The Problem with Joe Arpaio

EWE
EWE
Aug 28, 2017 · 2 min read

Joe Arpaio won six elections. Six. Elections. He served as Maricopa County Sheriff for 24 years. He managed to stay in office despite bragging about having his own “concentration camp.” Voters loved the stylized bravado of “America’s Toughest Sheriff:” a moniker Arpaio bestowed upon himself.

Arpaio is a talented marketer. Instead of creating sound criminal justice policy that would lower recidivism rates, Arpaio went all in on pink underwear and tent cities. The public slow clapped Arpaio’s methods and punched his ticket every four years.

Arpaio is Trump, Trump is Arpaio

They kept voting for him even as he started illegally profiling Latinos. They backed him even though his department was enmeshed in a myriad of controversies on everything from racial profiling to failure to investigate rape cases.

Arpaio finally lost public support but the damage had been done. It’s no surprise that President Trump pardoned Arpaio. The former sheriff is a notorious birther who once led something called the “Cold Case Posse” to investigate President Obama’s birth certificate.

So, you see, the problem with Joe Arpaio isn’t Joe Arpaio. We are the problem. America’s Toughest Sheriff won reelection numerous times despite evidence that showed his policies did nothing to prevent crime.

Why? Is it that Americans fell in love with the optics, with the grizzled John Wayne caricature who didn’t take shit off anyone? Or is there something else, something more sinister?

Donald Trump is chaos but his election is clarity. Trump and Arpaio are, in many ways, the same person. They’re both gifted marketers who know how to manipulate the spotlight. They’re also racists. We know that now. Some knew it a long time ago and still voted to put these men in elected office. Indeed, that may be the reason for more than a handful of these people.

I didn’t vote for Trump and I don’t live in Maricopa County so I couldn’t vote for Arpaio. I’m still culpable, we all are. By all I mean all white middle-class heterosexual men who viewed this country through rose-colored glasses. It’s time to take those off and get a good look at reality.

Our indifference made Joe Arpaio and Donald Trump possible. We built the tent cities in the same way we authored the transgender military ban. They are meant for us, to protect us from people who look, think and act differently. Trump, Arpaio and their supporters see white supremacy as under attack. They’ll build walls to keep it safe. We must be the wrecking ball. Otherwise, we remain the problem with Joe Arpaio, with Donald Trump, with the United States.

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