An Arizona radio shock-jock named Jon Justice (oh, the irony) recently targeted Pima Country Legal Defender Isabel Garcia with a truly disgusting hate-speech campaign. Pima helped organize a protest of Sheriff Joe Arpaio -- a man known for scores of immigration raids, blocking female inmates' access to abortion, and some stupid ideas about gender. (Read more from Jenny Dreadful.) And because Garcia dared to call attention to the fact that Arpaio is doing nothing but creating racial divisions with his "narrow-minded and ignorant policies," she drew the ire of local bigots.
Radio host Jon Justice, in particular, had a really disgusting response to Pima's critique of Arpaio:
...Jon Justice posted a few offensive videos of himself with a piñata with Isabel's likeness, caressing it and making comments about "wanting to take it home with me," among a few other comments about "chorizo" and "viva la raza." Mr. Justice has since removed the video, as well as the one that followed it, which we found to be even more offensive.
Maegan la Mala distills what's going on here:
They did what they do best, spout hate, targeting Garcia, her life (because let's be real this is about life not just making a living) and her body as a Latina woman. There were calls for her to be fired and a very clear message was sent that the body of a Latina woman is fair game.
I apologize for being late to posting about this. I really encourage you to read more from the bloggers who have been covering it from the start. There are comprehensive lists at the Sanctuary and Latino Politico.
Coalicion de Derechos Humanos, a Tucson group that Garcia works with, has posted a list of ways to take action on Garcia's behalf, against this sort of ugly hate-speech.
0 TrackBacks
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: Shock jock play-acts raping Latina activist.
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://www.feministing.com/cgi-bin/movabletype/mt-tb.fcgi/8375
Weekly Feministing Newsletter
Feministing RSS Feed
Thanks for letting us know about this. Absolutely deplorable. I'm off to the list of ways to take action!
What a sad example of how sexism and racism intersect and are used to try to intimidate people into silence. Thanks for covering this, and for pointing to ways we can help.
this makes me very sad seeing as i live in Tucson. i may not be latina but i hate this particular radio host because he is nothing but trouble. the world would be a much better place if he was in dead. he is only one for hating women and immigrants of all kinds, legal or illegal and even those whose families have been living here for generations.
Wow. That is ... sick. I don't even understand how people could be calling for Isabel Garcia's resignation when this moron harasses her this way.
He made clearly racist remarks about how much Isabel loved Mexican food and culture, laughing the whole time because racism is SO hilarious, and put a sombrero on the pinata's head. What the hell is wrong with this guy - and all the people who watched him film this?
All to "defend" Arpaio? That man could not be more corrupt. But maybe that's it. Maybe "Justice" is in Arpaio's pocket.
This is a perfect illustration of how people in positions of power, whether it be in the law or media or another institution, use it to control other groups of people. Here we have an example based on both sex and race. And what better way to attack a woman (of any race) than to degrade her sexuality... Isn't that the usual tactic? Deflect attention from the real issue, ie the corrupt sherrif, by mocking her as a woman, and reducing her to a sexual object complete with Mexican overtones. By making her a "joke" they hope that what she says is correspondingly dismissed as trivia by the public. The calls for HER to resign are ridiculous. This sherrif character needs investigating. What a boys' club! How the hell do they get away with it? Maybe the publicity stunt might turn on these two and he will be? One can only hope... The really worrying thing is that there is a definite audience for people such as this shock jock and his bigotry and misogyny. Isabel Garcia is a brave woman for standing up against corruption in an environment such as this. She needs all the support we can give her.
Just want to add that in choosing to play-act RAPING Garcia, the shock jock is sending a very clear message to her and her supporters about who has the power. Isn't rape the ultimate act of power over a woman by a man? How low can a person go?
Shock jocks are one of the gatekeepers of patriarchy.