As you all know, the Science Fiction Research Association has planned for several years to hold this year’s annual international conference in Arizona. Conference Coordinator Craig Jacobsen and other members of SFRA have expended a great deal of time and energy towards making this a successful and productive meeting.
There have been questions and concerns from SFRA members regarding our 2010 meeting, because it will be held in Arizona where Governor Jan Brewer signed into law SB 1070, “Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act,” on April 23, 2010. This law requires any person upon request by a law enforcement officer to prove their legal residence in the United States. Barring legal challenges, the law is scheduled to go into effect by August. Therefore, SFRA conference attendees will not be required as a result of this law to carry proper identification and documentation at the time of the conference in June.
A number of cities, states, businesses, and individuals have called for an economic boycott of Arizona as a result of this new law. However, it is the opinion of the SFRA Executive Committee that we should move forward with our meeting in Arizona. It is our unanimous belief that this law is wrong, because it encourages racial profiling and harassment, and it erodes one’s right against unreasonable questioning when not suspected of committing a crime. However, we are also of the opinion that we, as scholars, researchers, and teachers, can turn this deplorable situation into something worthwhile for our organization and the outreach of its members.
The SFRA Executive Committee does not believe that our organization’s boycotting Arizona will achieve as much good as our continuing to hold the conference as planned. We hold our annual international conference in a different location each year for the purposes of catering to the geographical and academic affiliations of our members, engaging diverse localities, and having those places leave an indelible mark on each conference that makes each specific to a geographic and cultural context. Additionally, we are economically tied to Arizona due to expenses already incurred and our financial responsibility to the hosting resort. We feel that it would be more productive, both economically and scholastically, to seize this opportunity to engage and discuss these issues on the ground in Arizona.
It is with discussion and action in mind that the Executive Committee has decided to hold a roundtable discussion at SFRA 2010 about SB 1070. Instead of standing in silence and throwing away all of the hard work that went into planning, developing, and organizing SFRA 2010, we intend to face the issues head-on at the meeting. We do not know how this conversation will develop or what its results may be, but we do know that rational discussion and weighing our options in face-to-face conversation is a strong beginning.
We invite all SFRA members and other scholars who have not yet done so to send in your presentation and panel ideas to Craig by the new deadline of May 15. And, non-late registration has been extended to May 15, so there is still time to register for the conference and take part in the discussion of “Far Stars and Tin Stars: Science Fiction and the Frontier,” which already included, but now even more so, issues of race, borders, and Otherness. We hope to see you in Arizona where we can all be a part of the science fiction vanguard against racism.
