Resistance erupts against racist SB1070

On July 29 the racist, anti-immigrant law SB1070 went into effect in Arizona. On July 28, federal judge Susan Bolton temporarily blocked the worst parts of the law from being implemented. Nonetheless, July 29 was a day filled with nonstop protests and bold actions as people took to the streets to show their outrage at this bigoted attack against immigrants and workers.

Blocking the entrance to Arpaio’s 4th Avenue Jail. Photo: Puente AZ

In the early morning, southbound traffic on Interstate Highway 19, the main road that connects Arizona to Mexico, was shut down by activists who stretched a blockade of tires covered with tar and broken glass across the roadway.

The group of activists, calling themselves Freedom for Arizona, placed a banner reading, “Stop All Militarization! The Border Is Illegal!” across the highway and issued a statement via e-mail that read in part, “We want an end to the militarization of indigenous land, ICE raids, deportations, the attacks on ethnic studies, violence against women and queer people, the expansion of prisons and immigration detention centers, empire, the border wall and the genocide at the Arizona-Sonora border that has claimed the lives of over 153 people during the first 8 months of this fiscal year alone.”

The statement continued, “Today we interrupt the flow of Arizona’s traffic to bring attention to the following points: Abolish all of sb1070 and other anti-migrant laws, Stop all militarization, No National Guard troops on indigenous land, Borders and the Arizona government are illegitimate, No human being is illegal — the economic system is to blame, We want respect and justice for all people.”(www.panleft.net)

On the evening of July 28, activists in downtown Phoenix scaled a 20-story construction crane to unfurl a huge banner condemning both SB1070 and the 287(g) program, which allows local police to enforce immigration law. This action tied up traffic in downtown Phoenix for over two hours. Shortly after this action, another group chained themselves to the main entrance of the Maricopa County 4th Avenue Jail, blocking access in and out of the facility. This is the location where Nazi-like Sheriff Joe Arpaio dispatches his deputies on their so-called “crime sweeps,” which are really racist roundups of people of color. Arpaio had bragged that he would carry out sweeps on July 29, saying that not even a federal judge could stop him, referring to the injunction issued against some portions of SB1070. But, having his jail blocked by activists forced him to change his plans and cancel his scheduled raid.

Disruptions of this type continued throughout the day in both Tucson and Phoenix, with activists dropping banners in strategic locations, occupying intersections and challenging police. Dozens of activists in both cities were arrested for their actions against SB1070. In Tucson, at Congress and Granada, where protests against SB1070 had been building each Friday for the past month, close to 500 people filled the intersection for most of the day, forcing traffic to be rerouted. At rush hour, activists blocked the streets with banners that read, “We Will Not Comply!” and “Stop All Racist Laws!” until police in riot gear forcibly removed them. Even after police gave an order to disperse, people remained in the downtown area, regrouping to continue chanting and protesting.

The struggle will not stop

In Phoenix, police and sheriff’s deputies became more aggressive as actions continued. At an afternoon demonstration targeting Arpaio, two legal observers were snatched from the crowd by sheriff’s deputies. One of the legal observers arrested was Sunita Patel of the Center for Constitutional Rights. Witnesses say she was deliberately targeted for arrest as she was taking down the names of those being arrested. In a statement released by the CCR, Center Director Bill Quigley said, “Arresting a young woman of color who is there as an attorney observer demonstrates how irresponsible and un-American the Arizona action is. I fear Arizona is starting to act like Mississippi in the civil rights days.”

On June 30, activists from the Puente Movement in Phoenix blocked another of Arpaio’s neighborhood sweeps at a Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office command post near the Lower Buckeye Jail. The 11 activists were arrested by MCSO deputies as they blocked the driveway to the command center. Then the deputies went across the street into a parking lot and arrested, without any cause, Salvador Reza, a leader of Puente, as he was getting into his car. Reza was held overnight at the Fourth Avenue Jail and released in the early morning, when the judge found that there was no probable cause for his arrest.

The protests and disruptive actions taken by activists in Arizona on the first day of SB1070’s implementation are indicative of a new, more militant fighting spirit that has emerged here. The intense outrage that was unleashed by the signing of this racist law has galvanized people and propelled the movement forward. People are finding ways to disrupt business as usual for the state and they are willing to stand up to the cops and go to jail if necessary to stop this racist law and its counterparts in the 287(g) and Secure Communities programs.

The first day of SB1070 was also the first day of the militant fightback by the progressive, anti-racist forces in Arizona. The Boycott Arizona! Campaign is still in effect, and is taking its toll on the state’s big hotels and convention businesses. Activists are energized by the events of July 29 and are planning their next actions in this struggle to roll back the racist onslaught unleashed in Arizona, broadening their perspective to include not only SB1070, but 287(g), Secure Communities, and border militarization.