Suspicion of racial origin

Arizona Senate Bill 1070 gives law enforcement officers the right to stop, question, arrest and detain any person they suspect is in the United States illegally. What gives rise to such suspicion? Give the climate and the content in which the law has been passed, it might well be called the "detain suspected Mexicans" legislation. Few of us should get comfortable, though, thinking the legislation targets Mexican Americans and not others. Giving law enforcement the right to stop based on suspicion is a license to harass folks who are "other", and that may include African Americans and other brown people.

It isn't likely that White folks are likely to be stopped, though perhaps they …