I know the promised Sheriff Joe post is loooooonnnng overdue... sorry. Grad school caught up with me. Now the trick is catching up with it. Don't think I've abandoned the anti-bigotry, anti-political corruption and anti-abuse of power stand... I've been researching this guy for the past month and a half and have quite the nice lengthy back story on him. But since people who vocally criticize Crazy Sheriff Joe tend to be targeted after the fact--and for unrelated, unsubstantiated offenses--I want to make sure I have my shit together. Even though maybe five people read this thing, a hippie really can't be too careful.
However, it's impossible NOT to read about the questionable practices of the as-of-now-unnamed Maricopa County law enforcement agency (you know, the ones with the big cowboy-lookin' hats)--especially the questionable, and downright immoral, ideology and opinions expressed by said organization's very own Boss Hogg--and draw connections to recent developments here in Phoenix. Intolerant, racist policies breed intolerant, racist ideology, and always attract racist ideologies from other festering parts of the country like flies. In many cases, the rational, compassionate people in those communities (and there are usually many of them) refuse to accept this.
Take, for instance, Minneapolis. This past October, the National Socialist Movement, a fascist neo-nazi organization, attempted to demonstrate against an ANTI-racism workshop held at the Midtown YMCA (yeah... try and wrap your brain around THAT logic). Needless to say, members of the community
responded. 250 of them.
Helloooo, fascists. Wanna dance?
Apparently an NSM representative looking for information about the workshop a week prior tipped off workshop organizers and community members, who decided to organize a counter-protest at a community planning meeting held 3 days before the NSM demonstration was going to take place. Word of the NSM protest and the subsequent counter-protest spread fairly quickly, through
Facebook and other avenues, but was still short-notice; in many cases, information reached people 24 hours ahead of time, but the people still rallied. In the end, four--count 'em, FOUR--members of the group showed up for a grand total of about 45 minutes, remained under massive police escort and, due to pressure from the crowd, left soon after to chants of "No hate to our state," and "No Nazis, no KKK, no racist U.S.A."
This is one of the many reasons I am proud to hail from the Twin Cities. We have a distinct tendency to band together in the face of adversity and evil. We take ownership of our communities. We refuse, on the whole, to be intimidated into letting events be dictated by people and forces we know to be socially debilitating and morally rotten. There is an amazing culture of diversity and acceptance in my hometown. I miss it.
I miss it because I have yet to find its equivalent here. Tomorrow, there is a protest scheduled to take place on the grounds of the Arizona State Capitol, here in Phoenix. It is billed as an anti-illegal immigration protest... a common-enough subject in this polarized state. The protest organizers? The National Socialist Movement.
This, however, is no Minneapolis. This protest is expected to be bigger... the head fuhrer... er, "commander" (whatever, same delusions of grandeur)... of the NSM has expressed his desire to get 200 to 300 skinheads out on the lawn. Other estimates point more to numbers around 50 to 100. Which, I think we can all agree, is 50 to 100 skinheads too many. The organization claims to be protesting illegal immigration, but exactly what aspects of illegal immigration they're protesting is still unclear. Many people think it is simply a front for the nazi scheisse they spew at all of their events. What IS clear, however, is that the loudest emotional reaction to this development isn't outrage (although there is, thankfully, quite a bit of that). What's being smeared across the comment sections of online Arizona news sites and blogs is fear, sometimes scary indifference, and most frighteningly, agreement.
Agreement. With nazis. For each rational post railing against neo-nazi fascism and racism, there are at least one or two that ADVOCATE SUPPORT for the position of the NSM, spread more hate speech against ethnic minority and immigrant groups, and vomit up accusations of fascism against our president. I am NOT saying that the majority of Arizonans feel this way. Not at all; in fact, I'm pretty positive the opposite is the case. But these people claim to be tax-paying members of this community, and they are screeching their hateful messages so loud that the rational folks are being drowned out in an assault of verbal garbage. It's a shouting contest and intimidation, pure and simple.
What's particularly difficult to swallow is the fact that local civil rights groups have reportedly declined to organize any official counter-movements in response to tomorrow's event. The Arizona ADL and several local Latino advocacy groups have adopted the position that counter-demonstrations will merely call attention to the NSM, and many have expressed concern for the safety of counter-protesters.
Their positions are valid. There is no guarantee that protests over highly polarizing issues, which tend to attract highly volatile extremists on both ends of the spectrum, won't become violent. The media flocks to events that yield sensationalized outcomes (I was a journalist at one point; I know my news values. Conflict is one of them). Two groups engaged in a heated exchange is more newsworthy than one group hanging out by itself, watching the grass grow. Thrown punches equal headlines. Riot? National news.
However, with all of that taken into consideration, I still cannot personally justify the call from these groups to just stand aside and do nothing. The NSM is an affront to everything I believe in and hold important in terms of the way I approach life. They have an ugly history of spitting on the civil liberties of others while hiding behind the Constitution, so much of which they flout, it's laughable. Ultimately, it's not about WHAT the NSM is protesting. The danger lies in allowing them to have their protest without a show of counter-protesters, the opposition vocalizing its belief that the fundamental principle of the NSM is horribly, horribly WRONG. I don't believe I am alone in this view; I sincerely hope that tomorrow there are crowds of people at the Capitol who oppose the NSM's presence as much as I do.
To let the NSM march unchallenged is, in this case, tacit acceptance of their existence and their message. This cannot be tolerated. We cannot be complacent.
Want these guys in YOUR neighborhood? I think not.
