The long and arduous journey detailing the rise and fall of former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, and the Latino resistance that selflessly fought against his regime, is detailed in the new book "Driving While Brown: Sheriff Arpaio Versus the Latino Resistance."

Investigative journalists Terry Greene Sterling and Jude Joffe-Block interviewed the sheriff himself, the people who suffered under his policies as well as those who loyally supported them, and the people of color - led by Latinos - who stood up for their rights, their community, and other immigrants hoping for a better chance at the United States.

"Driving While Brown: Sheriff Arpaio Versus the Latino Resistance" is the culmination of two decades worth of hard work, with the authors conducting on-the-ground reporting and coverage of Arizona's steep immigration battles. The book follows Latino activists like Lydia Guzman who tirelessly worked (and paid a great price) to gather evidence that would propel the landmark Melendres racial-profiling lawsuit eventually filed against Sheriff Arpaio.

The narrative of the book paints the harsh immigration problems that plagued Arizona, especially in its most populous county, with a formerly white majority losing its demographic and political ground.

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(Photo : Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication Twitter Page)

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Bringing Lawsuits to Life and Finding Heroes in the Common Man

In a Q&A Session, Jude Joffe-Block explains how the drive to create "Driving While Brown" came about. She met Terry Greene Sterling in 2012 while covering the lawsuit filed by Latino plaintiffs against Sheriff Arpaio. The story grew and regained traction when Arpaio received a pardon from none other than President Donald Trump, a man the Maricopa sheriff staunchly supported for the 2016 elections.

"This story - about immigration fights, civil rights and one community's attempt to dismantle discriminatory policing - was one we thought needed to be shared," Jude Joffe-Block said.

Additionally, Joffe-Block noted that the book is not a Sheriff Arpaio biography, it is a "portrait of a community struggling through civil rights disputes" that goes back as far as the Arizona Territory, following the Mexican-American War. The events that she and Greene Sterling followed for about twenty years, according to her, have encouraged a new generation of activists and advocates helping reshape Arizona politics.

On the other hand, Terry Greene Sterling explains the herculean task that was writing the book from an incredibly large amount of data covered over the years. As the book "Driving While Brown" takes readers into the courtrooms, homes, and streets that hosted significant events in the Latino resistance, Greene Sterling notes that the biggest challenge was "wrapping our arms around our hefty research."

It led them to a timeline that contained more than 4,500 entries, which the authors soon "winnowed" into chapters that aimed to capture the victories, failures, sorrows, and joys of the people involved as the narrative moved through the pages of the book.

Additionally, "Driving While Brown" illustrates the relationship between Sheriff Arpaio and Donald Trump, an odd connection which was characterized at one point by Arizona supporters calling Trump the "National Arpaio." From seemingly harmless similarities such as sharing the Flag Day birthday and liking Frank Sinatra's "My Way" to their similar appeal to the conservative Republican and its more extreme groups.

"Both men had overbearing fathers and now fawn over autocrats. Trump, for example, heroizes Putin in the same way that Arpaio heroizes Trump," Greene Sterling adds.

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