Arizona’s controversial immigration law has prompted many threats of boycotts. Now it’s spawned a new form of protest: the girlcott.
Until today, first place in the Arizona boycott stupidity contest was held by the brilliant MENSA minds who decided to boycott AriZona ice tea. “We’ll hit Jan Brewer and her state where it really hurts–in their pocketbooks,” no doubt went their gleeful thinking. What they failed to realize, however, is that the AriZona Bottling Company, producers of the popular ice tea and other savory beverages, is located in Cincinnati, Ohio. For you statistics buffs, Cincinnati Ohio’s Latino population, according to 2000 Census, was 1.3% or 4,230 residents out of a total of over 330,000 in the state contiguous to no foreign border.
Now–in a full court press of absurdity–a Chicago-area high school has decided to take on the AriZona tea boycotters in the political protest stupidity Olympics. This time it’s Highland Park High School and specifically District 113 Assistant Superintendant Suzan Hebson. You can read the play-by-play here and here, but to recap for those just tuning in, on Monday the school canceled the planned December girls varsity basketball tournament trip to Arizona. Hebson says the junket was junked because “it would not be aligned with our beliefs and values.”
This after the young hoopsters won their first Conference title in 26 years. After they spent months selling cookies to raise funds for the trip. I guess in Chicago, that’s just the way the politics crumble.
The story is all over the Windy City airwaves this morning and speculation is running Michael-Jordan rampant. Many believe the school is using the pretext of protecting the girls’ safety to push a political point of view. Frankly, it’s hard to dismiss that opinion. How else to interpret Hebson’s sibylline utterance about the trip not lining up with the school’s “beliefs and values.” Huh?
Not one to leave ill enough alone, Hebson fueled another line of speculation–that some members of the team itself may be illegal aliens–with this “clarification”:
We would want to ensure that all of our students had the opportunity to be included and be safe and be able to enjoy the experience. We wouldn’t necessarily be able to guarantee that.”
Normally you have to go to Delphi to get answers this confusing. We can only pray Hebson doesn’t explain her explanation. Then we really won’t know what’s going on.
It should be noted that Highland Park, a primarily affluent North Shore suburb, is bordered by a few smaller, much less affluent villages with heavy Latino populations, such as Highwood, many of whose members work in Highland Park and the surrounding wealthy North Shore suburbs.
This story is still unfolding. It remains to be seen whether a dramatic three-pointer from outside the key will send the disappointed dribblers to their deserved December date with destiny. As an interested party just a few miles away in the city proper, I’ll return with more information–and a final score–as this Chicago-Arizona political grudge match unfolds.
If the Highland Park Girlcott remains a fait accompli, however, perhaps Hebson and her superiors should consider a road trip to take on the Woodward girls basketball team. For you statistics buffs, that’s the girls team At Woodward High School in Cincinnati Ohio. They can serve AriZona ice tea instead of Gatorade.
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