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Disclaimer: the writer is a friend of mine. -Bill
One month after SB 1070, change seen in Arizona
Randy Parraz will change state's legacy, after he wins Senate race
David Morales Special to TucsonSentinel.com
It was one month ago that Arizona changed.
One month ago, Gov. Jan Brewer signed the draconian bill SB 1070 into law, legalizing racial profiling. One might think that Russell Pearce would be disqualified from writing our state's laws after being forced to resign in scandal as head of the state's MVD. But not in Arizona.
Arizona is one of the most beautiful states in the nation, with the most national parks of any state. We also have the most Native American land set aside for reservations and Navajos, Hopi, Tohono O'odham are just a few of the groups you will find who call Arizona home, in addition to my own people, the Yaquis.
Arizona also has huge, beautiful tracts of land set aside as wilderness areas, with no roads and no plans to build on them. If you want to travel through them, you must leave nothing behind and not alter anything.
It is exactly this beauty the sacred Baboquivari wilderness area, the land of the Tohono O'odham nation that has brought the recent ugliness to our state in the form of racism and xenophobia.
The TO nation does not know the imaginary line in the sand. It extends into Sonora. These are a people who have been migrating across this desert before Christopher Columbus. You really think a 12-foot fence in the middle of the desert is going to stop them?
What has changed?
If you have a large uneducated population, the way you win the people over is through heated propaganda. With a perfect mix of fear, beautiful women, and flashy graphics, the gullible are easily swayed.
http://www.tucsonsentinel.com/opinion/report/052710_parraz_change
