\u00e2\u20ac\u0153If we are going to have an effect on the anchor baby racket, we need to target the mother. Call it sexist, but that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the way nature made it.
\n–Russell Pearce<\/div>\n
Unfortunately, after the November 2nd election Republicans in Arizona made substantial gains; Republicans are in control of the Executive and Legislative branches of the State Government. Pearce became the President of the Arizona Senate, giving him the power to name committee chairs and create committees. Indeed, among his first actions was to create the Border Security, Federalism and States\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Sovereignty Committee; recall that State Rights were used by Southern states as a ruse to counter the civil rights movement and legislation.<\/p>\n
However, Pearce is also moving toward proposing legislation that will deny citizenship to children of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153illegal\u00e2\u20ac\u009d immigrants born in Arizona. An e-mail Pearce forward to his supporters from an acquaintance expresses his views about Mexican women in clear racist and sexist language: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153If we are going to have an effect on the anchor baby racket, we need to target the mother. Call it sexist, but that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the way nature made it. Men don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t drop anchor babies, illegal alien mothers do.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Pearce is well aware that such law will be challenged on its constitutionality. This is a challenge he wants, as he believes that if the case goes all the way to the Supreme Court he will win. Given the composition of the Supreme Court today with a powerful and extremely conservative majority, a decision reinterpreting the Fourteen Amendment to deny citizenship to children born in the U.S. to undocumented mothers is plausible. From a legal and practical level it is difficult and dangerous to ascertain how we can decide who gets or does not get citizenship. Is it only if the mother is undocumented? What happens if the father is undocumented and the mother a U.S. citizen or \u00e2\u20ac\u0153legal\u00e2\u20ac\u009d immigrant? \u00c2\u00a0 Whenever a society a priori denies citizenship and basic rights to the most vulnerable it creates a group that does not have legal protection (in this case not even citizenship) is readably exploited and dehumanized.<\/p>\n
Undoubtedly, there is a connection between xenophobic nationalism and gender\/racial oppression that objectifies Mexican women\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s bodies and criminalize their children even before they are born. The language used by Pearce is similar to the words used to justify slavery and segregation. \u00c2\u00a0This is the time that Mujeres Activas en Letras y Cambio Social should step up on our activism and fight for our rights as mujeres and not let conservative forces deny our gender and civil rights, and to create an underclass of children with little hope for the future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By C. Alejandra Elenes There should be no doubt that patriarchal and white supremacy and privilege are the ideological underpinnings of anti-immigrant legislation and policy in Arizona. The anti-immigrant climate in Arizona is not new, it is an intrinsic part of its history. Indeed at this historical juncture in the continuum of anti-immigrant legislation SB […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":648,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"mujerestalk.php","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":{"0":"post-660","1":"page","2":"type-page","3":"status-publish","5":"entry","6":"override"},"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":758,"url":"https:\/\/malcs.org\/archive-2017\/summer-institute\/malcs-arizona-state-conference-2010\/","url_meta":{"origin":660,"position":0},"title":"MALCS Arizona State Conference 2010","author":"la Webjefa","date":"August 7, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 About the 2010 Institute, Chair Keta Miranda wrote: As MALCS defended immigrant rights, ethnic studies and domestic partners benefits in Arizona by cancelling our 2010 Institute in league with thousands of voices for justice, at the same time we committed our organization to support the incredible efforts of our\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":648,"url":"https:\/\/malcs.org\/archive-2017\/mujeres-talk\/","url_meta":{"origin":660,"position":1},"title":"MUJERES TALK – orig","author":"la Webjefa","date":"January 16, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Welcome to the new public blog space of MALCS:\u00c2\u00a0Mujeres Talk This site represents our renewed effort to be a space where Chicanas and Latinas can address issues of concern to ourselves and our multiple communities. \u00c2\u00a0Mujeres Talk will be a public space from which we can make our voices heard,\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":901,"url":"https:\/\/malcs.org\/archive-2017\/leadership\/pre-2011-institute-news-from-executive-committee\/","url_meta":{"origin":660,"position":2},"title":"News from Executive Committee (July 2011)","author":"Theresa Delgadillo","date":"December 29, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Dear MALCistas, In the coming weeks before our 2011 Institute, our website will feature a new section \"News from the Exec.\" The MALCS Special Gathering launched an assessment of our organization that would address how we, as a national body, bridge all aspects of our work. The Special Gathering called\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":451,"url":"https:\/\/malcs.org\/archive-2017\/herstory\/arizona-conference-video\/","url_meta":{"origin":660,"position":3},"title":"Arizona Conference","author":"la Webjefa","date":"September 17, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"The Arizona State MALCS Conference was held July 22-24, 2010 in Phoenix. For full details, see the conference website at (https:\/\/malcs.newcollege.asu.edu\/) All videos copyright @2010 Mujeres Activas en Letras y Cambio Social, Berkeley, California Thursday, July 22, 2010 8:30-8:45 am 1- Welcome: Dr. Alejandra Elenes and Dr. Gloria H. Cu\u00c3\u00a1draz,\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":678,"url":"https:\/\/malcs.org\/archive-2017\/mujeres-talk\/y-las-mexicanas-migrantes-%c2%bfcuando\/","url_meta":{"origin":660,"position":4},"title":"Y las mexicanas migrantes, \u00c2\u00bfcu\u00c3\u00a1ndo?","author":"la Webjefa","date":"January 24, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"By Gloria Gonz\u00c3\u00a1lez-L\u00c3\u00b3pez \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Compa\u00c3\u00b1era, tenga cuidado, what you are suggesting has the risk of dividing our immigrant communities and families.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d The above comment is my paraphrase of the concerned voice of a highly committed community activist, a Mexican man I met more than a decade ago as I completed my\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 1 comment","block_context":{"text":"With 1 comment","link":"https:\/\/malcs.org\/archive-2017\/mujeres-talk\/y-las-mexicanas-migrantes-%c2%bfcuando\/#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1619,"url":"https:\/\/malcs.org\/archive-2017\/summer-institute\/2015-si-cfp\/","url_meta":{"origin":660,"position":5},"title":"2015 SI Call for Proposals","author":"la Webjefa","date":"March 23, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"2015 MALCS Summer Institute, University of New Mexico July 29-August 1, 2015 Call for Proposals In honor of the intersectionality of our lives and our whole selves, the 2015 MALCS Summer Institute invites proposals that showcase the work we as activists, artists, community members and scholars create. 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![\"Detail](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/malcs.org\/archive-2017\/images\/mujerestalk\/market508.jpg?w=320&ssl=1\" "\\"Detail")
There should be no doubt that patriarchal and white supremacy and privilege are the ideological underpinnings of anti-immigrant legislation and policy in Arizona. The anti-immigrant climate in Arizona is not new, it is an intrinsic part of its history. Indeed at this historical juncture in the continuum of anti-immigrant legislation SB 1070 is taking center stage and has placed Arizona as the model for anti-immigrant legislation at the national level as other states are introducing similar pieces of legislation. As feminists we should pay attention to the link between public policy, power, nationalism, systemic oppression, and social and gender inequality. Laws such as SB 1070, not only create a hostile environment for Latinas\/os in Arizona but are part of a national narrative of race and gender in the U.S. resulting from demographic changes and fears about the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153browning\u00e2\u20ac\u009d of America. \u00c2\u00a0In this climate, the female brown body is particularly targeted and objectified.<\/p>\n