There's nothing like the smell of racism and sexism in the morning

I woke up this morning to the soothing sounds of NPR's morning news cast. About 7:30, the Arizona local update switched on and, let me tell you folks, there is nothing that gets me out of bed faster than AZ politics.


Last Friday, it was plainly revealed that business interests do in fact run this state. Remember AZ's tough immigration law that was passed last year? SB 1070? Made failure to carry immigration documents a crime and broadly widened the power of the police to detain anyone they suspected of being illegal? Well, apparently the Chamber of Commerce and other business interests noticed that the boycotts of AZ that began in response to SB1070 actually worked. Or course, "worked" in this case means that hospitals, construction, and tourist industries faced a substantial drop in profits due to the boycotts and our hurting our economy. So they wrote a letter to the legislature asking them to drop increased restrictions and possibly let up on the ones they imposed last year. According to AZ Central, this allowed a number of state senators who opposed the legislation a way to publicly do so - they could maintain their Republican cred b/c they could say they were bowing to business interests instead of, you know, recognizing that SB-1070 was racist, discriminatory, and xenophobic. I guess in the long run the boycotts "worked", but not because they changed hearts and minds, only because they made clear that you can't be a bully and still expect others to play with you.


In even cheerier news: The house and senate have pass anti-abortion legislation: " that would make it a felony for a doctor to perform an abortion sought based on the sex or race of the fetus, despite ongoing debate over whether such a thing is occurring in Arizona" (AZcentral).


More from the article (I seriously can't believe I'm reading this):



"The bill's sponsor, Rep. Steve Montenegro, R-Litchfield Park, said the law was needed to protect against "bigotry and prejudice." He pointed to a 2010 Economist magazine article on "gender-cide" - which documented a bias against female babies - and a Planned Parenthood study that he said concluded that 42 percent of Black babies are aborted as reasons why the legislation is needed.
But the magazine article focused on practices in China and India, and Montenegro could not immediately provide the Planned Parenthood study, which he said was based on national statistics."


I'm not even sure where to begin with what makes me angrier: AZ government passed an anti-abortion bill based on totally made up claims of "gender-cide" and abortions based on a fetus' race; claims for which the sponsor of the bill HAS NO EVIDENCE? (and even if there was, it's still a woman's right to abort!):


"In a letter read to House members, Franks wrote, "Sex-selection abortion is a growing tragedy in our state."


But Rep. Katie Hobbs, D-Phoenix, said there was no data to show such a pattern in Arizona abortions.


"Where is the concern for life once it's born?" she asked, pointing to state budget cuts that have targeted programs that help low-income families and children.


The bill would allow the father of an aborted baby - or, if the mother were a minor, the mother's parents - to file a civil action seeking damages against the doctor who performed the abortion.

 Or maybe that the justifications for the bill focused on practices in "China, India, and Montenegro" - because, you know, those communist and third world nations don't love their babies like we do here in the good US of A. On the radio cast, the reporter played a quote from one of the senators who expressed concern that ARIZONA was becoming a haven for women from China, India, and Montenegro who wanted to abort their female fetus because of poverty and 1-child politics. With NO EVIDENCE. Seriously, I don't even know where to begin. Let's see - a woman has the right to determine her own fertility; if she cannot support a living child and decides to terminate a pregnancy that's her right (for whatever reason); if she can support a living child but decides to terminate a pregnancy based on any wide variety of reasons that is also her right. This feels like a fucked up extension of the bullshit I used to hear in San Diego about pregnant Mexican women sneaking across the border to give birth to babies in American hospitals so they could then reap medicare and unemployment benefits through their American-born children. Now we have poor 3-rd world mothers purchasing an airline ticket to AZ to abort (and pay full price to abort) girl babies.


Since I've been here I have not come face to face with these racist and sexist attitudes. Most of the people on my street (at least by their signs and bumper stickers which are on par with what I saw in SC) seem to be pretty Progressive and on the whole Tucson is more Liberal than the rest of the state. But, the general politics in the rest of the state scare the ever living shit out of me. I find it repulsive that such regressive, racist, sexist, and xenophobic legislation gets passed here on a regular basis. I like a lot about living here (like the actually place it's self), but I can't imagine raising a family in this environment and I feel disgusted that my tax dollars go to support our legislature. I realize  I've written a lot already, but I really don't have the words to express my disgust and anger this morning.