¡Alto Arizona!

After Discovery of 1,100 Year Old Mayan Site, State of Georgia to Rescind Anti-Immigrant Bill

"This is a little embarrassing to admit," began Governor Deal at an official press briefing. "it turns out, contrary to popular belief, the state of Georgia was not founded in 1732. It has been around much longer than that."

COMMUNITY INDICTMENT AGAINST MARICOPA COUNTY SHERIFF JOE ARPAIO (Et Al)

Source: Comites del Defensa del Barrio (http://cdb-tonatierra.blogspot.com)

FOR VIOLATION OF CIVIL AND HUMAN RIGHTS OF CITIZENS AND NON-CITIZENS PROTECTED BY THE
US CONSTITUTION, THE UNITED NATIONS
UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
AND THE
UN DECLARATION ON THE RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES

TO WIT:

18 U.S.C.  § 241

 Section 241: Conspiracy against rights

If two or more persons conspire to injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any person in any State, Territory, Commonwealth, Possession, or District in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him by the Constitution or laws of the United States, or because of his having so exercised the same; or If two or more persons go in disguise on the highway, or on the premises of another, with intent to prevent or hinder his free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege so secured - They shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and if death results from the acts committed in violation of this section or if such acts include kidnapping or an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse or an attempt to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill, they shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for any term of years or for life, or both, or may be sentenced to death. 

18 U.S.C.  § 242 

Section 242: Deprivation of rights under color of law

Whoever, under color of any law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or custom, willfully subjects any person in any State, Territory, Commonwealth, Possession, or District to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured or protected by the Constitution or laws of the United States, or to different punishments, pains, or penalties, on account of such person being an alien, or by reason of his color, or race, than are prescribed for the punishment of citizens, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both; and if bodily injury results from the acts committed in violation of this section or if such acts include the use, attempted use, or threatened use of a dangerous weapon, explosives, or fire, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and if death results from the acts committed in violation of this section or if such acts include kidnapping or an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill, shall be fined under this title, or imprisoned for any term of years or for life, or both, or may be sentenced to death.

We, the Peoples: ENDGAME and Arpaio

Source: Tonatierra (http://tonatierra.org)

OPERATION ENDGAME
Office of Detention and Removal Strategic Plan
2003-2012
Detention and Removal Strategy for a Secure Homeland
Policy of the Obama Administration
Immigration, Customs, and Enforcement Department (ICE)

Editorial
Tupac Enrique Acosta

We, the Peoples: ENDGAME and Arpaio

The issue is public health and safety, and the responsibilities we share collectively in society to support the enforcement of public health and public safety policies that protect us all.  We are ALL members of the PUBLIC, whether we possess or do not possess status as citizens or nationals within the REPUBLICS of the NAFTA regime (Canada-US-Mexico). The status of citizenship is a separate issue.

The rights of possession of status before the state are distinct from the exercise of responsibilities and Human Rights that are inherent to all Peoples equally anywhere in the world.  The issue of status in terms of citizenship and nationality among the countries currently enjoying international recognition within the UN system and the Organization of American States in North America is relevant in the discussion, formation, and implementation of public health and public safety policy, but it is a separate and distinct issue.  This is common sense.

It is common sense to stop at the red light of a traffic intersection.  It could be said that this is the common law of public policy planetarily when it comes to the design and enforcement of public safety policies regarding vehicular traffic on public roadways anywhere in the world.  It is a global standard of public safety and responsibility.

ALEC Arizona: Community Demand for Transparency and Accountability

Los Comités en Defensa del Barrio
LA HUELGA DEL PUEBLO
Boycott Commission

Press Advisory
For Immediate Release
Date: Monday, 2011
Contacts: Raul Cordero (602) 488-9731; Anayanse Garza (602) 487-0186; Tupac Enrique Acosta (602) 466-8367

ALEC Arizona:
Community Demand for Transparency and Accountability

Phoenix, AZ - Following in the wake of recent revelations by the Center for Media and Democracy that have exposed the immoral collusion between private prison industry lobby groups with ties to the American Legislative Council (ALEC) and state legislators across the country, the Boycott Commission of Los Comités en Defensa del Barrio today have requested that all current Arizona state legislators be immediately forthcoming in making public their association, participation, or membership in the ALEC consortium.  A deadline of July 29, 2011 has been extended to all elected state official to address and respond publicly regarding their ties with ALEC.

