When I tell people that my upbringing in Tucson was rarely marred by anti-black racism, many don't believe me. How could a city so white, in a state that makes headlines monthly for its extreme conservatism, not also be an inhospitable place for black families? I attribute this not to the fact that Tucson was ever a haven of equality, of course, but to the fact that racism is about power arrangements, and the lack of black residents made it clear that we were not a threat to the city's status quo. Instead, it seemed as if most of the white people with whom I interacted reserved their racial animosity for Tucson's large population of Latinos, like when a high school teacher I had always respected allegedly told a friend that his job as a restaurant dishwasher was one better suited for "wetbacks."
Cord Jefferson, at Tuscon Weekly