It's Time to Boycott Arizona

[dreadgeek]

Originally Posted by DomnNC

And there are REALLY people who live in rural areas with NO mode of transportation, no income to take a bus into a city, no income to buy a paper, no income to buy a cheap radio as you say and NO income to barely keep their family afloat and out of starvation. Do you think people who are living on the streets, pulling food out of garbage cans to feed themselves and their kids are going to be focused on what is going on in Arizona or any other state for that matter. They are trying to survive!!. If you think they are NOT those types of situations in the US then you are ignorant to their plight as well!

Firstly, let us take it as read that ANYONE posting here or in any other Internet venue either has access to a public library, an Internet café, or their own computer and Internet access at home (or are using a neighbors). So this argument about people not having access to information falls apart ENTIRELY for anyone posting on the Internet.

Secondly, in 2000 I moved to Oregon and was laid off a just before the end of the year. By mid-2001 I had gone through my severance pay. By early 2002 I was maxed on my credit cards. In 2000 I made about 70K. In 2001, I made about 10K. In 2002, I made the princely sum of 11K. Now, during that time, I kept the following utilities--gas, electricity, phone and Internet. I didn't have cable TV but I kept DSL access because A) I needed to have Internet access to get a job and B) to stay informed and connected to the world.

Thirdly, I'm not talking about people living on the streets. Unless Oregon is extraordinarily blessed with the second or third highest unemployment rate in the state, there are simply NOT enough people living on the streets to explain the phenomenal level of voter ignorance and apathy. Now, it may be that other parts of the country are doing far worse than Oregon is.

Lastly, I wonder how many of these people living in rural areas could tell you about what happened on Dancing with the Stars, or Jersey Shore or some other piece of electronic, televisual confection. I'm not talking about people living on the streets. I'm talking about people who have access to television and/or radio and/or Internet and/or libraries and/or have children in public schools who couldn't name their governor, their senator, or any other elected official. I'm talking about people with access to ALL of those who couldn't name three Supreme Court Justices if their lives depended upon it. I'm talking about people who couldn't name three freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States but will jump up and lead a chant of USA! USA! USA! and tell you that the United States is number one in everything that a nation could want to be tops in at the drop of a hat. I'm talking about people who have jobs, houses, clothes on their backs, bread for their children, a television in every room but not a single damn book in their entire house. I'm talking about people who drive gigantic Chevy and Ford urban assault vehicles (SUVs) with DVD players and fantastic stereos, that get 6 miles per gallon and use that gigantic machine to drive three blocks to pick up a quart of half-and-half.

Did I say that there aren't people in the straits you describe in this country? No. I will say this, though, you're goalpost moving. You're choosing to focus on people who are homeless as if that were such a significant number that it explains the manifest ignorance and voter apathy. Although any reading of my part of this conversation should make it reasonably clear that I'm talking about people who HAVE the means but choose not to avail themselves of it.

Cheers
Aj

[Corkey]

I might make an observation here, homeless people don't vote, they can't they must have an address.

[The_Lady_Snow]

Um I've never slept with my doors and windows unlocked even with loaded fire arms in the house

[dreadgeek]

Originally Posted by Corkey

I might make an observation here, homeless people don't vote, they can't they must have an address.

Corkey:

Thank you! I was thinking that was the case. I know that's the case in Oregon because we are vote-by-mail only so you have to have a place you can receive mail in order to vote.

Cheers
Aj

[DomnNC]

Originally Posted by Corkey

I might make an observation here, homeless people don't vote, they can't they must have an address.

Homeless people can most certainly vote! They use the address of the homeless shelter they are staying at or where they collect their checks if they are getting any!

[Corkey]

Originally Posted by DomnNC

Homeless people can most certainly vote! They use the address of the homeless shelter they are staying at or where they collect their checks!

Real homeless have no access to shelters, and what checks are you talking about, welfare? In most states men don't qualify for welfare. Shelters that I know of have a first come first served and no one stays more than over night. They don't have access to a post office box, and the voters registrars office will not accept a po box as an address. Here we have homeless who in the cold weather have access to a warming shelter that only opens up during extreme cold snaps. The US government will not send ssoc checks to a shelter, no matter who's in it.

[DomnNC]

Originally Posted by Corkey

Real homeless have no access to shelters, and what checks are you talking about, welfare? In most states men don't qualify for welfare. Shelters that I know of have a first come first served and no one stays more than over night. They don't have access to a post office box, and the voters registrars office will not accept a po box as an address. Here we have homeless who in the cold weather have access to a warming shelter that only opens up during extreme cold snaps. The US government will not send ssoc checks to a shelter, no matter who's in it.

