Reply #15: I think the key is to be very polite to them all and really show our deeeeep concern.

[Hekate]

Concern :evilgrin: Yup. Very concerned. I understand that Visitors' Bureaus don't make law and are not used to having to explain it either, but if they are flooded with questions from concerned people who planning to drive through or stay in Amazing Arizona, then it stands to reason they will be letting the legislature know about it.

Hispanics/Latinos have been on this continent for a very long time, starting with Columbus' voyage in 1492 on behalf of the Spanish kingdom. Spanish colonization was different from that of the English: they actively promoted the marriage of their soldiers to native women, hoping to create a loyal population, not a rebellious one. You can't just randomly select brown people in Arizona -- or California, where I live -- and assume they just arrived. Chances are their family settled there long before your own ancestors arrived on the continent.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_colonization_of_the_Americas
>> Beginning with the 1492 arrival of Christopher Columbus, over nearly four centuries the Spanish Empire would expand across: most of present day Central America, the Caribbean islands, and Mexico; much of the rest of North America including the Southwestern, Southern coastal, and California Pacific Coast regions of the United States; and though inactive, with claimed territory in present day British Columbia Canada; and U.S. states of Alaska, Washington, and Oregon; and the western half of South America. <<

I would definitely encourage mass expressions of deep concern to various authorities and agencies in Arizona. Next time my plane has to stop over in Phoenix, should I expect La Migra to pay a visit asking all passengers for their papers? Will my driver's license be enough or should I be carrying my birth certificate? Is a copy good enough or will it need to be the original? Will it be ALL passengers, or will I be exempt because I'm white? Will the authorities be asking "Your papers please" in multiple languages, or only "Acta de nacimiento, por favor."

Hekate