The date of July 29, 2011 coincides with the anniversary of the date when AZ SB1070 was to be implemented, a piece of legislation which was crafted in the bowels ALEC and then imported into the Arizona State legislature by AZ Senate President Russell Pearce.  The call today by the Boycott Commission of the CDB is for transparency and accountability for the economic interests that have been profiteering through contracts with the private prison industry in cahoots with law enforcement personalities across the state.

VIDEO: Indigenous Border Solidarity to End Militarization

Censored News

Watch video of Indigenous protesting the militarization of Indigenous lands at the border. Begins with an interview with Klee Benally, Navajo, as Border Patrol lockdown protesters went to court in Tucson. Ofelia Rivas, O'odham, speaks on the abuses at the border on O'odham land.

Watch video:

 

(Source: http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com )

Yaqui traditional healers verbally abused in southern Arizona

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

From Jose Matus, Yaqui, director, Indigenous Alliance without Borders

RED ALERT! - Yaqui Traditional Healers from Rio Yaqui Sonora, Mexico and Pascua Yaqui Staff were verbally abused and mistreated in a rrestaurant in Tumacacori, Arizona.

I am sharing this unfortunate incident with all of you to make you aware of the mistreatment of our Yaqui Women in Tumacacori. I will be meeting with the staff person that reported this incident to the Alianza Indigena to further document and take action action against this establishment.

Be aware you people of Color don't eat in Tumacacori!

Jose R. Matus, Alianza Indigena Sin Fronteras

Racial Profiling and Verbal Abuse of our Tribal People in Tumacacori

By Amalia Reyes

Good Afternoon Everyone,

I want to share with you an event that took place yesterday in Tumacacori around 6:00 p.m or so, where our tribal people, three who were from Rio Yaqui were yelled at and called “dumb Mexicans” and “mal educados”, by people who own a Greek restaurant in that small town, across from the Tumacacori National Park.

I had volunteered to drive to pick up our traditional healers from Rio Yaqui who were coming to the reservation for the Traditional Healing program in the Alternative Medicine Department. They were safely picked up at the bus station and we crossed into the U.S. My co-worker and I were tired and wanted a cup of coffee before we began the trip back to the Pascua Pueblo Reservation.

I drove into Tumacacori, hoping to get some coffee and found this restaurant. It said Gyros and it was open, so we stopped. The gentleman who approached me as I got out said that they did have coffee, but “not to go”, hence we went into the restaurant to sit down drink some coffee.

As we entered, we noticed that they seem to stare a little bit extra at us, as we were dressed in our traditional clothing. Two of us went into the restrooms while three of us were getting ready to be seated. The two traditional healers were standing, when the 60 year old woman, who was the waitress told them that they needed to buy something if they wanted to use the restaurant and gave us a harsh look. Our healers do not speak English.

National Caucus of Native American State Legislatures passes resolution against ethnic studies ban

NEWS RELEASE

Arizona State Senate
1700 W. Washington St., Phoenix, AZ 85007

Senator Albert Hale, D-2

June 29, 2010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

National Caucus of Native American State Legislatures passes resolution against ethnic studies ban

STATE CAPITOL, Phoenix –The National Caucus of Native American State Legislatures passed a resolution opposing HB 2281 – Arizona’s new law that prohibits certain ethnic studies in the state’s education system. The resolution, sponsored by Arizona State Senator Albert A. Hale, was adopted unanimously at the Caucus’ annual meeting in Washington, DC last week.

“For all children to be productive members of society, they must learn about all cultures that exist in this country. Learning about other cultures and groups of people teaches tolerance and widens perspectives,” Sen. Hale said. “It is important for Native American and non-Native students to learn not only about the history of the U.S. government, but also the history of tribes.”

