| Bilingual Community Expression Published by the Hispanic Institute of Social Issues |
| BARRIOZONA |
| He calls the ColorLines story "a shameful piece of rag" |
| Mayor Phil Gordon Discredits Report on Police Shootings in Phoenix |
It just took a few hours after BARRIOZONA released a story
about a national investigation that points out that Latinos in
Phoenix are more likely than Latinos in other major cities to be
shot and killed by a police officer, for City of Phoenix Mayor Phil
Gordon to be on TV news calling the story “a shameful piece of
rag.”
Apparently, BARRIOZONA’s own story about the ColorLines
report set into motion the Mayor’s public information office, which
about a national investigation that points out that Latinos in
Phoenix are more likely than Latinos in other major cities to be
shot and killed by a police officer, for City of Phoenix Mayor Phil
Gordon to be on TV news calling the story “a shameful piece of
rag.”
Apparently, BARRIOZONA’s own story about the ColorLines
report set into motion the Mayor’s public information office, which
| By Eduardo Barraza |
Mayor Phil Gordon
Photo: BARRIOZONA
Photo: BARRIOZONA
| The cover of the Nov-Dec 2007 Edition of ColorLines |
surely after assessing the caliber of what was published by the magazine, set off to read the report and find
elements to rapidly discredit it.
Instead of challenging the report by using City’s data, Gordon preferred to discredit the report by also calling it “a
shameful piece of literature.” Some of the Mayor’s statements to 12 News reporter Melissa Blasius were incredibly
politically incorrect. Instead of citing City’s data on police shootings, Gordon referred to the cities of Miami and
Detroit as a point of comparison with Phoenix, implicitly stating Phoenix residents should feel safer.
BARRIOZONA contacted ColorLines’ staff on Thursday, November 15, 2007 to obtain their opinion on the Mayor’s
comments. Alfredo DeAvila, Senior Program Associate for the Applied Research Center —publishers of ColorLines—
spoke to us over the phone from Oakland California. DeAvila acknowledged he had watched the 12 News video, and
cracked up when we asked what he thought about Gordon’s statements.
“Mayor Gordon’s words were very interesting to us. He was thinking that we did not take into consideration national
information from the FBI. In all this national investigation that we’ve done, we found out that the FBI’s information is
information and data that the City itself submits to them,” said DeAvila. “So when we made the investigation, we
looked at newspapers, information that is reported in the news. We went ahead and looked at different types of
information. What we have found out is that almost everywhere, the FBI’s information is not accurate; it is lacking a
lot of data that has been simply reported in the news.”
DeAvila emphasized the big discrepancy between what the FBI has and the information ColorLines obtained in its
investigation. “We feel it is the City’s obligation, not the FBI’s, to collect all the data. But the City is the one that
submits the data to them. They themselves are the ones who are reporting their own information. And if the City
itself is being negligent with its own reports, additional data is going to be available anyway. But for the Mayor to
say that, because we are a small magazine, our story is not valid, that’s something a little ridiculous.”
The Applied Research Center (ARC) is a respected institution that has been conducting research, advocacy and
journalism for the past 25 years. ARC has offices in Oakland, Chicago and New York. The Center has been publishing
ColorLines for the past 9 years. Since then it has become a leading national magazine specializing in multi-racial
issues.
“As an institution, we have conducted much more complicated investigations than this,” said DeAvila. “We were not
aware that Phoenix would come up high in the numbers of Latinos being killed by Police. The main reason we did
this investigation was because we wanted to analyze police shootings in cities with more than 200 thousand people
as our departure point. Our investigation emerged pointing to Phoenix as one of the cities with the highest
percentages of Latinos being killed by Police.”
DeAvila, a former United Farm Worker organizer, stated that the data collected wasn’t very surprising. “If you ask
me if I am surprised by this data, I’d tell you that it is hard to be surprised when you take into consideration
everything that’s going on in regards to all the attacks against immigrants in Phoenix. We have seen in recent years
how the Minuteman, the Border Patrol, and politicians have come up with irrational and even racists measures,
blaming the undocumented for everything that is happening in Arizona. That creates the types of attitudes in society
that you see in Arizona. In fact, we are surprised that there is not more violence involving the police and the
community.”
DeAvila pointed out that nationally, police departments have followed a policy that allows the use of any necessary
force to protect the officer’s life. “But most of the time,” —says DeAvila— the excuses that police officers offer don’t
sound credible or valid.” DeAvila lamented that police departments conduct their own internal investigations, thus
giving the impression that they are in the best interest of the community, when in reality “they are in the interest of
covering their own butts to avoid more lawsuits.”
