The White Ten Gallon Hat

Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon recently sent a formal complaint to the FBI asking them to investigate Sheriff Joe Arpaio's crackdowns on illegal immigrants. The crackdowns essentially consist of arresting 40 or more people in low income neighborhoods who look like they may be of Mexican (or farther south) decent. Arpaio has considered the raids a tremendous success because they have wound up apprehending some illegal immigrants. Gordon has wisely pointed out that frequently only half of those arrested were, in fact, illegal.

In response to Gordon's criticism, Arpaio accused Gordon of being out of touch with the people.

Sheriff Joe fancies himself quite the frontier lawman. His bombastic publicity stunts range from installing a "vacancy" sign above tent city (a complex of used military tents used to house inmates rather than release them due to overcrowding) to making inmates wear pink underwear (ostensibly to prevent the chonies from being smuggled out of jail and sold, but it sure seems like a humiliation tactic). Arpaio's jails serve only two meals per day, and much of it is green baloney. Salt, pepper, and coffee are forbidden in his jails. There are also compulsory two-week English courses for non-English speaking inmates.

Put bluntly, Arpaio has little regard for human decency. This hasn't seemed to bother voters too much. His publicity stunts work, for the most part. Most people don't think prison should be a vacation, and they're all right with jail time being a punishment. Prior to learning more about the injustices inherent in our not so aptly named justice system, I actually voted for the guy. I really wish I hadn't. The more I learn about him, the more I hope he winds up having to spend a little time in one of those tents, eating nearly spoiled processed meat in the thick of the Phoenix summer.

His attitude toward public criticism of his new illegal immigration policy is pretty cavalier. He's catching lawbreakers, I guess -- never mind the inconvenience it poses for Americans with particularly good tans. I think he feels like he's weathered criticism for humanitarian issues before, and he'll slip through without a political scratch again.

I guess we'll see how tolerant the public is of outright racism. I certainly hope less so, but it seems as though many Arizonans easily forget that justice is precious and than you don't need to be an American to be a human.