Is there some special Superman-like power Brown People in Tuscon, Arizona have to detect crime as it is happening? Because otherwise, comments made during an interview on a talk radio program by Arizona Republican National Committeeman Bruce Ash are mystifying:
For the first few minutes of his on-air time Ash was focused on belittling Jeff Rogers, Pima County Democratic Party Chair. Ash said Rogers “sits in his little house in midtown, with his kids who go to school, with his little job…in his little neighborhood,” and then, in a startling assertion, accused Rogers of being “blind to all the crime” because Rogers didn’t life in a Hispanic neighborhood: “It may not be happening in his neighborhood but you ask any of the brown people who live on the South side, or the West side, or the South Central side of Tucson.” Statistics tracking crime and neighborhoods kept by the Tucson Police Department do not support Ash’s suggestion that crime is higher in Hispanic neighborhoods.
Or perhaps Brown People spend more time outdoors, and are therefore more likely to be aware of street-level crime! No, that doesn’t sound right either. If only there were some obvious explanation as to why Ash would feel compelled to make such a statement. … Oh, well. This will have to remain one of those questions that never gets a satisfactory answer.
