America's Voice Blog

Posted 01/19/10 at 11:22am By Jackie Mahendra

Roundup: Rep. Steve King Vs. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., on Immigration, Civil Rights, and Arpaio

Yesterday we celebrated the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the many lessons from his life that inform the struggle for real immigration reform in the U.S. today.

Seth Hoy writes, at Immigration Impact:

His legacy will be remembered this week by people of all colors and creeds who still believe in the American dream and who continue to fight for equality, civil rights and the basic human dignity they deserve. Over the weekend, thousands of human rights activists took to the street in Phoenix, Arizona, to march for civil rights and for “long-overdue federal action on immigration.”

Here is a video from that 10,000-person Arpaio march, which we live-blogged on Saturday:

From ManEegee of Latino Politico, who attended the march:

That's why it's important to come together in public like we did - to signal to other political leaders (and hopefully, Department of Justice officials) that Arpaio's actions are unacceptable. [...] Each time the march is covered with commentary on the investigations and continue blowing the lid off the sheriff's abuses, the more politically toxic he becomes and the feds are forced to act.

The Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights also hosted a 1,000-person event in Chicago for immigration reform, which the Chicago Sun-Times covered. It featured the Reverend Jesse Jackson speaking about Dr. King's legacy:

The Rev. Jesse Jackson invoked the memory of King -- whose birthday is being commemorated Monday -- in calling for a change in immigration policy.

"His fight was about immigration reform," Jackson said. "It was about one set of rules" for all people.

And Jackson, like several others who spoke, highlighted the plight of the people of Haiti in the aftermath of the earthquake there.

Click here to read more.
Posted 01/06/10 at 04:54pm By Jackie Mahendra

New Parody Site Begs Question: Does Anti-Immigrant Crowd Think Hate Crimes are Funny?

In "Nativist Ringleader Behind New Website Parodying Latino Group’s Anti-Hate Campaign," Andrea Nill reports:tantonspinoff copy

....Center for Immigration Truth” was launched with the goal of “present[ing] the truth behind the agenda and tactics of the radical open borders network.” The parody site, which is designed to look just like the National Council of La Raza’s (NCLR) We Can Stop The Hate website, seeks to trivialize and discredit the Latino advocacy group’s campaign against hate and misinformation in the immigration debate. Wonk Room recently discovered that GoDaddy’s domain directory reveals that the Center for Immigration Truth website is registered and run by the same man who founded and funds many of the anti-immigrant extremist groups that NCLR seeks to shed light on: John Tanton.

Looks like John Tanton didn't want to spring for that whopping $9.99/year private domain registration... Wonder if he's pinching himself now. At least it's crystal clear who is really behind this tasteless parody (GoDaddy's WhoIs directory screenshot is pictured at right). The site itself goes in circles with its "About" section (we're linked to prominently!), but the "Translate" section is also priceless, reading:

We have received requests to translate our website into foreign languages - notably, German, Dutch and Spanish.

You can translate text from any web page on this website into another language by using this translator. (LINKS TO BABEL FISH TRANSLATION SITE-- SO YOU CAN COPY AND PASTE YOUR OWN CONTENT).

GoDaddyRight, Dutch. Only one problem: this is America, folks. We speak English.

Maybe we should start a spinoff site, "Speak English or Get Babel Fish."

Nill continues with some crucial perspective on John Tanton's life work from SPLC:

The Southern Poverty Law Center describes Tanton as the “puppeteer” of the organized anti-immigration “movement”:

It is not often that a single individual is largely responsible for creating an entire political movement. But John Tanton can claim without exaggeration that he is the founding father of America’s modern anti-immigration movement. [...]

Nill argues:

In the past, Tanton has dabbled in eugenics and one his groups, the Federation for American Immigration Reform, accepted $1.2 million from the Pioneer Fund, an outfit described as having “never wavered in its commitment to eugenics and ideas of human and racial inferiority and superiority.” Tanton also owns and runs the Social Contract Press which publishes the views of known white nationalists and includes pieces such as “Europhobia: The Hostility Toward European-Descended Americans.”

