39 CommentsAfter Avi makes his TV appearance on the Factor at 8:00 pm, stay tuned for sophomore Eva Fortes, the creator of the Protest the Minutemen Facebook Group, on Hannity and Colmes at 9:00 pm.
We gave you Kulawik, we gave you Khan, and now we give you Karina, one of the main protest organizers (Bwog’s feeling alliterative today…though that one is quite unfortunate, considering the subject matter…)
Karina doesn’t represent everyone who rushed the stage or protested behind the barricades, but she was on the front lines. This is what she has to say.
Do you think people were surprised by the force of the protest?
Why would people be surprised that there would be such a strong response from Latino student groups and….people of conscience? This is an organization that wants to take it upon themselves to physically stop the flow of illegal immigration. This is an organization that takes it upon itself to torture and harass and intimidate and kill people who are coming here to work. (Karina clarifies: they are not a legitimate authority, they are racist vigilantes with no training or credentials). So why would people be surprised that there would be a strong reaction?
I don’t think people were so much surprised by the protest outside as the violence inside.
We were surprised by the violence inside, actually. We knew that when we went on that stage and held up that banner, that public security was gonna come up to us and ask us to leave, that maybe they would have pulled us off the stage. What we didn’t know was that the Minutemen and the Republicans were gonna take it upon themselves to beat up our members. So I guess this kind of goes in line with the type of viglante violence that is proposed and is enacted by the organization they brought.
Do you think it might have been more effective in terms of presenting your side of the story to wait for people to challenge Gilchrist in the Q&A session?
No, I don’t think so. We wanted to speak for our families, and for the people who couldn’t be in that room. We were planning on holding a banner behind him and away from him that said, say “no to racism.” And we knew that there was going to be press, and there were going to be pictures, and we wanted people to know, we don’t support these people. We wanted that to be in the backdrop. We didn’t stop him from speaking. I firmly believe that. He could keep speaking, but we’re going to stand behind him at least with our banner. If he’s going to go around the country and say yeah, I spoke at Columbia University, coming to speak at Columbia is going to give his organization a lot of publicity, and there’s going to be pictures involved, and we want people to know that no, we’re not okay with what he’s saying. That this turned out the way it did, it was completely…I don’t know.
More from Karina and the whole outraged press release from “Those who rushed the stage,” after the jump.
What was the planning process like for the outside protest?
When we put out a call for a demonstration outside against the minutemen, there was a huge response from organizations on and off campus. A lot of people who really understand the gravity of the situation and what the minutemen mean for our community. Chicano Caucus initiatied the call for the protest outside, and from there, the word spread out to everyone, and people mobilized.
The ones inside were not involved with the main event outside, then?
There were a few people who decided to go up when Gilchrist went on with the sign.
What did you envision happening? Did you think people were going to rush the stage afterwards?
Not at all. Not at all. When we were going to go up to the stage, we didn’t know what the response was going to be from public safety. We had no idea that the Minutemen themselves and the College Republicans would take the liberty to take justice into their own hands in an auditorium full of students. We know that that’s the kind of behavior they have in the middle of the desert, this big justice and violence, but we had no idea that they would do that in public at a university.
Have you been contacted by the administration or public safety about potential consequences?
No.
There’s been a lot of national media play. Did you see the Fox News broadcast last night?
One thing I do want to mention after his very public statement about the Chicano Caucus, which is completely false, the Chicano Caucus organized the protest outside. The people who went up and peacefully protested onstage, were totally working on their own behalf. The fact that there were Chicanos who decided to do this, I don’t think that’s very surprising. And so I did want to say that as a result of Kulawik’s false allegations against us, people who didn’t even come to the protest have been getting hate mail and threats and phone calls, which is the craziest thing. That just goes to show the kind of people that the republicans bring on campus. So it shows how right we were from the very beginning to protest them, because now the kind of harassment and intimidation and violence that’s used against our community is now used against us at our own school by the same people.
