Posts
Clip courtesy of CAUSA's video channel.
Showing posts with label racism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label racism. Show all posts
May 22, 2009
May 21, 2009
Not in Our Town: Unity in Numbers, Oregon Community Counters a Neo-Nazi Threat
Repost from Not in Our Town.
Unity in Numbers: Oregon Community Counters a Neo-Nazi Threat
by Jim Willeford
Once again, the face and symbols of intolerance, hatred and violence threaten to become part of the social skyline of Jackson County, Oregon.
On April 22, the Mail Tribune, Medford, OR’s daily newspaper, featured a front-page headline story that pulled the covers off a homegrown group of Nazi skinheads and their organized efforts to become established. The skinheads’ home base is in Phoenix, OR, between Medford and Ashland.
On April 24th, a courageous and dedicated Polish/Cherokee woman, Nicole Strykowski, not yet connected to the variety of progressive organizations in The Valley, took it upon herself to connect with Anita Burke, a reporter for the Mail Tribune. On the 25th, the Tribune did a front page story announcing a counter-demonstration, to be held in Phoenix that Sunday.
Over the duration of the demonstration, the progressive side maintained anywhere from 100-125 people. The Nazis, in full regalia, positioned themselves across the street, where uniformed policemen maintained a degree of separation of about 45 feet from the skinheads. Those who opposed the Nazi agenda sent a powerful message in contrast to the hateful images of just 5 neo-Nazis. The imagery of the diverse cross section of nonviolent protesters was inspiring, as you can see in the Mail Tribune video below:
There were no incidents of violence. The Wagnerian imagery, however, was chilling! The Nazis were dressed in SS uniforms and had expensive, dramatic flags all too reminiscent of the Third Reich. One of the flags was a traditional American flag, and the others all had swastikas or other Nazi imagery, large in size, and of unusually high-quality production.
I invited Ms. Strykowski to a meeting of the Community Response Team, which was very well attended. We will be meeting again to finalize plans for ongoing community action, and follow-up education.
The Tribune’s April 30 edition has a new story about the recent arrest of neo-Nazi leader Andrew Lee Patterson and one of his chief lieutenants. But that’s another whole story, worthy of a blog post all its own.
—Jim Willeford is a NIOT Network leader and activist in Medford, Oregon.
Unity in Numbers: Oregon Community Counters a Neo-Nazi Threat
by Jim Willeford
Once again, the face and symbols of intolerance, hatred and violence threaten to become part of the social skyline of Jackson County, Oregon.
On April 22, the Mail Tribune, Medford, OR’s daily newspaper, featured a front-page headline story that pulled the covers off a homegrown group of Nazi skinheads and their organized efforts to become established. The skinheads’ home base is in Phoenix, OR, between Medford and Ashland.
On April 24th, a courageous and dedicated Polish/Cherokee woman, Nicole Strykowski, not yet connected to the variety of progressive organizations in The Valley, took it upon herself to connect with Anita Burke, a reporter for the Mail Tribune. On the 25th, the Tribune did a front page story announcing a counter-demonstration, to be held in Phoenix that Sunday.
Over the duration of the demonstration, the progressive side maintained anywhere from 100-125 people. The Nazis, in full regalia, positioned themselves across the street, where uniformed policemen maintained a degree of separation of about 45 feet from the skinheads. Those who opposed the Nazi agenda sent a powerful message in contrast to the hateful images of just 5 neo-Nazis. The imagery of the diverse cross section of nonviolent protesters was inspiring, as you can see in the Mail Tribune video below:
There were no incidents of violence. The Wagnerian imagery, however, was chilling! The Nazis were dressed in SS uniforms and had expensive, dramatic flags all too reminiscent of the Third Reich. One of the flags was a traditional American flag, and the others all had swastikas or other Nazi imagery, large in size, and of unusually high-quality production.
I invited Ms. Strykowski to a meeting of the Community Response Team, which was very well attended. We will be meeting again to finalize plans for ongoing community action, and follow-up education.
