It is time to put a cost on exclusionary and racist policies that many in the GOP are using to mobilize their base. It should be said that there are in fact large groups of reputable, moral, and honest Conservatives. Unfortunately they have allowed their party to be taken over by the bottom dwellers. We must actively increase the cost of partaking in the bottom dwellers in the Republican Party’s policies. This is a start but must go national not only in Arizona, but any state attempting exclusion or profiling.
PHOENIX — Civil rights leaders are urging organizations to cancel their conventions in Arizona. Baseball’s Arizona Diamondbacks are encountering protesters on the road. And the AriZona iced tea company wants everyone to know that its drinks are made in New York. Arizona is facing a backlash over its new law cracking down on illegal immigrants, with opponents pushing for a tourism boycott like the one that was used to punish the state 20 years ago over its refusal to honor the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. with a holiday.
"The goal is to as quickly as possible bring to a shocking stop the economy of Arizona," former state Sen. Alfredo Gutierrez said Friday as a coalition called Boycott Arizona announced its formation.
The outcry has grown steadily in the week since Republican Gov. Jan Brewer signed the nation’s toughest law against illegal immigration. The measure makes it a crime under state law to be in the country illegally, and directs local police to question people about their immigration status and demand to see their documents if there is reason to suspect they are illegal.
Many in Arizona support the law amid growing anger over the federal government’s failure to secure the border. The state has become a major gateway for drug smuggling and human trafficking from Mexico.
Critics say the law will lead to racial profiling and other abuses, and they are giving Arizona a public relations beating over the issue. CONTINUED
