Has Arizona become the “cracker state”?
by Hugh Holub on Aug. 01, 2010, under border issues, politics, SB 1070An interesting article in Sunday’s Arizona Republic:
Amid immigration conflict, Arizona’s image takes a beating
by John Faherty – Aug. 1, 2010 12:00 AM
The Arizona RepublicArizona has become code for conflict.
Across the nation and the world, the Grand Canyon State is now emblematic of the great divide on issues of immigration.
National polling indicates that most Americans support the state’s illegal-immigration crackdown. Still, the state’s image has taken a beating.
Supporters of Senate Bill 1070 say the state is unsafe. Opponents say it is unkind.
And from outside the state, the portrayals have been scathing.
A cartoonist for the Bergen Record in New Jersey portrayed Adolf Hitler with his mustache in the shape of Arizona.
Jay Leno joked on his late-night show, “Rich people in Arizona may have to start raising their own children now.”
On Wednesday, a federal judge blocked significant elements of Senate Bill 1070. But the drama did not end. If anything, it increased.
Gov. Jan Brewer announced she would appeal the decision, calling it “a little bump in the road.”
Opponents of the bill forged ahead with street protests the next day as the rest of the law took effect. Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s deputies arrested many who blocked the entrance to his jail.
Outside, an army of cable TV cameras rolled, covering the events live for the world to see.
“Arizona is shorthand now for the immigration conflict in this country,” said David Rogers, executive director of the Center on Global Brand Leadership at Columbia University. “The brand right now is conflict.”
The words
As the issue entered the spotlight, the country was unable to look away from Arizona. In big cities and small towns, “SB 1070″ was a subject of conversation.
On the day after the judge blocked much of the law, the New York Times used the words “tragic,” “noxious” and “misbegotten” to describe it, all in the first paragraph of its editorial.
The smaller Aurora Sentinel of Colorado wrote: “Since Arizona officials refuse to see reason, it’s good news for everyone that the federal courts have in putting a halt to that state’s flawed plan to take on the problem of illegal immigration.”
The rest of the U.S. was even willing to get in on the protests.
In Los Angeles, traffic on Wilshire Boulevard was blocked on Thursday by more than 200 people protesting SB 1070.
That same afternoon in New York, protesters mimicked those in Phoenix and crossed the Brooklyn Bridge chanting their disagreement with the bill.
Any high-profile fight becomes fodder for comedians, and this one was no different. It was just louder.
Before the bill had even been signed by the governor, satirist Stephen Colbert said law-enforcement officers would be allowed to “Taser anyone using the word ‘chipotle.’ ”
And sometimes the state took a pummeling, even when the rhetoric wasn’t entirely accurate.
The Times of London wrote on its website that “A U.S. judge has blocked a controversial ‘racial profiling’ law which some said was reminiscent of the early days of Nazi Germany.” The story went on to say the law “would have allowed police to stop and arrest anyone.”
The law, while far-reaching, was less sweeping than that.
It said that an officer engaged in a lawful stop, detention or arrest shall, when practicable, ask about a person’s legal status when reasonable suspicion exists that the person is in the U.S. illegally.
Still, between being the subject of protests and the butt of jokes, it was clear Arizona had an image problem.
The marketing
In May, Brewer acknowledged as much. “This is impacting Arizona’s face to the nation,” she said at the time.
Then she transferred $250,000 from the Arizona Department of Commerce to the Arizona Office of Tourism to support a new effort to polish Arizona’s image.
Sherry Henry has been working on that. She’s the executive director of the state’s tourism office.
“We try to get the word out that Arizona is still a warm and welcoming place to visit,” Henry said. “We are still the same Arizona.”
In Riverside, Ill., Theresa Coffey agreed.
“I would visit Arizona,” the 72-year-old said. “I have family there. I have been before, and I like it. All of the news has heightened my awareness of the debate, but I would still go. It’s always the politicians, never the people.”