The Tribune’s April 30 edition has a new story about the recent arrest of neo-Nazi leader Andrew Lee Patterson and one of his chief lieutenants. But that’s another whole story, worthy of a blog post all its own.
—Jim Willeford is a NIOT Network leader and activist in Medford, Oregon.
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May 17, 2009
Guest Commentary: Tabatha on Rape, Racism, and Recent Protests
On May 15th, a racist, anti-immigrant group going under the name Oregonian's For Immigration Reform (OFIR) hosted a demonstration outside a Wendy's restaurant in Milwaukee, Oregon. In response to media reports of the rape of one worker at the hands of another at the restaurant, OFIR seized on the immigration status of the accused rapist as the defining factor, protesting the alleged failure of the restaurant to investigate the immigration status of their employees. Do OFIR's calls actually have anything to do with an interest in women's rights, worker safety, or justice?
The woman's mother reported that she was previously abused by her attacker, but didn't report it.
This brings the spotlight to an often ignored issue (violence against women), framing it in well within a long history veiling racist attacks in the guise of defending white women. This is bad for women and immigrants, pulling focus off the real issues at hand, and pitting oppressed people against each other.
Why would a woman feel that she couldn't report her previous sexual assault, even to her mother? Our society is harsh towards rape survivors. After experiencing these terrible crimes, a woman's life becomes scrutinized under a magnifying glass. The "justice system" is very unresponsive to most rape and sexual assault, often only prosecuting cases on behalf of women who meet very strict standards of what it means to be a "good" woman (white, thin, virginal or married--mother, modestly dressed, and straight, and assaulted by a stranger). Any deviation and a woman is perceived to hold some blame. Rape survivors are shamed, often in the media, as people from right-wing pundits to self-proclaimed feminists question their accountability if they have been drinking, flirting, wearing a short-skirt, or any other "dangerous" activity. If the rapist is an acquaintance, every interaction is questioned. Did she lead him on?
In fact, women are more likely to be assaulted by someone we know (coworker, partner, friend, family member). By portraying rapists as unknown and undocumented menaces, OFIR is "othering" rapists. This allows us to be free from questioning the culture that supports rape, and our role in perpetuating this. We don't have to question consent, patriarchy, misogyny or sexism. "Othering" rapists supports these systems. Women need to be protected from these "Illegal Aliens"; we need to be protected by the state and by men. Women are framed weaker, which falls right into the hand of the patriarchy. Protecting women's "virtue" from other men then becomes vital to our society. Whipping up a media-fueled panic encourages us to concede rights for protection. In doing so, we lose autonomy.
Historically, rape (and the casting of people of color as "primal", '"animalistic" or "hypersexual") has actually perpetuated the culture and systems of violence either through lynch mob "justice" in the South or, more recently, at the hands of the judicial system. The recent media, state, and even progressive demonization of Lovell Mixon in Oakland is a useful metric of this. Further, men of color are less likely to receive fair treatment at the hands of the criminal justice system. They are jailed at higher rates and more likely to receive longer sentences than their white counterparts. Women of color sometimes find themselves unwilling to turn their abusers into a system that they know to be racist, as they don't want to cause more injustice from their experiences. Pitting men of color against white women in such a context invokes racist stereotypes from the early history of American racism, without acknowledging the realities of rape.
This obsession with rape and sexualized violence by white supremacists deserves investigation. Thomas Wenning, whose anti-immigrant protests at Portland's Day Labor Center, has been a speaker at OFIR meetings, and his protests have been supported and promoted via OFIR's mobilization infrastructure. By his own public admission, Wenning was convicted of rape in the early 70's. In December of 2007, another member of OFIR was arrested and charged on five counts of using a child in a display of sexually explicit conduct, two counts of sex abuse and two counts of hindering prosecution for acts alleged to have occurred in his small town barbershop. There is obviously no fair argument that OFIR members (or white men for that matter), are more inclined to rape than any other demographic. It does, however, point to the hypocrisy of OFIR's stance on the Wendy's assault by reflecting the realities of rape. Rape is prevalent, it is common, it is under reported, and it is typically perpetuated between people who know each other and in relationships of relative social power.