On the Center for Immigration Truth, Tanton sticks to degrading all of the groups which have ever challenged or criticized his network of organizations. It describes SPLC — a civil rights organization committed to the “struggle for tolerance and justice,” as a group that “shamelessly panders to peoples’ fears and profiteers from liberal White guilt in order to line its overflowing coffers.” NCLR, the nation’s largest Latino civil rights and advocacy organization, is identified as representing “the well-funded far-left anti-enforcement mob.” Tanton even goes after the Wonk Room for “regurgitating disinformation about dedicated environmentalists.” However, the brand of environmentalism that Tanton is referring to is the one that blames global climate change and other environmental woes on immigration to the U.S.

NCLR launched its “We Can Stop The Hate” campaign in an effort to “stem the surge of hate and violence” that is currently threatening the Latino and immigrant community.

To recap, check out a video we produced last year, exposing the Tanton network of anti-immigrant organizations. Sadly, it's just as relevant today, considering John Tanton and his followers appear to think that a rise in violent hate crimes is something to make fun of.

Watch the video, "Wolves:"

Posted 12/18/09 at 03:20pm By Adam Luna

Prosecution of Civil Rights Cases and Hate Crimes Are Up

Tom Perez, the Obama administration’s new Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights announced yesterday that , “the Civil Rights division is again open for business.” This is  a welcome change for a department that had been widely criticized for politicizing the agency, lagging in effectiveness and suppressing legitimate cases over the last eight years.

On hate crimes, Perez announced that in the first year of the Obama administration, the department had dealt with more hate crime cases than in any year since 2001.

According to the Associated Press:

A total of 25 hate crime cases were filed for the budget year that ended in September, encompassing most of President Barack Obama's first year in office and the last few months of the Bush administration. In 2001, there were 31 such cases filed. The number fell to a low of 12 in 2006, before starting to rise again, reaching 23 in 2008.

The public announcement of hate crime charges by the Justice Department this week against three police officers and two young men in Pennsylvania for racially motivated murders is a welcome sign of things to come.

Posted 12/16/09 at 12:40pm By Adam Luna

Luis Ramirez Update: Administration Opens Door to Justice in PA Murder

News broke yesterday that over half of the police force in the tiny Pennsylvania town of Shenandoah, PA – including the chief – have been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges brought by the Obama administration for obstructing a federal probe of a brutal hate crime and murder.

You may remember the horrific 2008 case of Luis Ramirez who was beaten to death by three teenagers — for nothing more than the way he looked. As Ramirez lay unconscious at their feet, the teens yelled to a young white woman by his side:

Tell your effin Mexican friends to get the eff out of Shenandoah or you’re going to be laying next to him!

An all-white jury delivered a slap on the wrist to the assailants despite overwhelming evidence, acquitting them of committing a hate crime and shocking the nation.  The Obama administration then initiated an investigation, and now the wheels of justice are finally turning.

In a statement released today by the U.S. Department of Justice, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Tom Perez said:

Violence motivated by bigotry and hate has no place in America, and yet it remains all too prevalent in many of our communities. The Civil Rights Division stands ready to bring perpetrators of hate crimes to justice.

Click here to read more.
Posted 12/15/09 at 09:00am By Adam Luna

The Racist Right-Wing Jingle Machine and “Illegals” this Christmas

Andrea Nill over at the Wonk Room caught this racist right-wing holiday song, “Illegals in My Yard,” set to the tune of the Christmas song, Feliz Navidad.

It goes:

Illegals in my yard. (3x)
Sixteen arrive in a stolen car[...]
They’re getting free organ transplants this Christmas.
They’re going to have anchor babies this Christmas.
They’re going to scream “sí, se puede” this Christmas. Those illegals in my yard[...]
They’re going to spread bubonic plague this Christmas.
They’re going to bring me lots of bed bugs this Christmas.
They’re going to pass tuberculosis this Christmas.
Those illegals in my yard.

It was published on the respected (by the right wing) website, Human Events, home to authors like Newt (Spanish-is-the-language-of-the-ghetto) Gingrich and Oliver North. In fact, there’s a whole list of audio shorts designed to get a chuckle from web-savvy right-wingers who think racism is a joke, and their talk radio counterparts.

Song creators Matt Fox and AJ Rice also came out with an absurdly bigoted bit in 2008 called Sasha Obama’s Big Mouth.

