SB 1070: Many Shout That Arizona's New Immigration Law Has Awakened a Sleeping Giant Who's Ready to Kick Some Political and Economic Backside

THE RECKONING

Stephen Lemons

Congressman Luis Gutierrez.

A sign from Sunday's protest.

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Filled to overflowing with individuals of all races, Phoenix's First Institutional Baptist Church played host recently to a slew of religious and political leaders gathered to denounce state Senator Russell Pearce's pro-racial profiling bill, SB 1070, signed into law Friday by Governor Jan Brewer.

Present as guest of honor was Illinois Congressman and pro-immigration advocate Luis Gutierrez, who had just finished an impassioned address on the lawn of the state Capitol before a crowd of thousands. Nearby were Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon, state Representative Clovis Campbell, and Maricopa County Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox.

The Reverend Warren H. Stewart Sr. delivered a sermon filled with the distinctive cadences of African-American oratory, punctuated with the occasional "Yes, sir!" from congregants.

I was taken with Stewart's references to civil rights struggles past. He preached that the spirits of Martin Luther King Jr., César Chávez, and Medgar Evers were looking down on us, telling us that there was a fight ahead and to: "Go do what needs to be done."

Stewart praised the nine Hispanic college students who last week had put themselves on the front lines by chaining themselves to the doors of the Capitol building before being arrested for disorderly conduct and shipped off to the Fourth Avenue Jail.

Though the students had been as solemn as statues as they awaited arrest, when authorities placed them in a room to themselves, handcuffed, sitting in anticipation of their getting walked to a black sheriff's bus for transport, they sang "We Shall Overcome," the hymn of the 1960s civil rights movement.

Their willingness to be arrested in battling a law that will make them second-class citizens in Arizona clearly inspired Stewart to remark, "Some of us may have to go to jail before it's all over."

Indeed, the obvious wrongness of a state law that allows local police to use a combination of "race, color, or national origin," in the language of the legislation, to determine "reasonable suspicion" that a person may be in the United States unlawfully has sparked outrage across America.

President Barack Obama has called the law "misguided" and ordered the U.S. Justice Department to "closely monitor the situation and examine the civil rights and other implications of this legislation."

The Reverend Al Sharpton has said that he will bring "freedom walkers" to Arizona to bait cops into asking for their papers, an echo of the freedom riders who tested the desegregation of interstate busing in the 1960s. Sharpton warned that there will be more civil disobedience and has indicated that he's willing to be arrested if need be.

There are also calls for a national boycott, and massive demonstrations are planned for Cinco de Mayo in Arizona and across the nation.

The actions of the Capitol Nine immediately sparked a walkout at many Phoenix-area high schools in sympathy. These students flooded the Capitol, forcing Brewer to sign the bill in a "secure location" near her office.

So when Pastor Stewart concluded his remarks with an ironic note of gratitude toward the architects of SB 1070, I grasped what he meant.

He called upon the Biblical story of Joseph in Genesis. Joseph had been made governor of Egypt, after he'd been sold into slavery by his own brothers. Joseph's brothers worried about revenge.

But according to Stewart, Joseph told them, "Do not be afraid, even though you intended to do harm to me, God intended it for good in order to preserve a great people.'"

Then Stewart thanked the Arizona Legislature for passing the bill and Brewer for signing it.

"You may have intended it to do harm, to thousands of people of color and Latino descent," he preached, "but God intended it for good for his great people.

"Thank you, Arizona, for SB 1070 . . . you have awakened the 21st-century civil rights movement!"

STOPPING ARIZONA

Stewart's words were not empty rhetoric.

At the various demonstrations over the past week, many have repeated the cliché that SB 1070 has awakened the "sleeping giant" of the Hispanic people and their allies.

Arizona Congressman Raul Grijalva has called repeatedly for a boycott of Arizona until the law is overturned. Already, some are heeding his call.

The American Immigration Lawyers Association immediately decided to move its fall 2010 conference to another state after Brewer okayed the bill.

San Francisco's Board of Supervisors is calling for that city to join the boycott. And groups of independent truckers have said they will not ferry goods through the state.

If these moves seem tentative and come from unsurprising quarters, keep in mind that Grijalva only called for the boycott last week. If the effort grows, it will hurt Arizona's economy.

Congressman Gutierrez reminded demonstrators at the Capitol, when he spoke there before attending the church service, that César Chávez's legendary boycott of table grapes started slow before building to a crescendo that eventually forced grape producers to sign union contracts with field hands.

"Do you remember when César Chávez was alone in California working for the agricultural workers?" asked Gutierrez, rhetorically. "He was alone. But then in Arizona they didn't buy grapes anymore. And then in Chicago [and many other cities] — they didn't buy grapes anymore.