That may be true for your state Corkey but in NC one can most certainly use a homeless shelter as an address, maintain their right to vote and to receive correspondance from companies that may be interested in hiring them. Not all states declare the homeless cannot vote, I'm pretty sure there are no laws stipulating as such as because they are still citizens of the USA and have a constitutional right to vote.

Oh, and there are homeless who do receive a state stipend, it just isn't enough to put a roof over their head.

[Corkey]

Originally Posted by DomnNC

That may be true for your state Corkey but in NC one can most certainly use a homeless shelter as an address, maintain their right to vote and to receive correspondance from companies that may be interested in hiring them. Not all states declare the homeless cannot vote, I'm pretty sure there are no laws stipulating as such as because they are still citizens of the USA and have a constitutional right to vote.

Oh, and there are homeless who do receive a state stipend, it just isn't enough to put a roof over their head.

That isn't a shelter it is a halfway house. A shelter is just that a roof over your head for a night, they will not accept correspondance from anyone. Not saying they don't have the right to vote, but in most states one MUST have a address to sign up TO vote. Your state is doing something MOST states don't do. A stipend isn't going to put food in their bellies either. It's just enough to by cigarettes and booze, to keep people homeless.
I also don't appreciate your statements about AJ, I find it rude and you could learn something if you'd read her posts.

[DomnNC]

Originally Posted by Corkey

That isn't a shelter it is a halfway house. A shelter is just that a roof over your head for a night, they will not accept correspondance from anyone. Not saying they don't have the right to vote, but in most states one MUST have a address to sign up TO vote. Your state is doing something MOST states don't do. A stipend isn't going to put food in their bellies either. It's just enough to by cigarettes and booze, to keep people homeless.
I also don't appreciate your statements about AJ, I find it rude and you could learn something if you'd read her posts.

Wow, that was some assumption to make! Just enough to put booze in their belly and buy cigs. That was just downright awful.

[Julie]

Originally Posted by DomnNC

Homeless people can most certainly vote! They use the address of the homeless shelter they are staying at or where they collect their checks if they are getting any!

Actually, this is a fallacy. Homeless people must show they have a permanent mailing address. A homeless shelter is a transient place and often times only used for a few days. Perhaps you are thinking of a Half Way House - Half Way Houses are considered permanent residences.

At least this is how it is in New York.

[The_Lady_Snow]

My frustration comes from the blatant underlined comments that are excused after they are called upon. My frustration comes from asking repeatedly to not have the term illegal thrown out there as well. My frustration comes from the ridiculous excuses for not being up to date when it comes to what is going on in your state. My frustration comes from the colorful adjectives that are chosen to describe my people. ( I bet I would get my ass reamed for using cr%$#@r if refering to a white person)

These arguments get old, but I hang on hoping that when we come in and points the obvious truths out and how they are *affecting* us it is dismissed with accusations of pile ons and *popular cliques*.

I would like for once, maybe once when a white person comes and says something that is not ok, that they listen, and not use that whole deflection of

"but that is not what I said"

"stop picking on me"

"stop pointing me out the light the light it burnsssssssssss"

I would like that A LOT!

Do I think it will happen?

Gosh damn it I hope so.

So when I say Arizona is a racist state, I can, I have family there, I could share some stories (why though they fall on deaf ears) now, do I think every single person is?

No, but the ones who aren't and stay silent and use colorfol racial descriptors well then it's no different than standing by, letting a kid get hit by a car. Why should you help, not your kid, not your car, so *shrug*

[katsarecool]

A friend of mine on FB was at the big protest a few months back a few days after the judge put a hold on SB 1070. She is encouraging everyone to please use the term Undocumented and I agree. She was arrested that day and will be the first one to go on trial. She is such a strong woman!!!! And I am very proud of her.

[Novelafemme]

I will adamantly admit that Arizona is a racist state. I do not live here by choice and would happily move if I could and it really stinks to be "stuck" here. I have a lot of poop in my pants over it.

[QueenofSmirks]

Originally Posted by The_Lady_Snow

...My frustration comes from the ridiculous excuses for not being up to date when it comes to what is going on in your state.