A narrator asks: “What happens when procreation goes horribly wrong?” They then insert audio of a Sasha Obama impersonator into that moment at the Democratic Convention when President Obama and daughter Sasha exchange hellos via teleconference. The impersonated Sasha says:

I’m going to P-Diddy’s champagne after party! Bye daddy, I love you, As-Salamu Alaykum my brother!

Click here to read more.
Posted 12/10/09 at 11:34am By Web Team

Weekly Diaspora: Unemployment Feeding Anti-Immigrant Sentiment

This post is a weekly feature by Nezua, Media Consortium Blogger.

The nation's 10% unemployment rate is feeding anti-immigrant sentiment, as Marcelo Ballvé reports for New America Media. Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) critiqued President Barack Obama's recent jobs summit as "fatally flawed" because President Obama did not discuss wresting millions of jobs away from undocumented families. Smith's argument is flawed.

A "known Capitol Hill immigration hardliner," Smith asks us to assume that for every job the U.S. could theoretically "take back" from an undocumented worker, an eager U.S. citizen would flock to fill it. But, as Ballvé reports, "several studies suggest that among Americans and legal residents, it's mainly those lacking a high school diploma who are competing directly with undocumented immigrants for jobs (and by most estimates, that's less than one out of every 10 U.S. workers)."

Smith's reasoning is a leap that only a hardliner could make, and is simply not borne out by any reliable data or experience.

In fact, a soon-to-be released book called Working in the Shadows: A Year of Doing the Jobs (Most) Americans Won’t Do by journalist and SEIU researcher Gabriel Thompson tells the opposite story, as In These Times reports. Thompson went undercover to work alongside migrant workers for one year. The work was so strenuous that Thompson used painkillers to make it through. But he gained a crucial perspective: Despite the detached and abstract imaginings of Republican politicians, these are jobs that "even most unemployed and destitute 'Americans' are not necessarily willing or able to take ... even if the pay is decent."

Click here to read more.
Posted 11/20/09 at 03:39pm By Adam Luna

Hate Group FAIR Looking for “Ethnically Ambiguous” Actors—Think You Have What it Takes?

We just got word that the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), which the Southern Poverty Law Center has designated a hate group, is holding a casting call in Atlanta tomorrow for a new web video that will change the hearts and minds of the average American.   

Think you have what it takes to be a mouthpiece for hate?

They will pay $500 to “ethnically ambiguous” actors in their 20s or 30s, with no Southern accent, who can work with a teleprompter -- to help them put a modern face on their extreme agenda and disguise their clear ties to white nationalism.

FAIR spends millions of dollars a year on online ads to promote videos like this on websites -- including some progressive ones you know and read. So if you get the part, you could be the envy of  “ethnically ambiguous” racists across the country!

Watch this to learn what FAIR's like when the teleprompter turns off:

To help you out, here are some quotes from FAIR leaders. Try practicing them in front of the mirror before heading to the casting call.

John Tanton,  FAIR Founder and Board Director, and publisher of the Social Contract Press, a white nationalist hate zine:

“As Whites see their power and control over their lives declining, will they simply go quietly into the night? or will there be an explosion?”

Click here to read more.
Posted 11/20/09 at 09:08am By Web Team

Weekly Diaspora: Fort Hood, Pundits and Immigration Reform

This post is a weekly feature by Nezua, Media Consortium Blogger.

First it was immigrants from Mexico, now Muslims in the armed services. After the tragic shootings at Fort Hood, conservative pundits are verbally attacking Muslims and Arab-Americans, much like they have vilified the immigrant community. The complexities of Islamic faith are being glossed over and "Muslim Terrorist" is stamped upon any act of violence involving their community. As a result, nuanced voices are buried in favor of suspicion and violence.

Dr. Riad Z Abdelkarim loves and serves this country, but is lumped in with alleged and actual enemies of the state due to his faith. In an article for The Progressive, Abdelkarim writes about his sense of anger and betrayal over the Fort Hood massacre. He is angry that the perpetrator of such harm is an American and as a doctor. He feels betrayed because the killer practices Islam, which is a beautiful and inspiring faith to Dr. Abdelkarim. "The Fort Hood murders are a huge setback" to the progress that Arab-Americans and American Muslims have made to clear the "guilt by association" that has affected their communities since 9/11, writes Abdelkarim.

