Immigration Clearinghouse

Arpaio has the geratol crowd dampening their Depends as he recounts his heroic adventures in Maricopa County

Joe Arpaio, America’s #1 violator of civil rights made a trip to Houston this past weekend to push his 2008 toilet companion, Joe’s Law.

250 persons shelled out $30 a pop to hear Joe rattle on about how great he and his book are. Joe also had copies of Joe’s Law for sale, and was autographing them.

His visit was sponsored by the organizations Texans for Immigration Reform and U.S. Border Watch, both of which have been tagged as “nativist extremist” groups by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

What’s in the book? Prose worthy of being used to wipe your ass after a long night of pickled eggs and cheap beer.

Self promoting fantasies like the one wherein he claims credit for busting the French Connection, says he pulled over Elvis, spins his nickname “Nickel Bag Joe” as a positive thing (though it’s not), insists the Mexican mafia along with Phoenix immigration activist Elias Bermudez and some rogue minutemen conspired to off him once (though this is bullshit., too)!

The sheriff was in his element, surrounded by an adoring, lily-white audience of geezers, with video cameras capturing his usual shuck and jive.

And appropriately enough, Sheriff Joe was introduced to the Geritol crowd by former Border Patrol Agent and convicted Felon Ignacio Ramos. Birds of a feather as they say.

It was a gathering of racists and xenophobes, as you would expect with the star power of Sheriff Joe. If you weren’t white, it just wasn’t right, as some reporters discovered.

Liana Lopez, who writes for the Houston Press

Lopez relates that as she was reporting on Arpaio’s appearance, she was “followed around by some attendees with cameras,” and was stared at with suspicion. At one point, she was “approached by a woman who told her that she didn’t like Lopez and that she didn’t belong there.” The woman, Lopez said, was white, and later hid her face from Lopez’s camera. Lopez is a Latina. (and a damned cute one at that!)

Several members of the crowed “shunned the camera as I took pictures of them.” Lopez recounted.

They should be. They need to crawl back under their rocks.

Another example of outright bigotry came when one audience member shouted his disapproval of the sheriff of Harris County, of which Houston’s a part of.

According to Lopez.when Arpaio turned his attention to missing Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia, things got ugly. Someone in the crowd yelled out,`”He’s only sheriff because he’s Mexican.’”

Huh?

Local Activist iliana Castrillón shows Arpaio's "2009 Bull Connor Award". Very appropriate for the times

But Joe didn’t go away empty handed. Local Activist Liliana Castrillón gave Sheriff Joe an award on the sly, which she dubbed, “The 2009 Bull Connor Award for his `promotion of racial discrimination, disregard of human rights, abuse of power and general hatred of Mexicans.”

Close up of Arpaio's coveted award. It probably gave him a big ol woody being compared to the infamous Connor

Way to go girl!
Photo Credits – Liana Lopez

There is a wealth of photos of the event here