Tohono O’odham and Inter Tribal Council pass resolutions opposing #SB1070

By Gale Courey Toensing,
Story Published: Jun 15, 201,
Story Updated: Jun 11, 201

SELLS, Ariz. – The Tohono O’odham Nation and Arizona’s intertribal council have passed resolutions against S.B. 1070 – an anti-immigration state law that has unleashed a storm of protest from opponents who say it is a racist call to discriminate against people of color.

The Tohono O’odham Legislative Council passed a resolution May 19 opposing S.B. 1070 as “discriminatory state legislation” and supporting “lawful measures to repeal or invalidate” it.

Tohono O’odham Chairman Ned Norris Jr. presented the resolution to the Inter Tribal Council of Arizona. On June 4, the council’s 20 members unanimously approved a separate resolution against the law, council Executive Director John Lewis said. Both resolutions will be brought to the National Congress of American Indians at its mid-year meeting June 20 – 23 in Rapid City, S.D., where the congress will be asked to adopt a resolution opposing S.B. 1070.

Indigenous Peoples Take a Stand Against #SB1070

June 15, 2010 by Cloee Cooper

86 years after the Indian Citizenship Act, indigenous communities are challenging the notion of what it is to be a U.S. citizen. In June of 1924 the U.S. Congress passed the Indian Citizenship Act. Controversial for its time, the Act recognized the citizenship of U.S. indigenous people.

Prior to 1924, individuals in the indigenous community were only granted citizenship if they served in the military, denounced tribal affiliations, or assimilated into American society. Those opposed to the 1924 Act wanted indigenous citizenship policies to remain the same however, and in some places inequality persisted. Until 1947 Native Americans did not have the right to vote in Arizona and New Mexico.

Now indigenous communities organize alongside immigrant rights supporters in Arizona to oppose nativist laws.

In an April 24 letter to governor Jan Brewer, Robert Warrior, the Osage president of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association states,

“S.B. 1070 will have tremendous negative impacts on indigenous people on both sides of the border between the United States and Mexico, and it ought to go without saying that some of the people most impacted by this invidious law are descended from peoples who lived in the Sonoran Desert centuries before anyone even thought of the United States. Regardless of proximity or descent, though, the new law is morally wrong and panders to the worst currents in U.S. politics.”

#Indian Country Today - Native Contingent Leads Anti-#SB1070 March

Standing in solidarity with indigenous migrants

By Shadi Rahimi, Today correspondent
Story Published: Jun 4, 2010

PHOENIX – As an estimated 100,000 people marched six miles May 30 to protest Arizona’s new immigration law, they were led by Lakotas, Paiutes, Yavapai-Apache, Tohono O’odham, Akimel O’odham, and other tribal members.

Those in front held a banner that read, “Lakota-Nation: America Was Built With Stolen Land. No Border. No Boundaries.”

Shannon Rivers, an Akimel O’odham who organized the march, said they were marching in solidarity with “brothers and sisters” crossing the borders, and for the right of mobility for indigenous people.  Rivers said Senate Bill 1070 – which would make the failure to carry immigration documents a crime and give the police the power to detain anyone suspected of being in the country without citizenship – is a racist bill that should be repealed.

“We, as indigenous people, have been dealing with immigration since the Spaniards and Europeans came. We need to remind them, they too are immigrants. This is the first of many bills to come in the age of xenophobia and post-9/11 laws.”

A majority of those crossing the border from Central America to the U.S. are indigenous people who have been negatively affected by the North American Free Trade Agreement, Rivers said, and U.S. industries that have displaced them from homelands, extracted their resources, and contaminated traditional means of income and sustenance, such as corn.

