Tuesday, February 6th, 2007...12:54 pm
Well, Gee, Since You Said So, I Guess There Is No Problem
Yesterday’s hearing on HB 2286 was a five hour long exercise in unsubstantiated assertions, ranging from Don de las Aguas Doradas making a reappearance on the scene claiming that the ACLU is arranging to reverse the Mesilla treaty to Chris Simcox claiming that pro-immigrant groups are attacking migrants to discredit his people. Oh, and the media is just too tough on poor Simcox too. All of those puff pieces on the tee vee and copious column inches where he expresses his views are just so hard on the guy.
The best was Donna Neill, head of NAILEM. NAILEM used to be a confederation of Phoenix neighborhood associations concerned about the same sort of issues that get neighborhood activists exited down here. Now, they have transformed into yet anti-immigrant organization. Great, we need more of those.
Neill, according to folks that were at the hearing, responded to allegations of racism on the part of some of the Minutemen by saying there is no racism in Arizona.
Really, Donna? Oh good, I’m so glad we solved that problem.
6 Comments
February 6th, 2007 at 3:00 pm
Looks like there were a lot of unsubstantiated assertions made that day.
February 6th, 2007 at 3:47 pm
Why did the activists get exited?
February 6th, 2007 at 5:04 pm
That’s too bad,because NAILEM in the past has been a really solid organization who endorsed solid candidates from both parties…
February 6th, 2007 at 9:26 pm
Donna Neill found it difficult to believe that white supremist gangs were really a problem since she’d never encountered any. Mexican gangs are the real problem according to Ms. Neill. Donna has done a lot to help clean up neighborhoods, but she’s really out to lunch on this one.
February 6th, 2007 at 10:50 pm
The only time I’ve seen NAILEM endorsement placards on political signs have been for Republicans– in LD15 (Sinema’s district). So I bet she gave a really impartial opinion.
February 8th, 2007 at 2:36 pm
It is a real problem though that a lot of anglos (and I am an anglo) honestly believe that because there is no longer legal segregation by race or institutional racism, that therefore all racial problems have been solved. I hear it all the time, both in public media (living up in an isolated rural area pretty much if you turn on the radio during the day all you will hear is either Rush on four stations or country music on the other three) and in daily conversations. People think that because anyone is allowed to go to the restroom, there is no racism, and anyone who complains about racism is actually trying to get a break or unfairly get something they didn’t earn and probably victimize white people in the process.
Their view of a ‘racist’ is a cross-burning klansman, and because they don’t see any of those in their neighborhood they consider that there is no racism.
I can see the obvious flaw in their reasoning (it’s the same kind of denial of reality that allows them to justify cutting aid to the indigent), but I’m telling you that this is the way that a lot of(mostly conservative) anglos think, and it’s depressing how ingrained that is. It is a very basic assumption on the part of a lot of anglos and that is the undercurrent I perceive in this kind of statement by Neill and many others.