The Truth @ The Spin Factor

The Arizona “Buycott” at Tempe Stadium

Supporters of SB1070 showed up at Tempe Stadium in Arizona on Saturday 29, 2010 to support the controversial immigration law.

70% of the 10,000 stadium seats appeared to be filled by members of the Tea Party. They seemed enthusiastic, but not hateful. The vast majority appeared to be of European descent, but the event featured guest speakers with African and Hispanic backgrounds.

Major themes of the event were upholding the laws of the country, supporting those who immigrate legally (the spouses of some speakers were legal immigrants), and constant reminders of God and, perhaps due to Memorial Day weekend, appreciation for members of the military.

To be honest, I expected to see racism and intolerance, instead speakers unequivocally insisted that this was not about race. Although I disagree with many of the arguments made  by guest speakers, including the main speaker, Joe Arpaio, the event was quite civil (if a bit boring at times).

The crowd was quite reactive, booing and cheering at what the speakers had to say. The crowd, of course, cheered when Arpaio noted that he could make enough room for illegal immigrants by setting them up in tents, and booed when he talked about efforts by the Federal Government to embarass him. One non-sequitur comment by Joe Arpaio was that President Calderón legalized all drugs for personal use in Mexico. It seemed that Arpaio expected the crowd would boo at that particular comment, but instead it went silent. Apparently the crowd was sympathetic to legalizing drugs; not surprising given that many Tea Party members are probably libertarians.

For an agnostic atheist like myself, the predictable references to God get old quickly, but aside from those, most arguments were decent. A few that caught my attention for being poor arguments were the following:

A Colombian woman who immigrated legally to the U.S.A claimed that we do not tell other countries what to do, and that Calderón has no business doing so. While I agree that Calderón is confused about the Arizona law, it is not true that we do not tell other countries what to do. We, for example, gave Saddam Hussein an ultimatum and invaded Iraq, imposing our politics. As for Mexico, we continue to insist that they disrupt the drug trade with violence, at the expense of an ongoing internal “civil” war. American Exceptionalism is based, in fact, on the delusional belief that the United States has the divine right to control the world.

Another poor argument repeated by “Buycott” speakers is that crime has increased due to illegal immigration. According to the Cato Institute, the opposite effect was found. With increased illegal immigration to Arizona, crime went down.

The strongest argument is that the Arizona Police collaborates with the FBI, with the ATF and with other organizations to enforce the law. Why is it wrong for the Arizona Police to collaborate with ICE to enforce immigration laws?

By way of anecdote (and I apologize that I cannot find a better way), I can attest to the fact that the supporters of the Arizona “Buycott” are not motivated in the least by racism. Instead, the Tea Party and its supporters want to enforce the Federal laws that are already in place. It’s disappointing that the opposition to SB1070 doesn’t find that sufficient, or that there is a misconception that support for SB1070 is rooted in racism. Enforcing immigration laws that are comparable to those of any other country cannot be logically objectionable; even if SB1070 was rooted in racism. I urge the opposition of SB1070 to find a stronger argument or to address our immigration laws directly; the race card is a weak argument.

Other viewpoints

DemocraticDiva notes that “buycotters” support Arizona businesses, but wonders whether those businesses support Arizona.

St. Louis Activist Hub has an article claiming that the event appeared to be a huge failure, citing empty seats. The article associates a white supremacist with the buycott, even though the white supremacist did not claim to be associated with the Tea Party or the Buycott and was seen at a different event at a different location.

Footage

Links to various Arizona Buycott youtube videos.

Documentation

Senate Bill 1070.

May 31st, 2010 Posted by rmasters | Politics | 6 comments