Rape is always egregious. Our culture supports rape no matter the social strata, but poor women are more at risk. At their workplaces, they have less power and are more unlikely to risk their jobs relying on a justice system that doesn't support them. The most vulnerable are undocumented women workers. These women have more sexual harassment, assault, and rape at the hands of their coworkers and bosses than their documented counterparts, and they face fear of reporting and deportation in reporting to hospitals, police, and other authorities. This is a common story that the news doesn't report. If they did in accordance with its frequency, you'd see on every channel every day. It would be on the morning news programs, breaking news at noon, at five, again at six, and before the late shows. But it doesn't support our power structures, so you won't see it, unless you look for it.
Our class system is reliant on sexism and racism to divide us. By offering racism to white women and sexism to men, capitalists exploit us all while we are busy caught up fighting each other. The "other" noted above are the enemy, and whatever structures need to be put into place to protect us from them we will welcome. At our own peril, we hand sole power to arbitrate violence within our communities in the form of increased policing and increased incarceration in institutional systems entirely rooted in often sexualized violence (note popular conceptions of prison rape).
Not only does our fear control us, but we've failed to posit solutions outside of handing power and hope for justice to the same state responsible for mass violence, terror, and the enforcement of color and class lines in our communities. For rape survivors, justice is often at the expense of dignity, when seldom won.
The question worth asking, then, is what is OFIR's real goal? And what CAN we do, short of appeals to a flawed, racist, and violent criminal "justice" system, to create safety, justice, and accountability for all victims of sexual violence in our society?
The woman's mother reported that she was previously abused by her attacker, but didn't report it.
This brings the spotlight to an often ignored issue (violence against women), framing it in well within a long history veiling racist attacks in the guise of defending white women. This is bad for women and immigrants, pulling focus off the real issues at hand, and pitting oppressed people against each other.
Why would a woman feel that she couldn't report her previous sexual assault, even to her mother? Our society is harsh towards rape survivors. After experiencing these terrible crimes, a woman's life becomes scrutinized under a magnifying glass. The "justice system" is very unresponsive to most rape and sexual assault, often only prosecuting cases on behalf of women who meet very strict standards of what it means to be a "good" woman (white, thin, virginal or married--mother, modestly dressed, and straight, and assaulted by a stranger). Any deviation and a woman is perceived to hold some blame. Rape survivors are shamed, often in the media, as people from right-wing pundits to self-proclaimed feminists question their accountability if they have been drinking, flirting, wearing a short-skirt, or any other "dangerous" activity. If the rapist is an acquaintance, every interaction is questioned. Did she lead him on?
In fact, women are more likely to be assaulted by someone we know (coworker, partner, friend, family member). By portraying rapists as unknown and undocumented menaces, OFIR is "othering" rapists. This allows us to be free from questioning the culture that supports rape, and our role in perpetuating this. We don't have to question consent, patriarchy, misogyny or sexism. "Othering" rapists supports these systems. Women need to be protected from these "Illegal Aliens"; we need to be protected by the state and by men. Women are framed weaker, which falls right into the hand of the patriarchy. Protecting women's "virtue" from other men then becomes vital to our society. Whipping up a media-fueled panic encourages us to concede rights for protection. In doing so, we lose autonomy.
Historically, rape (and the casting of people of color as "primal", '"animalistic" or "hypersexual") has actually perpetuated the culture and systems of violence either through lynch mob "justice" in the South or, more recently, at the hands of the judicial system. The recent media, state, and even progressive demonization of Lovell Mixon in Oakland is a useful metric of this. Further, men of color are less likely to receive fair treatment at the hands of the criminal justice system. They are jailed at higher rates and more likely to receive longer sentences than their white counterparts. Women of color sometimes find themselves unwilling to turn their abusers into a system that they know to be racist, as they don't want to cause more injustice from their experiences. Pitting men of color against white women in such a context invokes racist stereotypes from the early history of American racism, without acknowledging the realities of rape.
