“Estado de vergüenza” (State of shame)…
SB 1070 authorized local law enforcement to stop and arrest people who “looked” like foreigners.
The song “Estado de vergüenza” (State of shame) by Los Cenzontles focuses on SB 1070, Arizona’s racist “Show me your papers” law that was enacted in 2010 by Arizona’s Republican legislature. SB 1070 authorized local law enforcement to stop and arrest people who “looked” like foreigners. The song laments that Arizona will be known for its shameful actions against immigrants – primarily people of Mexican descent – rather than for its beauty and many other positive features. A federal judge struck down the major aspects of SB 1070, and it was never fully implemented.
[Below is a link to the song (with English subtitles) “Estado de vergüenza.”]
Today, in 2024, a 160-year-old law that targets women and those who provide healthcare to women regarding abortion is bringing shame to Arizona after Arizona’s Republican-led Supreme Court upheld it as being valid.
That law, ARS 13-3603, holds that anyone who provides, supplies or administers to a pregnant woman any medicine, drugs or substance, or employs any procure or instrument, that will result in the miscarriage of such woman shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for not less than two years nor more than five years.
ARS 13-3603 is a total abortion ban, with no provision for rape or incest victims. Per ARS 13-3603, a pre-teen who gets pregnant as a result of rape or incest must carry the pregnancy to term.
Contrary to what is being reported…
Then-President Lincoln appointed Howell as a Judge and tasked him with writing the code that would enshrine Arizona as a territory.
Journalists and pundits keep reporting, or at least implying, that ARS 13-3603 was passed by an Arizona legislature. This is not true. ARS 13-3603 is the product of a single man, William Howell, a New Yorker, who came to Arizona by way of Michigan. Some background:
Arizona separated from New Mexico in 1863 and became a Territory in its own right. In 1862, in anticipation of Arizona separating from New Mexico, then-President Lincoln appointed Howell as a Judge and tasked him with writing the code that would enshrine Arizona as a territory. In actuality, historians report that Howell did not write a code at all. What he did was copy the laws of New York and other states, particularly Arizona’s next-door neighbor California. During that process, ARS 13-3603 was copied virtually verbatim from California’s code.
Then there’s the racial aspect…
Historians also note that there was a racial dimension to ARS 13-3603. In the western territories Mexicans and Indigenous peoples (aka Native Americans) were reproducing at normal rates but the white birth rate all over the country, including in the western territories, was declining. The political establishment in the western territories didn’t much care if Mexicans and Indigenous peoples had abortions, but because they wanted the white birth rate to increase, they did not want white women to have abortions. The quick and easy solution was to outlaw abortions.
Howell was in Arizona for just a couple of years. His wife in Michigan fell gravely ill and Howell went home to be at her side. He never returned.
So here we are, in 2024, with Arizona women and health providers bearing the burden of the legacy of a New Yorker sojourner.
SB 1070 and ARS 13-3603 are not anomalies…
Indigenous peoples (aka Native Americans) were not allowed to vote in Arizona until 1948, when the Arizona Supreme Court overturned a ban on Indian voting.
Sadly, SB 1070 and ARS 13-3603 are not unique. Arizona has a history of shameful actions Here’s a sampling:
* During the Civil War, the Arizona Territory (this was before Arizona achieved statehood) was part of the traitorous Confederate States of America (a.k.a. “the Confederacy”) which seceded from the United States and sought to maintain the practice of slavery.
* In 1865, the Arizona Territorial legislature (for lack of a better term) passed a broad miscegenation law outlawing the marriage of a person of Caucasian blood with a Negro, Mongolian, Malay or Hindu. Miscegenation laws were interpreted to include Chinese, Japanese, and Indigenous peoples (aka Native Americans) as non-white. A key aspect of the law was that residents of Arizona could not get around the miscegenation law by going to another state or country for solemnization of the marriage. This miscegenation law was in effect in Arizona until 1959.
* In 1878, the Arizona Territorial legislature passed a law that restricted Chinese immigrants from being able to work in the copper mines. And in 1901, when the Arizona Territorial folks realized that Chinese people are not Mongolians, they passed a law that prohibited Chinese men from marrying Anglo, i.e., white, women.
* Indigenous peoples (aka Native Americans) were not allowed to vote in Arizona until 1948, when the Arizona Supreme Court overturned a ban on Indian voting. But Arizona continued to exclude Indigenous peoples from voting by means of virtually-impossible-to-pass English literacy tests. These tests were not outlawed until 1970.
* In 1986 the Arizona legislature voted to not implement the federal law establishing Martin Luther King, Jr. Day as a national holiday. (Democratic) Governor Bruce Babbitt, per executive order, established a MLK paid holiday. In 1987, Babbitt’s successor, (Republican) Evan Mecham canceled the MLK holiday and Arizonans voted down two MLK Holiday referenda. Black entertainers canceled Arizona concerts, organizations canceled Arizona conventions, and the NFL moved the Super Bowl from Tempe, Arizona to Pasadena, California. Arizona lost an estimated $500 million as a result. Arizona finally implemented a MLK Day in 1993, the last state in the U.S. to do so.
In 1987, Republican Governor Evan Mecham canceled the MLK holiday and Arizonans voted down two MLK Holiday referenda.
* In 2012, two years after the passage of SB 1070Arizona’s “Show me your papers” law described above, the Arizona legislature passed HB 2281, which criminalized the teaching of Mexican American history and literature on the basis that such history/literature promote “the overthrow of the U.S. government, resentment toward a race or class or people, or ethnic solidarity.” A federal judge struck down HB 2281 on the basis that it was racially motivated and unconstitutional,
But let me be clear…
Lest we get mired in negativity, it’s imperative to note that there are many positive aspects regarding my native state. I’ve written of these before and surely will do so in the future.
These positive aspects blunt somewhat the tristeza (sadness) and the coraje (anger) occasioned by the shameful acts described herein and others not mentioned. We who are the targets of these shameful actions are strong and hearty people. We fight back, and we win. As a rule, things don’t change due to the benevolence of politicians. They change because people-powered movements develop around issues and due to the pressure these movements exert on the powers-that-be or other actions, such as lawsuits, these movements generate. And these movements mobilize voters to elect people-friendly officials.
In that regard, a movement to do away with ARS 13-3603 has developed. A proposition that will codify abortion rights in the Arizona constitution – and that will nullify ARS 13-3603 – will be on the ballot in November. I have no doubt it will pass, as similar abortion-rights propositions have passed in other states. c/s
Here’s the link to “Estado de vergüenza”:
Los Cenzontles – Estado de Verguenza (youtube.com)
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