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November 15, 2007 - 9:55PM
Arpaio clarifies KKK remarks
Dennis Welch, Tribune
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said on national television earlier this week that “it’s an honor” to be compared to the Ku Klux Klan.
On Thursday, he clarified what he meant: While it’s not an honor to be compared to a Nazi or a Klansman, it is an honor that his critics have stooped to name-calling because he’s been so effective in combating illegal immigration.
“What I’m trying to say is it’s an honor to enforce the law, so when they blast me it doesn’t bother me. It makes them look stupid,” he said.
Arpaio appeared on CNN’s “Lou Dobbs Tonight” on Monday, and he was asked to respond to critics who question his tactics in enforcing illegal immigration.
“Well, you know, they call you KKK. They did me. I think it’s an honor, right? It means we’re doing something,” Arpaio said, according to transcripts of the show.
After nearly half a day of telephone calls with the Tribune on Thursday, the sheriff’s communications staff added it was an “off-the-cuff remark.”
However, Rev. Oscar Tillman, the executive director of the local NAACP, said there is no honor in being compared to the KKK and cautioned Arpaio to be more thoughtful with his words in the future.
“I am very disappointed that the sheriff would say something like that,” he said. “We don’t condone any form of what the KKK stands for. We hope he’ll be more careful.”
Recently, some groups have accused the sheriff of being a racist, a charge he says is unfair and dismisses as cheap political tactics. Last summer a doctored picture of Arpaio in a Klansman outfit standing in front of a burning cross was circulated on the Internet. Under the picture the caption read: “Found guilty for doing the jobs Nobody wants. Arpaio New Political Career KKK.”
Elias Bermudez of Immigrants without Borders received it as an e-mail and then forwarded it on to others saying he agreed with its sentiments, according to published reports.
Arpaio immediately condemned the picture and Bermudez for sending it.
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