To the Editor:
I was raised in Arizona. I went to grade school, high school and college in Arizona. I was a National Park Service ranger in Arizona, and my family is still in Arizona. I know its cities and towns, and I know its people.
Or I thought I did. Over the years since I left Arizona, the people there seem to have changed, as the state has changed.
Arizona initially resisted adopting the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. Armed vigilantes patrol the state’s border with Mexico.
The governor signed legislation allowing local police to demand proof of citizenship of those they stop. Arizona has been a leader in the movement to repeal the “birthright citizenship” provision of the 14th Amendment.
And the Tea Party-backed Republican candidate against Representative Gabrielle Giffords ran campaign ads showing him with an assault rifle and invited voters to join him in target practice. Many did so.
Arizonans love their guns, which are easy to buy. I often ate at a Phoenix restaurant where all the waitresses wore guns, real guns, strapped to their waists as they served you.
Like everyone, I was appalled by the tragedy in Tucson. But guns are everywhere in Arizona. Even the federal judge who was killed and Ms. Giffords owned guns.
And, as the sheriff of Pima County said in his news conference, Arizona has become “a mecca for prejudice and bigotry.” It is a volatile mix.
And I no longer know the people among whom I was raised.
Eric Leif Davin
Pittsburgh, Jan. 13, 2011
Note from KBJ: If you don't like the way things are done in Arizona, get the hell out of the state.
Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D. 