This obsession with rape and sexualized violence by white supremacists deserves investigation. Thomas Wenning, whose anti-immigrant protests at Portland's Day Labor Center, has been a speaker at OFIR meetings, and his protests have been supported and promoted via OFIR's mobilization infrastructure. By his own public admission, Wenning was convicted of rape in the early 70's. In December of 2007, another member of OFIR was arrested and charged on five counts of using a child in a display of sexually explicit conduct, two counts of sex abuse and two counts of hindering prosecution for acts alleged to have occurred in his small town barbershop. There is obviously no fair argument that OFIR members (or white men for that matter), are more inclined to rape than any other demographic. It does, however, point to the hypocrisy of OFIR's stance on the Wendy's assault by reflecting the realities of rape. Rape is prevalent, it is common, it is under reported, and it is typically perpetuated between people who know each other and in relationships of relative social power.
Rape is always egregious. Our culture supports rape no matter the social strata, but poor women are more at risk. At their workplaces, they have less power and are more unlikely to risk their jobs relying on a justice system that doesn't support them. The most vulnerable are undocumented women workers. These women have more sexual harassment, assault, and rape at the hands of their coworkers and bosses than their documented counterparts, and they face fear of reporting and deportation in reporting to hospitals, police, and other authorities. This is a common story that the news doesn't report. If they did in accordance with its frequency, you'd see on every channel every day. It would be on the morning news programs, breaking news at noon, at five, again at six, and before the late shows. But it doesn't support our power structures, so you won't see it, unless you look for it.
Our class system is reliant on sexism and racism to divide us. By offering racism to white women and sexism to men, capitalists exploit us all while we are busy caught up fighting each other. The "other" noted above are the enemy, and whatever structures need to be put into place to protect us from them we will welcome. At our own peril, we hand sole power to arbitrate violence within our communities in the form of increased policing and increased incarceration in institutional systems entirely rooted in often sexualized violence (note popular conceptions of prison rape).
Not only does our fear control us, but we've failed to posit solutions outside of handing power and hope for justice to the same state responsible for mass violence, terror, and the enforcement of color and class lines in our communities. For rape survivors, justice is often at the expense of dignity, when seldom won.
The question worth asking, then, is what is OFIR's real goal? And what CAN we do, short of appeals to a flawed, racist, and violent criminal "justice" system, to create safety, justice, and accountability for all victims of sexual violence in our society?
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November 13, 2008
Idiocracy: Too Many Syllables
Oregon Minuteman displays his true colors at the Portland Day Laborer Hire Site
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November 12, 2008
It's Not Just "Illegals" Anymore
As Barack Obama was winning—and won—the presidential election there was a flurry of activity on white supremacist websites. In spite of the rising number of hate groups nationally, the majority of the anti-immigrant movement continues to argue that they do not fall into that category. While the rhetoric of neo-nazi and anti-immigrant groups is different, their ideologies are frighteningly similar.
