Response to "American Law Enforcement Must Demand the Removal of Sheriff Arpaio from Duty"

I came across this article linked on facebook, and decided to comment on it real quick. Since my comment is still awaiting moderation the following morning and i see it cross-posted across facebook, i figured i'd post my comment here in the meantime. I would write more, but i have to be off to work soon.

i’m sorry, but this is rather silly to me. it is the unwritten job of the police to enforce the color line and to undermine dissent. i somewhat understand the point of publishing a seemingly liberal cop’s view on the sheriff, but i don’t buy the bad apple theory. the role of the police was based partly on slave patrols and has not backed down on putting people of color in prisons. just look at the numbers. i highly doubt that the admins of this website believe that people of color tend to to commit more crime in general? or worse crimes than those white collar folks out there? (i suggest reading “our enemies in blue” by kristian williams for lots of solid info on the cops.

the sheriff is not the only problem. we have a horrible racist senator who is looking to pass some anti-immigrant legislation, on top of city (as opposed to the county) police departments that arrest more migrants- they just don’t flaunt it for the cameras. on top of that we have all these racist groups ranging from the nsm to the minutemen to the tea party people who are actually protesting the arpaio march this weekend. think of all the people who passed the anti-immigrant legislation in the last few years, along with re-electing arpaio. concentrating on arpaio marginalizes this reality. what happens when arpaio is gone? we still have border militarization and detention centers and border deaths and hate crimes. anyway, i wrote a bit on this in one of my last blog posts if anyone wants to check it out.

Further reading: The Civil Rights Movement's Lessons for Anti-Arpaio March, Race and the Rule of Law in Maricopa County, What Happens When Arpaio Serves The Warrants, Racial Profiling Focus is Distraction, Freedom, not Reform: If we don’t demand it, it can’t happen, No Borders or Prison Walls, If Phx and Mesa PD are arresting more immigrants, why is focus on Arpaio?