Keeping the Peace, Arizona style UPDATED 8/8/2020 with video from ABC15

With the recent passing of Congressman John Lewis hailed as a Founding Father of a better America, who dedicated his life to nonviolent struggle, his template for engaging in successful struggle will live on. Pulitzer prize winning author Jon Meacham will release a biography of Lewis' activism on the 25th of this month, His Truth is Marching On.

In the meantime, How Nonviolent Struggle Works, by the late Gene Sharp inspires me too.

Nonviolent action is a generic term covering dozens of specific methods of protest, noncooperation, and intervention, in all of which the resisters conduct the conflict by doing—or refusing to do—certain things without using physical violence. As a technique, therefore, nonviolent action is not passive. It is not inaction. It is action that is nonviolent. 

Whatever the issue and whatever the scale of the conflict, nonviolent action is a technique by which people who reject passivity and submission, and who see struggle as essential, can wage their conflict without violence. Nonviolent action is not an attempt to avoid or ignore conflict. It is one response to the problem of how to act effectively in politics, especially how to wield power effectively. [...]

In the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, nonviolent action has risen to unprecedented political significance throughout the world. People using it have amassed major achievements. Higher wages and improved working conditions have been won. Old traditions and practices have been abolished. Government policies have been changed, laws repealed, new legislation enacted, and governmental reforms instituted. Invaders have been frustrated and armies defeated. An empire has been paralyzed, seizures of the State thwarted, and dictatorships disintegrated. Nonviolent struggle has been used with power against both Nazi and Communist regimes. Sometimes, too, this technique has been used to block or delay changes and policies.

Sharp, Gene. How Nonviolent Struggle Works . The Albert Einstein Institution. Kindle Edition. 

Since the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 60s, rebellion has been shown to be more effective when protesters engage in nonviolent action.

So, as a primer of sorts, let's start with some history of related Arizona legislation. ALEC-related legislation, specifically. A detailed recitation of the process by which certain measures became law in 2012 was posted to DailyKos. Notably, a strike all amendment to H2071 made passive resistance a crime in Arizona.

Now, in Arizona, a person commits "resisting arrest" by, according to Arizona Revised Statutes 13-2508 A. 3.,

A. A person commits resisting arrest by intentionally preventing or attempting to prevent a person reasonably known to him to be a peace officer, acting under color of such peace officer's official authority, from effecting an arrest by:

3. Engaging in passive resistance.

C. For the purposes of this section, "passive resistance" means a nonviolent physical act or failure to act that is intended to impede, hinder or delay the effecting of an arrest.

Doing so, by passive resistance, is a Class 1 misdemeanor. But we need to understand who is a peace officer.

Who is a Peace Officer and in what situation or condition is that expression used in Arizona?

According to ARS 1-215,

27. "Peace officers" means sheriffs of counties, constables, marshals, policemen of cities and towns, commissioned personnel of the department of public safety, personnel who are employed by the state department of corrections and the department of juvenile corrections and who have received a certificate from the Arizona peace officer standards and training board, peace officers who are appointed by a multicounty water conservation district and who have received a certificate from the Arizona peace officer standards and training board, police officers who are appointed by community college district governing boards and who have received a certificate from the Arizona peace officer standards and training board, police officers who are appointed by the Arizona board of regents and who have received a certificate from the Arizona peace officer standards and training board, police officers who are appointed by the governing body of a public airport pursuant to section 28-8426 and who have received a certificate from the Arizona peace officer standards and training board, peace officers who are appointed by a private postsecondary institution pursuant to section 15-1897 and who have received a certificate from the Arizona peace officer standards and training board and special agents from the office of the attorney general, or of a county attorney, and who have received a certificate from the Arizona peace officer standards and training board.

Is "peace officer" an Orwellian expression or is it really the intent of Arizona law for it to be about peace? According to the Free Dictionary, uses of the word "peace" include

1. The absence of war or other hostilities.
2. An agreement or a treaty to end hostilities: negotiated the peace.
3. Freedom from quarrels and disagreement; harmonious relations: roommates living in peace with each other.
4. Public security and order: was arrested for disturbing the peace.
5. Inner contentment; serenity: peace of mind.

Whether it's Orwellian or not could be a matter of debate. In terms of legal doctrine, it's likely that it's more so than it should be.

What is a certificate from the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board (AZPOST)?

The [potential hiring] agency will enroll newly appointed peace officer trainees in the basic training academy of the agency’s choice. Each academy will provide the AZPOST Basic Peace Officer Course with a minimum of 585 hours of mandated training. Trainees must successfully complete all of the academy requirements and pass a Comprehensive Final Examination to become AZPOST certified. There is a process for experienced officers to take a test and avoid repeating a basic academy called the AZPOST Waiver Process. This consists of a written test, driving proficiency, firearms qualification and the POPAT (physical agility test)

I have as yet been unable to determine whether "all of the academy requirements" include a psychological fitness evaluation. Here's how, by the way, bad cops leave (often voluntarily) one police agency and go to works abusing citizens in another in Arizona.




The most important (but NOT the only) nonviolent act to engage in constructive conflict we can and must commit to is to vote.

The framers of the Arizona Constitution got it right when they spelled out from the start that "all political power is inherent in the people, governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, and are established to protect and maintain individual rights." By the way, individual rights cannot be maintained when public health is at risk. Only those locked into a childish view of individual rights, i.e. you're not the boss of me, would not be able to realize the gravity of jeopardizing public health.

Certain of those powers as they relate to nonviolent action include the citizen initiative, referendum and recall.

In the 21st Century, Arizonans have exercised these powers successfully. A Fascist-oriented state senate president, Russell Pearce was recalled and thrown out of office. In 2013, a citizen initiative suppression measure HB2305 was signed into law. The bill immediately faced a referendum drive which collected enough signatures to qualify for the general election ballot in 2014. The legislature, rather than be subjected to certain ridicule and defeat, repealed HB2305 at the beginning of its 2014 regular session.

Other fairly recent nonviolent action victories include rescinding former Gov. Evan Mecham's cancellation of the Martin Luther King Jr. state holiday. Also in 2014, social media pressure forced Gov. Jan Brewer to veto SB1062, a Dominionist measure promoted by Cathi Herrod that targeted the civil rights of LGBTQ citizens.

Can we forget the way Colin Kaepernick raised awareness of brutality against Black men and boys in our country with his nonviolent action to take a knee during the playing of the national anthem prior to an NFL football game? That incident raises awareness of the need for sustained nonviolent action to cut through deeply held societal values.

Envision with me how a president and a state legislature intent on freedom for all Arizona citizens rather than narrowly constrained ALEC-inspired Fascism (where Big/Dark Money rules society) will improve our state. Can you imagine the myriad matters that need to be brought to the attention of elected officials who effectively constitute the "rulers" of Arizona?

Where do we begin? Who will be the LEADERS? Rise UP!

Be like John Lewis.



My thanks to the Late Show with Stephen Colbert and musical director Jon Batiste for this lovely conversation.

Remember these words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., "Hate is too heavy of a burden to bear."