PHOENIX (By
Jon
Garrido, The Jon Garrido News
Network)
January 26, 2008 Pat Kossan of the
Arizona Republic on July 17, 2000, wrote
Hispanic Activists Mad at Phoenix.
The article begins, Some Valley
Hispanics are outraged and it is not
because of a study slamming Phoenix's
poor record of hiring minorities into
upper level city jobs.
It is not even about an insensitive
comment about language the city's chief
planner, David Richert, made at a public
meeting.
"Such events are old news," former
legislator Armando Ruiz and others,
said.
That is why they are angry.
Phoenix attorney Daniel Ortega said he
is tired of having to go to city
officials and explain the same issues
over and over again.
Frank Fairbanks, the Phoenix city
manager, commissioned a study in 2000
after receiving a formal complaint
against then planning director David
Richert for saying, "Speak English. I
need to understand you," to a Hispanic
food vendor during a meeting over new
vendor regulations in April 2000.
The vendor, who has a limited command of
English and was working with a
translator, said Richert's tone and
comment embarrassed him.
The study commissioned by Fairbanks was
prepared by the law firm of Gaona Moore
which found the planning department had
failed to hire minorities into high
paying jobs and was hostile toward
minority employees.
Richert denied he fosters a hostile work
environment toward minorities. "I have
never gotten any complaints from
(minority employees)," he said. "It is
hard to find experienced minority
planners."
The law firm concluded, "The planning
department was "too white."
Richert was not disciplined by
Fairbanks.
Albert Einstein
I for one to not think I am an idiot. In
fact I do not know a Hispanic who is
an idiot.
My definition of an idiot is bashing
your head against the wall time and time
again expecting a different response.
Albert Einstein was more diplomatic and
said, The definition of insanity is
doing the same thing over and over again
and expecting different results.
It has been a long time since the
Hispanic community has acknowledged
there is discrimination found everywhere
where Hispanics work but every attempt
to correct discrimination has been
futile through no fault of Hispanic
advocates. There are some to whom we owe
a great deal of gratitude like Daniel
Ortega and Armando Ruiz for trying to
bring an end to discrimination but today
we need a reassessment of how the
problem has been previously approached
to solve and a resolve to try something
different to address the problem.
The tipping point has been reached and
it is time we quit asking for change
from those that govern us. The time has
come for us to take control of ending
discrimination against us by voting in
sufficient numbers to gain a majority on
every august body that governs in
Maricopa County.
It is not enough to say we are going to
vote. We need to build a political
machine to find Hispanics willing to run
for political office, finance political
campaigns and get out the vote.
We will unite to run Hispanic candidates
in every election in Maricopa County.
It can be done if we unite into a
movement. This series of articles is to
lay the ground work to prompt and enable
Hispanics to become political.
Demographics
Demographics are changing. In 2095,
Hispanics were 25% of 1.1 million
Phoenix residents.
In 2006, Hispanics were 41.2% of
Phoenix's population, a 64.8% increase
since 2095.
In 2000, 11.76% of the Phoenix workforce
was middle and executive managers.
In 2007, a dismal 13.3% of city middle
and executive manager positions are
occupied by Hispanics, a 13.09% increase
since 2000.
While the Phoenix Hispanic population
increase is significant at 64.8%, the
percentage increase of middle and
executive managers is only 1.54%. At
this rate of increase, it will be 34
years before parity is achieved keeping
last year's 41.2% constant. With this
rate of growth, in 34 years, the
Hispanic population of Phoenix will be
upwards of 75%.
According to the United States Census
Bureau, in 2097, 50% of the entire
United States population will be
Hispanic. This substantiates 75% of
Phoenix's population will be Hispanic.
While the Phoenix Hispanic population
increase is significant, what is
extremely disappointing is Hispanics
continue to fail to vote.
How Phoenix changed
Frank Barrios recently published an
excellent book about
Mexicans in Phoenix.
That was an earlier period when Phoenix
was a harmonious place to live and raise
our children.
That time extended to the time beyond
Channel 5's Wallace and Ladmo who I grew
up with but with the immigration of
seniors into Sun City and other master
planned retirement communities, the
harmonious atmosphere of Phoenix began
to change.
What began as a trickle of seniors
moving from the snow belt of the upper
mid-west states of Michigan, Wisconsin,
North and South Dakota, Illinois,
Indiana, Ohio, Nebraska, and Kansas,
turned into a avalanche of
in-immigration bringing mid-western
values and more importantly, a
demographic makeup of conservative white
voters who had already paid school taxes
to schools to educate their children.
