Raul Grijalva, Arizona Hero

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

There was a Congressional hearing in Washington DC this afternoon that focused on Arizona's most notorious lawman, Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County. Several locals made the trip to the nation's capital to testify about Joe's legendary abuses of power, including one little girl who witnessed the sheriff's men arrest both of her parents at the car wash where they worked. The deputies carted them off to tent city, leaving the child to live with relatives for the months in which her parents were incarcerated.

Little Catherine Figueroa is quite the charmer - and quite the opposite of our bloated, septuagenarian sheriff. I didn't get to see the Congressional hearing because C-Span never covered the affair, but I have seen Catherine on local newscasts, and I'll bet a night on the town in Phoenix that she tugs the heartstrings of of those fortunate enough to hear her testimony.

Arizona Congressman Raul Grijalva set the hearing in motion. He seems to think that shining a national spotlight on a world-class narcissist will help make the nation more aware of the type of things that we have to deal with here in Arizona. In point of fact, Sheriff Joe will take immense pride in the fact that he is being talked about, honoring the old adage that all publicity is good.

Raul Grijalva is also the person who started the national boycott of Arizona as a result of the passage of our infamous and racist Senate Bill 1070.

Sheriff Joe is such an easy target, and I'm talking about more than his considerable heft. He enjoys attention, perhaps more than any other politician in America - and Joe is, first and foremost, a politician. He is always on the lookout for outrageous things to say or bizarre stunts to pull, and his people seem to be as concerned with serving his public relations needs as they are in fighting crime. In fact, crime takes a backseat to terrorizing undocumented workers and pretending to be some sort of glorified border patrol operation.

There is so much to talk about regarding Sheriff Joe that a one-day Congressional hearing can do little but scratch the surface of the topic. But, a one-day hearing is a start, and Representative Grijalva is to be commended for trying to tilt the stodgy old windmill that is Joe Arpaio.

Nothing will change as long as good people sit back in silence while the Arizona nut jobs swagger around waving their guns and spewing racist hatred. Somebody has to take a stand and say "no mas!" America is a better place than that, and Arizona could be, too!

Raul Grijalva, you are a hero to good people everywhere! Keep the light shining on all of this shameful Arizona hate and make us strive to become the people that we should be.

No mas, Arizona, no mas!