At 11 a.m. today, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio plans to unveil his new line of pink skivvies. But there's a twist: the traditional "Go Joe" written on the promotional boxers will now be in Spanish, which -- according to Arpaio -- proves he isn't a racist.
Arpaio will be at the Valley Luna restaurant at 3336 West Bell Road in Phoenix this morning to announce his new "Vamos Jose" pink undies, and the sheriff says, using Spanish is a "poke in the eye to the critics who for years have called me racist because of my tough stance on illegal immigration."
"I'm not a racist and have never been. I simply believe people who come to this country should do so legally," Arpaio groans.
Meanwhile, the upcoming announcement of the Spanish version of the infamous pink undies comes just days after the MCSO was ordered to pay $200,000 to settle a racial-profiling lawsuit after two of Arpaio's deputies hassled two Hispanic men during a February 2009 illegal-immigrant roundup.
The two men were arrested and detained for several hours for doing nothing more than driving while brown -- turns out, both are in the country legally. One is a U.S. citizen and the other is a legal resident, and a judge ruled the deputies had no reason to stop them.
Read more about Arpaio's latest lawsuit here.
According to Arpaio, his new undies will "raise eyebrows as well as sales."
The proceeds from the sale of the undies go to charities for at-risk youth, Arpaio says. They can be purchased for $15 a pair.
