tagged w/ Southern Poverty Law Center
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While I don't care much for Infowars anymore, they occasionally do good work. I've been waiting for articles that appeal to calm during this media attempt at fomenting a race war, but I've seen none coming from either the left or the right.
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In both the media and political classes, there exist individuals who are seemingly addicted to crisis opportunity, and whose shallow efforts threaten to set the country back 30 or 50 years in its social development.
The George Zimmerman case has been seized upon by the charlatans, the political classes and the media manipulators – as their latest vehicle for dividing Americans into their respective camps, along the lines of ethnicity, insisting that Martin’s death was caused by ‘racial profiling’ – when no evidence beyond anecdotal has been presented to date to support such an accusation. here we witness both the media and politicians alike, working in concert, to construct the illusion of a race war in America.
But this is only the beginning.
Amidst all the hype and media circus promoted by the likes of NBC, CNN, FOX and and foundation-funded talking heads like Al Sharpton, and even President Obama who injected flammable material into the conversation early on with his comment, “If I had a son, he’s look like Trayvon Martin”- there exists a a dark Zeitgeist, trend, or a wave forming, which is obviously and overwhelmingly antagonistic – and ultimately designed to ‘divide and rule’ the culture.
Those who live in the real world know full well that when it comes to race in America, the reality is that a degree of tension will always exist – the county’s own chequered history of race almost guarantees this outcome. There is no utopia, even though many of us still strive towards it. It’s as almost as human as it is American. Yet, America has still already achieved what so many other nations around the world have failed to do, by providing upward mobility and a level of integration on a mass scale – not seen anywhere else.
One final warning for those in the media who are content to see the races divided and fighting amongst each other. You have breathed new life back (luckily not too much yet) into two irrelevant and completely backward organizations - the Neo-Nazi National Socialist Movement (NSM) and the New Black Panther Party (NBP). Both groups are gaining eyeballs, as they both call for an escalation of paramilitary tension along the lines of race. Listen to the NBP radio interview on Florida radio this week:
Race wars lead to class war
The next phase is even darker and more insidious. The danger with fomenting a race war in America, is that, by its shallow and artificial nature, it lends itself to a much deeper and much more enduring class warfare.
The pump has already been prime for a top-down engineered, class war in America, as seen through caste-oriented language adopted by protesters, the media – and everybody, since last year’s Occupy Movement separating the 99% from the 1%.
As seen in the Trayvon Martin case, where “black vs white” has been inserted as the overwhelming theme by social influencers in both the media and politics, these same influencers have already successfully divided our once individualistic society into the pathetic representation of the “99% vs 1%”. At no time during the Occupy experiment did the movement, or the media ever successfully address the fundamental causes of economic disparity in the United States – caused by the Federal Government and private Central Banking Establishment, whose bad management and rigged financial system triggered one of the worst economic meltdowns in global history.
The concept of “Mob Rule” is also important in America’s newly divided society. You will see it in both the racial, and the economic conversation.
In this volatile political climate, the mob will often feel empowered – especially when led by a partisan icon, and this leader will always tell them anything they want to hear. Partisan icons generally rule by using fear, and creating class envy.While I don't care much for Infowars anymore, they occasionally do good work.... more
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In the wake of the Trayvon Martin shooting and the ensuing media circus, a new beast has reared its ugly head – this time in the form of media disinformation and race-baiting reports threatening to propel America in the direction of a new race war.
On Saturday April 7th, journalist Michael Miller’s Miami New Times blog clumsily ran with a report entitled,“Armed Neo-Nazis Now Patrolling Sanford, Say They Are “Prepared” for Post-Trayvon Martin”.
The Miami New Times report claims that National Socialist Movement’s mascot, Jeff Schoep, dubbed “The Hollywood Nazi” because of his adherence to TV stereotypes, is leading armed Neo-Nazi patrols of Sanford, Florida to protect white residents from black violence. But there’s only one problem – it isn’t actually happening
Infowars.com contacted the Sanford Police Department on Sunday, looking for confirmation on the Miami News Times story, but according to the department’s office of public information, “We can confirm there have been no reports of any Neo-Nazi, or armed Neo-Nazi patrols in Sanford.”
The Miami New Times have since updated their article to retract their earlier reports of armed Neo-Nazi patrols in Sanford.
Where there are racial extremists, expect to find the Southern Poverty Law Center(SLPC) nearby. In this instance, the SPLC seemed to be perfectly synchronized with the release of the Miami New Times claims, running their own story touting this latest news, warning Florida residents that:
“The neo-Nazi, National Socialist Movement (NSM) has announced that it will be conducting patrols in Seminole County, Fla., to protect “local citizens from the area who are concerned for the safety of their families.” The group says it is prepared for “racial violence” in the Sanford area, where the Martin shooting occurred, and that is has been “contacted by dozens of local citizens” supposedly seeking protection…In the wake of the Trayvon Martin shooting and the ensuing media circus, a new beast... more
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CNN...
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Lawyer: Federal hate crime charge against Trayvon shooter a 'challenge'
By the CNN Wire Staff
updated 4:53 AM EDT, Sun March 25, 2012
Martin case sparks rallies across U.S.
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Sanford, Florida (CNN) -- Bringing a federal hate crime charge against a neighborhood watch volunteer who fatally shot Trayvon Martin will be "a challenge, to put it lightly," the victim's lawyer said.
Daryl Parks, an attorney for the Martin family, told board members of the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) on Saturday that prosecution on the state level stands a better chance.
"Most state laws tend to be better for the prosecution of state crimes. And that's why we see the federal authorities expressing, although gently, in their statements that they can only do so much if there's some type of race statements involved. The state officials don't have that problem," Parks said.
