A Student Favorite

Over the summer, the topic of SB 1070 arose in my rhetorical analysis course because of our geographic context, the student population and the numerous discourses that frame both sides of the issue.
When it came to the issue of 'how do you tell who's illegal' without racial profiling, this Daily Show clip seemed to be an effective point of departure. Many of the white collar New Yorkers in the clip demonstrate the logistical issues related to proving citizenship. The humor of course derives from the fact that none of these people of privilege would ever really experience the legitimacy of their citizenship.
The Anthropologist DeGenova at Columbia makes an important point about the issue of immigration when he says that we need to pay attention to how legality is addressed because it shows us the uncertain state of our own citizenship and rights.

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It's Not Racial Profiling

Save the Earth, Ban NASCAR
Aristotle teaches us that there are only a certain number of themes/topics that come up and that the ways that these topics are debated can be identified when we're aware of the rhetorical strategy. It wasn't very long ago that immigration wasn't the issue in the Arizona spotlight, but the economy grew worse with the house-crash, so Republican politicians scurried to blame someone other than the deregulation loving 'libertarians' who targeted minorities with their toxic home loans.

So, Arizona got behind SB 1070 because Republicans know they can get re-elected when they come out against Mexicans, Mexican Americans and undocumented migrant laborers.

Entonces, I propose we change the topic. Instead of focusing on "illegal immigration," how about we focus on the pressing environmental of our nation's dependency on oil. While British Petrol has come up with very few solutions other than to put an American face on the publicity campaign, President Obama advised that we think about alternatives. What might happen if the state were to outlaw all recreational and entertainment forms of transportation?

Call the Bill: BP 10W-30
NASCAR, motor-cross, dune-buggying, ATVs, power boating, funny cars, Formula One--they could be taken off roads, tracks, trails and rivers to stem the excess burning of fossil fuel.(A cropped photo of my brother, one of the few Mexican Americans negatively impacted by banning NASCAR)

Take the gas guzzlers from the Indianapolis 500, turn Talladega into a scrapyard, drop bundles of Kawasaki motorcycles into the BP oil spill--Cap it up with a giant ball of metal forged from the carcass of Dale Jr. and Kurt Bush's chassis.

(apparently from fireball22.com website)

The a historical/cultural link to the Anglo-Saxon smugglers, whose tradition was carried on by Appalachian moonshiners informally racing for bragging rights, might be reexamined in a move to show how this law targets a particular group. "A Brief History of Nascar: From Moonshine to Dale Earnhardt Jr" Arguments about 'what part of illegal don't you understand' might be rethought for the bias for the privilege the refrain protects.

Or maybe more viable forms of energy will be released to the public? But that's like hoping that immigration reform might actually come about from arresting hard-working undocumented people.