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Joe Arpaio and Demonstrators Stir Up
Immigration Debate at a Rally in East Phoenix
United Nations observers witness the Sheriff's impressive deployment of force to monitor a small protest.
By Eduardo Barraza
BARRIOZONA
October 30, 2007
The quest of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio to crackdown on illegal immigration and day laborers reached an
impressive high, when he personally —along a little battalion composed of his posse, uniformed deputies and men in
plainclothes— showed up at the parking lot of Pruitt’s furniture store. Arpaio and his detachment were there to guard the
store’s parking lot from a group of demonstrators who gathered there to protest against Pruitt’s owner as well as the
Sheriff office’s actions toward men who hang around the “superstore” seeking day labor.
Called by workers’ rights advocates, Saturday’s rally was in response to several arrests of day laborers made by Arpaio’s
department in previous weeks, as well as to voice disapproval for the employment of off-duty sheriff deputies providing a
sort of private police-surveillance of Pruitt’s premises against men who they see wandering around seeking work, and
presumably undocumented.
Arpaio’s security apparatus in front of the store’s building was laughable compared to the number of demonstrators who
showed up for the rally. The Sheriff justified the proportion of his deployment by assuring that he was led to believe that
about three thousand people were showing up. Seeing the posse, the number of deputies on foot, and the fleet of marked
and unmarked county vehicles, and Arpaio himself orchestrating the pointless show of force, a demonstrator using a
bullhorn yelled at him, “Did you also bring the tear gas and the water hoses?”
The demonstration was also special for the presence of two observers to the United Nations who witnessed, literally from
the horse's mouth, the tense and volatile situation in Arizona. J. Wilton Littlechild and Tonya Gonnella-Frichner were
present at the rally, but they were virtually ignored by “America's toughest Sheriff.” Arpaio requested to talk to Salvador
Reza —the forefront advocate and organizer of day laborers in the County— as well as approached demonstrators to
exchange arguments face to face, but did not show any desire to talk to the observers. When Captain Paul Chagoya,
Arpaio’s speaker, learned Littlechild was there, he shook hands with him, checked his I.D., and pulled him into the parking
lot —by then a restricted zone— to briefly talk to him. Nevertheless, Littlechild returned shortly after to the small crowd,
without given a chance to speak to the Sheriff.
Meanwhile, protesters were not just expressing their disapproval of Joe Arpaio’s crackdown on day laborers and
exaggerated tactical operation for the protest. Among the strident sound of vehicles’ horns, they became personal and
were yelling insults against the Sheriff, who at times waved his hand friendly, smiled, joked, and even took time to sign
autographs. “Clown, clown, clown!”; “Arpaio, you belong to the KKK!”; and, “Hitler, Hitler, Hitler!” The Sheriff cracked up
when he was surprised by a dog inside a private vehicle that barked at him, catching him off guard momentarily, and then
said something pointing to the dog, and smiling at the crowd. Arpaio and demonstrators shared the spontaneous
moment of laughter, until a man from the crowd expressed his opinion about the dog’s barking, “See Arpaio, not even the
dogs like you!”
A more serious tone saved the protest from becoming a complete circus spectacle at taxpayer’s expense. Interviewed by
BARRIOZONA (watch video), the observers to the United Nations expressed perhaps the most articulated and logical
statement of the day. J. Wilton Littlechild —a Cree Canadian lawyer and member of the United Nations Permanent Forum
on Indigenous Issues— declared, “We are here as part of our obligation as U.N. members to monitor situations like this,
so there can be peaceful resolutions to matters like these. First of all to recognize that there is a right to work for people;
and on the other hand, there’s also a balance that you have to question: What might become illegal police activity? So
when that matter comes to me as a serious concern, I have to be here to make sure that there is, not only a peaceful
conduct, but also a peaceful resolution.”
Tonya Gonnella Frichner —from the Onondaga Nation, and recently named as the North American Representative to the
United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues— sent a message to Arizona senator John McCain. “We need
some serious negotiations and some serious solution solving. So I would encourage Senator McCain to take on that
leadership. Arizona could be the leader on this.”
Salvador Reza —a member of Tonatierra and coordinator of the Macehualli Labor Day Center in North Phoenix— stated
that “Joe Arpaio’s method of fighting immigration is by listening to racist individuals, friends of Chris Simcock, so they
come and deploy sheriff deputies (at the furniture store); sheriff deputies on the County’s payroll. In other words; they
aren't sheriff deputies doing the work for the community; they are deputies being paid (by a private citizen). That is
inadmissible.” Tupac Enrique Acosta —also from Tonatierra— who invited to Arizona the two observers to the United
Nations, pointed out what he considers an irony in the midst of the immigration debate in Arizona. “Pruitt is a Greek name;
Arpaio, Italian; and we, the original peoples from Arizona, are the ones who are seen as foreigners. That is what’s wrong
with this picture,” he said pointing toward the Sheriff and the Pruitt’s building.
A demonstrator who identified himself only as “Alejandro”, stated that “enough is enough about Joe Arpaio’s hunger for
power; he doesn’t get tired —and he won’t— of of being the main character in the Media; the reality is that Hollywood is not
located here. The community needs a lot of help; there’s a lot of theft, and much violence; I think he needs to focus more
on the community.”
Reza announced that they will continue the weekly protests every Saturday, and that they will move forward with their
actions until the situation changes.
Copyright © 2007 Hispanic Institute of Social Issues
Grassroots Journalism
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