"I think the focus is not necessarily a federal arrest over a state arrest. We want an arrest, period. And I think that the state aspect of that is the one that's most feasible, most attainable in this matter."
Martin, 17, was killed February 26 as he walked back to his father's fiancee's house in Sanford, Florida, after a trip to the convenience store. Police say he was shot by George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer who says he was acting in self-defense.
The teen was unarmed, carrying a bag of Skittles candy and an iced tea, according to police. Zimmerman has not been charged.
Speaking to the NABJ, Parks said there is evidence that the Twin Lakes homeowners' association told residents who saw suspicious activity to call George Zimmerman if they could not contact the police, according to an NABJ statement.
The Martin family plans to pursue a civil case against the homeowners' association, Parks said.
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Meanwhile, worshipers in cities across the country will wear hoodies to church Sunday in honor Martin, who was wearing a hoodie when he was killed.
Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta and Middle Collegiate Church in New York are among the churches that plan to honor the teen.
"I will also preach in a hoodie. We are doing this not for show, but to send a message that all humanity is sacred. And by saying ALL, we are including African American boys and girls, and men and women who reserve the right to wear a hoodie in the rain and not be racially profiled and killed because bigots think that their appearance is suspicious, or threatening," the Rev. Raphael G. Warnock said in a statement posted on Ebenezer's website.
A "Hundred Hoodie March" will take place Sunday in Rockford, Illinois, as well as a "Million Hoodie March" in Rochester, New York.
In Sanford, a "prayer for peace" and a candlelight vigil will take place Sunday evening. Another candlelight vigil will take place at the Civil Rights memorial in Montgomery, Alabama.
"In a nutshell, I think this case is not being handled properly -- that is why we have so many protests," Ron Campbell said after a demonstration in Virginia Beach, Virginia. "It was a senseless situation."
A handful of members from the New Black Panther Party rallied in Sanford on Saturday and offered a $10,000 reward for Zimmerman's "capture."
"It's time for us, as black men, to take justice in our own hands. If you won't give us justice, we will have to take justice," said Florida organizer Mikhail Muhammad. "An eye for an eye. A life for a life."
The New Black Panther Party, which the Southern Poverty Law Center describes as a "virulently racist and anti-Semitic organization," is distinct from the better-known Black Panther Party, founded in the late 1960s.
The city of Sanford responded to the bounty offer by calling for "calm heads and no vigilante justice."
"Attempts by civilians to take any person into custody may result in criminal charges or unnecessary violence," it said in a statement.
Zimmerman's lawyer said Florida's "stand your ground" law doesn't apply to the shooting that killed the teen.
"In my legal opinion, that's not really applicable to this case. The statute on 'stand your ground' is primarily when you're in your house," said Craig Sonner, Zimmerman's attorney.
"This is self-defense, and that's been around for forever -- that you have a right to defend yourself. So the next issue (that) is going to come up is, was he justified in using the amount of force he did?"
The 2005 law allows people to use deadly force anywhere they have a right to be if they have reasonable fear an assailant could seriously harm them or someone else.
It also eliminated a long-standing "duty to retreat" in the face of imminent harm, asserting that would-be crime victims have the right to "stand their ground" and "meet force with force" when attacked.
The case has sparked a national debate over the Florida law and concerns about racial profiling. Martin was black and Zimmerman is white Hispanic.
The Sanford Police Department said officers were prohibited from arresting Zimmerman the night of the shooting because physical evidence and testimony supported his claim that he acted in self-defense in accordance with Florida law. The police department gave the explanation to City Manager Norton Bonaparte, who included it in a letter to the community about the case, posted on the city's website.
Zimmerman said he was driving in his gated community when he saw Martin walking and called 911 to report a suspicious person.
Zimmerman told the dispatcher he was following the boy, but the dispatcher told him that wasn't necessary. Moments later, several neighbors called 911 to report a commotion outside, and police arrived to find Martin dead of a gunshot wound.
Sonner says his client was injured that night and went to the hospital with a broken nose and a serious cut on the back of his head.
Sanford police said Zimmerman did not indicate a chase, telling them instead that "he had lost sight of Trayvon and was returning to his truck to meet the police officer when he says he was attacked by Trayvon," the police said in the letter posted by Bonaparte.
But the Rev. Al Sharpton said he doesn't think Zimmerman was simply protecting himself.
"This is not about self-defense. This is about a man deciding somebody, based on who he was, was a suspect and that he would take matters into his own hands," Sharpton told a crowd in New York on Saturday.
Sonner said he believes Zimmerman's life is in danger and has advised him to keep a low profile.
"This case is spinning out of control," he said. "I hope there's a way to rein things in so it doesn't become an issue of a racial battle. I hope that things come back so that there can be a time for justice and for healing and not for just skipping the whole judicial process and going straight to sentencing."
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CNN's Kim Segal, Greg Morrison, John Couwels and Holly Yan contributed to this report.
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Lawyer: Federal hate crime charge against Trayvon shooter a... more
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Scott Lively is also directly connected to the kill-a-gay legislation in Uganda, which would make homosexual activity punishable by a lengthy prison sentence and/or death. Lively is the co-author (with Kevin Abrams) of The Pink Swastika, which poses the notion that homosexuals are the true inventors of Nazism, a preposterous position that Jonathan Zimmerman, a historian at New York University, states is a “flat-out lie.”
http://veracitystew.com/2012/02/08/religious-rights-scott-lively-spreads-his-own-brand-of-hate/Scott Lively is also directly connected to the kill-a-gay legislation in Uganda, which... more
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I'm no fan of the Tea Party, but I'm a little turned off by the constant demonization, dehumanization and hypocrisy by those on the left who purport to be anti-hate, humanists ect.