It looks so also on television because none of the protesters went on the show that it’s a bunch of crazy Columbia kids who don’t allow free speech. Do you fear that people will get the wrong impression of activism at Columbia?
We need to set the record straight, for sure. We’re going to have our own press conference, and we’re going to have a protest to say what really happened.
Is there disagreement among the members of Chicano Caucus and other organizations over the appropriateness of the tactics?
Of course. That’s the reason why Chicano Caucus as an organization wasn’t the people that were protesting onstage. Sure there were people who thought that our tactics weren’t, you know, right or whatever after the fact, but that’s the reason they didn’t get involved in the first place. The people who wanted to do more met up on their own. Not everyone in the organization was in favor of doing more than asking a few difficult questions.
What was the meeting afterwards of the people on the stage like?
I think we were very happy, actually.
But the protest descended into violence.
Well, we weren’t happy about the violence, because you know, kicks to the face and punches to the stomach aren’t very pleasant of course, but we were happy that we really stood up for ourselves and we stood up for our family. The minutemen go to a lot of events across the country, but this was the first time that they went to an event, and they couldn’t go on. Not because we were holding their mouths shut or because we physically attacked them, but because they understood that the people they were talking to weren’t buying what they were saying, and they couldn’t continue, and they couldn’t win, and they had nothing to say. The nonsense that he was saying wasn’t being taken. The fact that we shut them up without physically shutting them up, that was a huge victory, and when people saw that on television, that we knew that organization for what it was, I think they felt very good and very happy.
I think that, on television at least, people didn’t see Gilchrist, all they saw was the reaction.
It depends on who you’re asking. If you’re asking an immigrant family, and they know who the minutemen are, and they see that Columbia students stood up against them and shut them down, I think they were actually very happy. There’s also a group of people who are gonna say, oh no, you guys were just a group of angry Mexicans who just stood up uncontrollably and attacked. It’s very offensive and it hurts that people are so equipped to buy the narrative that this is an unplanned thing. It wasn’t that at all. We sat down, we planned it, we knew the consequences of getting on the stage, and we did it because we wanted to send our message.
Where are you moving from here?
Next Wednesday, we’re going to have an event on who the Minutemen are, because I don’t think people know who the Minutemen are, and I think that’s a source of the confusion over why there was such a strong response. And then we’re going to have a press conference explaining what we did. And I’m proud of it. The images people see is us getting messed up, and kicked in the face. My family called me to ask if I was ok. There’s a clear image of a person on the stage kicking a person on the stage. It’s completely unprovoked and ridiculous. At the same time, what’s being said about those images is that we couldn’t control ourselves and attacked them. So we need to make it clear that we were the ones attacked.
– Interview by Lydia DePillis
Full statement of those who occupied the stage
In the aftermath of the protest on the night of October 4 against Jim Gilchrist and the racist Minutemen at Roone Arledge auditorium, we want to state clearly: We are proud to send the message to the country that racist and fascist groups are not welcome at
As Chicanos and Latinos, alongside African Americans and progressive people of other nationalities, we took it as our responsibility to give voice to the undocumented immigrant families who live in fear at terrorist vigilante groups like the Minutemen. Armed patrols by these groups force more and more people desperate for work to find even more hazardous ways into the
Fascist scapegoating is not up for academic discussion. Like Hitler in pre-Nazi
Regardless of how Gilchrist tries to sanitize his message for national audiences, more candid moments tell the real story. Gilchrist is a member of the California Coalition for Immigration Reform, which is now notorious for referring to Mexicans as “savages.” Speaking about Mexicans and Central American immigrants, Minuteman co-founder Chris Simcox once said, “They have no problem slitting your throat and taking your money or selling drugs to your kids or raping your daughter and they are evil people.”
This vile racism translates directly into violence on the ground. “It should be legal to kill illegals,” said one Minutemen volunteer. “Just shoot ’em on sight. That’s my immigration policy recommendation.” It is no wonder that neo-Nazi organizations like the National Alliance praise the Minuteman Project in their publications, and have members signing up for Minutemen militias.
