Pima County Supervisor Richard Elias, the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, the Tucson Solidarity Movement, and Women’s March on Washington – Tucson are calling for southern Arizona residents to join them in a protest of an event honoring murdered Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry. Organizers specifically object to an appearance by Breitbart News Network chair Steve Bannon, who will receive the Brian Terry Courage in Journalism and Reporting Award.
Bannon, a former White House Chief Strategist, will be the keynote speaker as well for the 2017 Brian Terry Foundation Courage Awards & Benefit Dinner. The program will be hosted by FOX News Channel correspondent William La Jeunesse.
Elías stated in a press release, “Steve Bannon had done nothing deserving of an award and the bigotry of his publications and positions is not welcome in Pima County. His long record of demeaning and scapegoating minorities – immigrants, LGBTQ, women, Jews, people of color – is highly offensive and should be denounced, not celebrated.” as the focus of the protest.”
Elias, a frequent critic of Supervisor Ally Miller and her constituents, has said that he does not feel comfortable going into her district without a passport due to fear of Border Patrol agents detaining him. He has made similar bigoted and otherwise inflammatory comments on more than one occasion. Only after being admonished by Geri Ottoboni, a grandmother who resides in Miller’s district, did Elias stop making his racist comments. Ottoboni pleaded with Elias to stop “scaring her Hispanic grandsons.”