Where is the Southern Povery Law Center wringing their hands about hate and violence toward a particular group? Where is the Anti-Defamation League denouncing the portrayal of right wing Americans as Zombies where the player can simply blow them away with an automatic weapon?
What kind of message does this send to American children, who are constantly turning to be out Jared Lee Loughner psychopaths or violent anti-racists like Harris and Klebold, the Columbine Killers?
Let's turn this around and say that a corporate funded right wing group produced a video game about murdering the DNC, pro-Illegal immigration and pro-abortion groups along with Chris Matthews, Rachel Maddow and other liberal pundits.
We'd never hear the end of it!
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In a new free-to-play online game that's sure to worry as many on the left as on the right, players are sent on a mission to kill "tea party zombies," Fox News anchors, Republican politicians, lobbyists and even activists, using weapons like machine guns, shotguns, crowbars and machetes.
Though entirely based tongue-in-cheek, "Tea Party Zombies Must Die" contains politically provocative imagery, like walking through the offices of Koch Industries wielding a shotgun, or attending a sparsely populated tea party rally and killing activists with a crowbar.
It contains a variety of enemies, such as: "Generic pissed off old white guy;" "Pissed off stupid white trash redneck birther zombie;" "Expresses racist views anonymously on the internet modern klan zombie;" "Factory made blond Fox News barbie who has never had a problem in her life zombie;" "The 'we tricked the God people into believing in tax cuts for the rich' executive zombie;" and the "Koch Industries 'Koch whore' lobbyist pig zombie."I'm no fan of the Tea Party, but I'm a little turned off by the constant... more
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Two national civil rights groups and a Minneapolis law firm filed a federal lawsuit Thursday against the Anoka-Hennepin School District on behalf of five current and former students who say they were bullied at school because of their perceived or actual sexual orientation.
Outside a Champlin middle school Thursday morning, the Southern Poverty Law Center, National Center for Lesbian Rights and Faegre & Benson law firm announced that the suit had been filed in U.S. District Court against Minnesota's largest school district.
It seeks to end the district's sexual orientation curriculum policy, also known as the neutrality policy, and seeks compensation for the students who say they were repeatedly bullied because they were gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender, or perceived to be GLBT.
"The Anoka-Hennepin School District, where we stand today, has refused to take a stand against harassment and bullying," said Mary Bauer, the legal director at the Alabama-based Southern Poverty Law Center. "This policy sends a message to kids that who they are is not OK. Our plaintiffs have stood up and said no more."
The announcement comes a day after the school district released a statement acknowledging that federal authorities have been investigating the district since November after a compliant or complaints of student bullying. In the statement Wednesday, the district also said it wanted to work with the two national civil rights groups to resolve concerns about the policy instead of going into costly litigation.
"We feel that it would be better to put our energy and resources into materials for training students and all staff that would be more effective than what we're doing," district spokeswoman Mary Olson said Thursday.
Sam Wolfe, an attorney with the Southern Poverty Law Center, said they met with the school district once after their May request. But refusal by the school board to get rid of the policy is a "nonstarter" for further discussions, he said.
"There is a great sense of urgency that this problem needs to be addressed," Wolfe said. "We can't really wait for the federal government to go through their process. It's important with school starting again ... that we really need to move forward now."
The sexual orientation curriculum policy allows teachers to discuss issues related to sexual orientation in the classroom but requires them to maintain neutrality -- the only local school district known to have such a policy.
District leaders maintain that the policy is appropriate because the community is split on GLBT issues.
Bullying has been a high-profile issue in the district over the past year.
Last fall, after a number of student suicides in the 38,000-student Anoka-Hennepin district, GLBT advocates argued that some deaths stemmed from bullying because of real or perceived GLBT orientation. In December, the district said an investigation into six teen suicides had found no links to bullying.
http://www.startribune.com/local/north/125958688.htmlTwo national civil rights groups and a Minneapolis law firm filed a federal lawsuit... more
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Imzadi
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by Catherine A. Traywick, Media Consortium blogger
This week, two high-profile trials involving the racially motivated murders of Latinos in Pennsylvania and Arizona are exposing the unsettling implications of growing anti-immigrant sentiment. But while antagonistic political discourse and incendiary policy are shown to provoke ethnic violence—correlating with a 52 percent increase in hate crimes—they also indirectly drive sexual violence against immigrant women. The combination of stricter enforcement and increased cultural animosity toward immigrants renders undocumented women workers more susceptible to workplace rape and sexual exploitation—violent crimes that don’t generally register as hate crimes but that nevertheless bespeak of racially charged motives.
Two murder cases highlight senseless violence against Latinos
The trial of Minuteman border vigilante Shawna Forde, and two other individuals charged with the 2009 murder of a nine-year-old Latina girl and her father, began this week in Arivaca, Arizona. Julianne Hing at ColorLines reports that Brisenia Flores was shot twice in the head by home invaders allegedly enlisted by Forde, who is accused of sanctioning racially motivated home invasions to finance (via robbery) her border patrol activities. Flores’ parents were also shot, but her mother, Gina Gonzales, survived.
As Hing notes, Forde had strong ties with both the Tea Party movement and prominent anti-immigrant groups, including the influential conservative think-tank Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR):
Forde had a habit of ending her emails with the sign off, “Lock and Load” and had close ties with tea party groups. She was involved with the Minutemen American Defense—her supporters claim she was once a Minuteman National Director—a loose affiliation of anti-immigration border activists who took to policing the border on their own with guns and surveillance equipment. Forde has also had ties with the anti-immigrant Federation for American Immigration Reform. These groups have all been labeled hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Immigrant rights groups and Latino community advocates alike have characterized the grisly crime as part of a growing anti-immigrant hate crime epidemic plaguing many divided communities across the country.