Not everyone is convinced. “The state doesn’t seem all that attractive to me,” said Ignacio Carrillo, 56, a law professor in Mexico City. “I’d prefer to go to New York.”
The state group does not have enough money for a national advertising campaign, but it can conduct a public-relations blitz.
There will be newspaper commentaries and talk-show appearances in cities – like Chicago, San Francisco and Denver – where people have historically traveled to Arizona.
“Arizona is a place that people love and have always loved,” Henry said.
Still, it’s hard to do when the debate seems to hinge on the idea that your state is racked by violence.
Even Henry acknowledged it: “That has not made things easier.”
The violence
In May, Arizona Sens. Jon Kyl and John McCain wrote an open letter to President Barack Obama. “Many Arizonans do not feel safe within their own homes or on their own property,” the letter said. “They feel that they live in a lawless area of the country and have been abandoned by the federal government.”
Other members of Congress, including Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., and John Shadegg, R-Ariz., sent Obama a letter asking that National Guard soldiers be sent to the border because “violence in the vicinity of the U.S. Mexico border continues to increase at an alarming rate.”
Two weeks before the state House of Representatives passed the bill, a rancher was found dead on his southern Arizona property, and authorities said they found tracks leading toward the border.
Everywhere, it seemed, border violence, or the specter of it, was raising its head.
In June, Brewer, speaking to a national audience on Fox News, said that Arizona “cannot afford all this illegal immigration and everything that comes with it, everything from the crime and to the drugs and the kidnappings and the extortion and the beheadings.”
Some of the violence loomed larger in debate than in reality.
FBI Uniform Crime Reports and statistics provided by police agencies, in fact, show that the crime rates in Nogales, Douglas, Yuma and other Arizona border towns have remained essentially flat for the past decade, even as drug-related violence has spiraled out of control on the other side of the international line.
Statewide, rates of violent crime also are down.
Still, the rancher, Robert Krentz, was killed, even if a connection to an illegal border crossing has not yet been proved.
And as the law took effect, the issue had everything it needed to feed 24-hour coverage: Fears of violence, protests in the streets, a national news angle, and no shortage of people willing to sound off about it.
The coverage
National coverage of the story has been nearly non-stop.
“There is an attraction with conflict,” said Greg Wise, professor of communications at Arizona State University. “And this is an issue that has captured the national attention.”
Within two hours of posting the judge’s decision on Wednesday, there were more than 6,750 comments on the Huffington Post website.
CNN, Telemundo and Fox News have been broadcasting a steady stream of images of Arizona.
Just before 4 p.m. Wednesday, the air was hot and thick with humidity at Wesley Bolin Memorial Plaza. The cable-network satellite trucks were nearly blanketing the Statehouse lawn.
From within an air-conditioned broadcast tent, the CNN show “John King, USA” was preparing for the first of two days of coverage from Arizona.
When the lights came on, he looked intently into the camera and said, “Good evening tonight from ground zero in the nation’s debate over illegal immigration.”
______________________________
______________________________
Citizen bloggers are not paid for doing their blogs.
If you like the View From Baja Arizona you can make a contribution to support this blog.
It is a secure Pay Pal transaction.
Thank you !!! DONATE BY CLICKING HERE
August 1st, 2010 on 1:11 pm
Fine with me Let’s be the Cracker State
August 1st, 2010 on 1:26 pm
Just what we needed, more racism.
Officer Dogwood
August 1st, 2010 on 1:34 pm
Not anymore than we are the illegal alien state. Isn’t that fun.
August 1st, 2010 on 1:44 pm
This reputation goes way back; back to our history of crooked governors and the MLK debacle. I think people who’ve grown up in this environment are unaware of just how the state as a whole is viewed by people elsewhere. Even in Central and South America people are very aware of AZ and have a mostly negative opinion of the place. What’s even worse, many of the people who live here wear this a a badge of honor. Maybe there should be no shame in being unenlightened, but it’s certainly nothing to be proud of either.
