If you’re like me, it doesn’t take much more than Jan Brewer’s photo to get the blood boiling these days. Luckily, there’ve been plenty of creative–and often hilarious–responses to the draconian drift of immigration policy circulating the Web. Some of the best and earliest creative responses came from ordinary people who wanted to make a statement. More recently, professional satirists have chimed in with computer generated imagery, video and even old-school political cartoons. Gov. Brewer got in on the act, too. Here’s a sampling of ten of the most notable riffs.
The same week that Arizona governor Jan Brewer signed SB 1070 in to law, Betty White helped “Saturday Night Live” reach its largest TV audience in 18 months with more than 12 million viewers. Referring to Sb 1070 in the “Weekend News Update” segment, Seth Myers said “there’s nothing more nazi than saying ‘show me your papers’ ” (Report begins at the :30 second mark.)
“The Job,” was created by Screaming Frog Productions and spread virally through emails in 2008. Since then, “The Job” has more than 1.3 million views on YouTube and has traveled to more than 140 Festivals around the world. As the economy and immigration debates evolve, so does the meaning of the video.
“Immigration Check Point” flips the script and brings SB 1070 style profiling to Santa Monica, CA. And they’re looking for proof that you have legal status to be on Native American land.
Republicans have also used humor to spread political ideas–through humor, if you can believe that! In this video, paid for by AZ governor Jan Brewer, a green Kermit-look-a-like puppet tells people to read the SB 1070 legislation before they jump to conclusions.
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Stephen Colbert points out that harassing Latinos with racial profiling isn’t an “inevitable side effect of Arizona’s anti-immigration law–it’s the entire point!”
Funny or Die’s “Children’s Guide to Growing Up: Immigration” touches on everything from legalization wait times to the dangers of crossing the border. Unfortunately, it also reinforces some common misconceptions like the idea that undocumented immigrants are stealing jobs from “legal” Americans.