An Online Talk with Randy Parraz Author of the New Book
When Arizona passed the nation's most draconian anti-immigrant law in 2010, SB 1070, every effort to stop or reverse this law failed. The bill’s author, Senator Russell Pearce, was elevated to President of the Arizona State Senate in 2011 and he emerged as a national spokesperson for anti-immigrant policies. He worked hand in hand with the self-described “toughest sheriff in America,” Joe Arpaio, notorious for his worksite raids and unlawful stops of Latinos and immigrants. While establishment leaders remained content to wait Pearce out, a few concerned citizens decided to do something a bit more radical—to recall and remove Pearce from office.
Randy Parraz, the main organizer of the Pearce recall, provides a behind-the-scenes perspective on how ordinary citizens can organize and win when others thought it impossible. So how did a small number of Arizonans, led by a progressive Democrat and a Republican Mormon, band together to take down one of the most powerful and extreme politicians responsible for pushing Arizona’s anti-immigrant agenda? Join us on Zoom to hear how it happened.
Randy Parraz is an organizer, social entrepreneur, author, founder of various social justice organizations and currently co-founder and President of the Organizing Institute for Democracy. Randy’s introduction to social justice began when he observed his father, Deputy Sheriff John Parraz, organize the Latino Peace Officers Association in the 1970s to combat discrimination in the recruitment, hiring and retention of Latino officers. Randy has spent the past 26 years engaged in the work of building power and moving people into action. He is a graduate of U.C. Berkeley, Berkeley Law, and the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
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