By Marina Kovacevic
@west news
On January 13, Downtown Phoenix housed an anti-Joe Arpaio protest — the Arrest Joe Arpaio, not the People! protest — which lasted about two hours, with a march around City Hall and the downtown jail that is headed by Arpaio himself. The protest was organized by a nonprofit organization called the Puente Human Rights Movement with the aim to end Arpaio’s access to ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) and to close down Tent City.
Marchers, along with the Department of Justice and numerous human rights activist groups, have accused the sheriff of violating human rights by harsh and illegal treatment of all inmates, ordinary Hispanic and colored citizens, and illegal immigrants.
Photo By Marina Kovacevic | @west news ASU West campus Senior Grissel Sanchez protests Arpaio for targeting Illegal imigrants citizens by failing to investigate sex crimes.
They protested against his actions as being illegal and want him to serve his own time in jail for terrorizing communities through searches, racial profiling, inhumane treatment in prisons and unlawful activity towards citizens and illegal immigrants alike.
They accuse him and those who aid and abet him in his illegal and inhumane actions as the worst racial profiling this country has seen in ages and urge others to see that he needs to be held accountable for his actions.
Arizona State University history senior, Sandra Solis said, “I am one of the organizers of this protest with the Puente Movement because I am fighting for all human rights. We are a nonprofit grassroots organization for human rights and we believe in direct action to let people know their rights as American citizens and international citizens. We host these events and spread the word, we even organize English lessons,” and when asked about her individual goals and the protest’s goals, she said, “He has power with the Phoenix P.D. (Police Department) and we need to isolate him so that he cannot do whatever he wants anymore. He is breaking human rights and it’s ridiculous that for years, he has been able to slide through without punishment.”
According to Phoenix New Times, Sheriff Arpaio has even been caught on video, during a speech for the Arizona American Italian Club in 2008 by journalist Veleria Fernandez and cameraman A.J. Alexander, responding to an audience member’s joking question on when he will build a concentration camp with “I already have a concentration camp,” referring to Tent City.
Tent City is the section of the jail that is most controversial in which prisoners reside in tents in 115 degree heat all day and in which undocumented prisoners were forced to march to a certain harsher section of the camp. Arpaio later denied this comparison of his prison to death camps the Nazis used in both of the world wars.
In Tent City, some prisoners who did not understand English and tried to get information were often put in solitary confinement and were not given transla- “When I say human, you say rights.” tions despite their legal requests and complaints. They were then punished for breaking rules they didn’t understand.
The Justice Department released a 22 page report on December 15 against Arpaio for allowing and requiring his officers to racially profile people and infringe on human rights of legal and illegal citizens. According to Yahoo News, he had until January 4 to improve conditions of those arrested or questioned. So far, no improvement has become public.
The report also notes officers stopping people who look like they could be of Hispanic decent, those who have darker skin, and for questioning and retaliating against people who complained about these instances.
For example, one of the protesters, Mesa Community College student Kevin Castaneda who has joined the organization and the Arrest Arpaio, Not The People! fight against Arpaio’s actions said, “My friend was pulled over just for looking Mexican, he didn’t do anything wrong. He wanted to file a law suit, but instead he put on a huge march in Mesa in 2004—he started his own movement against such injustice and that is why I am here.”
Furthermore, there is evidence in the report of a statistical analysis that these officers are at least four times more likely to pull over Latino-looking drivers than non Latino-looking drivers in the same situation.
Northern Arizona University student Shane Pogue said that he protested because “this is sheer violation of human rights and people shouldn’t be locked up for the color of their skin. The civil rights issue should have been resolved a long time ago with the civil rights movement. For prisoners to die on his watch because of his mistreatment of them is just cruel.
Photo By Marina Kovacevic | @west news One of the organizers of the protest chants “When I say human, you say rights” on his megaphone to shout their message to the people as the march moves to the downtown jail.
“No matter where you are from and what you have done, we are all people at the end of the day.”
Pogue and other marchers shouted slogans of a peaceful protest, such as “the people united, will never be divided,” “tell me what democracy looks like, this is what democracy looks like,” “Arrest Arpaio, not the people” and “When I say human, you say rights.”
In addition, they protested that through this targeting of Latinos, Sheriff Arpaio has not fulfilled his duties, of “protecting and serving the valley of the sun,” the Maricopa County Sheriff ’s Office slogan.
There are those who protest his lack of protection of Maricopa County citizens, such as Arizona State University criminal justice senior Grissel Sanchez who said, “he has shown that catching ‘illegals’ is more important to him than his job to protect us as sheriff.
In 2007, 400 and some odd sex crimes were reported but never investigated. His actions are not right and won’t suffice.”
Further, protester Margy Angle said that she was there that day because “the death of (friend) Marty Atencio in his (Arpaio’s) prison was the officers’ fault and it went completely unjustified as well as the almost 500 sex crimes in the last year that were not investigated because he was too obsessed with catching illegals. I would like people to recognize all findings outlining patterns of brutality. He has done illegal things and he needs to pay.”
Those who agree that Arpaio is guilty of human rights violations can join a candlelight vigil at Tent City on January 25 at 7 p.m. or the Arrest Joe Arpaio, not the People! protest every other Friday.