We are sure that if the Nazi party held a public meeting on campus, Jewish groups would be there to challenge them—so would we. We are sure that if the Ku Klux Klan held a public meeting on campus, African American groups would be there to challenge them—so would we. The Minutemen are no different.
We thank everyone who joined our protest last night, inside and outside of the auditorium.
Shame on the
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39 Comments
@Anonymous Too bad shes not at the school anymore.
@YouGOSisterGirl Many of you legacy silver spoon dumb white boys posting here do not have the cojones or, for damn sure, anywhere near the inteligence that this sister has. You are not even qualified to carry her books. You GO sister girl! Do not be intimidated by these fools.
@kazzy the minutemen do not hate immigrants, they hate illegal immigrants. there is quite a disparity between the two.
@Oh yea It’s not that illegal immigrants coming to America in big numbers is not a issue up for discussion, it is that The Minutemen Projects, is calling for people to stand at the borders with weapons which is taking a vigilant justice. Which is not right, it’s one thing to call Border Patrol (the official border authority) and another to “catch” people crossing the border with out the proper authority. If the issue is the problem with illegal immigrants then take it to the government (that’s what we have one for, to take action for things needed), having unauthorized citizens do the job of officials is dangerous b/c with them anything can go and violence can arise. The same can be said about any person even if they are part of the official border patrol but al least they have people they have to answer too. Like someone said in an above posting, not all MM are racist but the kind of message that equalizes Patriotism with standing guard with a riffle on the border appeals to violent racist people. Vigilantly justice is always dangerous because it can easily lead to crossing the line of basic human rights. Another, things the worries people, like me, and that makes us conceders the MM racist is the fact that because of their message many Mexican people get harassed. The MM put blame on the immigrants for many of the things that are wrong with the U.S. They make broad comments about one group of people, which is racist. Oh yea, what about the Northern border protection, another thing that can be seen as racist. Illegal immigrants in this country do not just come from the Mexican border; they are from all over the world. They concentrate on one group. If the issue is Illegal immigrants look at the big picture and make is an issues looking at all groups and call on our government to do something about it don’t take matters this important into your own hands.
@ok1 the fact that like 5 Mexican people had communist red flags? thats actually not that shocking. anyway, the most hilarious part about those youtube videos are the comments, read em. that dude “ivorytower” is hilarious, hes like some schizophrenic ranting about immigration in like 10 posts her video, responding to questions he thought up.
@bwog virgin Gilchrist IS a racist. Besides his racist views, his action of hugging the token black guy preceded by him saying “you think I’m racist” is the same as saying as, “I’m not racist, I have a black friend.” It’s offensive and stupid. It’s a useless tool used by racists to some how give themselves credibility. “Look at me! I am with a black guy!”
Karina fights for what’s right, not for “brown racism”–whatever that means. None of you nerds who chatter on this page have the passion or the balls to do anything remotely close to what she did. And yes, she is hot.
@your''e a racist bigot who likes to label people who disagree w/you. how bout we all wear patches on our shoulder so you can identify bush supporters huh
@rp so yea no, she’s kinda attractive…yea she is. theres my email if you’re ever …in the mood karina. and no im not drunk, maybe just tipsy?
@when the majority of columbia starts unwittingly supporting communist (and i don’t mean this as an attack- she actually is one) monique dols, you know we’ve hit a new low
@she's got kind of a fat face and a square chin..ehh
@karina you’re one of the most pathetic students i’ve met on campus. i don’t think i’ll ever even be able to talk to you after this.
-one of your former friends
@Martha Chacon Oh, i am sure this breaks Ms. Garcia’s heart! is this really all you have to say…pathetic…you sound like a wounded lover…former friend? can’t even write your name? grow up!
