My first blog was a rant against Sheriff Joe Arpaio. This is not a rant. It’s a direct request to his supporters to rethink their support of him and an attempt by me to be more understanding of their concerns however much I disagree with them.  Through his own deeds his support has waned but I know he has many friends — perhaps you.

I realize that there might have been something comfortable  even quaint about having the nation’s toughest sheriff, as he promoted himself. It was almost economic development. It no longer is. He is a national joke.

I know that he represents the way things were and the way many would like things to be. The state’s a little browner and in most of our lives, certainly in our children’s lives, the majority of this state will be non-white.  The whole country is more divided. Okay, it’s irritating when someone at the drive through window who speaks in his language or with an accent does not quite understand you. Or when someone at the pharmacy talks with an accent and you have to struggle to understand. For the most part no one likes change, and Arizona HAS and IS changing. Continue reading →