Oregon's local anti-immigrant group with white supremacists leanings, Oregonians for Immigration Reform has a prominent link on their website to an organization called VDARE. That site was founded by Peter Brimelow, its name is short for Veronica Dare, "the first English child to be born in the New World", and the entire website is full of prime Eurocentric content. The particular gem of a post-election essay I would like to draw your attention to is titled, "Diversity is Strength! It's Also Witchcraft Imported by Immigration. (And, Yes, From Obama's Kenya Too)". [1]
This piece is not concerned about distinctions between “legal” and “illegal” immigrants. Oh no, this author, Brenda Walker, states: “Readers know that immigrants don't leave primitive beliefs behind just because they are relocating to the First World. Foreign newcomers bring their whole cultural package—sometimes including the very worst that humanity has to offer.” This author is concerned with the dark and frightening other. In the passage that most profoundly reveals her fear, the author describes Albinos in Tanzania being killed by witches who sought their body parts. The rhetorical strategy deployed here should be obvious. It is an alleged threat to whiteness that lurks barely under the surface of nearly all modern anti-immigrant rhetoric. The author attempts to connect the president elect to an influx of immigration from Africa, and urges her audience to consider all the, “Superstitious behavior that we would find objectionable” which she claims comes with immigration. She concludes by declaring, “The social progress we have made in America is threatened by the deluge of immigrants whose customs are incompatible with our values.”
By way of conclusion, allow me to make three assertions that stem from Walker's essay. Firstly, the anti-immigrant movement is not an issue strictly for the Latino community. Clearly, they consider Africans a threat, and the author also mentions people from India. We have learned from this country's history that the scapegoat could easily be the Irish, the Chinese, the Japanese, and so on. We all need to be concerned about, and combat, the anti-immigrant movement. Secondly, I agree with the author that immigration is a threat to her values, which are in no way progressive or American. Immigration is a threat to xenophobic right-wing values, which is as good a reason as any to support immigrants. Lastly, let us remember that the anti-immigrant folks are not concerned strictly with immigrants, but with the cultural identity of the country. They are forced to resort to scare tactics about other people's cultures. When their bloated rhetoric has been distilled, the truth emerges about the goals of the anti-immigrant crowd. They are desperately trying to protect a make-believe, and therefore precarious, notion of whiteness. It's called racism.
NOTE:
[1] http://www. vdare. com/walker/081106_diversity.htm
Oregon's local anti-immigrant group with white supremacists leanings, Oregonians for Immigration Reform has a prominent link on their website to an organization called VDARE. That site was founded by Peter Brimelow, its name is short for Veronica Dare, "the first English child to be born in the New World", and the entire website is full of prime Eurocentric content. The particular gem of a post-election essay I would like to draw your attention to is titled, "Diversity is Strength! It's Also Witchcraft Imported by Immigration. (And, Yes, From Obama's Kenya Too)". [1]
This piece is not concerned about distinctions between “legal” and “illegal” immigrants. Oh no, this author, Brenda Walker, states: “Readers know that immigrants don't leave primitive beliefs behind just because they are relocating to the First World. Foreign newcomers bring their whole cultural package—sometimes including the very worst that humanity has to offer.” This author is concerned with the dark and frightening other. In the passage that most profoundly reveals her fear, the author describes Albinos in Tanzania being killed by witches who sought their body parts. The rhetorical strategy deployed here should be obvious. It is an alleged threat to whiteness that lurks barely under the surface of nearly all modern anti-immigrant rhetoric. The author attempts to connect the president elect to an influx of immigration from Africa, and urges her audience to consider all the, “Superstitious behavior that we would find objectionable” which she claims comes with immigration. She concludes by declaring, “The social progress we have made in America is threatened by the deluge of immigrants whose customs are incompatible with our values.”
By way of conclusion, allow me to make three assertions that stem from Walker's essay. Firstly, the anti-immigrant movement is not an issue strictly for the Latino community. Clearly, they consider Africans a threat, and the author also mentions people from India. We have learned from this country's history that the scapegoat could easily be the Irish, the Chinese, the Japanese, and so on. We all need to be concerned about, and combat, the anti-immigrant movement. Secondly, I agree with the author that immigration is a threat to her values, which are in no way progressive or American. Immigration is a threat to xenophobic right-wing values, which is as good a reason as any to support immigrants. Lastly, let us remember that the anti-immigrant folks are not concerned strictly with immigrants, but with the cultural identity of the country. They are forced to resort to scare tactics about other people's cultures. When their bloated rhetoric has been distilled, the truth emerges about the goals of the anti-immigrant crowd. They are desperately trying to protect a make-believe, and therefore precarious, notion of whiteness. It's called racism.