The Real News Network also thoughtfully examines the aftermath of Fort Hood. Host Riz Khan gives background on shooter Nidal Malik Hasan and explores the effects of the Fort Hood shooting. Kahn asks "If a Muslim commits a serious crime in America, is that crime seen as that much more deadly?"

The violent culture that many U.S. citizens attribute to Islam and Arab-Americans criminalizes everyday people. For example, a bit of Arabic script led to a frenzied media reaction when Texas border guards found "ski jacket with three unusual patches" in Hebbronville, Texas in 2005. The patches were irresponsibly described as "terrorist garb" by "right wing media," according to the Texas Observer. "One [patch] featured a lion’s head, a parachute and Arabic script, another an airplane flying toward a tower and the words 'Midnight Mission.' The third patch read 'Daiwa.'"

It all made for a "fine story," as Melissa Del Bosque writes. But the results were not so dramatic. "Daiwa" is an ad for a "popular fishing company," the Arabic is the symbol of a "defunct air brigade in Syria" that was in fact "anti-Islamist," and the jacket more than likely bought at one of the "pulgas" (flea markets) located closer to the border. It is fortunate that the voices trying to connect Al Qaeda and Mexicans were not successful.

In RaceWire, Debiyani Kar reports on the Obama administration's latest announcements that immigration reform would come in 2010. Kar cuts to the heart of the issue, reminding us that "it is time to pause and make the connection again between (im)migration and globalization." If our nation is truly interested in addressing the roots of the problem, rather than passing sweeping reform every decade, we have to address this issue. Meanwhile, Kar also reminds us that migrants "are not waiting for legal reforms to take control of their economic futures," and wield their own economic power.

Click here to read more.
Posted 11/19/09 at 05:11pm By Dara Lind

After Anti-Immigrant Tea Party Flop, 60,000 Join Push for Real Immigration Reform

This past weekend, ALIPAC organized anti-amnesty “tea parties” across the country -- although perhaps “organized” is too generous a term for what turned out to be pretty weak events.
 
It’s not surprising that ALIPAC’s tea parties -- 53 of them in total, according to the group—turned out to be what the media calls “sparsely attended.” After all, the anti-immigrant group’s “Unite Against Amnesty” Web site lists only 5,572 “against amnesty supporters.” (Here's the Raleigh tea party, pictured at right, from ALIPAC's website).

Compare that to the number of people who tuned into last night’s “Families, Freedom and Faith” national tele-town hall and house parties for immigration reform: over 60,000.

That’s over ten supporters of immigration reform for every anti-immigrant “tea partier.”

Nevertheless, William Gheen, president of ALIPAC, is convinced the silent majority is on his side:

The Obama administration and the US Congress need to cease and desist advocacy for any form of Amnesty legislation, since any path to citizenship for illegals is opposed by over 78% of Americans…

ALIPAC doesn’t provide a source for their statistic, but as we’ve noted, poll results that seem “anti-immigrant” at first glance are often the result of unclear or misleading questions. And when asked directly in a May poll, 68% of Americans said they did support a path to citizenship for undocumented workers.

Click here to read more.
Posted 11/06/09 at 04:24pm By Mahwish Khan

Remembering—and Blogging for—Marcelo Lucero

Long Island Wins has launched a blogging campaign in memory of Marcelo Lucero, a 37 year old Ecuadorian immigrant who had been living in the United States for the past 16 years, murdered by a group of teenagers approximately one year ago. The campaign, which includes a petition for comprehensive immigration reform in Lucero's honor, will culminate on Saturday with a candlelight vigil in his memory.

On the night of November 8, 2008, seven boys decided to go “beaner hopping” – the determined act of looking for and attacking Latinos – in Patchogue, NY. They chanced upon two victims – stealing one man’s hat earlier in the evening, and then later, stabbed Marcelo Lucero. According to the Associated Press:

Lucero, 37, was walking with a friend near the Patchogue train station at about midnight when they were confronted by the teenagers tooling around town allegedly looking for targets, a somewhat routine avocation for them, according to prosecutors.

His friend ran away, but prosecutors say the teens surrounded Lucero, who tried desperately to fight back, smacking one of his assailants with his belt.

Click here to read more.

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