Arizona Reminiscent of Palmetto
As a kid growing up on the US-Mexico border in Brownsville, Texas, I was fascinated by a piece of local history about the Battle of Palmetto Hill. Considered the last battle of the Civil War, it actually took place after the War had officially ended because news of surrender had not yet reached the hinterlands. Ironically, even though the Civil War ended 145 years ago, the news has apparently still not reached all remote areas of our nation, like Arizona.
In that state, whose population is 30% Latino, the government seeks to broaden police powers to identify and apprehend undocumented immigrants, in effect legalizing racial profiling of Latinos, trampling on federal jurisdiction over immigration policy and enforcement, and undermining the ongoing efforts of the US Census to accurately count undocumented immigrants.
Just as the Civil War was largely about race and the balance of power between states and the federal government, Arizona’s bold – and reckless – move echoes an inglorious chapter from our nation’s past.
The sweeping immigration bill passed by the Arizona Senate and signed into law by Governor Jan Brewer is an attack on undocumented immigrants, Latinos and all Americans who abhor discrimination.
Isabel Garcia, an Arizona legal defender, told CNN: “We have not seen this kind of legislation since the Jim Crow laws.”
The situation brings to light an issue that all Americans must acknowledge and confront: that the debate over undocumented immigrants conflates perceptions, feelings and attitudes regarding all Latinos, legal and not. My own personal example is that I’d never faced much discrimination for being a Latino until I wrote in support of immigration reform. I was then flooded with hateful emails and comments demanding that I “go back where I came from.” The thing is I’m American. I came from here. I was born here. Where am I supposed to go? Get my point? Suddenly I was seen not as an American exercising free speech but as a foreigner in my own land.
Anti-immigrant sentiment, fervor and the type of misguided legislation that has passed in Arizona only boils the cauldron of hatred bubbling within certain groups in our country. And when that hatred overflows, undocumented immigrants are not the only ones that will be targeted, pulled over without reason, humiliated or abused, thrown into the back seat of a squad car with cuffs on because they didn’t have their ID handy. It’ll be anyone who “looks like” or “sounds like” a Latino immigrant. And that could be – if left up to the interpretation of someone who is not an expert in anthropology or someone with less than honorable intentions – just about any Latino on any given day. This moral hazard that Latino citizens, our shared society, and even police officers may be asked to bear should be offensive to all Americans who value fair treatment – if not of undocumented immigrants – at least of our own citizens.
Interestingly, the legalization of this racial profiling of Latinos is also an example of “tyranny of the majority.” Because, although nearly a third of Arizona’s population is Latino, none of the largely Republican statewide elected officials – and only one of the Arizona legislators who voted for the bill appear to be so. That’s discrimination without representation.
It ought to serve as a wake-up call to Congress and the White House, as they have typically been the ones to step in to protect Constitutional rights when racist policies are being implemented on the state or local level.
But that’s not the only reason the Feds should intervene. The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) is planning legal action to stop the measure, arguing that it violates due process and Supreme Court precedents, infringing on federal government jurisdiction over immigration policy and enforcement.
As if that weren’t enough to heighten the sense of urgency on the national level for immigration reform, Arizona is also flying in the face of the US Census’ unprecedented and ongoing push to fully count all Latinos and all undocumented immigrants in 2010. The Census reportedly invested 20% of its ad budget on this effort. Arizona’s rogue maneuver, one that is sending shockwaves through the Latino and undocumented communities, can only heighten fear and undermine participation by undocumented immigrants, an intent measured by a RedBrownandBlue.com survey as 76% nationally, compared to only 43% participation by undocumented immigrants in the country ten years ago.
If you are an undocumented immigrant, or an outsider looking in, all these mixed signals from diverse government entities might frighten and confuse you. But as an American-born Latino, border native, patriot and longtime student of government, to me they’re a reminder of Palmetto Hill. My only hope is that the final outcome also echoes history.
For back in those fateful days in May 1865, on a stark and unforgiving landscape of sandy brush and shifting sand dunes, where two nations meet and a then-untamed Rio Grande flowed unbridled into the treacherous waters of the Gulf of Mexico, the Confederate rebels may have won the battle but the Union won the war.
Rudy Ruiz has been hailed as a cultural visionary. A published author and multicultural advocate, Ruiz is an acclaimed multicultural communications entrepreneur. He founded Red Brown and Blue as well as Interlex, one of the nation’s leading advocacy marketing agencies ranked by Ad Age as one of the Top US Agencies across all disciplines. Prior to that, Ruiz earned his BA in Government at Harvard College and his Masters in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School.
