BAMN Statement on Arizona Immigration Ruling

(Second hand) Transcript of interview…

Interview
with Shanta Driver, BAMN National Chair on “Black Radio”. Following the
Supreme court’s decision to strike down key parts of the Arizona Law a
month earlier.  

Interviewer
– The national chairperson of BAMN; By Any Means Necessary [The
coalition to defend affirmative action, integration, immigrant rights
and fight for equality by any means necessary] Shanta Driver (speaking
in Detroit) says the court ruling is a victory for the movement but it
doesn’t mean a new dawn for immigrant rights.

Shanta-
I think the decision was a victory because even with this extremely
conservative supreme court, the excesses that the far right-wing wanted
in immigration reform, just could not stand. The idea of making
virtually every American citizen a deputized member of the I.C.E
(Immigration Custom Enforcement) was not going to stand as well as just
depriving people of their basic human rights to be able to come to this
country and seek employment. I think in those ways it was a victory.

But
I think it would be wrong to assume from the immigration decision and
the health-care decisions that Justice Roberts has had a rebirth as some
type of a moderate. I just think that such things are not true. And if
we are not able to build a movement over the next period of time [then]
we are not going to see the kind of extensive immigration reform that is
really needed to make it possible for people to live in the United
States safely and continue to contribute as they have been doing for
some time now to the economy and growth of a nation.

Interviewer- Well this ruling doesn’t mean that racial profiling isn’t still in full effect in Arizona as elsewhere.

Shanta’s
response- I think that’s true. The racial profiling part is also part
of the federal secure community act, which many many many cities and
communities have been refusing to implement because it allows for the
same thing and in-fact encourages the same thing as the Arizona Law of
local police stopping people and asking for identification. So I think
that trend is certainly still there. At the same time, i think even
those kind of provisions, even if the court didn’t strike them down, in
practice it is going to be very very difficult for other states to adopt
such laws not because there isn’t a great deal of anti-immigrant
sentiment in many other parts of the country but because it’s proved to
be so disastrous to the economy of Arizona, where there is now a very
profound labour shortage. Those draconian laws have meant that many many
many people have left Arizona NOT TO RETURN TO MEXICO, but to go to
other states where they could work and live in much greater safety.   

Interviewer-And BAMN’s position is that what we need is a broad and deep social movement to transform this situation?

Shanta’s
response- I think that’s right. I think what we have seen in the way of
reforms from the Obama administration, in terms of setting
administrative policies that could move in the right direction around
immigration reform has only come about because of concern around winning
the Latino vote and should President Obama get reelected and I think he
will. It’s still gonna take a movement to bring about any extension of
that policy. There won’t be another election in which the administration
feels the need to make concessions or actually try to act on the agenda
the people voted Obama on years ago. People will probably re-elect
Obama, but with a great deal more trepidation this time around.

Interviewer-He got 2/3s of the Hispanic vote the last time and still became the champion deporter of all time.

Shanta’s
response- That’s exactly right. And especially of young people and he’s
been the person prepared to split up families, to carry out measures
that have been very extreme in terms of deportation. I just think that
if there isn’t a new civil rights movement fighting around the questions
of immigrant rights, opposing the new jim crow, opposing permanent
second class status of people without papers there is gonna be no
progress.

This
is a moment in history where capital can cross borders without any-kind
of infringement or limitations in which factories and Jobs can cross
borders with no limitations placed on them. The only people who are
suffering from limitations and being cast as illegal are the people
following those Jobs and following those opportunities. There is
something that is just profoundly unfair about that. And even those
people who call themselves free marketeers they ought to be in favour of
giving labour the same right of travel they have been giving capital.

Interviewer-
In terms of racial profiling in general i remember before 9/11 when
Black folks thought they had won great victories against racial
profiling

Shanta’s
response- One of the things I think we could learn from the immigration
fight is that it affects one it affects all. I think the number of
incidents of racial profiling of black people has gone up in the
aftermath of these laws because it has just kind of meant first; the
right of any racist cop or sheriff to be able to implement whatever
policy they want.

There’s
a big scandal in the state of Alabama, that passed a law very similar
to the Arizona law because the state troopers there pulled over Honda
executives and executives from a German foreign car company and put them
in jail for not having papers on them; they were Asian and Black,
needless to say when they got out of jail they made the decision that
Alabama was not a place they wanted to be building new factories in. I
think that kind of system that would treat people in very very fancy
cars and very very expensive suits who are Black and Asian is just
tantamount to what occurs when these laws are in place.