NOTE:
[1] http://www. vdare. com/walker/081106_diversity.htm
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November 5, 2008
Minuteman Civil Defense Corps
Oregon Minuteman wields blatantly racist sign at a protest of day laborers seeking work in Cornelius, OR on August 19, 2006
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November 3, 2008
Columbia County Anti-Immigrant Ballot Measures ask us to report our undocumented neighbors.
A Citizens’ Initiative on the ballot in Columbia County, Oregon would mandate that all construction sites post 4'x8' signs that say “LEGAL WORKERS ONLY,” provide the Homeland Security telephone number and ask us to report people we think might be undocumented. (5-190 & 5-191 )
The obvious premise behind reporting undocumented people is that you can spot them. How does one spot an undocumented person? Do they look a certain way, or sound a certain way? That is assuming criminality about someone based on their color or race.
Wayne Mayo, the man who put these measures on the ballot, insists that his motivations are raising wages and enforcing laws. But in reality, he is pedaling fear and discrimination as economic and worker justice.
Mayo is asking us to tattle to the government on people who we think might not have papers. Let’s remember that Homeland Security (DHS) is currently marching into peoples’ homes, arresting them in front of their families, breaking families apart and deporting hard working people. These measures would not only increase the ability of DHS to enter our lives based on what others think an immigrant looks like, they also encourage a culture of fear as we are put on high alert of the ‘others’ by screaming billboard-sized signs.
Using signage to ostracize immigrants or non-white communities as a long historical precedent. This plays on the same social distress as "Whites only," & "Irish need not apply;” classic immigrant bashing on a sign.
These measures are not about economic justice. They will drag down Columbia County’s already sputtering economy, but these measures will not bring it back to life. Mayo is implying that the burden of Columbia County’s failed economy lie on the backs of Latino immigrants, making these measures about race. These signs are intended to instill fear, drive out 'unwanted' people & reinforce a hierarchy based on race.
Working class people realize that shoving immigrants farther underground will only drive down wages and create a second-class of worker. We know that to build strong industries and family wage jobs all workers must have equal rights, be organized and empowered to stand together.
So if these measures are not about economic repair but instead drive a wedge into our community, then what leg does Mayo have to stand on to say that these are not race motivated measures? None. Mayo wants to make it clear that immigrants are not welcome, especially not those that we can identify with our eyes or ears.
The obvious premise behind reporting undocumented people is that you can spot them. How does one spot an undocumented person? Do they look a certain way, or sound a certain way? That is assuming criminality about someone based on their color or race.
Wayne Mayo, the man who put these measures on the ballot, insists that his motivations are raising wages and enforcing laws. But in reality, he is pedaling fear and discrimination as economic and worker justice.
Mayo is asking us to tattle to the government on people who we think might not have papers. Let’s remember that Homeland Security (DHS) is currently marching into peoples’ homes, arresting them in front of their families, breaking families apart and deporting hard working people. These measures would not only increase the ability of DHS to enter our lives based on what others think an immigrant looks like, they also encourage a culture of fear as we are put on high alert of the ‘others’ by screaming billboard-sized signs.
Using signage to ostracize immigrants or non-white communities as a long historical precedent. This plays on the same social distress as "Whites only," & "Irish need not apply;” classic immigrant bashing on a sign.
These measures are not about economic justice. They will drag down Columbia County’s already sputtering economy, but these measures will not bring it back to life. Mayo is implying that the burden of Columbia County’s failed economy lie on the backs of Latino immigrants, making these measures about race. These signs are intended to instill fear, drive out 'unwanted' people & reinforce a hierarchy based on race.
Working class people realize that shoving immigrants farther underground will only drive down wages and create a second-class of worker. We know that to build strong industries and family wage jobs all workers must have equal rights, be organized and empowered to stand together.