One such community, Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, recently saw the close of another hate crime case, in which three police officers were accused of covering up the racially motivated murder of 25-year-old immigrant Luis Ramirez. As New America Media reports, a Shenandoah jury issued a split verdict against the officers who were charged with obstruction of justice, falsifying records and conspiracy for their alleged attempt to protect Ramirez’s teenage murderers. Former police Chief Matthew Nestor was found guilty on the first two counts, but found not guilty of conspiracy. Former police Lt. William Moyer was similarly found guilty of making false statements, but acquitted of all other charges, as was former police Officer Jason R. Hayes. Latino advocacy groups have characterized the officers’ actions as a stark example of politicized community leaders privileging white criminals over their Latino victims.
Death of 17-year-old farmworker brings to light workplace exploitation
As antagonistic immigration discourse and prejudicial policies foster violence, immigrant workers are increasingly susceptible to workplace exploitation. In the case of 17-year-old Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez, that exploitation proved deadly.
Change.org’s Antonio Ramirez reports that Jimenez, who was two months pregnant, died of exposure while pruning grapes on a field owned by California’s Merced Farm Labor. The company had been fined previously for violating heat regulations, but still failed to ensure that its workers received legally mandated access shade, water and breaks. Now, Merced’s owner, Maria De Los Angeles Colung, as well as its former safety coordinator, Elias Armenta, are charged with involuntary manslaughter in Jimenez’s death but, as Ramirez notes, they’ve accepted a plea bargain which would only mandate community service.
Jimenez’s preventable death highlights rampant exploitation of immigrant workers in the U.S. food industry—particularly of women. As Alternet’s Jill Richardson reports, immigrant workers are increasingly the victims of wage theft and are routinely exposed to toxic pesticides and other hazardous conditions while women workers regularly contend with a variety of workplace sexual abuse and harassment. Richardson summarizes the phenomenon thusly:
In addition to the fondling and groping the women endured on the job, women also engaged in consensual relationships with supervisors to gain “a secure place in American society, a green card, a husband — or at the very least a transfer to an easier job at the plant.” […]
And then there’s the nonconsensual stuff: A 2008 piece in High Country News revealed that farmworkers refer to one company’s field as the “field of panties” because so many women workers are raped by supervisors. And as far back as 1993, the Southern Poverty Law Center found in its own study that 90 percent of female farm workers cite sexual harassment as a serious problem.
While the sexual abuse of (largely undocumented) women farmworkers doesn’t register as a hate crime in the same way that the racially motivated murders of Luiz Ramirez and the Flores family do, the nature of their exploitation is clearly gendered and racialized. As immigration enforcement tightens, effectively pushing undocumented workers further underground while discouraging undocumented victims of violent crimes from coming forward, farmworkers will continue to be targeted for exploitation based on their gender, race and nationality—the same criteria upon which Ramirez and the Flores family were targeted for deadly violence.
This post features links to the best independent, progressive reporting about immigration by members of The Media Consortium. It is free to reprint. Visit the Diaspora for a complete list of articles on immigration issues, or follow us on Twitter. And for the best progressive reporting on critical economy, environment, and health care issues, check out The Audit, The Mulch, and The Pulseby Catherine A. Traywick, Media Consortium blogger
This week, two high-profile... more
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by Catherine A. Traywick, Media Consortium blogger
Arizona lawmakers are expected to introduce an “anchor baby” bill today that would deny birthright citizenship to the U.S.-born children of undocumented immigrants. Modeled after birthright citizenship legislation unveiled by the nativist coalition State Legislators for Legal Immigration (SLLI) earlier this month, the measure is, unabashedly, part of a larger effort on the part of SLLI to challenge existing citizenship law in the United States.
Lawmakers from Georgia, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and South Carolina have likewise committed to introducing citizenship bills at the state level, while legislators from Nebraska, Indiana, Colorado, Texas and others are determined to implement similarly controversial Arizona-style enforcement measures in their states.
In recent years, communities that implemented harsh anti-immigrant laws have experienced a number of economic and social repercussions which lawmakers continue to overlook in their determination to tighten enforcement. But as nativist policies bleed public coffers and anti-immigrant political speech incites new strains of ethnic violence, the stark consequences of such extremism are becoming harder and harder to ignore.
Devastating local economies
The legal costs of defending constitutionally questionable laws like SB 1070 ought to be obvious. Arizona, which has the rare luxury of drawing from a $3.6 million donor-endowed legal defense fund, spent upwards of $500,000 defending 1070 from legal challenges last year, and could, in the long-term, spend as much $10 million, according to New America Media’s Valeria Fernández.
Yet the think-tank Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR)—a major supporter of anti-immigrant laws like SB 1070 and birthright citizenship bills—obstinately underplays the financial fall-out of such measures. Ira Mehlman, a national spokesperson for FAIR, reportedly told New America Media that “the costs of litigations pale in comparison to the cost of communities providing healthcare, education and welfare for undocumented immigrants and their citizen children.”
Considerable evidence suggests otherwise. The Brookings Institution, the Udall Center for Public Policy and former President George W. Bush’s Council of Economic Advisors have all concluded that immigrants contribute much more to their local economies (through taxes and spending) than they take out through social services (about $800,000 more).
Now, a new report by Southern Poverty Law Center (which, incidentally, has listed FAIR as a hate group since 2007) argues that anti-immigrant laws—not immigrants—have a greater track record of depressing local economies. Gebe Martinez at Campus Progress sums up what happened to five communities “that threw anti-immigration statutes onto their books without fully considering their impact.” He writes:
* Hazleton, Pennsylvania, the leader of the court fights for local immigration enforcement, is in the tank for at least $2.8 million with some estimates totaling $5 million as it defends its ordinance all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
* Riverside, New Jersey suffered a local economic downturn before the city rescinded its anti-immigrant ordinance and welcomed the return of immigrants.
