Garcia compares this stop with footage of a white guy pulled over during the same sweep. In contrast to the handcuffed Hispanic fellow, he is not arrested. Instead, he gets to put his feet up and laughs the whole thing off. Guess it pays to be an ofay when the MCSO is involved.
I will say one thing for the Avondale sweep, it drew its share of protesters, about 100 anti-Joe folks, and about 20 or 30 pro-Joe people. On the first night, the groups shared a sidewalk in front of the sheriff's command center, and the back-and-forth was heated, edging on violence, especially from one round, redneck loudmouth in a red shirt whom everyone referred to as "Big Red." I tried to engage Big Red in civil discourse, but he was obviously agitated and kept yelling at me and others.
Stephen Lemons
"Big Red" (left) takes on an anti-Joe protester during day one of the MCSO's Avondale sweep.
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I ended up telling Big Red the story of Avondale resident Julio Mora, an American citizen, who, along with his 66-year-old legal-resident dad, was detained by sheriff's deputies in February as he was taking his father to work at HMI, a Phoenix landscaping company that was being raided by the MCSO. They were each zip-tied, humiliated, and held for three hours. Mora testified at the recent 287(g) hearings in D.C., describing how his diabetic dad was not allowed to use the bathroom and nearly wet himself.
Big Red was unimpressed. First, he denied it happened. Then, he suggested it was just one case. Then, he argued that there was nothing wrong with what happened to the Moras. Finally, he stated that Arpaio couldn't be blamed because he didn't physically arrest the guy. I told him Joe was responsible because it's his agency.
"So if I don't like your paper, I should hit you?" he said.
"If you want to hit me, please go right ahead," I replied calmly.
He didn't take the swing, and was soon yelling at someone else. I later saw him get into it with an African-American guy who was on the anti-Joe side. At one point, when activist Dennis Gilman tried to film him, Big Red pushed his "We Support Sheriff Joe" sign against Gilman's video camera.
I had a long, engaging conversation with this guy named Mike who I'd seen numerous times protesting at the Macehualli Work Center. He was there with his wife, Lori, and he stated that his tree-trimming business had been hurt by competition with undocumented migrants. Currently, he's going to school to become a substance-abuse counselor. We actually had some points of agreement, though we're in disagreement as to a solution on immigration. Mike wants to send the undocumented back, though he conceded that deporting 12 million to 20 million people was unrealistic.
Later, when I was chatting with Mark again, a sergeant from the MCSO walked up to me, accused me of inciting the nativists, and suggested that if I were attacked by one of them, he would not consider me a victim.
I told him not to worry. Like the people home-invaded during the sweeps, the last thing I'd want would be assistance from the MCSO. He left, and returned a little while later with an orange traffic cone, which he put on the sidewalk and ordered me to stand behind. He then informed all the anti-Joe people, and me as well, to remain to one side of the orange cone. He did not similarly advise the nativists.
Being the Irishman that he is, activist Gilman moved the cone about five inches, as a lark. Soon the sergeant and MCSO SWAT captain Dave Letourneau walked over to threaten with arrest anyone who touched the cone. Asked what the charge would be, Letourneau said, "Anything we can think of." Letourneau told me his warning applied especially to me. He later got in Gilman's face, as if attempting to provoke a response.
Late in the evening and after almost everyone had cleared out, I watched as nativist Barb Heller, of the anti-immigrant group United for a Sovereign America, and Big Red headed up to the sheriff's command post for a little confab with the deputies. Ideally, cops should not favor one group over another during protests such as these. But when the MCSO is in bed with the extremists, such favoritism is to be expected.