August 1st, 2010 on 7:06 pm
Hi Leftfield,
You’re right about a few things. I swim and live in the AZ fishbowl. I’ve never heard any coworkers talk about embarrassment about being an Arizonan.
I was embarrassed when we elected a used car salesman to the top post in the state in the 80s and I was embarrassed when we struck down MLK.
But please don’t confuse the past with the present. We have a crime issue. You should know that Phoenix is the kidnapping capital of the US ( Reported 2/11/09 http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=6848672&page=1).
How about the burden of health care? We’re seeing the closure of emergency services because of mandated services which aren’t reimbursed by the Feds. The uber-conservative New York Times reported back in 2003: http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/14/health/14HOSP.html. Do non-Arizonans think this problem’s gotten better since that time?
Here’s another one: All-Day Kinder. Cancelled this year. My daughter starts 3rd grade in a couple of weeks. Last year, her 2nd grade teacher commented how she and her classmates (the FIRST group to attend All-Day Kinder 2 yrs previous), had REMARKABLE improvement over her group and the previous year who went half-time. All-Day is still available to families who care to ante up $1300. In advance. So the “have-nots” will begin their lifetime of 2nd class education in a few days.
At least PART of this cancellation is due to English as a 2nd Language requirements. Lest you think me provincial minded, check these comments from Pennsylvania in this month:
http://www.timesherald.com/articles/2010/07/18/news/doc4c42906013f45228253938.txt
For some Arizonans, for sure this is about institutionalizing bigotry. But these days, Arizona (like everybody else) has DEEP budget woes.
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2009/1230/Which-states-are-facing-the-worst-budget-deficits-in-2010
I don’t mean to be the *hole in the gallery, but if the choice is pay for MY kids or someone-who’s-here-illegally’s kids, I say pay for MY kids.
Bob
August 1st, 2010 on 1:45 pm
Hopefully knucklehead articles like the one above and the jive put out by the national media will fuel the fire so “cool people”, “intelligent progressives” and anything goes anarchists will leave this great state and head to Seattle, S.F., Madison, WI, Vermont etc. Things were just fine before these sheep showed up and made Arizona “Thee place to to migrate to” and made it the fastest growing (and quickest mess) state in the nation. GO AWAY !!!
August 2nd, 2010 on 8:06 am
Methinks I got here first.
August 1st, 2010 on 1:48 pm
Its funny,they can have pride in being gay,black,Mexican or anything else but if l am proud to be “white” l’m a racist,well so be it,this will all end badly for our great land and for this l am greatly saddened but l will do what is needed to protect me and mine
August 1st, 2010 on 3:28 pm
It’s not pride in yourself that bothers me, it’s your antagonism towards the “other”; the person who isn’t like you that bothers me. Whining about how the poor white man suffers these days and can’t get a break just makes you look stupid (and maybe racist at the same time).
August 1st, 2010 on 5:33 pm
Your interpretation of what is stated is flawed,I think you and a few others are closet consevitives and just like to stir the pot,you and tiponeill are the worst racists on this board and as such deserve no attention
August 1st, 2010 on 5:34 pm
conservitives
August 1st, 2010 on 5:48 pm
conservatives
Fear not; being unable to spell the language is not considered a problem for the “English Only” crowd.
August 1st, 2010 on 6:15 pm
cool
August 1st, 2010 on 9:22 pm
I have read both of your commits, lndcrz47 and leftfield and i see that you both have the idea that you are right will you are both the point is that the acts of the Arizona Government is the one’s that don’t get it. Here Arizona we must if we that is beleive in the American Dream follow the constitution,the American civil rights act of 1964 and have the same idea that Dr. Martin Luther King stressed in his “I have a dream speech my fellow men and i think Arizonians Dr King was speaking on the fact that if we are Americans let’s act like it if we are not and don’t see all persons are in basis are the same we have different color skin because of the region of the world our families originated in no more and no less. i am now in my sixties and from my roof top i see and have known that all has added to my richness of life i have no vast sum of money but yet i am very wealthy. now my take on the law the ultra conservative left choose to call SB1070. please believe that if this was a law coming from the right end of the political spectrum all the one now supporting it would be against it.
