It will surprise and perhaps offend some of my dear progressive and Latino friends and social media acquaintances, but I’m not boycotting Arizona. The reasons are simple and I think valid. I live here. This is where I work and where my children are/were raised. I’m a businessman and my livelihood depends on the people and businesses around me. People of all races and ethnic backgrounds, republicans and Democrats, Christians or Muslim or non-of-the-above. I feel compassion for my Latino community. A boycott is an easy thing to say and even join, if you live in L.A. But here at home boycotts have other consequences. By depressing the very business that us local Latinos own, use and need you are allowing a collateral damage of politics to adversely affect the very community you claim to want to help.
You say you want to boycott a baseball game? You think that’s going to deter the likes of Russell Pearce or Jan Brewer? You know how many Latinos work for and around and are indirectly affected by your political choice? Many.
You say you want Los Lobos to boycott playing a venue in Arizona? Do you seriously think the people that enjoy their music are the one’s creating and supporting these thug immigration laws? Again, we the Latino community are the infrastructure of labor in this state. We clean, cook, drive, manufacture, harvest, cure, legislate, design, perform, mentor, and yes we even own businesses in the very community you threaten with rejection.
We don’t need you to stay away. We need you to come here. If you are a Latino, we want you to proudly show your brown skin here, right here. By staying away from Arizona you hand a victory to the bigots that want us gone. I’m not leaving, if I’m the last brown face left.
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