* Farmers Branch, Texas, has spent nearly $4 million in legal fees and is expected to spend at least $5 million to defend its anti-immigration statute with no end in sight.
* Prince William County, Virginia dramatically scaled back a tough immigration statute after realizing the original version would cost millions to enforce and defend in court.
* Fremont, Nebraska, increased the city’s property tax to help pay the legal fees for its anti-immigration ordinance which it intends to defend.A
A spate of state-level birthright citizenship bills stands to be similarly costly, as the admitted goal of their sponsors is to force numerous court cases that challenge the conventional applications of the 14th amendment—legislation through litigation. But there are other expenses as well. If such legislation were to pass, government agencies would bear the incredibly costly burden of making citizenship determinations for every child born in the United States—a logistical nightmare that neither federal nor state governments are prepared to undertake.
Fueling ethnic violence
As economically devastating as these divisive measures can be, their social impact on communities is often even greater. Politicians bent on enacting anti-immigrant legislation frequently rely on hateful speech and pejorative language to foment public discontent and, in so doing, build citizen support for their measures—with tragic consequences.
Colorlines.com has repeatedly reported on the correlation between bigoted political speech, anti-immigrant legislation, and ethnic violence. Now, Mónica Novoa reports that a new study from the University of Maryland corroborates the connection. Charting the use of anti-immigrant slurs in newspapers and wire services over the last three decades, the study revealed that “a spike in usage of the dehumanizing slurs usually coincided with contentious immigration policy proposals.”
The correlation persists despite the fact that more than 15 years ago, four professional journalism associations—National Association of Hispanic Journalists, Asian American Journalists Association, Native American Journalists Association and National Association of Black Journalists—advised their members to stop using the phrase “illegal alien” on the grounds that is is “pejorative,” “grammatically incorrect and crosses the line by criminalizing the person, not the action they are purported to have committed.”
While incendiary rhetoric may be an effective way of garnering political support for controversial measures, it all too often fuels violence. Going back to New America Media, Fernández notes that this destructive cycle frequently makes for tragic consequences, as in the case of a 9-year-old girl who was allegedly murdered by members the Minuteman Project, an armed, volunteer border patrol organization. The Latino advocacy organization Cuentame, in partnership with Brave New Films, similarly emphasizes the link between hate speech and increasing incidents of hate crimes against Latinos:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2cFuYJwW1s[/youtube]
Anti-birthright citizenship bills would effectively create an underclass of mostly Hispanic non-citizens. It’s an almost certain catalyst for rampant and systemic anti-immigrant discrimination and ethnic violence. As the anti-immigrant lawmakers from Arizona and elsewhere make good on their promises to push a new, more fervent, onslaught of anti-immigrant legislation in 2011, expect the financial and social costs of such extremism to rise further still.
This post features links to the best independent, progressive reporting about immigration by members of The Media Consortium. It is free to reprint. Visit the Diaspora for a complete list of articles on immigration issues, or follow us on Twitter. And for the best progressive reporting on critical economy, environment, and health care issues, check out The Audit, The Mulch, and The Pulseby Catherine A. Traywick, Media Consortium blogger
Arizona lawmakers are expected... more
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The Southern Poverty Law Center admits that they just make it up as they go along. Anyone can be labeled a "hate group" if the SPLC considers you their political enemy or going against their agenda.
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AFP had the chance recently to interview Mark Potok, the spokesperson for Morris Dees’s Southern Poverty Law Center, a multi-million-dollar operation that sees itself as America’s premier civil rights organization, but more broadly exists to pigeonhole Americans into subjective categories of “hate.”
Potok, director of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s (SPLC) “Intelligence Project,” tasked with monitoring “hate groups” and “extremists,” freely admitted to AFP that the method SPLC staffers use for determining “hate” is not at all a science.
When asked if there is a definition on the SPLC’s Internet site that explains the parameters or metrics used to determine “hate,” Potok had a short reply: “Not really.” Potok was then asked if this kind of approach to classify “hate” is subjective, and he replied in the affirmative. “Yes, there’s some art as well as some science in it.”
According to what Potok told AFP, the SPLC “train[s] anywhere between 2,000 and 8,000 police officers a year . . . in everything from hate crimes training to, much more typically, training in hate groups anddomestic terrorism.”
Even more alarming, someone can be classified as “hateful” even if they’ve never committed any crimes nor seem poised to do so in the future, but simply for expressing their “politically incorrect” opinion.
“The listings are not based on criminality or violence or any kind of estimate we’re making as to the potential of violence or criminal actions . . . [but] based strictly on ideology,” continued Potok.
Amazingly, Potok explained why “hate” is not defined by the SPLC.
“Part of the reason we don’t publish a definition . . . this is our opinion, this is our evaluation based, we think, on objective factors,” said Potok. He says this, even after admitting that the process is clearly subjective.The Southern Poverty Law Center admits that they just make it up as they go along.... more
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Everytime there is a shooting that the media decides to make into an event, the political opportunists who hate free speech and gun rights (the ADL and the SPLC in particular) crawl out of the woodwork and start urging politicians to crank out the anti-free speech and anti-gun legislation.
And yes that is the infamous gun-grabber Senator Chuck Schumer with a deadly weapon and a big smile enjoying him some 2nd Amendment.
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In an op-ed for The Hill published Monday, Paul sharply denounced the violence in Tucson last Saturday, but said that "some have attempted to use this tragedy to discredit philosophical adversaries or score political points. This sort of opportunism is simply despicable."