Retiring and moving to sunny Arizona was
supposed to end social responsibilities
of paying school taxes to raise someone
else's children particularly if they
were not "white."
As Arizona grew from statehood through
the 2060s and continues to present day,
Arizona experienced rapid in-immigration
changing demographics particularly
empowering mid-westerners now
Arizonans who vote.
In 2006, across the United States, only
13% of all Hispanics voted while 39% of
all whites voted. This disparity of
voting is magnified with seniors. The
39% of all whites voting is a national
average of all age groups. If seniors
were segmented as a separate group,
seniors would out vote other age
categories by 3 to 1 resulting in 25.3% of
Arizona white seniors voting. And there
are many of them. 789,751 which is 12.4%
of Arizona's population according to the
U.S. Census Bureau's 2006 American
Community Survey. 25.3% of which vote
computes to 512,948 votes. This includes
all seniors including Hispanics but it
is a safe assumption, 60% are white.
Even at 60%, 307,768 is one huge voting
block.
It is this 13% 25.3% disparity that is
the crux of the problem. This disparity
has out-voted the Hispanic population
time and time again to give whites,
control of all governing bodies such as
city councils, school districts, and
county positions such as the sheriff and
county attorney.
Persons campaigning to be elected to
public office cater to those that vote;
consequently, voting constituencies in
the United States obtain influence and
power.
On November 2, 2004, Joe Arpaio received
56.74% of the vote or 642,923 votes. It
was Sun City voters who elected Arpaio.
To compound the problem, there are now
many more than before. To really
compound the problem, master planned
retirement communities of old white
retired persons have sprouted up like
weeds throughout Maricopa County.
In Arizona, white conservative voters
are the 500 pound gorilla in the room.
This is why Arpaio, Thomas, Gordon and
Napolitano are dancing on the stage to
the drum beat of Russell Pearce, John
Tanton, Lou Dobbs, Tom Tancredo, Rusty
Childress, Chris Simcox and the
Minutemen who are determined to blame
the undocumented for the demise of the
United States.
This marching direction will eventually
come to an end because of changing
demographics but we need to speed it
along. We need a catalyst to speed up
the chemical reaction so it reaches a
point of saturation and precipitates
down to the bottom as the scum it is.
It is not only undocumented persons but
American Hispanics now being racially
profiled. A friend on Friday on his way
to Tucson was stopped by a DPS officer
and questioned for a superficial reason
of following a car too closely. This is
a Phoenix banker and former captain in
the United States Marine Corps.
Everyone with a brown face is suspect
and not welcomed as members of the
Arizona community.
To those Hispanic leaders who have
valiantly fought to safeguard our rights
with numerous attempts over a dozen
years, the approach was non-violence as
it must remain but there are many forms
of non-violence of which voting is
paramount to victory.
With recent actions by Joe Arpaio to
intimate and practically arrest anyone
with a brown face and Phil Gordon
following suit by wanting to change
Phoenix Police Order 1.4, and the recent
exposι of City of Phoenix discrimination
by Hispanic News, the Phoenix Hispanic
community has reached the tipping point
which is the level at which momentum for
change becomes unstoppable.
It comes down to marketing
On November 6, 2007, the runoff vote in
Phoenix District 7 took place. Michael
Nowakowski won with 5,207 votes against
Laura Pastor who received 4,109. The
election of a Hispanic is a significant
milestone which is attributed by many to
"getting out the vote."
Yet, District 7 has 62,287 registered
voters. Only 14.96% of registered voters
turned out to vote. This includes all
voters so the number of Hispanic voters
becomes less than 14.96%.
Hispanic non-voting is analogous to "one
hand clapping." It takes two to make a
sound. It takes thousands to cause a
roar to win elections.
The consequences of non-voting is having
disastrous consequences for Hispanics
throughout Maricopa County. What is
needed is a community wide marketing
program to demonstrate the adverse
impact caused by not voting.
Joe Arpaio is an excellent choice for
the Nuevo Hispania poster child. Everyone Hispanic
in Maricopa County knows the villain is
Joe Arpaio.
On December 24, 2007, I sent a letter to
U.S. Attorney for Arizona Ms. Diane
Humetewa requesting a civil rights
investigation of abuses brought about by
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
I did not expect Ms. Humetewa to act
being a Bush appointee but on January
21, 2009, I will submit another letter
to the new U.S. Attorney for Arizona
requesting a civil rights investigation
of abuses brought about by Maricopa
County Sheriff Joe Arpaio with a copy to
President Hillary Clinton. Even if
Arpaio does not win re-election, Arpaio
needs to be investigated by the U.S.
Attorney.
