They want him to step down. Two dozen civil rights groups are calling for the resignation of Johnston County Sheriff Steve Bizzell. They’re angry about Bizzell referring to Hispanics as “trashy.”
The sheriff has aimed racist remarks at the minority group that is only 11 percent of one of our region’s neighboring counties, including charges that Hispanics “rape, rob and murder” Americans, dodge taxes, “breed like rabbits” and drain social services. “Everywhere you look, it’s like little Mexico around here,” Bizzell said.
So far, his alarmingly incendiary attitude has gained him popularity. “Everybody in this county sleeps a little better because he’s here,” said Linwood Parker, the mayor of Four Oaks. Bizzell’s racist tough talk helped him to the presidency of the N.C. Sheriffs’ Association, according to a News & Observer story. That is troubling commentary about a leading law enforcement group.
Bizzell prides himself on being a red-blooded American who disdains anything foreign ó including spaghetti or tacos.
Calling him a bigot doesn’t bother him. Immigrants take American jobs, Bizzell says. (Good luck to farmers and others hoping longtime local residents will do the back-breaking cheap labor so many Hispanics are willing to do.)
Bizzell blames the feds for not doing more to stop the flow of Hispanics illegally crossing our borders. “Everywhere I go,” Bizzell says, “people say, ‘Sheriff, what are we going to do about all these Mexicans?’ ”
Here’s a suggestion from President Lincoln himself: “It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one’s mouth and remove all doubt.” If Bizzell wants a solution to crime in Johnston County, he might want to study some facts. As the county’s Hispanic population has grown, its crime rates have fallen. According the State Bureau of Investigation, over the past decade violent crime has dropped in half and property crime is down as well.
But Bizzell doesn’t appear as worried about crime as about his way of life changing. “How long is it going to be until we’re in the minority?” he asked.
Not long, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Get used to it, sheriff. Like it or not, our society is changing. Maybe it’s time for voters to make some changes too, and elect a sheriff who can keep racism out of his office.
ó The Fayetteville Observer