CENSORED NEWS: Indigenous and American Indian Studies Scholars Speak Out Against SB 1070, Call for an Economic Boycott of Arizona

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Indigenous and American Indian Studies Scholars Speak Out Against SB 1070, Call for an Economic Boycott of Arizona

Contact: Simon Ortiz (602) 438-9325 Eric Hardy or Mishuana Goeman
Photo: Acoma Pueblo poet, author and scholar Simon Ortiz
Double click on protest poster to enlarge

Indigenous and American Indian Studies Scholars Speak Out Against SB1070, Call for an Economic Boycott of Arizona

Press statement

TUCSON—Indigenous and American Indian studies scholars are condemning Arizona Senate Bill 1070 and related legislation.
“Clearly, and bluntly, the state law is racist and discriminatory against so-called ‘illegal immigrants’ crossing the borders from the South, namely from Mexico,” said Simon Ortiz, a Native American studies professor at Arizona State University, in reference to SB 1070. “Many of the border crossers are Indigenous peoples who are directly affected. Without any doubt, the law is wrong-headed; it targets people who fit a certain profile.”

Indigenous and American Indian Studies scholars say that SB 1070 and the recent passage into law of HB 2281, which bans the teaching of ethnic studies in public schools, are violations of human rights. Scholars from nearly 50 universities and communities have signed a statement calling for an economic boycott of Arizona.

“As Native intellectuals, it is important that we not enable this legislative activity,” said Julia Good Fox, who signed the statement. “I’m disappointed in the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association officers because they have chosen to disregard the boycott. SB 1070 and HB 2281 are dangerous for Indian Country so I hope that Tribal governments and organizations will honor the boycott and put pressure on Arizona to overturn these laws.”

J Kēhaulani Kauanui: First Nations United Statement Against SB 1070

PRESS RELEASE***

Date: April 26, 2010

"While the power of the Europeans has continued, I see the other part of the Ghost Dance prophecy coming true today. So-called 'Hispanics,' with faces that sure look like Indians to me, are returning to repopulate North America. We cannot always speak to each other because we have learned the languages of different colonial powers. But these Indians have as much right to come and go on our land as the geese when they migrate north and south. No one would dare to ask them for their passports and visas as they cross man made borders.

Instead of seeing 'Hispanics' as outsiders who do not belong here, we need to start seeing them as ancestors of the original inhabitants of these lands. They are the living fulfillment of the Ghost Dance prophecy."

-Chief Billy Redwing Tayac, Piscataway Nation

First Nations United, an Indigenous organization largely made up of members of the Red Lake/Ojibwe and Dakota nations, would like to formally express its outrage and disagreement with the SB 1070 ("Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods") Bill passed last week by the state of Arizona. This bill is extremely detrimental to the indigenous communities (including indigenous peoples of Latin American origin), which reside in the state of Arizona as well as those who live throughout the country. The language of the bill states that if there is "reasonable suspicion" that a person is an illegal immigrant, a "reasonable attempt shall be made, when practicable" to check for documents. Such language purposefully promotes the racial profiling of brown-skinned people, and in particular, of people of American indigenous background. As an indigenous organization, which stands for the civil and human rights of indigenous peoples throughout the continent, we are concerned that this bill will promote the unfair and discriminatory arrests, prosecution, and deportation of people of American indigenous descent-not only of those who belong to federally recognized tribes, but also of the hundreds of thousands of indigenous people who have migrated from South/Central America and Mexico to what is now called "the United States." Indigenous peoples across the continent do not recognize the borders established by the settler colonialist state on our lands, and, we do not agree with the malicious and dehumanizing way in which the settler colonialist government wants to enforce them.

As an Indigenous organization, we recognize that indigenous peoples from Latin America have every right to migrate up and down the continent as they please and as they have done through trade and communication routes since time immemorial. The native peoples of the continent should be the ones establishing immigration laws and enforcing them. However, because we were disempowered through genocide and colonization, and because we have consistently treated "foreigners" in a more humane and hospitable way, we respect peoples' rights to migrate. If we did enforce such power, only tribal identifications from throughout the continent (including documentation identifying peoples from Latin American indigenous ancestry) would be recognized as legitimate, and we could very well racially profile people of Caucasian descent as the true and eternal foreigners.