"This always seems to be the knee jerk reaction to any crime committed with a gun," Paul wrote. "Nonsensical proposals to outlaw guns around federal officials and install bulletproof barriers in the congressional gallery only reinforce the growing perception that politicians view their own lives as far more important than the lives of ordinary citizens."Everytime there is a shooting that the media decides to make into an event, the... more
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Now this seems like something that anti-free speech advocates can really get behind!
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The host of the Fox News Channel's "On The Record With Greta Van Susteren" suggested an identification system for Internet users seeking to post and comment at online venues, predicting it would lighten up the national dialogue.
"I guarantee this would tone down the viciousness on the internet (and not step on the First Amendment)" was how she titled a post on her FoxNews.com blog "GretaWire."Now this seems like something that anti-free speech advocates can really get behind!... more
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A majority of Americans reject the view that heated political rhetoric was a factor in the weekend shootings in Arizona which killed six and critically wounded a congresswoman, a CBS News poll said on Tuesday.
Since the Saturday incident in which Arizona Representative Gabrielle Giffords was shot at point-blank range, various politicians and commentators have said a climate in which strong language and ideological polarization is common may have contributed to the attack.
Some of the analysts cited anti-government statements from the man arrested in the shooting, Jared Lee Loughner, as support for that view.
But CBS said its nationwide telephone poll found that, "57 percent of respondents said the harsh political tone had nothing to do with the shooting, compared to 32 percent who felt it did."
Rejection of a link was strongest among Republicans, 69 percent of whom felt harsh rhetoric was not related to the attack, while 19 percent thought it played a part.
Among Democrats 49 percent placed no blame on the heated political tone against 42 percent who did. Among independents the split was 56 percent to 33 percent, CBS said.
It said its poll of 673 adults had a margin of error of plus or minus four percentage points.A majority of Americans reject the view that heated political rhetoric was a factor in... more
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A bubbling theme from the far-reaches of the paranoid right has made its way into mainstream political discourse and, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, the ranks of our nation's military. The idea is that the United States legal system is threatened by the ever-encroaching menace of Sharia law. Sharron Angle has mentioned it, Oklahoma is considering a constitutional amendment to ban it, and some states use it as a basis of denying the legitimacy of Islam all together.
It doesn't matter that even in Muslim-majority nations strict Islamic legal codes are the exception. The threat of Sharia law has now become a talking point of the right and appears to be inspiring organizations to rise up against this imagined enemy.
Of the latest is the group Veterans Against Jihad (VAJ). Founded last spring by two retired Marine Corps veterans, the goal of VAJ is to "encourage Veterans to more actively respond to challenges threatening our Constitution [and] awaken American Citizens to Islam's Jihadist religious mandate." To that end VAJ is asking all veterans to renew their Oath of Enlistment and reaffirm their loyalty to the Constitution.
But like all groups, VAJ's understanding of constitutional fidelity is selective, as is their opposition to religiously inspired law. The group is not shy that it's mission is to "reclaim America for Christ" and has aligned itself with other far-right groups that have a decidedly intolerant view of religious diversity.
The concern about the increasing presence of Sharia law is quickly joining anti-immigration memes as a popular way to spread nativist fear and ideology. It should come as no surprise then that the mainstream politicians that embrace and even campaign on this rhetoric have been embraced by the far right elements of the tea party movement. Nativism and populism have a long history together in our political culture and this latest groundswell represents just another chapter of fear in response to cultural, economic and political change. Let's hope it's a short one.
http://www.care2.com/causes/civil-rights/blog/veterans-against-jihad-the-latest-anti-sharia-group-to-emerge/A bubbling theme from the far-reaches of the paranoid right has made its way into... more
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PART ONE...
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/05/05/hate.preacher/index.html?hpt=C1
By John Blake, CNN
May 5, 2010 4:05 p.m. EDT
Editor's note: To accurately portray the subject of this article and his critics, offensive language is quoted.
(CNN) -- He is the leader of "America's most hated family," a gaunt, craggy-faced preacher who displays "God Hates Fags" signs at the funerals of American troops, gay men and AIDS victims.
For at least 12 years, the Rev. Fred Phelps has led his Topeka, Kansas, church on a cross-country crusade against gays and lesbians. That crusade ignited a legal battle that has reached the U.S. Supreme Court.
But there is another Phelps that few know. He was a "brilliant" civil rights attorney in the 1960s who would take on racial discrimination cases that no other lawyers would touch, say longtime African-American civic leaders in Topeka.
He fought for the rights of blacks, they say, with the same passion he now reserves for the condemnation of gays.
"I don't know him anymore," says Joe Douglas Jr., an African-American activist in Topeka who became the city's first minority fire department chief.
"I see him out there, and I hear the venom that comes out of his mouth. If you had asked me in the '60s if he would do this, I would have said never."
The Rev. Ben Scott, president of the NAACP's Topeka branch, says he never heard Phelps talk about homosexuals during his work as a civil rights attorney.
Phelps declined to talk with CNN about his civil rights work or his ministry. But his daughter, Shirley Phelps-Roper, says there is no contradiction between her father's civil rights work and his ministry. That's because there's a distinct difference between gay people and black people, she says.
"You're born black. It's something you can't change even if you're Michael Jackson," she says. "God never said it was an abomination to be black."
Most of the members of Phelps' Westboro Baptist Church are members of his large family. Phelps has 13 children; 11 are attorneys. One son, Nate Phelps, is estranged from his father, and from organized religion. He is an atheist.
"He preached that we were the chosen ones but then he went out and treated people horribly," Nathan Phelps says.
