Activists protest racist sheriff, shock jock

On July 10, arch-racist Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio came to Tucson to promote his new book at a local Barnes & Noble. He was met by a protest of 100 people whose continuous marching and chanting outside the bookstore disrupted his book signing and live radio interview. As part of this protest an empty piñata with the likeness of Sheriff Arpaio was smashed to bits by local youth.

Arpaio bills himself as “America’s Toughest Sheriff.” Not only is he racist and xenophobic but inhumane and cruel as well. Arpaio has erected a tent city jail in Phoenix where temperatures have been reported as high as 150 degrees in the summer.

Arpaio reportedly serves inmates green bologna for their two meals daily and shackles them into chain gangs for eight hours each day. Approximately 70 percent of the jail population is awaiting trial, which means they have not been convicted of any offense. No wonder his jails have been condemned by Amnesty International. Arpaio is currently named in over 1,500 lawsuits, many of them for wrongful death.

On July 11, Tucson right-wing radio talk show host “Jon Justice” of 104.1 FM “The Truth” launched a rabidly racist campaign to have immigrant rights activist and Tucson May 1st Coalition leader Isabel Garcia fired from her position as a Pima County Legal Defender. Beside the lies and fear-mongering that he spews on-air, Jon J posted a YouTube video of himself with a piñata with Garcia’s likeness, fondling and caressing it and making sexist comments about “wanting to take it home with me” and racist comments about “chorizo” and “viva la raza.”

Tucson activists led by Derechos Humanos, the organization that Isabel Garcia co-chairs, launched a Stop Hate Radio campaign to show support for Garcia and denounce the racist lies and bigotry that stations like 104.1 FM spew. The radio station is part of the Journal Broadcasting Group which owns 52 newspapers, 35 radio stations, 12 television stations and 121 on-line media services throughout the country. It owns an ABC-affiliate TV station and four radio stations, including 104.1 in Tucson alone.

Activists compiled a list of the sponsors who run ads on the Jon Justice show and called them, requesting that they withdraw their advertising. Many businesses were unaware that their advertising package with the Journal Broadcasting Group included 104.1 FM. Enough sponsors withdrew their advertising that the YouTube video was taken down and Jon J no longer screams for the firing of Isabel Garcia on his morning show.

By joining together in solidarity, the progressive community here managed to wound a tentacle of a giant media corporation. The Stop Hate Radio campaign will continue until racists like Jon Justice and the right-wing radio stations that reward him are driven out of business. The campaign will be raised at the Tucson Stop War On Iran action Aug. 2nd where it will be linked as part of the war at home to the war abroad.

More information on the Stop Hate Radio campaign is available online at derechoshumanosaz.net.