March 7 March Against Arpaio

From Jon Garrido of Hispanic News:

Invitation to all churches, civil rights organizations and to all persons who believe the tyranny of Joe Arpaio needs to be investigated by the U.S. Attorney General

PHOENIX (By Jon Garrido, The Jon Garrido Network) February 8, 2009 - On March 7th, the first Civil Rights march will take place in Phoenix, Arizona calling for the U.S. Attorney General to Investigate all Civil Rights abuses across the United States. Each Saturday thereafter, a march will be undertaken until Joe Arpaio is send to jail for Civil Rights abuses.

For the past last eight years, the Bush Administration failed to represent the rights of all Americans and specifically honor the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

The amendment requires states to provide equal protection under the law to all people within their jurisdictions and was used in the mid-20th century to dismantle racial segregation in the United States. Its Due Process Clause has been used to apply most of the Bill of Rights to the states.

I believe one of the major matters not a priority with the Bush Administration in recent years are Civil Rights violations against Hispanics and prisoners by Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

The U.S. Attorney General has criminal jurisdiction to enforce Civil Rights Acts like 42 USC 1841 et seq which provide punishment for public officials who discriminate against, or seek to deny, the civil rights of any racial or ethnic group.  The same applies to any violation of the 8th Amendment incorporated into the 14th which bars cruel and unusual punishments or deprivation of liberty or life without due process.

There appears to be substantial evidence Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, his deputies, and perhaps other Arizona law enforcement officers are engaged in racial profiling and making pre-textual traffic stops in an effort to find undocumented immigrants so as to get ICE to deport them.  I believe some or all of these stops or at least the questioning and searches that ensue are pre-textual. I further believe these stops endanger the rights of all Hispanic or brown-skinned-looking people regardless of their immigration status; and of course, the 14th Amendment covers all persons, not just citizens, so those here legally on tourist or green-card visas are affected even if they are in fact non-citizen Hispanic Americans.

There have been recent investigations by the U.S. Attorney for Arizona investigating Sheriff Joe Arpaio for Civil Rights violations in his jail but for various reasons, these investigations were halted.

Namely, former U.S. Attorney for Arizona Janet Napolitano ended her investigation of the alleged Civil Rights abuses by Joe Arpaio only to be endorsed by Joe Arpaio for Governor of Arizona. Subsequent Hispanic News article will address this allegation.

The purpose of the March 7th march is to ask the U.S. Attorney General to re-open and update these investigations in light of the many federal and state court verdicts showing actions by the Sheriff that violate the 8th and/or 14th Amendments, some involving death of inmates due to such violations.

To bring attention to all Civil Rights abuses across the United States and specifically to request the U.S. Attorney General investigate Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio for abuses toward Hispanics, the March 7th march will take place on the 44th year remembrance of Bloody Sunday on March 7, 1965, in Selma, Alabama at the Edmund Pettus Bridge where armed officers attacked peaceful civil rights demonstrators. The incident began when about 600 Blacks left the Brown Chapel AME Church for a 50-mile march to Montgomery.

Each day additional information will be available at Hispanic News. This will include names of participants, organizations and speakers who will address the participants on March 7.

Repeat after me: Sheriff Joe has got to go!

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