the other hand, Arizona, the very soil J.T. Ready is living on now, was once part of Mexico, and this holiday speaks to that legacy. It must be tough for a Neo-Nazi to wrap his limited brain around the fact that white Arizonans benefited a great deal from their brown predecessors.
Oh, another thing, J.T.: I’ve been in Mexico over July 4, and I hate to burst your bigoted bubble, but many people there do celebrate July 4th.
In other diaries I’ve mentioned J.T. Ready and especially his connected-at-the-hip relationship to State Senator Russell Pearce, the principal lunatic behind SB 1070. They are two peas in a very crazy pod. Here’s a video of Ready speaking at an anti-immigration rally at the Arizona capitol, surrounded by lots of his brown-shirted, goose-stepping friends. It’s a long video, but in the first 90 seconds you’ll see that right up front there in the audience is good old Russell Pearce, who Ready calls one of the few “statesmen” in government today.
Wait for it: On the news tonight I'm sure we'll hear Governor Brewer say something "statesmanlike" (but hypocritical) about Cinco de Mayo, and how we should honor our Mexican heritage. These are the “statesmen” responsible for SB 1070. Their hate is so strong that they would just as soon see Arizona suffer huge economic consequences in order to feed their prejudice. Statesmen indeed.
Meanwhile, tonight the Phoenix Suns will be wearing their "Los Suns" jerseys to protest SB 1070. It's a sad day when a basketball forward is more of a "statesman" than our elected officials.