ongoing racist bullshit in arizona thread

We need one of these.

Altered mural fuels racial debate in Arizona

By Dennis Wagner, USA TODAY
A group of artists has been asked to lighten the faces of children depicted in a large public mural at a Prescott, Ariz., school.

The project's leader says he was ordered to lighten the skin tone after complaints about the children's ethnicity. But the school's principal says the request was only to fix shading and had nothing to do with political pressure.

The "Go on Green" mural, which covers two walls outside Miller Valley Elementary School, was designed to advertise a campaign for environmentally friendly transportation. It features portraits of four children, with a Hispanic boy as the dominant figure.

R.E. Wall, director of Prescott's Downtown Mural Project, said he and other artists were subjected to slurs from motorists as they worked on the painting at one of the town's most prominent intersections.

"We consistently, for two months, had people shouting racial slander from their cars," Wall said. "We had children painting with us, and here come these yells of (epithet for Blacks) and (epithet for Hispanics)."

Wall said school Principal Jeff Lane pressed him to make the children's faces appear happier and brighter.

"It is being lightened because of the controversy," Wall said, adding that "they want it to look like the children are coming into light."

Lane said that he received only three complaints about the mural and that his request for a touch-up had nothing to do with political pressure. "We asked them to fix the shading on the children's faces," he said. "We were looking at it from an artistic view. Nothing at all to do with race."

City Councilman Steve Blair spearheaded a public campaign on his talk show at Prescott radio station KYCA-AM (1490) to remove the mural.

In a broadcast last month, according to the Daily Courier in Prescott, Blair mistakenly complained that the most prominent child in the painting is African-American, saying: "To depict the biggest picture on the building as a Black person, I would have to ask the question: Why?"

Blair could not be reached for comment Thursday. In audio archives of his radio show, Blair discusses the mural. He insists the controversy isn't about racism but says the mural is intended to create racial controversy where none existed before.

"Personally, I think it's pathetic," he says. "You have changed the ambience of that building to excite some kind of diversity power struggle that doesn't exist in Prescott, Arizona. And I'm ashamed of that."

Faces in the mural were drawn from photographs of children enrolled at Miller Valley, a K-5 school with 380 students and the highest ethnic mix of any school in Prescott. Wall said thousands of town residents volunteered or donated to the project, the fourth in a series of community murals painted by a group of artists known as the "Mural Mice."

The public art, funded by a $5,000 state grant through the Prescott Alternative Transportation Center, was selected by school students and faculty.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-06-04-altered-mural-arizona-race-debate_N.htm

City Councilman Steve Blair spearheaded a public campaign on his talk show at Prescott radio station KYCA-AM (1490) to remove the mural.

In a broadcast last month, according to the Daily Courier in Prescott, Blair mistakenly complained that the most prominent child in the painting is African-American, saying: "To depict the biggest picture on the building as a Black person, I would have to ask the question: Why?"

Blair could not be reached for comment Thursday. In audio archives of his radio show, Blair discusses the mural. He insists the controversy isn't about racism but says the mural is intended to create racial controversy where none existed before.

ASLSL;DLFKPEFDSFMIOSO

oh ffs

sayin

i can't even comprehend that this is happening... it like makes me angry beyond angry

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijeXGv9QLRc

fwiw:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2010/06/09/2010-06-09_prescott_city_councilman_steve_blair_loses_radio_host_job_over_bashing_minoritie.html

Prescott City Councilman Steve Blair loses radio host job over bashing minorities in school mural

An Arizona city has seen the light.

A Prescott politician who mocked an elementary school mural featuring minority students was axed from his radio talk-show and now faces a mounting recall campaign.

Last week, artists who painted the mural that promoted green transportation were told by the school to lighten the children's faces. Tuesday, they were told to restore the original tones of the faces, the Arizona Republic reports.

"I am not a racist individual," City Councilman Steve Blair said on a his radio show last month, "but I will tell you depicting a black guy in the middle of that mural, based upon who's President of the United States today and based upon the history of this community, when I grew up we had four black families - who I have been very good friends with for years - to depict the biggest picture on that building as a black person, I would have to ask the question, 'Why?'"

He added that diversity is a word "I can't stand."

A Hispanic boy is the most prominent figure in the mural.

