The New York Times has an op-ed piece today that actually sort of “gets it”. They describe the situation at a location that is only a few blocks away from where I live in Phoenix:
“Want to see America unraveling? Come here, to Thomas Road and 35th Street, to M. D. Pruitt’s furniture store. Come on Saturday morning and stand near the eight delivery trucks barricading the parking lot, like the wall of an urban Alamo.
For the last seven weeks, a sidewalk protest here by Latino immigrants has blossomed into a feverish reality show, attracting Minutemen, mariachis, children dancing in Mexican folk costumes, white racists, United Nations observers, Phoenix police officers and Maricopa County sheriff’s deputies.
The weekly confrontation — strident and stalemated — perfectly mimics the national debate. But it’s a sideshow to something even uglier: what happens when immigration’s complexities are handed to local law enforcers sympathetic to the fury of one side.”
For all I thought I knew about the immigration debate before I moved to Phoenix, I’ve discovered that I had only scratched the surface. Do read the article. It’s quite good.
Read the rest here.
