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Arizona Senate Judiciary Committee and the "Día de los Niños"
Phoenix, Arizona. The lawn of the old Arizona State Capitol building
in downtown Phoenix is frequently visited by children on school field
trips to learn about the state’s history.
On February 7, as Arizona senators gathered to attempt to rewrite
history by proposing changes to the 14th Amendment of the United
States Constitution, another group of children showed up to make
their own historical mark.
The children were brought to the State Senate building by parents
and organizers opposing the proposed changes that would deny
citizenship to children of undocumented immigrants.
These children who came not as visitors but as activists made perfect
sense in a Senate session where the main topic was about children,
children not born yet, who will not be automatic Unites States
citizens if politicians succeed in revising the long-standing text of the
14th Amendment.
Inside the Senate chamber were the serious, stiffed and somewhat
unease senators –seven men and a woman: Driggs, Murphy, Biggs,
Gallardo, Gould, McComish, Yarbrough, and Sinema. Before them, the
activist children did what they do best: they laughed, played, and
drew on papers. Some got really bored, to the point of falling sleep.
By children innocently and inadvertently doing this, the respectable
senators who were more interested in hearing professor John
Eastman’s long and redundant explanation of what citizenship
supposedly really means, received a practical example of what’s
behind their laws: human beings.
Children like Heidi Portugal, Mateo Perea, and Katherine Figueroa,
who not only showed up but also testified before the committee.
Months ago they did the same thing before U.S. Congress.
Other anonymous children who, unaware of the intricacy of the
proceedings and legal terminology, made their point well by merely
being there, putting little human faces to a tangled web of
grownups’ laws.
Even those who fell asleep made a fitting point as they reminded us
of the dreams of millions of European immigrants who came to this
continent with hopes of a better life. They undoubtedly envisioned
their offspring becoming doctors, scientists and even senators. This
is the real promise of America, whether the last name of a new
American citizen is Gould, Murphy, Biggs, Portugal, Perea or Figueroa.
in downtown Phoenix is frequently visited by children on school field
trips to learn about the state’s history.
On February 7, as Arizona senators gathered to attempt to rewrite
history by proposing changes to the 14th Amendment of the United
States Constitution, another group of children showed up to make
their own historical mark.
The children were brought to the State Senate building by parents
and organizers opposing the proposed changes that would deny
citizenship to children of undocumented immigrants.
These children who came not as visitors but as activists made perfect
sense in a Senate session where the main topic was about children,
children not born yet, who will not be automatic Unites States
citizens if politicians succeed in revising the long-standing text of the
14th Amendment.
Inside the Senate chamber were the serious, stiffed and somewhat
unease senators –seven men and a woman: Driggs, Murphy, Biggs,
Gallardo, Gould, McComish, Yarbrough, and Sinema. Before them, the
activist children did what they do best: they laughed, played, and
drew on papers. Some got really bored, to the point of falling sleep.
By children innocently and inadvertently doing this, the respectable
senators who were more interested in hearing professor John
Eastman’s long and redundant explanation of what citizenship
supposedly really means, received a practical example of what’s
behind their laws: human beings.
Children like Heidi Portugal, Mateo Perea, and Katherine Figueroa,
who not only showed up but also testified before the committee.
Months ago they did the same thing before U.S. Congress.
Other anonymous children who, unaware of the intricacy of the
proceedings and legal terminology, made their point well by merely
being there, putting little human faces to a tangled web of
grownups’ laws.
Even those who fell asleep made a fitting point as they reminded us
of the dreams of millions of European immigrants who came to this
continent with hopes of a better life. They undoubtedly envisioned
their offspring becoming doctors, scientists and even senators. This
is the real promise of America, whether the last name of a new
American citizen is Gould, Murphy, Biggs, Portugal, Perea or Figueroa.
By Eduardo Barraza February 8, 2011
This little girl fell asleep in the
Arizona Senate chamber where the
Committee on the Judiciary held the
debate about the 14th Amendment.
View a photo gallery
Photo by Eduardo Barraza | Barriozona
Arizona Senate chamber where the
Committee on the Judiciary held the
debate about the 14th Amendment.
View a photo gallery
Photo by Eduardo Barraza | Barriozona
Published by the Hispanic Institute of Social Issues in Phoenix, Arizona
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Eduardo Barraza is a journalist and writer,
Barriozona Magazine's editor, and director of
the Hispanic Insitute of Social Issues.
E-mail: editor@barriozona.com
Barriozona Magazine's editor, and director of
the Hispanic Insitute of Social Issues.
E-mail: editor@barriozona.com
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