[Nat]

I live in Texas and would have mixed feelings about a thread aimed at boycotting Texas because I do love my state. But sometimes being on the side of justice is to be at odds with the government and the majority of citizens within one's home state. Texas has passed some terrible laws and is capable of passing a law very similar to this one. Despite my love love love of my state, I would support any measure that would bring a greater level of justice to my home. To me that means staying and fighting injustice as long as my life and livelihood are not at severe risk. I cannot defend Texas when it comes to state-sanctioned racism, xenophobia, religious intolerance, homophobic and transphobic intolerance, the death penalty, the arrest of the homeless, the criminalization of poverty, the lack of services for the mentally ill, the state of the prison system, the revisionist and propaganda-filled history taught in our public schools, the fundamentalist religious beliefs that embrace intolerance, bigotry and violence. I love my state and would be sensitive to a thread criticizing Texas or threatening the economic well-being of this state, but I hold justice as a higher value than state pride. Many people have chosen to leave Arizona rather than be faced with the very real dangers of continuing to live there, but I would encourage anybody who feels privileged enough to stay in the state to really work their hardest toward making it a just, compassionate, neighborly place to live and/or visit rather than putting one's effort into defending the truly indefensible actions of arizona's racist policies.

It's the people who stay who have the most power to use their power as voters, as citizens and as consumers to make Arizona (or any other home state) a place of justice, equality and neighborliness.

"I love America more than any other country in this world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually."

-James Baldwin