@Anonymous Congratulations Korina, your organization learned well the lessons in the Nazi Party handbook of Adolf Hitler. Breaking up political opponents speeches and intimidating them are just the tactics Adolf used to gain power. It works, but unfortunately for the user it stains them forever with the same shame of intolerance.
@Nice! We have three fine, angry, and motivated ladies finally speaking the truth and making these right-wing extremists look like the shit they are. Karina, Eva, and Monique: fuck yeah!
@LOL Protestor: Are you going to let me say what I came here to say?
Hannity: No.
OK, great, we got that settled! Free speech prevails after all!
@bravo Eva did a great job on Hannity & Colmes.
@between this and the “pussy” scandal, Columbia, in addition to being a haven for jihadists, is also showing its sexist colors.
@yay karina hell yeah. that is all.
@re: apathy oh fuck off.
@apathy God. What the hell is wrong with you people? Don’t focus on her words. Focus on her looks.
@.... Thats increcibly pathetic. You won’t listen to someone based on how they look?
@Umm.. He was giving her the benefit of the doubt. He was forgiving her nonsensical irrational ranting based on the fact that she’s cute, and any guy she’s ever had a debate with has pretended to agree with her… “why don’t you tell me more over dinner?”
@Anonymous Karina, OMG where do I start with this immature, uneducated, propagandist? Let’s start with a quote:
“This is an organization (The Minutemen) that wants to stop the flow of illegal immigration.”
Ahh, yes and your point is? Right off the bat this “intellect” tells the world she is for illegal immigration and an open borders advocate. Who’s country does she hold he allegiance to? At least she calls it the correct term “illegal immigration” not legal immigration which the MM are in favor of.
“This is an organization that takes it upon itself to torture and harass and intimidate and kill people who are coming here to work?”
OK this is insane. Let me tell you little girl. The MM don’t want to kill anyone. There has not been one violent incident at the border with the MM. They carry guns to protect themselves against the coyotes (no not the animal kind) and the drug smugglers who carry weapons. themselves. More radical left propaganda.
25% of the MM are non Anglos. There are many Latinos that are involved in the organization. The race card is so old and tires and desperate. Used by the opposition to shut down the debate cause they have no logical response to not protect and secure the border.
“Shame on the College Republicans for inviting this fascist thug and provoking such outrage on our campus. ”
Free speech is for everyone you hypocrite fascist. Not just the speakers that align themselves up with your political agenda. Shame on you!
I’ll take a wild guess that Karina chick is a “proud” Latino rights activist who spends most of her time fighting for power and advancement of one race, her race, the Latino Race. Let’s call a spade a spade. Look in the mirror Karina, Brown racism runs deep.
@Ron Lewenberg Thank you for responding to her.
The sad fact is that columbia is a virtual echo chamber so Karina has no idea just how radical and ignorant she really is.
Had these thugs allowed the Gilchrist and Corsi to speak and asked intellligent questions, they would be much better informed.
If someone from FAIR or the Center for Immigration Studies came to Columbia, I doubt that they would be treated any better.
The ignorant are intimidating the rest from knowledge
@Beth Gabor I’m going to be honest here – as a woman, I am somewhat bothered by the fact that you refer to Ms. Garcia as “chick” and “little girl,” both of which could possibly be construed as sexist epithets. (Chick for obvious reasons, and little girl because historically, using language that referred to adult women as children was used as a form of repression.) If the facts really are on your side, then you should be able to make your point without sinking to that.
Also, although I don’t agree with 100% of what Karina says, I feel I should point out that we don’t know for sure that Minutemen have never been involved in any violent incidents. For example, there are questions about whether this particular vigilante may have been a member of the group: http://newmexico.indymedia.org/news/2005/06/123.php There is also a record of two members of the organization scouting possible sniper stations near the border, although we don’t know if they ever acted on their desires for blood: http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=557
There are probably others more qualified than I to discuss all the particulars of the way the Minutemen operate, but I do think there should be some question of how precisely the Minutemen have been treating the illegals they’ve apprehended. This is an especially serious problem because illegals who are in the midst of crossing the desert may be severely dehydrated or have heat stroke, meaning they probably cannot withstand any more abuse. One does not have to like illegal immigrants, but as a human being, one does have to care when their lives are in danger. And a significant number of people do die trying to slip across the border, as indicated here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigrant_deaths_along_the_U.S.-Mexico_border
@S.H. I completely agree with your criticism of the obviously sexist epithets used in some of these posts.
