After an ACLU of Arizona panel discussion on medical marijuana on Wednesday, April 27, I talked a few minutes with Pima County Supervisor Richard Elias, who told me Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry’s office was flooded that day with phone calls asking Huckelberry to fire public defense attorney Isabel Garcia and Elias for encouraging students to “riot” at the Tuesday meeting.
Why were the calls coming in? They were listeners of local conservative radio personality Jon Justice, who was encouraging listeners to not only call Huckelberry, but to also call TUSD Superintendent John Pedicone to fire governing board members Adelita Grijalva and Judy Burns for allowing students to “riot.”
First, you can’t fire elected officials, and Justice has already tried, albeit unsuccessfully, to get Garcia fired. Elias seemed good humored about the radio jock’s continuous schtick, so he’ll probably have good laugh over this video gem.
Enjoy:
This article appears in Apr 28 – May 4, 2011.
And they SHOULD loose their jobs over their irresponsible decisions. Good job Jon! Keep it up!!
While only voters can fire elected officials, there were quite a few public employees who should lose their jobs over the mob action at TUSD last week.
Isabel Garcia should be fired for threatening a security guard who was only doing his job trying to stop the mob. When an officer of the court aids and abets illegal activity that is grounds for firing.
UA Professor Roberto “Cintli” Rodriguez should be fired for his role in standing on a table in the Board Room while directing the student mob. At the very least this dangerous act should be grounds for TUSD to prevent contact between him and any K-12 students…just as they would with any other individual who is a danger to young students.
Several teachers in the Raza Studies program should be fired for their multiple roles in this fiasco. Jose Gonzalez, one of those teachers, was even using a stick to intimidate people who disagreed with the students. There should certainly be an investigation as to whether or not TUSD class time was used to prepare for the illegal takeover of the Board Room, and whether TUSD equipment was used to prepare or copy the flyers handed out by students at the Board Room. The last time Raza teachers were arrested for breaking the law, some foolish judge dropped the charges because being convicted would have led to the loss of their teaching credentials.
Let the firings commence – let’s get with the program and stop this nonsense – such displays are not noble. In fact, they’re ignorant – a black eye to the community…encouraging little activists who don’t have a clue. Shame on you.
This is Tucson, can we fire this Jon Justice who has his head up the ass of the racists, homophobes, and neo-Nazi lovers in Phoenix? We should be able to deport him like he’d love to deport everyone who isn’t his exact skin color!
Yes, by all means. Let’s teach our children to have no convictions, to not stand up for themselves, to cave immediately to any and all perceived authority. It’s the American Way.
And for Pete’s sake, woman, the word is “lose” not “loose”. If you want to have an opinion on education, it might be an idea to get one first.
I agree–Jon Justice must be fired for inciting racism in our county. As one who was born in Phx and lived 30 yrs. in Tucson, this hateful rhetoric that’s “blown in with the wind” has got to go. We’ve lived peacefully here in the Southwest for decades before outside instigators, prompted by loads of money, have come here attempting to do nothing but cause trouble and attempt to take over our state. Get over it! You live in the Southwest–why don’t you try “melding in with the locals” and enjoy the atmosphere of our beautiful city?…or, maybe you’re just a paid shill….a tool.
Now I know where all those ugly, hateful comments that I read in local media comment spaces come from: “morons…idiots…thugs…punks” and “hahahahahaha.” Since I’ve never listened to this “excuse for a human being” before, I didn’t know. Maybe he’s just been promoting his own job security by those postings. But, people around the country are now avoiding AZ because of people like him. And, who is this “we”–who don’t like this and that, that he speaks of?
Mr. Justice, do you know that “civil disobedience” is a huge part of what makes America? We are a “melting pot”–a collection of human beings, who are not to be divided by racism and bigotry. Next time you spout, “moron, idiot, thug, punk”–look in the mirror.
All I want is for the Tucson Weekly comments section to not become as hateful and racist as the Daily Star’s (see: the first three comments on this blog post). It is a big reason why I stopped visiting the Daily Star website, even just for news.
Isabel knows better than to provoke. Does she need the publicity that bad? Time to retire Isabel.
