Sheriff Joe

It's been a lot of years since I first heard of Sheriff Joe Apraio and his controversial techniques in Arizona.

Like many others I sort of believed that it was a progressive way to get something out of those who might be in jail. Why let prisoners sit around, lift weights and watch television?

Can't they be put to work somehow?

Yet, time has passed and a lot of light was placed on Joe's antics.

And they were antics.

Before you jump to his defense, consider that many of those confined in his tent city hung themselves. Others were treated like animals. Many, many, many were rounded up because of what they looked like.

The color of their skin.

Immigration isn't an easy subject. That border line is like a huge scar running for miles. Men and women, running for their lives crossed that line.

Not rapists or criminals in most respects.

Men and women.

And once in a land where freedom reigns, they were rounded up and stripped of their freedoms and denied any semblance of law.

Okay. 

It has never become more apparent to me that a lot of people are actually for that type of action now. I wish I had a nickel for every social media warrior who talks of imprisoning these people, or worse, without thought of their life or liberty.

Yet Sheriff Joe was told to stop.

He received a direct order from a judge.

No more!

He was hired to uphold the law of the land. He received direct orders on numerous occasions to stop what he was doing.

He ignored those orders.

He was found guilty.

And he hadn't even been sentenced yet when he was pardoned by a man who ignored the process, ignored the directive of the judicial system that governs the land.

That's not right.

"Is he really a racist?" Kathy asked as we were watching the coverage of the Trump pardon.

A simple question because I understood where she was coming from.

Most people don't understand that someone can actually believe that you're okay with denying people  the same rights we all have...

...because of how they look.

A simple question.

Are Sheriff Joe and Trump racists?

The word is thrown around a lot these days...

...most of us don't want to believe it.

But if your actions strip a certain group of people of rights that other groups receive just by being born...

...then you just might be a racist.

And if you're still comfortable in your defense of the grand old sheriff, remember that he was also accused of installing cameras in the women's bathroom in his tent community.

And that's not racist behavior.

It's just plain disgusting.