I can’t vouch for every Minuteman incident, but the leadership and the organization in general has a policy of not approaching or interacting with anyone they see on the border–official members of the organization are required only to contact border patrol if they suspect someone they see or encounter is crossing the border illegally.
There are clearly a lot of overtly racist and overtly violent militia groups “patrolling” the border with Mexico and some even go by similar names (like Minuteman One), but these shouldn’t be confused with the Minuteman Project–in fact these groups criticize and protest the Minuteman project for being too “polite” and “politically correct”.
@Anonymous Beth,
My sincere apologies for the “chick” reference. When I get hot under the collar I say things I regret later. As far as the “little girl” remark, I am 47 and she could be my daughter so I am comfortable saying that.
“There are probably others more qualified than I to discuss all the particulars of the way the Minutemen operate, but I do think there should be some question of how precisely the Minutemen have been treating the illegals they’ve apprehended.”
The MM do not “apprehend” illegal immigrants crossing the border. They only report to The Border Patrol where they are spotted crossing. It’s up to the Border Patrol to arrest, transport, and deport them. The MM even provide water to those if available and needed. MM are angry at our government for not securing our border but they are humane.
“there are questions about whether this particular vigilante may have been a member of the group”
There are bad seeds in every group. You cannot lump these radicals in with the law abiding MM. As far as the “sniper” accusation, this is ridiculous. Do you really think The MM would be apart of this violence. First it’s just plan wrong and second it would be political suicide. Who could or would defend an organization that approved or even tolerated such behavior.
As far as your links are concerned, they are left leaning and in the case of indymedia.org they are a far left group who openly denounce the MM. Hardly an unbiased source you must admit.
All I ask is that you open your eyes and get educated before you come to a conclusion about the MM and the anti illegal immigration movement.
I invite you to view a few videos from Minutemen Marches to see how peaceful they are and how potentially violent the “opposition” are along the sidewalks trying to drown out there right of free speech. Communists, socialists, and anarchists are mixed in all along the route. They hate America and want a revolution. Notice the derogatory language, especially around children, and the hate vs. the peaceful MM marchers. This is downtown LA but you would think it is Mexico. This is not diversity. This is self segregation and “White flight” out of these areas. If you are not aware of the problem cause you live in a place that has not been effected by illegal immigration get ready to be shocked. You will never this this type of behavior on the MSM.
Without reductions in immigration legal and illegal this disgusting display will be heading to a community near you.
And oh BTW in less then 100 years our population will at the least double, primarily from immigration. Is that what you want?
http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/2000/cb00-05.html
Minutemen March LA 5-06
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmgnxA8wbK8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeM6K3tjuL0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctIn52x_Thk
at 3.43 this video tells you what the MSM won’t show.
@I swear What, not all people who oppose the minutemen hate america. I swear you must be kidding. B/c one is communist does not mean one hates America. If anyone hates America its the MM. They hates what it was build on, immigrants.
@Sarah Actually, let me copy and paste that quote for you:
“This is an organization that wants to take it upon themselves to physically stop the flow of illegal immigration” A little different… nice way to try to spin it though…
@IsShe Is Karina a part of the Left Wing Jihad going on, on campus? Cause I know Avi apparently is!
@Wow Totally agree. This whole thing is ridiculous. People seem to think that the issue is separated into Right and Left, but illegal immigration is a real issue that shouldn’t be dogmatically partisan.
