Todos Somos Arizona!

TODOS SOMOS ARIZONA:
La Gran Marcha Por Los Derechos Humanos

*This statement was written by the Coalicion por Derechos Humanos in Tucson, AZ on May 1st, 2010.

The Tucson May 1st Coalition and la Coalicion de Derechos Humanos invite the communities of Arizona and of this country to join forces on this historic day as we bear witness to the most serious attacks on our civil and human rights—on our own humanity. We make a call for resistance in our collective fight for liberty and justice for all.

On May Day 2010, in Tucson, Arizona, our community, which has consistently fought against the federal government’s use of Arizona as a laboratory for initiatives, policies, and laws that are anti-immigrant and anti-human, will embrace the mantra that has come from hundreds of calls from across the country, TODOS SOMOS ARIZONA.

This dramatic show of unity and support opens the opportunity to understand that SB 1070 was not born overnight, but rather was the direct and intended result of mid-1990s border enforcement strategies, known as Operation Gatekeeper [in California], Operation Hold the Line and Operation Rio Grande [in Texas], and here in Arizona, Operation Safeguard. Building an unprecedented military-type enforcement infrastructure, these strategies have intentionally funneled most migrants through Arizona’s southern border. By diverting more than half of all migrants who had traditionally crossed through California and Texas into a very conservative state where the federal and local governments own most of the border land (thereby avoiding the community fight-back that occurred along the border in Texas), the stage was set for the eventual passing of SB 1070.

This “surge” in crossings caused division and chaos in the border towns, allowed for the influx of hate groups and other anti-immigrant groups, opened the political space to racist and intolerant voices, with mainstream media feeding the climate of fear, eventually resulting in the election of openly anti-immigrant politicians like Maricopa Sheriff Joe Arpaio, County Attorney Andrew Thomas, and state legislator Russell Pearce. The Minutemen and other anti-immigrant groups proceeded to poison attitudes across the country, resulting in the spread of fear, racism, hate, ignorance, and anti-human policies that other states have replicated or are in process of replicating.

SB 1070 is the most racist law in recent history, allowing for the legalization and institutionalization of racism, their version of “ethnic cleansing.” We know that migration is not a law enforcement or national security issue, that we [the U.S. government and businesses in the past] have encouraged migrants to come to this country to build it, that [U.S. government and corporate policies] have helped to destroy jobs in Mexico and elsewhere only to blame the very victims/survivors who migrate to work and provide for their families, that [as a result, these policies] have created and enriched smuggling organizations, [which then become an excuse for] the unprecedented buildup of policing and military-type enforcement along the border and in the interior of our country. With this law, the stage is set again for even more dramatic calls for more “security.” Our laws and policies have brought only INSECURITY—deaths, division, intolerance and ignorance, environmental destruction, and abuse of indigenous communities.

We call for an end to SB 1070, an end to the enforcement strategies on the border and in our communities, and an end to criminalization of the immigrant. We call for a real dialogue based on truth, addressing the root causes of migration, and promoting justice for all. We call for a commitment of noncompliance with SB 1070, and ask for the commitment from all allies and people of conscience to boycott Arizona in every way. ¡Todos Somos Arizona!

[Note: This statement has been edited somewhat, for purposes of clarification, by George Shriver of the Coalición de Derechos Humanos, the Tucson May 1 Coalition, and the National Writers Union.]