DeAvila said his magazine hasn’t been contacted by the Mayor’s office, but wants to thank Mayor Gordon for all the
publicity that he has generated for ColorLines. “He thinks we will sell more magazines,” said DeAvila. “Reality is that
we don’t sell as many magazines as people visiting our web site. What the mayor has caused is that more people
will read our report, and more people will find out what the heck’s going on in America.”
elements to rapidly discredit it.
Instead of challenging the report by using City’s data, Gordon preferred to discredit the report by also calling it “a
shameful piece of literature.” Some of the Mayor’s statements to 12 News reporter Melissa Blasius were incredibly
politically incorrect. Instead of citing City’s data on police shootings, Gordon referred to the cities of Miami and
Detroit as a point of comparison with Phoenix, implicitly stating Phoenix residents should feel safer.
BARRIOZONA contacted ColorLines’ staff on Thursday, November 15, 2007 to obtain their opinion on the Mayor’s
comments. Alfredo DeAvila, Senior Program Associate for the Applied Research Center —publishers of ColorLines—
spoke to us over the phone from Oakland California. DeAvila acknowledged he had watched the 12 News video, and
cracked up when we asked what he thought about Gordon’s statements.
“Mayor Gordon’s words were very interesting to us. He was thinking that we did not take into consideration national
information from the FBI. In all this national investigation that we’ve done, we found out that the FBI’s information is
information and data that the City itself submits to them,” said DeAvila. “So when we made the investigation, we
looked at newspapers, information that is reported in the news. We went ahead and looked at different types of
information. What we have found out is that almost everywhere, the FBI’s information is not accurate; it is lacking a
lot of data that has been simply reported in the news.”
DeAvila emphasized the big discrepancy between what the FBI has and the information ColorLines obtained in its
investigation. “We feel it is the City’s obligation, not the FBI’s, to collect all the data. But the City is the one that
submits the data to them. They themselves are the ones who are reporting their own information. And if the City
itself is being negligent with its own reports, additional data is going to be available anyway. But for the Mayor to
say that, because we are a small magazine, our story is not valid, that’s something a little ridiculous.”
The Applied Research Center (ARC) is a respected institution that has been conducting research, advocacy and
journalism for the past 25 years. ARC has offices in Oakland, Chicago and New York. The Center has been publishing
ColorLines for the past 9 years. Since then it has become a leading national magazine specializing in multi-racial
issues.
“As an institution, we have conducted much more complicated investigations than this,” said DeAvila. “We were not
aware that Phoenix would come up high in the numbers of Latinos being killed by Police. The main reason we did
this investigation was because we wanted to analyze police shootings in cities with more than 200 thousand people
as our departure point. Our investigation emerged pointing to Phoenix as one of the cities with the highest
percentages of Latinos being killed by Police.”
DeAvila, a former United Farm Worker organizer, stated that the data collected wasn’t very surprising. “If you ask
me if I am surprised by this data, I’d tell you that it is hard to be surprised when you take into consideration
everything that’s going on in regards to all the attacks against immigrants in Phoenix. We have seen in recent years
how the Minuteman, the Border Patrol, and politicians have come up with irrational and even racists measures,
blaming the undocumented for everything that is happening in Arizona. That creates the types of attitudes in society
that you see in Arizona. In fact, we are surprised that there is not more violence involving the police and the
community.”
DeAvila pointed out that nationally, police departments have followed a policy that allows the use of any necessary
force to protect the officer’s life. “But most of the time,” —says DeAvila— the excuses that police officers offer don’t
sound credible or valid.” DeAvila lamented that police departments conduct their own internal investigations, thus
giving the impression that they are in the best interest of the community, when in reality “they are in the interest of
covering their own butts to avoid more lawsuits.”
DeAvila said his magazine hasn’t been contacted by the Mayor’s office, but wants to thank Mayor Gordon for all the
publicity that he has generated for ColorLines. “He thinks we will sell more magazines,” said DeAvila. “Reality is that
we don’t sell as many magazines as people visiting our web site. What the mayor has caused is that more people
will read our report, and more people will find out what the heck’s going on in America.”
| Hispanic Institute of Social Issues © 2006-2007 All rights reserved. webmaster@hisi.org |
mario madrigal jr. mesa police department shootings phoenix latinos deaths law enforcement colorlines magazine killed by the cops teen highest rate fatal taser metro area salvador reza sheriff department maricopa county barriozona jessica hoffmann
Will fatal shootings by police continue averaging more than one a month with no clear cause or consequence?
| RELATED STORY: Shooting Death by Mesa Police Draws National Attention |
| COLORLINES STORY: Killed by the cops Due to its significance to Metro Phoenix residents, BARRIOZONA encourages you to read the ColorLines Magazine story titled “Killed by the Cops”, and pay particularly attention to the related story titled “Why so high”. The story, written by freelancer writer Jessica Hoffmann presents “striking findings” concerning the dangerous and fatal aspect of Latinos interacting with law enforcement agencies in the Phoenix Metropolitan area. |