Ms. Herreras, when are you going to do some true investigative journalism and investigate where and if improprieties exist in this program and debate? Justice is a distraction and easy target but your blogger friend has already declared that “The only people that get hurt is always at the hands of the police, and that will be the case this Tuesday at TUSD.” Is that a prediction? I do not want to see violence. If students get hurt, I hope you get to the root of where UNIDOS get $$$? Did that out of town group send them cash to buy chains? Who was the check made out to?
At what point can people actually have a meeting and discuss an issue? If all we do is shout people down we are not discussing anything. Bring it up and discuss it from multiple points of view, for a fixed period of time, then vote. When you refuse to allow a discussion you must be hiding something, like maybe the truth?
WOW. It seems that once people decide which side they are on during any controversy the opposite side only has idiots morons bigots and racist. Chose the side wisely you are defined by others because your beliefs and opinions differ from theirs.
Teach the kids what they need to know to make a decent living as adults. Teach them to respect. These people that call themselves educators teaching hate and disrespect need to find themselves and ask why. I am Mexican-American, born and raised in Tucson. I attended Tucson public schools and not once did any of my teachings include hate and disrespect. I am sorry this is happening.
The comment about people avoiding AZ is true. We live on the east coast and have taken yearly, sometimes twice yearly, vacations in AZ since 1985. We still have great memories of wonderful trips taken throughout the state, and being avid birders and hikers, we have been everywhere. We’ve been looking at AZ real estate for several years on the Internet and have made several trips to southern AZ to look at properties. The national news stations portray Tucson as a crazy place that visitors and woud-be retirees should avoid. Our friends have been questioning us for a while about why we would want to visit, and actually consider buying a property there. We’ve decided that we’re better off just visiting the area for a few weeks at a time, and not commit ourselves to buying a property.
Well Sharon, if you want to listen to talking head on the national news to find out where you should live and visit, you have bigger problems with your life. Tucson is a great place to live, work and retire. SB 1070 is not racist and anyone who thinks that is not trusting their law enforcement to enforce the law. The only reason you might want to not move to Tucson is how our city council has not adequately funded our police force since the late 1990’s. We have the same amount of police officers that we did 10 years ago. Nothing against our officers, they are some of the best in the country. It is not their fault the council and the residents don’t want to cut funding or raise property taxes to help properly fund out cops.
That being said, I still pick Tucson over most medium sized cities. We have wonderful restaurants, resorts, and surrounding by a National Forest and four mountain ranges. Don’t let a bunch of talking heads make you feel that Tucson is a “crazy place.”
This whole “civil disobedience” is part of American culture does not relate the these children. Children have NO SAY in what classes happening in school. They do not pay taxes, if a child wants a class to continue. They need to tell their parents (who pay taxes and the budget of the school) to complain to the school council. Civil Disobedience is about injustice that happens in a community. Discussing the idea of making La Raze Studies a elective and not be allowed to replace actual American History is not a injustice. Personally, I agree with that stance. We are all Americans and need to learn AMERICAN HISTORY. If you want to learn a subset of history involving this area, that is fine with me. However, it should not replace general American History.
This whole issue of La Raze Studies, legal and illegal immigration, Illegal Aliens needs to take a step back and listen to one of our greatest Presidents….
“In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person’s becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American…There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn’t an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag… We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language… and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people.”
“We can have no ’50-50′ allegiance in this country. Either a man is an American and nothing else, or he is not an American at all.”
Theodore Roosevelt
I pray every day that I was blessed to have been born in America, by American parents; to have benefited by the struggles and suffering of them and our countrymen who also served and died for all of our freedoms. With those freedoms come great responsibilities, which those who are rioting for Mexican studies.
Like the other writer stated very eloquently, “we only have one flag; one language”. Be amazingly grateful to be here in the US, instead of places in Africa, Central America, and the Middle East.
I would actually like to see some of these angry posters actually go out and read the Mexican-American studies textbooks, and maybe sit in on some of these classes. While I did not attend TUSD, the charter school (GASP!) that I graduated from required ‘Chicano Studies’ as a core curriculum course, along with another class called ‘Tolerance.’ Both were highly informative, presented an interesting chapter in local history, and helped expand my horizons and understanding of humanity. I feel that having to take those classes opened my eyes to different cultures, and the shared role that they have in our community. The idea that anyone would find such a constructive exercise ‘hateful’ or even wasteful is frankly disgusting. These classes played a large role in the college major that I selected, and have helped tremendously in my personal and professional life.
Sincerely,
A white, Protestant, male from Tucson.