OpenLeft: Massive civil disobedience is MORALLY NECESSARY to overthrow Arizona's racist law

[marmar]

Massive civil disobedience is MORALLY NECESSARY to overthrow Arizona's racist law
by: Paul Rosenberg

Sat Apr 24, 2010 at 10:30


Let's be clear: Arizona's new anti-immigrant law is not just racist, and unconstitutional, it's also dangerous to the law-abiding residents of Arizona. Anything that makes people afraid to come forward and cooperate with the police investigating crimes makes it harder for law enforcement to do its job, and that makes it easier for criminals to do theirs.

At her press conference where she actually signed the law, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer said:

This bill, the "Support Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act," strengthens the laws of our state. It protects all of us, every Arizona citizen and everyone here in our state lawfully. And it does so while ensuring the constitutional rights of all within Arizona remain solid, stable and steadfast.

That's just a pack of lies. And not just the part about constitutional rights. All of it is a pack of lies.

Since 1979, the Los Angeles Police Department has operated under Special Order 40, which prohibits police officers from "initiat(ing) police action with the objective of discovering the alien status of a person." It was initiated by Chief Daryl Gates, who died just this past week. Gates had been called many things in his life, but "liberal" was not one of them. On April 9, The LA Times explained in an editorial:

The order was adopted in the late 1970s by then-Chief Daryl F. Gates, hardly a soft-on-crime liberal, who knew that the LAPD would be more effective if undocumented witnesses and victims felt free to speak with officers without fearing deportation. The order prevents officers from questioning people solely to determine their immigration status or arresting them solely for violations of immigration law. It does nothing to stop officers from arresting a violent suspect or calling in federal agents to investigate a person they believe illegally reentered the U.S. after deportation. It was good policy then and remains so today.

Special Order 40 is sound, sensible, effective and efficient police policy. It was initiated by a hard-ass conservative police chief. And it has worked for over 30 years--despite wingnut attacks based on lies and distortions (more on this below the fold). .........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.openleft.com/diary/18417/massive-civil-disobedience-is-morally-necessary-to-overthrow-arizonas-racist-law

[Odin2005]

1. K&R

[Downtown Hound]

2. I live relatively close to Arizona

Wonder how I look in stripes? I would actually relish the chance to back up a few of Phoenix's streets and make Sheriff Arpaio spend a little of his precious tax dollars on us.

[RandomThoughts]

3. yea it might get ugly.

Police officer after foot pursuit, "why were you running when you saw us"

An Arizona Citizern, "Because I did not want to go to jail, I am not white, and my ID is at home"

[ProgressiveProfessor]

4. Before we all take up arms, let the courts quash this monstrosity