The battles raging in Arizona against immigrants are not typical of racist wedge issues we see from far right wing extremists. In most cases the extremists influence the political system, in Arizona the extremists ARE the political system. A shocking number of Arizona law enforcement officials, politicians, and political demagogues have close connections to organizations that believe diversity in American equals the deterioration of America.

While SB 1070 has been a wake up and rally cry, it is only the latest policy in a State that is embroiled in fuming racial divisions and hateful rhetoric towards Latinos.  In fact, Arizona has a controversial history deep in conquest, war, forced assimilation, racism, and extreme conservative politics.

The following is a brief history of Arizona covering mostly the landmark events that have helped to shape the state’s political ideology and current political context.

Arizona Territory History

Arizona is a land that has been inhabited by Indigenous people for tens of thousands of years. Several native nations inhabited, and claimed areas of Arizona long before the existence of the United States, Spain or Mexico. The current state of Arizona is land stolen from Native Americans at the hands of the cruel and genocidal policies of the Nations of Spain, Mexico and the United States.

Spain Invades: The book American Holocaust by David Standard details the cruel and inhumane manner in which the land of Arizona was stolen and the people of those Native Nations were conquered.

The first Europeans to invade this area were led  by the Spanish Franciscan friar Marcos de Niza with the more aggressive Francisco Coronado arriving soon after.  War in defense of their lands and ways by Native Americans discouraged attempts at settlement until 1598. In that year Spain, with no authority to do so, claimed the land known as Arizona as part of New Spain. For 200 years mission work was used to assimilate and pacify the Native population and the padres worked tirelessly to convert the native population. In 1752 the first fortified city was established at Tubuc and a presidio was established in 1775 at Tucson to help protect Spanish interests in the area.

Mexico Invades: In 1821 Mexico had gained independence from Spain and claimed ownership of what is now Arizona. Mexico itself engaged in fierce battles with Native Americans in the area who continued to fight for autonomy and their way of life. By the late 1820′s the Spanish had deserted most of their outposts in the area and Americans began to pour in looking for land.

USA Steals Arizona from Mexico: After the 1848 United States war with Mexico the US stole the northern part of Arizona from Mexico and later ‘bought’ the remainder of current Arizona in the Gadsden Purchase.  In 1852 Arizona became part of the territory of New Mexico In 1861 at Mesilla and at Tucson the Territory declared itself as the Confederate Territory of Arizona and effectively join the Confederacy to help preserve slavery of Blacks only to be defeated by the North.  On December 29, 1863 Arizona was established as a separate territory and part of the United States.

Arizona fights to become a State to preserve Slavery: During the Civil war the South (Confederate) added what it called the “The Territory of Arizona” to fight to preserve slavery. After the Civil War Arizona attempted to become a state in 1891 but was rejected by Congress until Arizona could prove its willingness to suppress its ethnic cultural diversity.  Finally in 1912 Arizona enter the union.

‘Indian Wars’ and the Wild West

Two famous Indian Chiefs Cochise and Geronimo were natives of Arizona and carried on guerilla (small war) warfare within Arizona against the encroaching white settlers until Geronimo surrendered in 1886 ending the Apache Wars. White settlers were given free land by the Federal government to accelerate the war on native peoples. The fierce fighting gave Arizona a reputation as one of the most cruel and outlaw violence in the nation.

Arizona was also home to the Phoenix Indian School, a federal institution designed to assimilate native children into mainstream culture. Children were often enrolled into these schools against the wishes of their parents and families. Attempts to suppress native identities included forcing the children to cut their hair and take on western names.

Brigham Young sent Mormons to Arizona in the mid-to-late 19th century. They stole land and created Mesa, Snowflake, Heber, Safford and other towns. They also settled in the Phoenix Valley (or “Valley of the Sun”), Tempe, Prescott, and other areas.

During the Mexican Revolution from 1910 to 1920, several battles were fought in Mexican towns just across the border from Arizona border settlements. Throughout the revolution, Arizonans were enlisting in one of several armies fighting in Mexico. agreement on US soil between United States and Mexican forces. The battle resulted in an American victory.

Arizona Rounds of Germans, Italians, and Japanese during WWI: Arizona was the site of German and Italian POW or concentration camps during World War II and Japanese US-resident ‘internment-concentration’ camps. Because of wartime fears of Japanese invasion of the west coast, all Japanese residents in western Arizona were required to reside in the war camps. The camps were abolished after World War II. The Phoenix area camp site was purchased after the war by the Maytag family and is the location for the Phoenix Zoo. A Japanese American internment camp was located on Mount Lemmon, just outside of the state’s southeastern city of Tucson. Another POW Camp was located near the Gila River  in eastern Yuma County.