The controversy raged as the state deals with praise and anger over its harsh immigration law.

Blair, Tuesday, denied he's racist and declared his intention to remain in office.

In a news conference, the politician complained the artists and school officials should have educated him on the meaning of the "Go on Green" mural.

"That might have helped clue me," Blair said. "They assumed because I asked the question [about the painting] that I was a racist and a bigot."

The owner of the radio station dumped Blair because his words "could be interpreted as racist." However, he said Blair wasn't racist, just someone who "puts his foot in his mouth."

Meanwhile, some Prescott residents want Blair, who's served for six years, out of office, too.

Barbara Braswell, who is mother to four children of mixed races, said she needs more than 2,800 signatures to get a recall election on this November's ballot.

Miller Valley Elementary School Principal Jeff Lane apologized for directing artists to lighten the skin color of the children.

"They [the artists] are going back to the way this was originally," Lane said.

Ebert on the mural & broader thoughts about race in general

the first report is really elegantly damning, but i suppose the facts speak 4 themselves

I am kind of sad to be moving to AZ for grad school when all this bullshit is happening, but also a tiny bit relieved, in that at least I'll be able to vote against some of this shit, or have more of a political voice bcz of being a citizen there.

Can this Steve Blair guy put together a coherent sentence?

ppl h8

"I am not a racist individual," City Councilman Steve Blair said on a his radio show last month, "but...

when I grew up we had four black families - who I have been very good friends with for years

classic signposts or what

Man, Ebert these days just has a writing voice like ... I dunno. He's come out into this sort of plainspoken-Midwestern hard-won-wisdom voice where even when he's making a pretty conventional point, it gets me in the gut.

xpost - the best part of that is the unfortunate wording of "we had four black families"

ebert's always been a very -- very -- gifted writer.

I somehow never knew that Roger Ebert was such an all-around wonderful person, and not just "the movie guy", until like 6 months back. But he has quickly become a favorite.

iirc, his movie criticism tends to veer into broader cultural criticism. he isn't frank rich, in that respect (i.e., made the jump from entertainment criticism to opinion pieces), but he's no stranger to addressing broader social issues.

Eberts the man!

He is a dude (and apparently dated my step-aunt in the '70s).

Yeah. And I had no idea he was in SDS!

(that stands for Suzy's Date Society)

that ebert piece is very affecting.

watching the youtube of that radio host kinda made me sick.

"Personally, I think it's pathetic," he says. "You have changed the ambience of that building to excite some kind of diversity power struggle that doesn't exist in Prescott, Arizona. And I'm ashamed of that."

worst line of all imo

some kind of diversity power struggle that doesn't exist in Prescott, Arizona

some kind of
diversity power
struggle
that
doesn't exist
in
Prescott, Arizona

because having non-white people in a painting is obviously an attempt to create a "diversity power struggle"

ffs

Damn and now border patrol agents are killing Mexicans for throwing rocks over the border!!

T.J. Bonner, president of the union representing Border Patrol agents, said rock throwing aimed at Border Patrol agents is common and capable of causing serious injury.
"It is a deadly force encounter, one that justifies the use of deadly force," Bonner said.

This country is fucking embarrassing sometimes.

if you don't like it, leave, asshole

just kidding, this country fuckin blows

DUH IM AMERICA I DONT WANT SOCIALIST DOCTORS BECAUSE THE TEEVEE MAN TOLD ME SO BUT LET ME KEEP MY MEDICAID DERP DERP DERP

now i'm not a racist individual

but seriously guys....

black people

is basically what he said

and then the classic "some of my best friends are black"

And he can't tell the diff btwn black people and mexican people. WTG guy.

"some of the people I have are black friends"

"'friends'"

I am no racist, but the artist KNEW those kids were Mud Peoples when he threw them all up in our lillywhite faces.

man ebert is really a hero

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/06/arpaio_backs_az_state_treasurers_plan_to_create_te.php

Dean Martin, Arizona state treasurer and Republican candidate for governor, is pushing a plan that would create "tent cities" to house convicted illegal immigrants, modeled after notorious anti-immigration Sheriff Joe Arpaio's set-up in his own Maricopa County.

In an interview with TPM, Martin described how the tent cities would provide "inexpensive temporary housing" that could save the state enough money to deploy troops down to the border.

