I was shocked to find that in just one week of protesting the Ethnic Studies ban in front of the Department of Education I was treated worse than in the 56 days of protesting at the Arizona State Capitol.

The very employees that have benefited from the education system are the worst offenders. You see, most of the people walking out of the Education building were employees, especially given the fact that our focus was on the main entrance as employees poured out after a days work. We, the protesters, just stood their with our signs. Time and time again we received harsh looks and hurtful comments. We have to assume that a person who works at the “Department of Education” has to have at the very least a bachelors degree, and I assure you that most have a much higher education. Yet, all that education apparently did not teach them the most important thing needed in society, being polite to others.

As these employees exited the building we stood there greeting them and bidding them a good night. They ignored us as if we were invisible and often times we were looked at with disgust. We met disapproving head shakes, rolling of the eyes and snide offensive comments regarding our “unpatriotic” behavior. Rarely would an employee respond and say hello or good evening. The majority of us protesting are over forty years old and many of us look like your neighbor or the friendly shopper you run into at the grocery store as you do your weekly shopping.

Perhaps the signs offended them, or perhaps they are simply dogmatic employees of John Huppenthal or any other dictator that may win the election to become Superintendent of Public Instruction for the crisis stricken state of Arizona. In any event the signs should not offend the employees of the Dept. of Ed. This is the same manner in which the struggle to end segregation started as far back as 1909 when a small group of activists started the NAACP. The struggle for equality was a long one and eventually a successful one for colored people. For the most part! It required major decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court which included decisions such as Brown vs. Board of Education that in turn initiated the desegregation of schools of which I was a part of.

Segregation

You would think that educated people that work for the Department of Education would understand our struggle to make sure that history is not censored or cleansed by a white majority. It is precisely the aforementioned concept of desegregation that players like Tom Horne (R) currently our Attorney General uses as part of his spin. He claims that these classes segregate the different ethnic groups when in fact the classes are open to all students, but specifically teach those Latino students history that allows them to identify not only with their roots but allows them to better understand the history that placed them specifically where they are at that moment. It is an awakening for Latino students that actually allows them to yearn for more education which in turn allows them to extend their horizons, eventually assimilating themselves fully as proud Americans fully engaged in their civic duties.

Maybe that’s what really bothers Tom Horne the Canadian Immigrant and ex Superintendent of Public Instruction for Arizona, or Steve Montenegro the Salvadoran Immigrant state representative, rising star of the Republican party and sponsor of HB2281, the ethnic studies ban bill, the fact that these students might actually grow up to be productive members of society fully engaged in politics and the American way of life.

While I was protesting at the Department of Education I ran into a man that looked awful familiar. He sat at a bench on the lawn with me and as we chatted we realized that we had both been students in the Mexican American studies program in college thirty one years ago and that he had been President of MECHA. I laughed and said, “you and I are those students that Tom Horne says have been incited to overthrow the U.S. Government by and through the ethnic studies program.” We laughed it up, you see “Bert” as we’ll call him, works at the U.S. Supreme Court across the street from the Dept. of Ed and his brother who was also in MECHA and was an ethnic studies student is a doctor of medicine.

Wherever you fall on the ethnic studies ban issue, you can’t deny that certain factors exist. There’s an attempt to censor information from Americans and an attempt to deny students the ability to continue to learn a subject that over time has been proven to produce great Americans. One thing I would ask critics of the Ethnic Studies Program which forms part of the TUSD curriculum, show me one instance in which in the last thirty seven years of the program’s existence an Ethnic Studies student has grown up to be part of or has initiated a terrorist plot to overthrow the U.S. Government.

I stopped by a Cousins Sub shop the other day. The franchise owner has been there for as long as I can remember. “He said you look very red”, I chuckled and said “Yep, coming from a protest at the Department of Education over the Ethnic Studies ban in Tucson.” I said, “you know that Tom Horne and others say it promotes the overthrow of the U.S. government?” he laughed and responded, “yes, it does”, “overthrow of the U.S. government via the vote”, “that’s what they are afraid of.”

Sometime this month we’ll see a decision from John Huppenthal on the Ethnic Studies program based on the audit handed to him a couple of weeks ago. I suspect all hell will break loose when the decision is rendered by Huppenthal.