Arizona becomes a favorite retirement spot for older White Americans. Arizona’s population grew tremendously after World War II, in part because of the development of air conditioning, which made the intense summers more comfortable. The 1960s saw the establishment of retirement communities, special age-restricted subdivisions catering exclusively to the needs of senior citizens who wanted to escape the harsh winters of the Midwest and the Northeast. Sun City was one of the first such communities and later Green Valley,  south of Tucson, was another such community and was designed to be a retirement subdivision for Arizona’s teachers.  In addition, Senior citizens who arrive in Arizona each winter and stay only during the winter months are referred to as snowbirds.

Political Shift to the Right: From statehood through the late 1940s, Arizona was primarily dominated by the Democratic Party. After the election of Dwight D. Eiisenhower in 1952 the state has voted consistently Republican in national politics. The Republican Party has since dominated Arizona politics in general. The fast-growing Phoenix and Tucson suburbs became increasingly friendly to Republicans since then. During this time, many “Pinto Democrats,” or conservative Democrats from rural areas, became increasingly willing to support Republicans at the state and national level.

The Goldwater State

In 1960, then US Senator from Arizona Barry Goldwater wrote a book The Conscience of a Conservative which quickly became popular in conservative circles. In 1961, Goldwater told an audience of Atlanta Republicans that “we’re not going to get the negro vote as a block in 1964 and 1968, so we ought to go hunting where the ducks are.” By this statement Goldwater meant the campaign needed to appeal to racist white southern voters who were incensed at the passage of civil rights and the integration of public schools. In 1964 Barry Goldwater’s ran for President largely on the issue of “state’s Rights,” (pretty much against integration).  The Goldwater campaign was a magnet for conservatives.

Goldwater opposed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Goldwater was the first Republican to win plenty of electoral votes of the Deep South states (Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and South Carolina) since Reconstruction. Goldwater’s campaign brought to fruition a prediction by President Johnson that the passage of Civil Rights would turn over the South to Republicans. While Goldwater lost the election he became a magnet for young conservatives and his run for President is largely considered the first mass right wing team building of the “silent majority.” Many of today’s leading conservative political ideas, leaders and activists trace their entrée into politics to the Goldwater campaign. In addition, the Goldwater campaign led the exodus from the Democratic Party of racist, homophobic and xenophobic White Southerners.

Arizona politics are dominated by a longstanding rivalry between its two largest counties, Maricopa County and Pima County–home to Phoenix and Tucson, respectively. The two counties have almost 75 percent of the state’s population and cast almost 80 percent of the state’s vote. They also elect a substantial majority of the state legislature.

Maricopa County is home to almost 60 percent of the state’s population, and most of the state’s elected officials live there. The Sheriff of Maricopa County is the infamous Sheriff Joe Arpaio (See Evil Arpaio page). In contrast, Pima County, home to Tucson, and most of southern Arizona have historically been more Democratic. While.

Arizona Rejects Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday. In 1986 the federal government declared MLK Day as a national holiday; however, states still had this own say in the matter. The holiday failed to make it through the Arizona state legislature, but Governor Bruce Babbitt declared it to be a holiday throughout the state.  One year later, racist Evan Meacham became the governor of the state and rescinded the MLK holiday.

In 1989 The Arizona state legislature again failed passed a proposal for the holiday 1989, with many Whites in Arizona adamantly fighting against the MLK holiday.  In 1989 the Hip Hop group Public Enemy made the classic song regarding Arizona’s shameless refusal to recognize the MLK holiday.

In 1993 the National Football League, under pressure from Civil Rights groups, pulled Arizona from its hosting of the Super Bowl that year. Eventually in 1995, the state finally elected to celebrate MLK Day as a holiday mostly out of fear of further boycotts and its growing reputation as a racist state.

 

The March towards immigrant Hateration

In 2002 under the Bush US Attorney’s office, Kris Kobach wrote a then secret yet damning memo, Inherent Authority (See Link). In that same year President Bush, then Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano and Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio signed first 287(g) program. Soon after Sheriff Evil Arpaio began targeting immigrant street vendors and day laborers for prosecution, arrest, detention and deportation in order to bolster his declining popularity.

In November of 2004 Arizona passed proposition 200 requiring immigrants to show proof of residency when receiving government social services. In 2005 Arizona passes controversial human smuggling law and has its first “Minuto-Man” rally full of skinheads and Nazis.

In 2006 Center For Immigrant Studies published policy paper that became Arpaiotheid’s chief protocol “Enforcement Through Attrition” (See link).  From 2007 to 2010 Arpaio’s Nazi pal Arizona State Senator Russell Pearce worked with Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI), the private prison industry, and FAIR to concoct and pass SB 1070. During the debate a rancher in Arizona was found dead near the border and his death was falsely blamed on immigrants without an iota of proof.

In 2008, Arizona passed Proposition 102, an amendment to the state constitution to define marriage as a union of one man and one woman. In 2010, Arizona passed the toughest SB 1070, igniting a fierce debate between supporters and detractors of the law.

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