Ever since Gov. Janet Brewer signed the new immigration law into effect in Arizona a firestorm of controversy has erupted. Arizona is no stranger to controversy especially controversy that has racial undertones. It seems they learned absolutely nothing from their refusing to celebrate and honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. And Arizona paid for it dearly in hundreds of millions of dollars in lost tourism revenue due to their insensitivity and being out of touch with today’s world.

I feel I can speak as an authority on this issue in Arizona. I was born and raised in the small hamlet of El Mirage . Arizona has always seemed to have an anti-Latino attitude as far back as I can remember. As a young boy in grade school I can recall vividly white teachers washing out the mouths of young Mexican students with soap for speaking Spanish in class. Yes, you heard me correctly washing out their mouth with soap for speaking their native language!

The only reason I speak Spanish to this day is because my mother was a proud Cuban woman who insisted that I speak both languages properly. Then take the case of the braceros who came to work the fields in the hot Arizona sun for measly wages. They were basically treated as chattel as something less than human. They were seen as beasts of burden to toil at hard manual labor in the fields from sun up to sun down for ruthless gringo overseers of the local farms and ranches throughout Arizona.

So this anti-immigration fervor that has hit recently is not a surprise. I do agree that we need comprehensive immigration reform. This move by Arizona has obviously forced the government’s hand to readdress the issue of immigration in this country. I find it amazing that the governor and all of her supporters are claiming there are no racial profiling provisions in this new law. Now I find that point to be very interesting, how could the authorities not racially profile since this is honestly aim towards Latinos or anyone who looks Latino?

The Valley of the Sun in the Phoenix area has long been hailed the second home of many Canadians who winter in Arizona. In fact you can see the Canadian flag flying at resorts in the posh suburbs of Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, Gilbert, and Tucson etc.  Canadians are welcome in Arizona with open arms and are never asked for their papers or their immigration status. There are quite a few white South Africans that reside in Arizona I doubt that they will be pulled over and asked to produce papers either.