By the time I get to Arizona
Yesterday, a letter was sent to AZ Governor Jan Brewer stating the City Of Bloomington's opposition to Senate Bill 1070 and stating the city's intent to boycott all businesses headquartered in AZ (pdf attached). It was signed by the Mayor, the City Clerk, and every member of the Bloomington City Council. Except me.
It has quickly turned into a media spectacle. The Bloomington Herald-Times first covered the story (pdf attached), igniting a record-breaking string of comments on their website. This morning, Indianapolis TV station WISH TV came to Bloomington to cover the story. I'm now getting calls and emails from all over the place (both geographically and ideologically). Before I do another interview or respond to another email about it, I thought I'd write a quick post summarizing my thoughts on the whole thing.
As for the bill itself, I'm opposed to it. But who cares? Arizona has a serious issue on their hands, and they need to sort it out. I don't have a vote in the AZ legislature, and I don't fault those who do for trying to crack down on illegal immigration. I don't think the bill was motivated by racism. I do, however, think it will lead to greater racial tension and place additional and unnecessary stress on hispanic relations with law enforcement. Many have pointed out that there is nothing in the Arizona bill that is not already in Federal law. While this is mostly true, the bill attempts to codify very specific police actions and makes the Mexican border look downright secure when compared with the line between state and Federal jurisdiction. Illegal immigration may pose a problem for the state of Arizona, but that doesn't give them authority over it. Immigration is controlled by federal law and needs to be enforced by federal agents, not local cops.
It's a local problem, why shouldn't they solve it locally? Imagine if federal income tax evasion were rampant in the state of Indiana and we decided it was a local problem that we needed to tackle. The analogous response would be to require every local cop to check the IRS records of every person they pulled over for running a stoplight to be sure that they were current on their taxes. Worse, it would put the burden on every person travelling through the state to carry a copy of their tax returns with them in the car in order to avoid being detained and turned over to the feds. Ridiculous? Yes. But this is exactly what the arizona law will do. I dare anyone to convince me that being here without papers is any worse than failing to pay your taxes. Both are non-violent federal crimes.
So, if I'm opposed to the bill, why didn't I sign the letter? Well, for starters, did I mention that I don't live in Arizona? The constant urge to weigh in on matters in other states and matters of federal policy is a poison in local politics. We've got plenty to worry about in Bloomington without trying to solve every other problem in the world. To be fair, we don't try to solve every problem - just the ones that are getting lots of headlines. Worse, the proposed boycott is hypocritical on two levels. First, we are protesting Arizona's ignorance of jurisdictional boundaries by ignoring our own. Sticking our nose in the jurisdiction of other states and levels of government isn't just futile, it's a dangerous trend that will someday threaten our ability to keep our own house in order. How can we ask the feds to stay out of our business when we refuse to stay out of theirs? Second, we are protesting discrimination with...discrimination! I'm certain that many of the business owners in Arizona don't support this bill. Why should we pass judgement on them and threaten their livelihood just because they are located in a state whose legislature we disagree with?
Finally, it's a bluff. Hoosier Disposal, the company that handles 100% of Bloomington's waste stream, is now owned by Republic Services based in Phoenix. If the city finds another way to deal with all of our trash to prove this point, I'll eat my words. But we won't. That is all.
