SB1070 opponents protest outside Phoenix jail
What started out as a lunch appointment in downtown Phoenix turned into a protest outside the Fourth Avenue Jail.
As I approached Washington, I noticed that traffic was being diverted and even light rail service had been suspended. Some people were going about their usual business, others were waking in groups toward Fourth Avenue.
The presence of law enforcement was heavy along Washington, but I was surprised to see that there were no protesters outside of the Wells Fargo Building on Central and Washington which houses the offices of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio. It has been reported that the sheriff will conduct another “crime suppression sweep” today. These sweeps have been known to be largely held in ares where they’re likely to net undocumented aliens.
Fourth Avenue was a different story. The sheriff’s office had a jail transport bus at either end of the block in front of the jail. For an entire city block, there was a sea of humanity – hundreds of people, shouting, chanting, and cheering. There were bullhorns, a telltale sign of an organized protest. There were people on both sides of the issue, which was evident by the signs that they carried and the tee shirts that they wore. “We’re not racist, we’re right”. “SB1070 = Hate”. “We will not comply.” Tee shirts with pro-immigration and anti-SB1070 slogans were for sale. Protesters were as young as five years old, in the company of parents. It is reported that many of the protesters were bussed in from Los Angeles. As someone who witnessed the civil rights protests of the 1960s as well as those against the Viet Nam war, I would venture to say that this protest was organized. It was likely chartered weeks ago.
At about noon, protesters hung a banner over the main entrance to the jail, which read, “n uno mas” or “not one more”. It was interesting to say that the message was generic and had nothing to do with Arizona’s controversial immigration law, SB1070, which was allegedly the point of the protest. It is also interesting to note that the protest went on despite a favorable ruling from a federal judge that stripped the controversial portions out of the bill by means of a temporary injunction against their enforcement.
The Community Relations Division of the Department of Justice had at least a half dozen representatives in white polo shirts emblazoned with the DOJ seal. The leader of this delegation told me that they had just got in from Oakland, California, where a protest over the killing of a black man by a white police officer triggered some brief civil unrest. Their job, as the leader explained to me, was to work with both sides of the issue and promote compromise. Their presence to me was another indicator that this protest had been planned in advance.
A young Hispanic man who appeared to be in his late teens approached a deputy in riot gear. “How does it feel to be a racist pig?”, he asked. He continued to berate and insult the deputy, who maintained a stoic stance completely ignoring what was being said to him. Pig. Another throwback to the 1960s. I left whatever journalistic objectivity that I may have come with aside and said to the young punk, “It’s a lot cooler inside that jail than it is out here. It would almost be worth it to lay your ass flat out on the pavement just to get a few hours of break from the heat.” He got quiet. The deputy cracked a smile. That was about the closest to violence that I saw during this event.
The crowd in front of the jail grew to several hundred protesters. It seemed to me that there were almost as many cameras as there were signs. News helicopters orbited at a safe distance from each other. Several different groups chanted their protest until finally the huge steel doors of the Fourth Avenue Jail opened. Heavily armed Sheriff’s deputies, dozens of them, marched toward the crown forcing them onto the sidewalk on either side of the street. The crowd control was very professional and highly effective as protesters stopped blocking the street and re-assembled on the sidewalks. A line of armed deputies formed a human shield in front of a tall stepladder. When the ladder was up and in place, a sheriff’s department official dressed in civilian clothes climbed the ladder and removed the sign.
The People’s Right to Assemble is a precious right guaranteed by our constitution. Provided laws aren’t broken in the process, protesting can be a very effective way of getting one’s point across. Regardless of how you feel about the subject at hand, the right of these folks to protest is absolute and should be respected. The manner in which MCSO controlled the crowd and eventually brought this entire episode to resolution is to be commended.
(Story and photos by Steve Miller)
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4 Responses to “SB1070 opponents protest outside Phoenix jail”
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Fucking retards, although it would have been the perfect place to test a nuke.
Quit protesting and get a damn job. A lot of spoon fed whiny college kids there.
Wow!
Wow = World of Wetbacks?