August 1st, 2010 on 10:09 pm
I also am in my 60s and I hate no race,I am what I am,an old white guy,not my choosing but proud to be me,if any choose to move to this country please come legally,like my forefathers did and you will be welcome
August 1st, 2010 on 1:57 pm
Funny how the media isn’t showing the American Flag digraced, all the trash in the desert, the banners over I-19; the tires, tar and glass across I-19, and all the hatred towards the United States, Arizona and the people. While I am at it the media isn’t showing the victims, the effects on hospitals and resources and all the drugs.
The media needs to stop calling this issue “the immigration issue” They need to call it what it is “The ILLEGAL immigration issue”. Maybe more people would be more understanding if it was discussed at what it is rather than what it is not. Funny how the FBI says violence is down, yet they fail to say that drug apprehension by Border Patrol has increased significantly. Last year I believe the BP apprehended over 1 million pounds of dope according to news papers that was a lot more than the previous high of I believe 700,000 plus pounds.
If the Federal Government under all Presidents since the 60′s had addressed this issue and worked on the border and immigration both legal and illegal, maybe all this would not be happening now. But since no one did and the current administration refuses to adress it and the ecomony is where it is today and illegal immigration is where it is, now is the time to act.
I love this country I just hope it does what it has to to stop this invasion and protect the people.
August 1st, 2010 on 8:45 pm
Couldn’t have said it better!
August 1st, 2010 on 1:57 pm
Yep – It has achieved it’s lifelong desire to replace Alabama. Phoenix is the new Birmingham, and Arpaio is the new Bull Connor.
And just as it was in Alabama, the residents are outspokenly proud of it.
Somewhere deep inside they must know better I suspect – I remember that in Georgia, while they would never admit to iny fault in their redneckitude, they would occasionally defend themselves by pointing out that at least they were better than Alabama :)
August 1st, 2010 on 2:01 pm
To me this whole sad SB 1070 mess, when it comes to human and race relations in my beloved home state, amounts to so much deja vu. And people can talk about it being just about “illegals” but it’s racial to its core.
August 1st, 2010 on 2:31 pm
None of these articles take the side of those for the law. Contrary the overwhelming support for the law only the negative and racist pigs who are against this law are emphasized. The law DOES NOT SUPPORT IMMIGRATION. I wonder how many of these people didn’t even read the law? Probably 90% of them. These illegal immigrants are criminals and there is no excuse for Tucsonians and Arizonans alike to have to tolerate criminals. I am taking protection into my own hands. I just purchased 350 rounds of pistol ammunition and sleep next to a gun at night. Because the police can’t protect you. And the federal government won’t either. I have seen what these illegals do first hand. It is sick and heart wrenching that this state cannot protect itself. And that the rest of the country continues to think we need to allow criminals into this country and disregard our safety. It makes me sad to be an American among the number of fools that lead this country today. Common sense is definitely not common.
August 1st, 2010 on 2:33 pm
Does not support racism. My bad.
August 1st, 2010 on 3:30 pm
I just purchased 350 rounds of pistol ammunition and sleep next to a gun at night.
Be careful – you’re far more likely to shot yourself or a loved one than a drug-crazed migrant trying to break in to your house.
August 1st, 2010 on 3:56 pm
I am taking protection into my own hands. I just purchased 350 rounds of pistol ammunition and sleep next to a gun at night. Because the police can’t protect you. And the federal government won’t either.
Sounds like “cracker state” to me :)
August 1st, 2010 on 5:57 pm
I am 100% with you imbored!
It is to simple for most, it is simply about illegal aliens, not about racism. Everyone tries to make a big deal out of it without knowing the facts.
August 1st, 2010 on 4:17 pm
Every time an article like this shows up the words “just like Nazi Germany” shows up. Psssst…. guess what ? We stopped Nazi Germany and killed a few million of them doing it, flamed and flattened their cities. We (and our allies) stopped the Nazi carnage and Holocaust.