Also, let’s stop confusing Americans of Latino descent with Illegal Immigrants, eh? Just because someone’s parents might be from South America doesn’t mean he/she sympathizes with a radical cause.
@agree my parents are from central america but i don’t support or condone illegal immigration (though I think mass deportation is impractical). It’s unfair to make blanket statements.
@S.H. Glad to see that she indicts the Minuteman project for wanting “to stop the flow of illegal immigration”. Sorry Karina, but the vast, vast, vast majority of Americans want to “stop the flow of illegal immigration”, they just disagree on the policies they believe would be effective: a wall, a guest-worker program, more legal immigration, outright legalization for all illegal immigrants already here, etc. So you like illegal immigration? You’re happy with immigrants not having the rights of full citizens? Not being able to vote? I know that’s not what you’re trying to say, but indicting people for being against “illegal immigration” is ridiculous.
As for the charging the Minuteman Project with racism check this link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/08/AR2006020802390.html
I’ve definitely read the SPLC and indymedia articles where individual volunteers are clearly racist, but those articles also make it clear that racist volunteers have to hide their views when participating in the program and Gilchrist himself is avowedly anti-racist.
Furthermore, I find it absolutely fascinating that people think that 20 people can rush a stage, move threateningly toward a speaker (as the video clearly shows), and eventually knock over a podium and expect the speakers’ supporters to stand by and watch. What do you expect? That people can perfectly interpret your intentions and simply risk taking a beating without moving to defend themselves? No one denies that the Minutemen and College Republicans scuffled with you, but you clearly, clearly provoked the violence. I like how J.D. Porter (a supporter of yours) wrote in his Spec article today that he was disappointed that you guys didn’t do enough ass-kicking. Again, I’m sorry Karina, but no matter how pure and civil your intentions are, if you rush someone in a mob they are going to believe you are seeking to do them bodily harm and they will defend themselves.
The statements’ assertion that because the Minuteman Project could reserve space for their event and had security present, they were able to exercise their first amendment rights is absurd. Free speech. SPEECH. Not free reservation of event space.
Finally, in my very humble opinion, Gilchrist is a jackass and his politics are wrong. Way to legitimate him. Way to give him exactly what he wanted. Way to get him on foxnews two days running. Way to distract the US from Foley. Way to embarrass the University and cede the moral high-ground to a group of morons. Way to give Tom Tancredo a talking point. Way to achieve absolutely nothing.
Thanks.
@Hmmmm Of course Gilchrist is going to kick out some teenagers dressed in racist clothing and shouting openly racist remarks at a public function, especially one with a bunch of media and US Senators at it. On the chapter-level however, the membership of the Minutemen (and in California, Save Our State) often overlaps with that of the National Vanguard, a white supremacist group.
http://dneiwert.blogspot.com/2005/08/minutemen-home-for-extremists_08.html
I would also be interested in what the Minutemen chapter leaders say behind closed doors. http://www.kold.com/Global/story.asp?S=4857876&nav=14RT
That link is an undercover expose by a television news crew where the leader of the Border Guardians group (which openly is against racists) ackowledges (in what she thinks is) privately that she is willing to recruit racists. It also describes the general atmosphere among many of these groups, which is pretty virulently racist.
As for the issue of illegal immigration itself, I would point readers to this link:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/4/26/16311/8578
Which dispels many of the myths about illegal immigration. As for the article you posted, I found one quote very telling:
“”We are being told that we have to bring more people in from other countries because there are jobs that American people won’t do,” Rohrabacher said. “Americans will do any job as long as they are paid a fair and decent wage.””
