The same day Donald Trump won the presidency of the United States, Sheriff Joe Arpaio lost his bid for a seventh term leading Arizona’s Maricopa County.
Marisa Franco was one of the activists who helped unseat Arpaio. The former sheriff had built his career on cracking down on illegal immigration with controversial methods that a judge ruled as racial profiling in 2013.
In an AJ+ video shared Wednesday on Twitter, Franco spoke about why she became an activist and gave advice on how others can resist the Trump administration.
“I think the one thing that was absolutely critical in Maricopa County to beat Sheriff Arpaio was that the people, the very people that he was attacking and persecuting, were the very people who stood up, and took him on, and took him out,” Franco said.
The Chicana, who was born and raised in Arizona, is the co-founder and director of Mijente, a national organization of Latino activists. She feels her work fighting against Arpaio can be applied to pushing back against Trump.
“Some of us have already been living in Trump’s America,” she told The Washington Post in November. “There is a bright spot in Maricopa County, and I think there are significant lessons to be learned: We don’t make excuses for bigotry, and we don’t normalize the abuse.”
Based on her experience mobilizing against Arpaio, Franco shared some advice with AJ+ viewers who are interested in challenging the Trump administration. Watch the activist outline her two key points in the video above.