Why are you frustrated about what someone else knows or doesn't know that lives in a state you don't live in? It's their life; they have different priorities than you do. Why does that frustrate you? Do you believe everyone should have the same priorties as yours and think the same way you do and have your same opinions?

Originally Posted by The_Lady_Snow

...So when I say Arizona is a racist state, I can, I have family there, I could share some stories (why though they fall on deaf ears) now, do I think every single person is?

Well, I think that's where some of the miscommunication is then... because when you say "Arizona" is a racist state, you do imply that it is all citizens of Arizona that are racist, as so many others in this thread have also done. By not using the term "most" or "some" or just "voters who voted in Jan Brewer & Co", you do imply "all".

Originally Posted by The_Lady_Snow

...No, but the ones who aren't and stay silent

Ok,sure, but it's been said over and over that some of the posters voted AGAINST, so they weren't "silent", they just weren't part of the majority voters.

Originally Posted by The_Lady_Snow

....and use colorfol racial descriptors ...

I understand you are upset by this and I'm not going to try to argue against that. My mother is Caucasian, my father is Hispanic; maybe that doesn't qualify me to have an opinion, but my Hispanic side wasn't offended by the words "that look", because taken in context, I completely understood what was being said, and it was NOT an attempt to be hateful or discriminatory or racist. The very discussion we are having is about racial profiling which does use a "look" to determine who falls under its grasp.

Originally Posted by The_Lady_Snow

...well then it's no different than standing by, letting a kid get hit by a car. Why should you help, not your kid, not your car, so *shrug*

It absolutely IS different, because this analogy implies that people sat by and didn't vote and let Jan Brewer get into office. That isn't the case for some of the posters in this thread. They DID vote, they didn't however win the majority vote!

[The_Lady_Snow]

Wow

I don't have to live in Az to be affected. I'm affected because I am a daughter ofan illegal"
I am affected because this law targets my people.

So in a thread that is ABOUT a boycott I thought I could express that and I will wether you or anyfucking else like it or not.

Now if you aren't offended by Cody's colorful descriptors goody for you I am so I said it, like keeping it real.

It's really not all that hard to figure out why I reacted the way I did, I'm pretty clear, shrug it off if you'd like, that's on you.

[DomnNC]

And again, I was speaking mainly of the posts that were spewing forth the venom of ignorant voters, lumping people into groups, when NONE of us have any idea of their current circumstances, which I do believe I have said more than once which can't quite seem to seep into some people's brains!

Good for you that you were able to keep your computer and internet access while unemployed, some people can't, for some people that's the first thing that goes because it's NOT a necessity in order to live or to put food on their table, or keep a roof over their kids heads. They can check out classifieds thru their local paper or word of mouth if need be.

Lastly, you don't know me so don't presume to accuse me of anything, goal post moving indeed. I'm just speaking up about people who seem to think they are so much better than others because they have an education and choose to be more politically aware than others. I don't go for blanket statements or putting a group of people down because they don't choose to participate in something. Not everyone is an activist and that's OK. You seem to think that those who don't choose to be an activist are less than you or anyone else who chooses to be so. If you don't think that way then perhaps you should read back over some of your postings because it sure does come off that way.

To be honest, I don't read much of what you say because you interlace so many other things with what you are trying to say, blurring the lines, writing a book and can't seem to get to the point of the matter without losing the audience. Brevity can be your friend.

[The_Lady_Snow]

Oh BTW the whole "more education" thing DNC

I never graduated highschool...

I couldn't I was in the streets.

I did however read ANYTHING I could get my hands on. I learned English in 3 months, and I used my library not only to get warm in but to


EDUCATE myself.

Weird huh?

[DomnNC]

Originally Posted by The_Lady_Snow

Oh BTW the whole "more education" thing DNC

I never graduated highschool...

I couldn't I was in the streets.

I did however read ANYTHING I could get my hands on. I learned English in 3 months, and I used my library not only to get warm in but to


EDUCATE myself.

Weird huh?

Not weird at all Snow, You weren't pontificating and throwing your education around like it's a banner of sorts, using it to put others down.

[The_Lady_Snow]

Originally Posted by DomnNC

Not weird at all Snow, You weren't pontificating and throwing your education around like it's a banner of sorts, using it to put others down.

That's just gross to say about AJ...

Not cool DNC not cool at all

[DomnNC]

Originally Posted by The_Lady_Snow

That's just gross to say about AJ...

Not cool DNC not cool at all

Umm, I didn't say I was talking about anyone in particular and I wasn't, that was your assumption.