Has anybody died of heatstroke in Arpaio's tent city? Seems inevitable.

https://coreycr0708.wikispaces.com/file/view/Order_9066.jpg/34427571/Order_9066.jpg

Arpaio needs to go to fucking jail like YESTERDAY. Hate him so goddamn much.

Real talk.

It's like God decided just for laughs to let a James Ellroy character exist IRL and gave him teflon skin just for good measure.

http://thenationalrazor.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/deanmartin1.jpg

hi there. i'm state treasurer dean martin, and i'm running for governor.

Reminds me of the vampire-hating preacher in True Blood.

I have a friend who was on one of Arpaio's chain gangs back in the 90s. Yes, he's Hispanic.

personally i think he's one of the best sheriffs this country has ever had

he's got stiff competition from a bunch of other racist yahoos tho

i don't normally wish death on people but i hope someone fucking impales this worthless hateful excuse for a human with a rusty pickaxe

― The Reverend, Friday, May 11, 2012 2:21 PM (1 hour ago)

thank you for focusing your reactionary hyperbole on a single lightning rod of a guy instead of an entire state made up of all kinds of people : )

you're very welcome XD

rev's (hyperbolically phrased) ire against this "single lightning rod of a guy" seems entirely warranted to me

I wouldn't really describe that reaction as hyperbolic, after Breitbart died I was thinking of the very few people i would really like to see dead, and Arpaio definitely makes the list.

You guys remember the whole 'sloth' sequence in Se7en, right? So it makes sense if I say something like, "I want Joe Arpaio to get 'sloth'-ed", yeah? I just wanna make sure y'all would understand the context if I were to ever use that particular verb form in a sentence, is all.

I wouldn't really describe that reaction as hyperbolic

on principle, i think it's best to describe all death threats, no matter how vague, as "hyperbolic"

it was hyperbolic tbrr

There was a point not too long ago that it was almost all, aww, Sheriff Joe, how cute! Maybe around the 60 Minutes profile? Clearly he was horrific back then, but perhaps we were all in collective denial when they trotted out the prisoners in pink jumpsuits, eating bologna on white bread? I want to say it was before his xenophobia and anti-immigrant rhetoric ratcheted up.

rev's (hyperbolically phrased) ire against this "single lightning rod of a guy" seems entirely warranted to me

― 10. “Pour Some Sugar On Me” – Tom Cruise (contenderizer), Friday, May 11, 2012 4:28 PM (3 hours ago)

yes, contenderizzzzer, it is.

especially compared to:

fuck this worthless nazi state.

― how's life, Thursday, May 3, 2012 3:57 AM (1 week ago)

JoeStork

who is how's life anyway (assuming it's a reg)

ILX2 NEW USERNAME TRANSLATOR COMPENDIUM

sorry zonies. your nazis are a pretty intense breed though.

damn, i don't think i've caught onto any of your names since, kkvgz. i liked that one anyway and never had the vajazzle association.

i've been fucking up all over with the screennames.

what a disaster

Arizona!

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/05/arizona_ken_bennett_obama_birth_certificate_birther.php

Bennett, the state’s No. 2 elected official just below Gov. Jan Brewer (R), said his investigation isn’t personal. He said the reason he started looking into it is because he got more than 1,200 emails asking him to do so after Arpaio’s investigation came out.

Hey, can we coordinate an effort to send him 1,201 emails asking him to die in a fire?

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/07/20/554471/aclu-emails-from-author-of-sb-1070-prove-racial-motivation/

“Battles commence as Mexican nationalists struggle to infuse their men into American government and strengthen control over their strongholds. One look at Los Angeles with its Mexican-American mayor shows you Vincente Fox’s general Varigossa commanding an American city.”

"Varigossa"

“Corruption is the mechanism by which Mexico operates. Its people spawn more corruption wherever they go because it is their only known way of life.”

“Tough, nasty illegals and their advocates grow in such numbers that law and order will not subdue them. They run us out of our cities and states. They conquer our language and our schools. They render havoc and chaos in our schools.”

“We are much like the Titanic as we inbreed millions of Mexico’s poor, the world’s poor and we watch our country sink.”

qfjfc

“I’m racist because I don’t want to be taxed to pay for a prison population comprised of mainly Hispanics, Latinos, Mexicans or whatever else you wish to call them.”