Perhaps he should be focused on teaching his employees to act in an educated manner with all Americans as they exit the building wearing their Dept of Ed badges regardless of whether they are supportive of Huppenthal’s policies or the Ethnic Studies program.

In any event, Arizona’s Department of Education has been duly renamed the “The Department of Segregation”

I'm the man!

Two Scary Protesters at the Dept. of Ed aka Dept of Seg

A nurse in on the protest

Tucson We Love You!!!!!

Carlos E. Galindo is a radio talk show host & political analyst conducting radio shows in both English and Spanish on four radio stations in Arizona. Mr. Galindo is a weekly contributor to KPFK 98.7 FM Los Angeles and has appeared on CNN, Univision and Telemundo as a political analyst. Mr. Galindo is also an Op-Ed columnist on Prensa Hispana Arizona. www.nospinonair.com/http://www.carlosgalindo.com
Listen to our live radio broadcast every Friday from 5-7 PM on The JOLT Tucson 1330 AM or via the web on www.nospinonair.com

The Tea Baggers held a protest at the Arizona State Capitol. The majority of the signs had nothing to do with protesting taxes. The signs attacked the undocumented Immigrants. There were several assaults resulting in arrests of those offenders from the Tea Party who assaulted Immigrant women.

Meanwhile the Female Tea Baggers danced the chicken in an attempt to ridicule the Immigrant women. Based on the following video, I think it’s evident who ridiculed who.

More pictures and video to follow with a more extensive blog.

Listen to our live radio broadcast every Friday from 5-7 PM on The JOLT Tucson 1330 AM or via the web on www.nospinonair.com

In 2009 I read a short statement to the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors. At that time I unequivocally stated that Arizona’s economy would continue going into the ditch if the attack upon their low skilled labor continued. I have continually asked the question, when will national economists provide reports or statistics reflecting the true detrimental economic impact on Arizona created by it’s failed immigration policies?

Whether on my radio show or in my writings I have always used a clear and very basic example to illustrate what is happening to Arizona. “The house of cards will always collapse when you pull the bottom card out.” So it has been, as we have watched in horror, as Arizona’s lawmakers create laws that lend credence to an attack upon the very foundation of Arizona’s economic infrastructure, our low skilled labor force comprised in majority of undocumented Immigrants.

Being a first generation Immigrant, business owner and a member of Arizona’s media has permitted me to better understand the plight of the immigrants, and of course, the value of the immigrants. I fully understand their buying trends, their most intimate fears, as well as their strengths and weaknesses.

As the attack upon those Immigrants via a racial hyped and politically charged populous commenced, I started to see the change in purchasing patterns and a tightening of the financial belt by the Immigrant community. It’s common nature to hoard or bank money for a rainy day or difficult times. Immigrants however, are a very financially astute community. They are certainly savers, and, they are consistent spenders when the economy permits it. They understand the importance of savings, be it for those difficult times that no one can foresee, or for that all expected and dreaded time in which they or a family member may face deportation and ultimately a high bond while sitting in the holding cell at the Immigration & Customs Enforcement building.

There is no doubt that we have all observed a mass exodus since the “attack” began. Senate President Russell Pearce proudly calls it attrition by enforcement. After the initial wave of laws I started to see the results of Arizona’s irresponsible legislation and aggressive law enforcement policies. Arizona’s failure to understand the complexities involved in embracing the Immigrant community while balancing the enforcement of existing laws that serve to protect our communities has been glaringly evident. I think we all understand that we can’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. Arizona desperately needs to know how to balance for the good of Arizona.

Recently we observed a slight change in Arizona’s fiftieth legislature when they overwhelmingly shot down five harsh immigration laws as a result of constant protests at the Arizona State Capitol by people of all walks of life and all colors of skin, that, coupled with a letter that carried a resounding no from CEO’s of huge corporations caused Arizona’s legislature to take a step back, or should I say, a step towards the center regarding the current Immigration policies.