His father first attracted national headlines in 1998 at the funeral of Matthew Shepard, a Wyoming college student. Shepard was tortured and murdered for being gay. Fred Phelps and his church picketed Shepard's funeral, carrying signs that said Shepard was rotting in hell.
In 2006, members of Phelps' church appeared at the funeral of an American Marine killed in Iraq carrying signs reading "Thank God for Dead Soldiers" and shouting at mourners.
Phelps' church claims the deaths are God's punishment for the nation's tolerance of homosexuality.
The family of the Marine sued Phelps' church the next year, alleging invasion of privacy, intentional infliction of emotional distress and civil conspiracy. The case went to trial and a jury awarded the family $2.9 million in compensatory damages plus $8 million in punitive damages, which were reduced to $5 million.
That verdict, however, was reversed when Phelps' church appealed. In March, Supreme Court justices accepted an appeal from the father of the fallen Marine. The court is being asked to address how far entities such as cemeteries and churches can go in restricting demonstrators' right to free speech.
CONTINUEDPART ONE...
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/05/05/hate.preacher/index.html?hpt=C1
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Arizona border vigilante group Cochise County Militia has announced plans to form a private military company there.Arizona border vigilante group Cochise County Militia has announced plans to form a... more
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February 20, 2010 7:17 p.m. EST
New York (CNN) -- The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, one of the oldest civil rights groups in the nation, announced the successor to Chairman Julian Bond on Saturday as the organization strives to prove its relevance and influence to a new generation.
NAACP Vice Chair Roslyn Brock was selected to fill the seat left by Bond, a civil rights leader who has held the post since 1998. Brock, 44, is the youngest person to ever serve in the position.
Brock has worked with the organization for more than 25 years in various roles, including as a youth board member and president of its Youth and College State Conference, according to the NAACP. She is also a vice president at Bon Secours Health Systems in Marriottsville, Maryland.
"We're looking at a generational shift in our communities," Brock said in a statement posted on the NAACP Web site.
"We have a 48 year old President in the White House, an NAACP President who was 35 at the time of his election, and a 44 year old Board Chair. The wisdom of those who stood the test of time got us to this point, and the youth will lead the future success of our movement."
Brock's perspective -- that of a younger leader -- will help move the 101-year-old organization forward, said Mary Frances Berry, former chairwoman of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.
"I think it's a great decision by the board because it changes the leadership intergenerationally," Berry told CNN on Saturday."Her views will respect those of a post-protest, civil rights generation."
The sit-ins and marches demanding racial equality have been replaced with social tussles disproportionately affecting non-white communities. Such issues include unemployment, foreclosures and incarceration rates, and Brock will have to address those in moving the NAACP forward, Berry said.
"They've got to focus on the problems that people at the grass roots have," she said.
Brock made history in February 2001 when she was unanimously elected vice chair of the NAACP National Board of Directors at the age of 35, making her the youngest and first women to get the job.
"She's very different from Julian. But the fact that she's younger, vibrant, very dynamic -- I think it's great," said historian Patricia A. Sullivan, whose book, "Raise Every Voice," chronicled the history of the NAACP. "It's an important position, and I think having someone like her in that position says something."
Bond, a stalwart of the Civil Rights Movement, helped found the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, known for its student sit-ins in the early 1960s, and served as the first president of the Southern Poverty Law Center. He served in both houses of the Georgia Legislature, totaling two decades in office, before later leading the NAACP as chairman.
The 70-year-old civil rights leader had indicated he was ready to leave the organization in 2008, but stayed on in 2009 as the NAACP celebrated its 100th anniversary.
At the time, there was talk about whether the organization was still relevant in what some observers called a "post-racial" United States. John McWhorter, a linguist and conservative political commentator, spelled it out in a February 2009 column titled, "If the NAACP ceased to exist tomorrow, would it have a significant effect on black America?"
For Bond, the answer was obvious.
"We have for the first time a black man who can open the doors to Air Force One, but we now know his children couldn't go to a pool in Philadelphia," Bond told CNN in July, referring to a decision by a suburban Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, swim club to revoke privileges of a largely minority day care center last year.
"So, as long as this disparity exists, we're not the national association for the advancement of one colored person, we want all colored people to advance," he continued. "And for us, people come in all colors -- black, brown, yellow, everything. We want everyone to advance, everyone to progress, and until that's true, the NAACP is going to be here."
And to ensure it will be here, the organization has showcased youthful leaders among its ranks -- most notably tapping Benjamin Todd Jealous as its president in 2008. At 35, Jealous was the youngest ever to hold the post at the NAACP.
Berry, who now teaches history at the University of Pennsylvania, was on the NAACP search committee at the time.
"The organization is clearly doing what every organization should do -- they should renew their leadership and reach out to the next generation," Berry said Friday. "Otherwise, they'll die."
In his speech on the 100th anniversary of the NAACP, President Barack Obama said "the pain of discrimination is still felt in America" among African-Americans, Latinos and Muslim Americans.
"Even as we inherit extraordinary progress that cannot be denied; even as we marvel at the courage and determination of so many plain folks -- we know that too many barriers still remain," he said.
CNN's Samira Simone and Khadijah Rentas contributed to this report.February 20, 2010 7:17 p.m. EST
New York (CNN) -- The National Association for the... more
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Something is clearly wrong with the priorities of immigration enforcement.
The first of the 388 workers arrested in the immigration raid on the Agriprocessors meatpacking plant in Postville, Iowa, were deported last week, having spent five months in federal prison. Their crime? Giving a bad Social Security number to the company to get hired. Among them will be a young man who had his eyes covered with duct tape by a supervisor on the line, who then beat him with a meathook. The supervisor is still on the job.