“I’m a racist because I believe the News Media has a duty to tell us the names and race of criminals.”

“I’m a racist because I object to having to pay higher sales tax and property tax to build more schools for the illegitimate children of illegal aliens.”

“I’m a racist because I dislike having to push one for English and/or listening to a message in Spanish.”

"the emails, acquired through a public records request, are to and from the author of SB 1070, recalled Arizona Senate President Russell Pearce (R)."

are the quotes from Pearce, then, or are they excerpts from emails that were written TO Pearce?

good question, i didn't catch that

i'm looking through the emails (http://www.azcentral.com/kpnx/pdf/Pochada-pearce-emails.pdf) and yep, he wrote all of that stuff. wow. people elected this guy. representative democracy.

the problem with representative democracy is that it looks like you

at least the dude was recalled

“I’m a racist because I dislike having to push one for English and/or listening to a message in Spanish.”

Fuck man this is annoying enough as a facebook meme, acting like having 3 seconds added to your IVRU message is some unparalleled burden, but as a reason to legislate something like this....asdgbv/oagbviujsfw vc ufraw

http://azstarnet.com/business/local/az-senate-businesses-citing-religion-should-be-able-to-refuse/article_ec0ebb05-a8a2-5fc3-bc64-217ef180f44f.html

http://mediamatters.org/blog/2014/02/28/joe-arpaios-racist-roast-and-other-stories-from/198268

Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne laid down the basic comic framework for his fellow roasters, totaling a dozen conservative dignitaries of local and national reputation. "Apologies to the Civic Center," said Horne, "but half of the kitchen staff was arrested tonight upon arrival of Joe and his deputies. Because of a budget crunch, the sheriff's cutting way back. No more green baloney for prisoners -- just an extra beating at suppertime. Over the years, Joe's touched many people. We know because many are now pressing charges."

Chuckling throughout Horne's routine on stage next to Arpaio was Russell Pearce, a recalled state senator with a documented fondness for neo-Nazi websites, and the primary architect of Arizona's controversial immigration bill S.B. 1070. Pearce smiled as his one-time ally in the 1070 fight, Arizona State Rep. John Kavanagh, began his set asking, "How many Hispanics did you pull over on the way over here, Arpaio?" He later added, "All these years I figured he was rounding up Hispanics because you had a grudge from [fighting in] the Spanish-American War. But if you were in the Korean War, how come you're not rounding up Asians?" Kavanagh was doing a bit about the difficulties of dining out with Arpaio -- "When we go into a restaurant, most of the wait staff and cooks dive out the back window" -- when he spotted a passing waiter who appeared to be Hispanic holding a platter of stuffed chickens, and screamed, "There's a brave one! Get him! Sic 'em!"

holy fuck

https://www.azag.gov/

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2014/07/arizona_immigration_checkpoint_criticism_border_patrol_harasses_people_and.html

Crossing an interior immigration checkpoint in Arizona is a puzzling experience. A curious visitor from a peaceful foreign country driving around the state who happened upon a checkpoint for the first time might well wonder, on the basis of the cursory questions and inspections, why, exactly, the checkpoints are present. Visitors from countries wracked by military rule, coups, or civil wars, where checkpoints are routine instruments of control—and sometimes sites of violence and extortion—might feel more at home.

When an agent gives the OK—a nod, a “have a good day, now”—a traveler cannot help but feel a surge of virtue or a rush of relief.

peace god

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2014/09/15/republican-forced-sterilization/

"nothing conservative about facism"

fascism otoh

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/10/arizona-teacher-fired-after-25-years-for-defending-student-from-racist-bullying/

http://www.12news.com/story/news/local/valley/2015/07/24/judge-chastises-arpaios-lawyers-for-withholding-records/30648363/

well shit

This is the least racist bullshit you've ever seen.

knew this was coming, still so fuckin angry

what a farce

so i guess he's legalized racial profiling?

not quite. he's simply stating that in his view arpaio's willful, knowing and deliberate racial profiling, pursued consistently against thousands of people over decades, deserves clemency for unknown and unstated reasons.

thx for clarifying

Accepting a pardon is an explicit admission that you were guilty of the underlying crime, right?

You might think, but, no.