Arizona: This is how it starts

Abominations such as apartheid do not start with an entire population suddenly becoming inhumane. They start here. They start with generalizing unwanted characteristics across an entire segment of a population. They start with trying to solve a problem by asserting superior force over a population. They start with stripping people of rights and dignity – such as the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty — that you yourself enjoy. Not because it is right, but because you can. And because somehow, you think this is going to solve a problem.

That’s South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu in his piece, Arizona: The Wrong Answer.

Arizona’s immigration law is especially pernicious because it provides a legal mechanism for attacking at law enforcement officials who don’t stop “suspicious” people. But the more important point is this is how genocides start. Rights don’t disappear all at once. They disappear one law at a time. Even the laws codifying chattel slavery didn’t start out that way. That the state senator who wrote the law is a little too cozy with neo-Nazis is yet another reason to view this move with fear and suspicion.

People of color need to stand together on this. There’s the “this ain’t right” factor, of course. But illegal immigrants aren’t restricted to brown skin and Spanish speech. If laws like this take hold in other states, we could all be in some sh*t.

Imagine Florida and its mix of black Caribbean and Latino people. Can you spot the difference between a black American and a Jamaican immigrant? Asians aren’t safe either. A Thai-American friend of mine was mistaken for Mexican once. What about those Filipinos you know who have Spanish-sounding surnames and look a little Latin American if you don’t know better? Should they have to take passports if they’re road-tripping through Arizona?

And what constitutes “suspicion”? Is “you look a bit Canadian” enough? Or is our suspicion necessarily confined to those with brown skin?

There is so much wrong with this law that I think it should be struck down pretty quickly. But that doesn’t mean the Brown People Scare Me Brigade won’t come back with something new.