Postville was one of the many recent immigration raids leading to criminal charges and deportations for thousands of people. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff calls this "closing the back door." Meanwhile, his department seeks to "open the front door" by establishing new guest worker programs called "close to slavery" by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Something is clearly wrong with the priorities of immigration enforcement. Hungry and desperate workers go to jail and get deported. The government protects employers and seeks to turn a family-based immigration system into their managed labor supply. Yet national political campaigns say less and less about it. Immigrant Latino and Asian communities feel increasingly afraid and frustrated. Politicians want their votes, but avoid talking about the rising wave of arrests, imprisonment and deportations.
This month, national demonstrations across the nation are protesting the silence, asking candidates to speak out. Immigrant communities expect a new deal from a new administration, especially from Democrats. They want a new president to take swift and decisive action to give human rights a priority over fear, and recognize immigrants as people, not just a source of cheap labor.
In its first 100 days, a new administration could take these simple steps to benefit immigrants and working families:
• Stop Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from seeking serious federal criminal charges, with incarceration in privately run prisons, for lacking papers or for bad Social Security numbers.
• Stop raiding workplaces, especially where workers are trying to organize unions or enforce wage and hour laws. This would help all workers, not just immigrants, to raise low wages.
• Double the paltry 742 federal inspectors responsible for all US wage and hour violations, and focus on industries where immigrants are concentrated. The National Labor Relations Board could target employers who use immigration threats to violate union rights.
• Halt community sweeps, where agents use warrants for one or two people to detain and deport dozens of others. End the government's campaign to repeal local sanctuary ordinances, and to drag local law enforcement into immigration raids.
• Allow all workers to apply for a Social Security number and pay legally into the system that benefits everyone. Social Security numbers should be used for their true purpose - paying retirement and disability benefits - not to fire immigrants from their jobs and send them to prison.
• Reestablish worker protections ended under Bush on existing guest worker programs, force employers to hire domestically first, and decertify any contractor guilty of labor violations.
• Restore human rights in border communities, stop construction of the border wall between the US and Mexico, and disband the Operation Streamline federal court, where scores of young border crossers are sent to prison in chains every day.Something is clearly wrong with the priorities of immigration enforcement.
The... more
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The Southern Poverty Law Center's case against the Imperial Klans of America (IKA) is scheduled for trial in November in Meade County, Kentucky. The SPLC sued the IKA and two of its officials on behalf of teenager Jordan Gruver, who was brutally beaten by IKA members at a county fair. Over the past couple of months, the trial team, led by Morris Dees, has been in Kentucky preparing for the case. Dees answers questions about the case:
Please provide a brief summary of the case and its status today.
On July 30, 2006, two IKA officials, Jarred R. Hensley, 24, of Cincinnati and Andrew R. Watkins, 26, of Louisville, attacked 16-year-old Jordan Gruver while he was enjoying the Meade County Fair in Brandenburg, Ky. Gruver was beaten to the ground and kicked with steel-toed boots. One of his attackers is 6-foot-5 and 330 pounds. Gruver weighed 150. He never had a chance. They cracked his ribs, broke his arm and busted his jaw.
Hensley and Watkins are serving three-year prison terms for the beating. The SPLC filed a lawsuit against the IKA in July 2007, naming Ron Edwards, the IKA's founder, and several highest-ranking members as defendants. Edwards and several others have been deposed, and the SPLC's legal team is preparing for trial.
How is the Imperial Klans of America different from the KKK groups the SPLC has sued in the past?
As odd as it sounds, historically most Klans would allow only "Christians" to be members. This had little appeal to violence-prone young skinheads. The IKA changed its membership rules in late 2005 to allow "Odinists, National Socialists, skinheads, Nazis, Defenders, Confederates and other white racialists" into full IKA membership. This, in conjunction with its heavy-metal, hate music Nordic Fest, attracted hundreds of skinhead members. Now the IKA is one of the nation's largest Klan groups, with 16 chapters in eight states. And, because of its skinhead components, it is one of the most dangerous.
What groups does the IKA target for violence?
When I deposed the IKA imperial wizard, I asked him if "the IKA hates Muds, spics, kikes and niggers," as stated in its official secret handbook. "Yes," he said, "and I also hate you." It is obvious that he also hates the Southern Poverty Law Center because his large bald head sported a large freshly inked tattoo that read: “F--K THE S.P.L.C.” Imagine the hate in this man's heart to put something this disgusting on his body.
Do the IKA's joint activities with neo-Nazi skinheads pose a serious threat to minorities?
Yes, especially Latino immigrants. When the police arrested the two men who beat Jordan, one of them called the youth "an illegal SPIC," even as he lay bleeding on the ground. The IKA hosts an annual Nordic Fest each Memorial Day at its compound near Dawson Springs, Ky. They attacked Jordan because he is small and slightly dark-skinned. He is a U.S. citizen, as are his parents. Crimes against Latinos have risen as much as 40 percent in some states, driven by the heated debate about immigration. Hate groups are leading many of these assaults.
What part does hate music play in IKA's effort to attract violence-prone skinheads to its movement?
It is very appealing to these skinheads. The lyrics of these songs express deeply held beliefs that capture their imagination and openly call for violence against minorities. One song, "No Mercy," was listened to by the two IKA members less than two months before they assaulted Jordan. It goes like this: "What about the Jews? No mercy! What about the spics? No mercy! What about the niggers? No mercy! What about the faggots? No mercy!" Edwards' son, Steven, manages one of those bands, the Totenkopf Saints. Watkins, one of Jordan's assailants, was a member of the band. Its emblem is the skull head of the Nazi SS, and its members worship Adolf Hitler.The Southern Poverty Law Center's case against the Imperial Klans of America... more
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