Ok, I have to say something....
I'm making a political-ish post. Feel free to skip over this, and we'll both just pretend it never happened.
So, I live in Arizona and right now saying those 4 words is practically enough to get into a debate with someone, whether I want to or not. "I live in Arizona." "Oh, what do you think about SB1070?" Sigh, here we go again.
What do I think about SB1070? I think it sucks. I think its racial profiling, I think its adding alcohol to fire, and I think it goes against everything that this country was founded on. Of course, I really try to just dogde the questions, because my opinion is super unpopular in Arizona - but here, I'm just going to say my piece. Because I'm read this article tonight - http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2010/07/22/20100722maryvalemural0722.html - and I just can't stay silent any longer.
The mural that the article talks about used to be painted opposite of a high school in West Phoenix. A high school that has long had a reputation for being a "rough school", and is located in an area of Phoenix that is primarily Mexican. The mural was painted several years ago, by students and other members of the community. It displayed portraits of important civil rights ifgures, like Cesar Chavez, MLK Jr, Rosa Parks, etc. It also displayed images of the American flag, the Statue of Liberty and other American icons. It was a very nice mural - it was certainly way nicer than the crappy gang taggings that routinely show up all over Phoenix.
So, shortly after our short-sighted, self-serving Gov. Brewer signs SB1070 into law... some narrow-minded cowardly bigoted person white-washed the whole mural under cover of night. And when the students tried to start over? It was white-washed a second time. WHY?! Honestly, why?! This mural had NOTHING to do with SB1070, other than then fact that it celebrated other races besides "white". It celebrated all races, and it celebrated this country. This country that was founded by the ideal that ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL. Not "all white men" or "all U.S. men" or "all brown men" - its ALL MEN. (And the use of "men" here is not indictive of gender, its indicitive of MANkind. The human race. Collectively, all 6.5 billion of us.)
If you continue reading that article, you'll see that some artists believe that the mural should be repainted now to depict the immigration struggle. They want to paint people in handcuffs being dragged off by the police. They want to paint an AZ state flag with a swastika in the middle. I whole-heartedly disagree with this attitude as well. You cannot combat hate with hate. Its akin to two wrongs don't make a right - in fact, its exactly like that. I also don't think it helps ANYONE to teach children here that the police are their enemies, or that they live in a concentration camp. Honestly, what does that help? Is it helping the kids? Is it educating people about civil rights?
The whole situation infuriates me in one second, and makes me want to sob in the next. What has happened to my state? What has happened to our country? The level of intolerance in our country is horrifying, and it seems to only be getting worse. It absolutely saddens me, and it also scares the crap out of me.
Ok, I'm done. Nothing to see here, move along...
So, I live in Arizona and right now saying those 4 words is practically enough to get into a debate with someone, whether I want to or not. "I live in Arizona." "Oh, what do you think about SB1070?" Sigh, here we go again.
What do I think about SB1070? I think it sucks. I think its racial profiling, I think its adding alcohol to fire, and I think it goes against everything that this country was founded on. Of course, I really try to just dogde the questions, because my opinion is super unpopular in Arizona - but here, I'm just going to say my piece. Because I'm read this article tonight - http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2010/07/22/20100722maryvalemural0722.html - and I just can't stay silent any longer.
The mural that the article talks about used to be painted opposite of a high school in West Phoenix. A high school that has long had a reputation for being a "rough school", and is located in an area of Phoenix that is primarily Mexican. The mural was painted several years ago, by students and other members of the community. It displayed portraits of important civil rights ifgures, like Cesar Chavez, MLK Jr, Rosa Parks, etc. It also displayed images of the American flag, the Statue of Liberty and other American icons. It was a very nice mural - it was certainly way nicer than the crappy gang taggings that routinely show up all over Phoenix.
So, shortly after our short-sighted, self-serving Gov. Brewer signs SB1070 into law... some narrow-minded cowardly bigoted person white-washed the whole mural under cover of night. And when the students tried to start over? It was white-washed a second time. WHY?! Honestly, why?! This mural had NOTHING to do with SB1070, other than then fact that it celebrated other races besides "white". It celebrated all races, and it celebrated this country. This country that was founded by the ideal that ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL. Not "all white men" or "all U.S. men" or "all brown men" - its ALL MEN. (And the use of "men" here is not indictive of gender, its indicitive of MANkind. The human race. Collectively, all 6.5 billion of us.)
If you continue reading that article, you'll see that some artists believe that the mural should be repainted now to depict the immigration struggle. They want to paint people in handcuffs being dragged off by the police. They want to paint an AZ state flag with a swastika in the middle. I whole-heartedly disagree with this attitude as well. You cannot combat hate with hate. Its akin to two wrongs don't make a right - in fact, its exactly like that. I also don't think it helps ANYONE to teach children here that the police are their enemies, or that they live in a concentration camp. Honestly, what does that help? Is it helping the kids? Is it educating people about civil rights?
The whole situation infuriates me in one second, and makes me want to sob in the next. What has happened to my state? What has happened to our country? The level of intolerance in our country is horrifying, and it seems to only be getting worse. It absolutely saddens me, and it also scares the crap out of me.
Ok, I'm done. Nothing to see here, move along...