Sheriff Dupnik Steps Forward With a 'Back To Basics Message'! [View All]

[sabrina 1]

Arizona's back-to-basics sheriff

Tucson, Arizona (CNN) -- A little-known sheriff has stepped into the national spotlight with a back-to-basics lesson for America:

Treat people with respect; engage in civil discourse; be nice.

Those aren't the sexiest talking points. But in the wake of Saturday's mass shooting in Tucson in which six people were killed and a congresswoman was critically wounded, Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik says a little moral fortitude is what America needs.

And as if to prove him correct in his concerns, his remarks on Saturday were met with a torrent of vitriol from the Right.

He is a good man by all accounts. As a child he witnessed prejudice against Hispanics and did not like then and does not like it now:

In high school, he boycotted his town's yearly dance because Latinos were not allowed to attend. His best friend was Latino. It didn't seem right to go without him, he said.

"I didn't stand up for anything," he said, noting that he didn't try to draw attention to that decision. "I just refused to go."
Racial discrimination reared its head again when Dupnik worked in Bisbee's copper mines, which he said would not let Latino workers advance into management roles.

Seeing such bigotry helped shape his current disdain for prejudice.

The reaction from the 'left', having no reason to be offended by his words, and with average Americans in general was to agree with him.

The 'Right' however, proceeded to demonstrate exactly what he was talking about by launching yet another tirade against someone speaking the truth about the climate of violence they have helped to create.

Why not just agree with him like everyone else? What sensible person could not? Unless they were the guilty party!

No matter what the media says, 'both sides' are not 'doing it'.


Sheriff Dupnik says he doesn't have a political agenda. All he wants is for some people in the media and in politics to examine their behavior and think about improving it.

"I think most people understand, and my heart tells me that millions of people feel the same as I do. I don't have a political agenda. I don't have any kind of agenda," he said. "Hopefully, next week, people will forget who this idiot sheriff is in Tucson."

I think his heart is telling him the truth.