TBT: Sheriff Joe Arpaio Once Bragged That His Border Tent City Was A ‘Concentration Camp’
Amidst the current “concentration camp” controversy, a nearly decade-old video has emerged of Sherrif Joe Arpaio bragging about his own Arizona border tent cities to which he also referred to as “concentration camps.”
Why are people now debating the definition of this term? Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez started something of a firestorm of debate when during an Instagram Live video, she called out the Trump Administration’s current border policy for using “concentration camps.”
She said: “The U.S. is running concentration camps on our southern border and that is exactly what they are They are concentration camps.” She then added, “If that doesn’t bother you…I want to talk to the people that are concerned enough with humanity to say that ‘never again’ means something.”
For many, the term “concentration camp” evokes the genocidal campaign led by Adolph Hitler in which 6 million Jews were systematically killed in what is obviously one of the darkest periods of the last century.
But there is a broader term of “concentration camp” that AOC was referencing here and that is the “mass detention of civilians without trial.” That definition comes from “concentration camp expert” Andrea Pitzer, author of One Long Night: A Global History of Concentration Camps. Her position is best summed up by quoting from an Esquire article that states: “We have what I would call a concentration camp system,” Pitzer says, “and the definition of that in my book is, mass detention of civilians without trial.”
The semantic debate over the term “concentration camp” has sparked bipartisan outrage, although conservative opinion shows, say, on Fox News, for example, have given this story pretty voluminous and breathless coverage.
Sherrif Joe has been lauded for his tough border policy and was even pardoned by President Donald Trump. Though curiously, when he referred to the tent city/holding centers for illegal and undocumented migrants captured at his Southern Arizona border, he referred to it as a “concentration camp,” as well, with little outrage or even notice.
Watch the video above via YouTube.
