Normally, I wouldn't mention this article in a blog on publishing, but it merits a mention if only for your personal safety. Now, I can also send you to about 50 articles about Georgia and any number of other Southern states and how they love traffic stops and seizures of cars and money under the grossly misused Civil Forfeiture Laws... but this one in Arizona is cause for a bit of alarm. Not so much about what happened... I am sure it happens all the time to people of color... but the fact that the State Police didn't back off even one iota after everything came to light... suggests they have taken their training from the Joe Arpaio School of Good Manners and Clear Thinking.
Frankly, if you can avoid driving in any state to state project, I would do so. You are much more likely to have issues on the road than you would in airports, train terminals, or anywhere else, even being a tourist. And they are more likely to result in loss of life or your car and money, than even being in the middle of Chicago.
While I support the police and their work, their difficult jobs, and what they face on a daily basis... from what I have seen, it appears there ARE some seriously bad apples in the barrel, but the Blue Wall of silence seems to protect them. And that is unfortunate because it isn't going to be too long before the citizenry completely loses respect for the whole profession... making ordinary daily interactions into tiny civil wars on the streets.
So, the takeaway here is not so much to avoid Arizona... though Mr. Arpaio is sufficient reason to stay out of HIS jurisdiction... but for all of us to work within our communities to find solutions to this tinderbox issue. It ISN'T going away and unless we all decide to work at it...and not protest the National Anthem, but actually DO something... like cancer, we will destroy our country from the inside out. No need for anyone to invade us... there won;t be anything worth invading if these issues continue to go unchecked and unresolved.