News brief: Sheriff Arpaio charged with criminal contempt

News brief: Sheriff Arpaio charged with criminal contempt

Failure to stop racial profiling leads to federal charge.

Elaine McArdle

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Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who is facing a tough re-election campaign in Maricopa County, Arizona, was charged October 25 with federal contempt for failure to stop racial profiling. Unitarian Universalists have protested Arpaio’s treatment of prisoners including at his notorious “tent city” and for his history of targeting people of color. During the Unitarian Universalist Association’s 2012 General Assembly in Phoenix, known as “Justice GA,” a UUA-organized a protest against Arpaio drew over 2,000 people. UU ministers—including the Rev. Andy Burnette, a UUA trustee, and the Rev. Susan Frederick-Gray, minister of the Phoenix UU congregation and a candidate for UUA president—are plaintiffs in a federal class action suit against Arpaio, which got an injunction against him for workplace raids targeting people of color.

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