So if these measures are not about economic repair but instead drive a wedge into our community, then what leg does Mayo have to stand on to say that these are not race motivated measures? None. Mayo wants to make it clear that immigrants are not welcome, especially not those that we can identify with our eyes or ears.
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The New KKK
Oregon Minuteman gives thanks to Portland activist for "making his cause"
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October 30, 2008
Calling the Kettle Black
In front of the Portland Day Laborer Hire Site,
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OFIR, FAIR, and Family Values
I am confident that we have all been cautioned to mind the company we keep, because we will be judged by association. This is good advice. It is illuminating to take a closer look at grassroots organizations that present themselves as local defenders of family and nation. Oregonians For Immigration Reform (OFIR) adamantly denies that they are racist. Instead they claim to be mere patriots concerned with the toll “illegal immigrants” are exacting from “legal citizens.” It takes no more effort than following some of the links on their website to see the claims of ethnic neutrality rapidly dissolve. OFIR is not only linked directly to hate groups but also to organizations that make no effort to hide their aggression toward all Latino immigrants.
The primary anti-immigrant organization in the country is the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). Not only does OFIR have a link to FAIR, but on the FAIR website OFIR shows up under the state by state list of like minded organizations to plug into in your area. FAIR has been, and continues to be, deeply involved in the growing anti-immigrant movement in the country. FAIR claims that it only opposes "illegal" immigration, but its website, allies, actions, and history demonstrate that it is truly focused on defining "legal" Americans as white. Taking a look at FAIR's family tree, their influence is evident. It details the deep ties that they have to the white supremacist movement, as well as the influence that they exert on groups like OFIR all around this country.
Furthermore, FAIR was founded by John Tanton who is an outspoken white nationalist organizer. Recently, Tanton's racism was the subject of an investigation by the Southern Poverty Law Center. It detailed his decades of experience coordinating with other white supremacists, and his interest in eugenics--Tanton believes that cultures are successful or not based on biology and race. It is this perspective that leads him to express his hatred of the “Latino onslaught” and its supposed threat to European-America. FAIR's anti-immigrant propaganda has given ammunition to hate groups throughout the country. Those organizations that are a part of FAIR's family tree also share their family values. When I affirm that I am not a racist I back that claim by not only distancing myself from racists but actively opposing them. OFIR apparently thinks superficial lip service will suffice. Well, I see through their denial. Even if they distanced themselves from FAIR at this point, the relationship is clear, the link is active, and the influence of this racist group on OFIR is undeniable.
The primary anti-immigrant organization in the country is the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). Not only does OFIR have a link to FAIR, but on the FAIR website OFIR shows up under the state by state list of like minded organizations to plug into in your area. FAIR has been, and continues to be, deeply involved in the growing anti-immigrant movement in the country. FAIR claims that it only opposes "illegal" immigration, but its website, allies, actions, and history demonstrate that it is truly focused on defining "legal" Americans as white. Taking a look at FAIR's family tree, their influence is evident. It details the deep ties that they have to the white supremacist movement, as well as the influence that they exert on groups like OFIR all around this country.
Furthermore, FAIR was founded by John Tanton who is an outspoken white nationalist organizer. Recently, Tanton's racism was the subject of an investigation by the Southern Poverty Law Center. It detailed his decades of experience coordinating with other white supremacists, and his interest in eugenics--Tanton believes that cultures are successful or not based on biology and race. It is this perspective that leads him to express his hatred of the “Latino onslaught” and its supposed threat to European-America. FAIR's anti-immigrant propaganda has given ammunition to hate groups throughout the country. Those organizations that are a part of FAIR's family tree also share their family values. When I affirm that I am not a racist I back that claim by not only distancing myself from racists but actively opposing them. OFIR apparently thinks superficial lip service will suffice. Well, I see through their denial. Even if they distanced themselves from FAIR at this point, the relationship is clear, the link is active, and the influence of this racist group on OFIR is undeniable.
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