August 1st, 2010 on 5:53 pm
Yeah, ironic isn’t it. After all that, we’re doing our best to revive fascism right here. Let’s go down the checklist of fascist characteristics:
Extreme nationalism – yeah, got that.
Militarism - yep.
Scapegoating – check.
Authoritarianism – OK
Corporate influence in government – sure.
Looks like we’re well on our way.
August 1st, 2010 on 8:07 pm
(sigh)
LeftField,
Your arguments fall flat against the realities in AZ. What do you know about REAL life in AZ?
Your clever quips on nationalism and scapegoating are irksome. What’s your fix?
Ned Norris, the Chairman of the Tohono O’odham Nation, testified in 2008: http://www.tiamatpublications.com/docs/testimony_norris.pdf
1. 15,500 illegal crossings the month prior. There are about 28,000 residents. Total. So 500 a day. In THEIR section of AZ border alone.
2. 3 million. The amount they pay themselves in border enforcement.
3. Seriously damaged environmental and archeological resources. This flood of humanity leaves behind clothes, plastic bottles and bags, disabled vehicles.
The comparison Nazis vs that of enforcing Federal laws on the books for decades is misguided. The Nazis put people in ovens. Probably a lot of them were still alive. Arizona wants to return people who entered the State illegally. Find ONE comment from a holocaust survivor comparing the two. Just ONE.
August 1st, 2010 on 8:50 pm
Thank you Bob- well said- ignore leftfield- he’s on his own agenda and it rairly mirrors the LAW or the mainstream majority opinion or even rational thinking.
He’s usually feeding his chickens…..
August 2nd, 2010 on 9:30 pm
You may be on to something.
“To feed one’s chickens” Haha!
August 1st, 2010 on 9:11 pm
They didn’t start right out by throwing the “illegals” in the gas chambers. No, they started out with the same kind of scapegoating I read on these pages (probably complaining about the long lines at the ER because of all the Jews clogging up the system), along with the same appeals to nationalism (probably something along the lines of “Real Germans” will support these laws) and creating an enemy to hate and blame. It was later they got around to the ovens, when no one was left to stop them. Well, we shant let that happen again.
August 1st, 2010 on 10:38 pm
You should sell your Nazi ‘scapegoat’ theory to Ned. I’m sure he’d feel enlightened.
He might reply thus:
– The trespassers have trashed the reservation with garbage and litter, creating a sanitation catastrophe.
–Six tons of trash per day is littered on the Reservation, resulting in 113 open pit dumps that need to be cleaned up.
–The Nation, struggling for financial survival, diverted $7 million from tribal revenues to try to maintain the sovereignty of the reservation from 2001 until June 2004 (although we shouldn’t feel too worried: they opened a casino in 2005-ish)
–Tribal members live in fear for the safety of their families and their properties. Homes are broken into by those desperate for food, water and shelter.
–The police enforcement efforts cost $3 million dollars through mid 2004, but a bigger cost is the corruption of Indian teens and other tribe members.
–Drug traffickers offer the unemployed and poverty stricken Indians thousands of dollars to smuggle in their drugs, running carloads of drugs outside of the reservation. In addition to turning into criminals and ruining their lives, many of them have become addicts.
–In 2002, 4,300 vehicles were used for illegal drug and immigrant smuggling. A total of 517 stolen vehicles were recovered on tribal land.
These illegals are innocents who are miscast by the xenophobic right. They aren’t hurting anyone and are just the tool of the conservative Tea Party.
I’d love to see Ned weigh in on this.
