Hate Groups

A Perfect Storm?

Today, MSNBC featured a story on the growth in hate groups and increas in hate crimes.  Since the year 2000, the number of hate groups has increased by 54%, adding up to 926 such groups across the country.  The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) contends that this growth is due almost entirely to the exploitation of the immigration issue by these groups.  Statistics show that these groups are mainly targeting Latinos.  The piece states that the combination of an economic crisis, a rapidly changing demography (it is estimated that by 2042 most of the U.S. population will be of a "minority", and this will happen by 2023 among 18-year olds), and the first black President have served to stir the storm of hate crimes and hate groups - a storm that "only knowledge and understanding" can eliminate.  Let's hope this small percentage of our population starts becoming more informed, and more accepting of the demographic reality of 21st century America.  See the video, with coments by John Amaya from MALDEF and the SPLC, dedicated to tracking such groups.

Is the Presidential Race Fueling Hate Speech?

In case you missed this yesterday...we've spoken before about how Words Have Consequences.  FBI statistics have shown a dramatic increase in hate crimes - primarily against Hispanics, but is the Presidential race also providing fuel to the fire? It is astounding that in this day and age someone would stand up and say what this lady says.  It's even more astounding that McCain responds by saying, "No, he is a good and decent citizen," as if being a good man and an Arab were mutually exclusive.  
 
 

Center for Immigration Studies, At It Again

The Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) has received a lot of press for a report it released today called Homewardbound: Recent Immigration Enforcement and the Decline in the Illegal Alien Population, so it's important to set the record straight on the report's "indications." Before pointing out the discrepancies in the report, it is essential to understand the background of who wrote it. CIS has been recognized as the "think tank" of the network of at least 13 anti-immigrant and white supremacist hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Center. This group was begun by a man named John Tanton, under the guise of his interest in the environment and "population control." He has helped fund all these groups through one entity, U.S. Inc. U.S. Inc.'s lobbying arm is called "Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR)." The Executive Director of FAIR, Roy Beck, frequently acting as the "moderate" voice on cable news and radio talk shows, is actually editor of the Social Contract Press - a publishing house that promotes works such as "The Camp of the Saints," considered to encourage fear of anyone with colored skin. FAIR in turn created a "think tank" under its tax umbrella - CIS.

They are now separate legal entities, but FAIR still provides funding to CIS. It's evident throughout the history of CIS that its work product is aimed at portraying immigrants as criminals and spreading the notion that the immigrant population is exploding and deteriorating our communities - not once have they published a "research" paper that attempts to inform and remain unbiased, you won't find anything about the positive contributions of immigrants on their website. Take a minute and look through the websites of the groups in this network - the rhetoric against Jews, Blacks, and Hispanics demonstrates how papers like these and groups like these don't just affect immigrants (which are of all colors), or Hispanics, they affect everyone who lives in this country and anyone who cares about the values on which this country was founded. True Patriots would never have such fear of others and never promote such hateful rhetoric and "indications".

The groups in this network care little about facts - I almost felt like I should get the Population Environment Balance a map, or a newpaper, when I saw their website praising the anti-immigrant laws in Prince William County, MARYLAND (this county in VIRGINIA has only been the prime example nationally of immigration enforcement taken to the local level for the past year). But we cannot underestimate the fact that even inaccurate reports like these - words - have consequences: the Southern Poverty Law Center reports that in 2000, 602 hate crimes took place in our country. That number rose to 888 in 2007, and in 2006 819 Hispanics reported being targets of those crimes.  According to the FBI, anti-Latino hate crimes rose 35% between 2003 and 2006. 

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