Just a short two weeks after some of the more aggressive bills proposed by Arizona’s fiftieth legislature were shot down, a report from Center for American Progress and the Immigration Policy Center titled “A Rising Tide or a Shrinking Pie” has been released. A clear and concise outline of the value of the Immigrants in Arizona and the the devastating impact their absence will have on Arizona.

The report for me is just a confirmation of what many of us that have no voice in Arizona fiftieth legislature have been aware of for many years. Perhaps as more organizations churn out the undeniable facts and the statistics continue to pour in, Arizona will turn the corner on Immigration and embrace those who built the roads Arizonan’s currently drive on, those who built their houses they sleep in every night, picked the vegetables and fruits they enjoy with their families every evening and those who cook those delicious meals they devour on their lunch hour daily.

Until then, I will continue in resistance at the Arizona State Capitol lending a voice and lobbying for those who have no voice or representation within Arizona’s fiftieth legislature as I have been for the last 32 days straight.

Carlos E. Galindo is a radio talk show host & political analyst conducting radio shows in both English and Spanish on four radio stations in Arizona. Mr. Galindo is a weekly contributor to KPFK 98.7 FM Los Angeles and has appeared on CNN, Univision and Telemundo as a political analyst. Mr. Galindo is also an Op-Ed columnist on Prensa Hispana Arizona. www.nospinonair.com/http://www.carlosgalindo.com

Listen to our live radio broadcast every Friday from 5-7 PM on The JOLT Tucson 1330 AM or via the web on www.nospinonair.com

When I saw Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s tweet the other night I wasn’t surprised that I didn’t see a lot of reaction from the pro-Immigrant Latino leaders. Perhaps it wasn’t sanctioned by their head honchos. It seems that what little the Latino pseudo leaders do nowadays, takes forever, because they have to approve “the action” first. Sounds ridiculous to me! Especially when you see a tweet from Joe Arpaio that reads like this one. “We signed up a total of 137 inmates including 15 illegal aliens who wanted to donate their organs.”

So Joe has been hell bent on nabbing “illegals” in his racial profile raids for processing and ultimate deportation. He loves to crunch numbers. As he’s conducting his operations he’s reporting play by play action. Of course he isn’t as damaging as the Phoenix Police is with their constant harassment of brown drivers which in many cases leads not only to a confiscation of their vehicle for not having a driver’s license but in most cases leads to an arrest and a ride to Joe’s jail where with his 287g certification he is authorized to check their legal status which ultimately leads to deportation, of course, not without a lengthy stop at the private prison operated by Corrections Corporation of America for some billable incarceration time to the Feds.

Arpaio get’s hot under the collar when someone tries to lessen his operations as being less damning than that of other police agencies. He outright defends his notoriety as the world’s toughest Sheriff, and he wants the world to know he’s responsible for the most amount of deportations in Arizona.

Well it appears now Sheriff Joe wants to apply a different philosophy to the deportation process. Get out, but leave your organs behind. When you start truly analyzing the hypocrisy of these anti-Immigrant politicians it’s just downright amazing. Imagine how ludicrous that is. To focus solely on the deportation of these unwanted “illegals”, yet to crave their innards for use by U.S. Citizens. It’s truly outrageous!

If, an when, Jan Brewer stops denying dying Arizonans a transplant, these “illegal” innards could very well go to an Immigrant hating U.S. citizen. Hell he could even be a Tea Bagger for all we know.

We shouldn’t be surprised at the hypocrisy from Arizona’s Rethuglicans. While Jan Brewer denied transplants to Arizonans on their deathbed, she transplanted rose bushes from the front of the capitol building to the back lawn where she held her swearing in ceremony, and while Sheriff Joe Arpaio arrests and detains Arizona’s dishwashers and landscapers for ultimate deportation he asks them to leave their illegal internal organs behind. What’s next Arizona?

One thing is for sure Sheriff Joe has got to go!

Carlos E. Galindo is a radio talk show host & political analyst conducting radio shows in both English and Spanish on four radio stations in Arizona. Mr. Galindo is a weekly contributor to KPFK 98.7 FM Los Angeles and has appeared on CNN, Univision and Telemundo as a political analyst. Mr. Galindo is also an Op-Ed columnist on Prensa Hispana Arizona. www.nospinonair.com/www.carlosgalindo.com