August 1st, 2010 on 10:46 pm
Forgot to cite my source:
http://www.usborderpatrol.com/Border_Patrol704_X.htm
LeftField, what state do you live in? God bless you, you seem about as informed as the infamous County Supervisor:
http://www.thehispanicconservative.com/peggy-west-and-the-arizona-boycott.html
August 1st, 2010 on 8:59 pm
How is this a \cracker\ state? that comment alone offends me. As does the repeated need for some to bring Hitler, and the Nazis into this whole issue. SB1070 is about enforcing the Federal laws that are already on the books, but no one is enforcing. It is about protecting our families from being overrun and over taxed supporting peope who didn’t pay into the system but want full benifits.It’s a law supporting comming to our country the LEGAL way. Do we really want to embrace a group of people m(of any ethnic background) who are lying and cheating the system? Do we want Dishonesty? Is that the new value to teach our children? It’s alright to cheat on your test, cut in line, lie to your parents/boss as long as you feel justified in doing so?! And FYI- cracker is derogitory for caucasian…. guess what America- Hispanics are caucasian
August 1st, 2010 on 9:12 pm
We have to remind people what you guys are really after, even if you don’t know it.
August 1st, 2010 on 10:04 pm
cool answer,pointless but cool
August 2nd, 2010 on 12:03 am
In reply to Bob (sign Bob) -
Perhaps you should do some research - google, bing or something when you make these comments about the Tohono O’Odham Nation -they do not support SB1070.
http://tucsoncitizen.com/three-sonorans/2010/08/01/tohono-oodham-nation-joins-sb1070-lawsuit/
All of you in support of this law will just have to sit it out and see if your wonderful non-elected governor will continue this fight all the way to the Supreme Court. In the meantime, our state is going down the tubes! If the tourism is bad in AZ, chalk it up to jan brewer and her fear inducing comments made on national news.
August 2nd, 2010 on 7:38 pm
Hi SadnAZ,
It’s refreshing to see an opinion backed by something tangible. I checked out the website. There’s a lot going on.
You are correct: the Tohono O’odham Nation seems to have switched sides on this argument. Not unlike Janet Napolitano. To me, this is an AMAZING flip-flop from 5 years ago, in both cases.
You may recall Napolitano sending the Justice Department a bill in the amount of $500 million for the previous six years’ border enforcement which fell to the State. Before the 1070 court case, Brewer could barely even get an audience with Napolitano! If this were a Hollywood spy thriller, people would think “Someone got to the TON and Napolitano” and changed their minds for them. If this WERE a movie, who could be more powerful and influential than the President to forcefully change minds?
Did you notice the latest comment on that article? Here’s a copy/paste:
Well this is sad, because the “support” that supposedly came from my Tribe, the Tohono O’odham, was gotten with a lot of BS. It was not made before our Tribal People, and the People were not informed that our sacred name, Tohono O’odham, would be used to support OPPOSITION to sb 1070.
As any O’odham could tell you, the ones who live out here on the border that is, WE have nothing but unending agreement with any effort to secure the border, stop mexican drugs and mexican illegals from crossing and destroying our culture and sacred lands. Its only the political slave class (democrat party of Arizona) that uses lies to dishonor our tribe with the anti-1070 lies.
Who is he? How many are like him? Does he speak for others? I don’t know. But at least ONE person claiming to be part of the TON blows their SB1070 support out of the water.
And all the talk of the human rights violations! ‘The US is not doing enough for the human rights of Mexican nationals in country illegally.’ I think that’s the message. What I NEVER hear is ‘What is Mexico doing for the human rights of Mexican nationals in their OWN country?’ Can anyone answer that?
I’m not saying it’d be easy and I don’t offer a solution but as long as there’s no rule of law in Mexico, there will be no impetus for small businesses to grow into big businesses and provide jobs and opportunity in Mexico.
In the article, TONATIERRA general coordinator Tupac Enrique Acosta states:
“The issue is not the right to work. Under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 23 to which the US government is signatory, everyone has the right to work. What is at issue are the illegal, discriminatory and predatory economic policies and practices of the licensing procedures for lawful employment in the US economy.”
There’s a glaring lack of ANY kind of self determination there. Because Mexico can’t eradicate corruption, the US should be barred from enforcing a line between YOURS and MINE?