We have friends in Arizona that we’d love to see. There are places in Arizona we’d love to visit. But while the government of that state continues to pass hateful, mean-spirited, and simply stupid laws, we cannot knowingly spend a penny in that state.
For those who haven’t yet heard, there is now a law in Arizona that says that if a cop doesn’t like the way you look, then he/she can say “your papers, please!”, and if you don’t happen to be carrying your birth certificate or passport, then you will go to jail until you can prove you’re a lawful citizen of this country.
Even though we are not among the “brown people” this law is targeting, let’s look at this more closely. When we were in Vancouver BC, wearing our flashy purple outfits, some people thought we were from Montreal. When we were in Bath, England, someone thought we had Canadian accents. We have a habit of exchanging simple phrases in conversation in a language that is not English. Might it be possible that some rogue cop might be offended by our unconventional look and find “reason for suspicion” that we might not be American citizens?
This new law is offensive to the extreme, so until it is repealed, and those who pass it apologize for this foolishness (or the sane citizens outnumber the insane citizens and vote these fools out of office), Arizona joins Israel and Italy as “no-go” destinations for us.