Human Rights must be the first concern if we are to survive as a society. To think we can cure border problems by using murder as a deterent is disturbing and it is not working.
I make videos that capture the injustice taking place in Arizona. I believe what is happening here effects us all.
The world needs to be aware and help stop the corruption and racism within Maricopa County as it is already spreading across the United States.
Sheriff Joe Arpaio is only a symbol of a society that has become infected with hatred and fear. What was unacceptable 2 years ago is now becoming common place and just as soldiers in Abu Garab did horrific things, we as a society are condoning unacceptable behavior under a "rule of law" mentality? When does it stop?
While Arizona boasts about its harsh stance on illegal immigration, not one report is made on how many children are without parents.
The local media spends more time covering animal abuse then what is happening to children who lose their parents as a result of racial profiling and unjust immigration policies.
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Wells Fargo joins Arpaio
in protesters' crosshairs
The Arizona Republic Sept 29, 2008
Tired of being ignored, they've taken their message to his doorstep.
More than 50 chanting protesters, playing music and carrying signs disparaging
Sheriff Joe Arpaio, clogged the sidewalk outside the Wells Fargo Building in
downtown Phoenix on Wednesday in an ongoing effort to draw attention to Arpaio's
immigration-enforcement tactics and to pressure the bank to not renew the county's
lease for Arpaio's office space on the building's 18th and 19th floors.
Protesters have gathered on the sidewalks near First Avenue and Washington
Street for the past three weeks, and the effort has spread to other Wells Fargo
locations around the country, drawing protesters from outside the Valley who
are upset with Arpaio's methods.
not criminals," said Jose Morales, a Washington, D.C., resident who flew to
Phoenix to join the protests. "I think what he's doing is not right. That's
what made me fly here from Washington. It's racial profiling, and we're not
going to stand for it." Arpaio said county administrators chose to put his
staff in the bank building, but he does appreciate the attention the protesters
bring. "I love it.
They're building up my polls," said Arpaio, who is running for re-election.
"They're trying to get rid of a tenant, me, by protesting. It's disgusting how
far they will go to make me stop enforcing illegal-immigration laws."
In the string of Arpaio-related protests that have bubbled up in the past year,
starting with the scene outside Pruitt's Furniture and extending to crime sweeps
and Maricopa County Board of Supervisors meetings, the action outside the Wells
Fargo building has become the most persistent. Organizers say they
have no plans to abandon their two-hour weekday vigil outside the bank tower
until the lease is broken on the space the county leases for Arpaio and County
Attorney Andrew Thomas, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement breaks the agreement
that allows Arpaio to perform immigration-enforcement functions.
Those efforts, which have swept up citizens and immigrants in the country legally
along with illegal immigrants, have put Arpaio's office in the spotlight.
Kevin Greathouse said he and other protesters view Wells Fargo as "aiding and
abetting crimes against humanity. They've not only permitted, they've accommodated
the sheriff and the county attorney." Arpaio and dozens of his administrative
staff have been based in the 18th and 19th floors of the bank's building since
Oct. 1, 1998. The agency occupies 31,250 square feet of space, at $19.20 per
square foot, or about $600,000 yearly. An additional $12,000 is tacked
on each month - $144,000 each year - for utilities, property taxes, insurance,
elevator and plumbing maintenance, roof repairs, pest control, landscaping,
cleaning costs, and other services. County Attorney Andrew Thomas'
lease is virtually identical. The protests are the work of a coalition
of local organizations opposed to Arpaio, including Puente, a group that helped
organize the day-labor center in Phoenix's Palomino Neighborhood and led protests
outside Pruitt's Furniture last year.
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2008/09/18/20080918wellsprotest0918.html
September 18
Bay Area Community Groups Call On Wells Fargo Bank To Evict Racist Az Sheriff Joe Arpaio
NNIRR by Arnoldo Garcia
Bay Area Community Groups to Call on Wells Fargo Bank to Evict Racist Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio from WFB Offices in Phoenix, AZ
What: Press conference and picket line to report results of community meeting with representatives of Wells Fargo Bank Corporate Headquarters on national demand to evict Maricopa County Offices and Sheriff Joe Arpaio from Wells Fargo property in Phoenix, AZ.
When: Thursday, September 18, 2008 at 11:30 a.m. PST
Where: In front of the Wells Fargo Bank at 130 Sansome Street, San Francisco, CA
Who: Representatives from the
• Bay Area Immigrant Rights Coalition
• Black Alliance for Just Immigration
• National Day Laborer Organizing Network
•National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights
• San Francisco Day Labor Program
• San Francisco Living Wage Coalition
• Young Workers’ United
Why: Representatives of Bay Area day laborer, community and immigrant rights groups will call on the Wells Fargo Bank to stop leasing offices to Maricopa County Offices, where the notorious Sheriff Joe Arpaio sits, in Arizona. Wells Fargo Bank financially benefits from its lease to Maricopa County, contributing to the state of siege and mass rights violations perpetuated against Latino and migrant communities by Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
As part of a national campaign organized by Arizona Latino, day laborer and other community groups with PUENTE and the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, Bay Area groups are demanding that Wells Fargo evict Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio from Wells Fargo property in Phoenix. Arpaio is carrying out unlawful sweeps and arrests against Latinos in Phoenix and the surrounding county area and harassing, detaining and deporting day laborers. Using illegal racial profiling, Arpaio indiscriminately carries out mass detentions and arrests of Latino citizens and non-citizens. Arpaio also charges migrants with “co-conspiring” to be smuggled into the state under an Arizona state law that makes it a felony to be undocumented in the state.
Contact: http://www.nnirr.org/news/
Rene Saucedo, renee@lrcl.org, or (415) 553-3404
Arnoldo Garcia, agarcia@nnirr.org or (510) 465-1984 ext. 305
For background Information on this campaign, visit:
Puente and Macehualli Day Laborer Program in Phoenix http://puenteaz.org/
National Day Laborer Organizing Network http://www.ndlon.org/
From PUENTE: PEACEFUL DEMONSTRATIONS IN DOWNTOWN PHOENIX For three consecutive weeks, members of PUENTE and individuals from the community have been peacefully demonstrating in front of the Wells Fargo tower on 100 W. Washington. Since September 2, our goal is to create awareness about the financial benefit the banking corporation is receiving from Maricopa County by leasing thousands of square-feet in office space to the Maricopa County Sheriff Office. We are asking Wells Fargo -a financial institution reaching out to thousands of Latino families- to not renew the County's lease and to evict the sheriff and his staff from their luxurious facilities. In doing so, Wells Fargo won't be associated with Sheriff Arpaio and his blatant violations to human and civil rights. We are exercising the freedom of speech and assembly granted by the U.S. and Arizona Constitution by meeting Monday through Friday from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m [in Phoenix].
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