What Arpaio Did
As the Sheriff of Maricopa County, he told the officers who were subordinate to him to pick out “illegal aliens.” Unfortunately, there is no sure-fire way to actually know, for sure, whether or not somebody has that status. So, his subordinates ended up going around, harassing anyone who had Hispanic-looking physiognomies.
That wasn’t the only crime he did, though. Arpaio also tried to silence any citizen who had an opposing opinion against him. Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin were two such people. In the summer of 2017, Lacey and Larkin were horrified to learn that Arpaio was set free of his racial profiling accusations by President Trump. They made sure to keep on top of the issue and publish as much about it as they could.
Lacey and Larkin had run into problems with Arpaio years earlier when he tried to wrongfully arrest them. Ever since that unjust event, they have been passionately exposing Arpaio’s abuse of power.
The Underlying Context of What Arpaio Did
When talking about what Arpaio did and why he should not have been pardoned, we must talk about American history and the diverse experiences of Americans.
Prior to the arrival of Columbus, the Americas were inhabited by native Amerindians. The natives were the majority. Eventually, Europeans arrived in the America’s en masse. The American Indians died off in large numbers and were pushed off their lands. Read more: Jim Larkin | LinkedIn and Jim Larkin | Angel.co
Descendants of Europeans created a political entity—America–where they were the majority. So, America was a place where most of the people were white and orientated with Christianity. In order to fit in and have the most social mobility and value in society, it helped to appear white and Christian.
The demographics stayed mostly white and Christian until the middle of the 20th century, when the Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965 was passed. Also, in the 1960s, centuries of social justice efforts culminated into new considerations about the civil rights of minorities.
As a result of the change in thought concerning racial minorities and immigration, non-white people of various religions poured into the country at an unprecedented rate. Many non-white immigrants were fleeing violent conditions in their countries that could actually be traced back to American political interests.
So, for decades, non-white people—or at least people who are not considered to be “white” in the traditional American sense, have been flooding the United States. Even though non-whites have a larger presence than ever, they are still subjected to prejudice, exclusion and racism. Learn more about Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin: http://frontpageconfidential.com/michael-lacey-jim-larkin-arpaio-frontera-fund-first-amendment/ and http://www.phillypurge.com/2017/06/23/jim-larkin-michael-lacey-make-the-list-of-civil-rights-protectors/
Society still thinks of them as “others,” and individuals are classified by race before individuality—which is very condescending. This is why people like Sheriff Arpaio think that anyone with black hair, brown skin and Amerindian features is an “illegal alien.”
What Arpaio Should Have Done
Arpaio should have understood that each human being is unique, and not every person of a given ethnic group is “illegal.” Also, he should have understood that there has been a long, rich history of Hispanic people residing in the United States of America.