Arizona's White Supremacy: A New Look for Old Racism

By Brenda Norrell

TUCSON- Arizona's new push for racist laws by the governor and legislators exposes a truth that many want concealed. Not only have white racists taken over control of Arizona lawmaking, but they are now battling to disguise their intentions, and the fact that racism toward people of color thrives in Arizona.

For Indigenous Peoples living in their homelands on the US/Mexico border, the racial profiling is already constant. People of color are already constantly stopped, detained and questioned for no reason by the US Border Patrol and police along the border.

Both the US Border Patrol and police officers along the border act with impunity. They stop, detain and question people without reason. (This even happens to me, a news reporter, when I travel with Tohono O'odham. I am stopped, detained and questioned for no reason.)

The abuse does not stop here. Ofelia Rivas, O'odham human rights activist, has been handcuffed and thrown up against a police vehicle as a Tohono O'odham police officer, a non-Indian, tried to silence her. She has been held at gunpoint by Border Patrol. Other O'odham have been beaten by Border Patrol agents, some in front of their young children.

As for the migrants in the desert, it only takes a look at federal court records in Tucson to see that US Border Patrol agents get away with murder. They shoot and kill people for throwing rocks. They murder people at close range without provocation.

Unless one lives in the border region, and is either a person of color, or spends time with people of color, the truth is not always apparent.

Racism thrives within the US Border Patrol and in police departments along the border, from California to Texas.

The Arizona governor and legislators will not be able to conceal the racism that infests Arizona. Marciopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio is a living symbol of racism in Arizona, a living symbol that injustice and racism flourish in Arizona law enforcement.

The armed patrols stalking migrants in the desert are another dangerous infestation of racism, one of the many hate groups in Arizona.

Racists in Arizona are always looking for laws and rhetoric to avoid the truth, to put a new spin on their quest for power.

But the truth is, the United States was colonized by immigrants, immigrants who murdered entire Indian Nations and kidnapped, tortured and murdered blacks as slaves. The colonizers of the United States carried out a holocaust.

Just as Arizona lawmakers want to put a spin on their racism, the United States conceals the true foundation of its colonization, which was carried out by murderous white immigrants.

Also see: Southern Poverty Law Center: Hate Groups in Arizona:

http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/hate-map#s=AZ