The problem is, employers explicitly hire illegal immigrants because they economically have to. In many sectors of the production economy its pretty much impossible to pay a wage American workers would find decent if the company wants to remain competitively internationally. Its also foolish to hear Dana Rohrbacher of all people condemn illegal immigration when he has been amongst the biggest proponents of economic liberalization and should know better. Im wondering what exactly the solution you propose is? Some form of protectionism? The complete exclusion of illegal immigrants? Either of those would be a fairly big blow to the American economy and more specifically to the manufacturing economy which is already in very bad shape in the US, and protectionism has shown itself to be a horrible model for economic structure time and time again. In the end this debate is much for naught. If I were a betting person I would not bet on George Bush undermining the past 30 years of conservative economics and deciding to seclude the American economy, in fact I would doubt the viability of such a project in its entirety due to the ties the US has to WTO and IMF trading policies that advocate as liberal a market system as possible. Really, Americans have put themselves between a rock and a hard place. When America was on top in the manufacturing world, we created as liberal policies as possible in order to reap the greatest reward from international markets. However now that corporations have found higher profit gains in foreign labour, everyone is up in arms. The person above is right, this definitely isn’t an issue of left vs. right. Its an issue of economic realists vs. childish economic idealists who get up in arms when the worlds economic situation doesn’t benefit them above others, and most of that falls silent on the worlds ears because everyone has come to grips with that reality already.
@S.H. I can’t vouch for every member of the Minuteman Project, I’m sure racists do show up to rallies and do patrol but from what I’ve read Gilchrist and the majority of the organization is not racist. I feel pathetic for “tokenizing” but there are people of color involved throughout their organization; it’s a simple fact. Also, your link to kold.com, as far as I can tell, is a story about a splinter group which broke off from the Gilchrist’s Minuteman Project because the Minuteman Project isn’t racist or violent. Proves my point doesn’t it?
As for the economic issues, I think there are several solutions to this problem that could conceivably be effective and none of them involve protectionism. One is a scheme like Florida’s where the minimum wage for agricultural laborers is less than the minimum wage for other kinds of labor. Another is a “guest-worker” program where migrants are documented but do not receive welfare-state (in the broad, non-inflammatory sense) benefits. Perhaps these ideas and others would be ineffective for reasons I don’t know, but I think debating ideas like these is important. I just don’t like the idea of an economic “under-class” who aren’t guaranteed basic civil rights and because of their status often resort to at least some a low-level of crime (like paying people for false documents with stolen social security numbers).
I’m happy to debate immigration policy with you (though I admit I’m no expert on it and I should really be doing research for this paper I’m working on) but to me the important issue here is that people like Gilchrist, even though I disagree with his tactics, politics, and some of his rhetoric, should be able to speak at Columbia University.
@Anonymous “Of course Gilchrist is going to kick out some teenagers dressed in racist clothing and shouting openly racist remarks at a public function, especially one with a bunch of media and US Senators at it. On the chapter-level however, the membership of the Minutemen (and in California, Save Our State) often overlaps with that of the National Vanguard, a white supremacist group.”
During the pro illegal immigration marches in the spring an interesting phenomena unfolded for all to see. In amongst the day laborers and the janitors and the young mothers pushing their babies in carriages were radical leftist groups spewing hate and separatism. Communist groups and Socialist groups where out with fists in the air. The Brown Berets and the Mexica Movement were out and proud marching for the Southwest to be “returned” to Mexico. They call it Aztlan. Signs everywhere spewing hate. “Pilgrims, Gringos, Honkies Go Back To Europe” “The Border Crossed Us, We didn’t Cross the Border” “Racist Whites We Are The Only Owners Of This Continent”, “F*** The Alamo,” on and on and on.
All this in the middle of these marches and no one or no group tried to stop it or separate themselves from the radicals or even denounce there far left radical agendas. In fact many joined in and chanted along with them. Is there something wrong with this picture?
The point is, the agendas of the radical groups and the more mainstream groups overlap. That in no way means the mainstream groups support or embrace the radical groups overall ideology. But it’s easy to mix them together for political reasons.
The Minutemen are not the KKK or the Nazis, and are not White Supremacists. For goodness sakes there are Blacks and Latinos and Asians in the MM. But their opposition tries to link the hate groups with the MM so as to defame and reduce them to their level. The MM are against illegal immigration not legal immigration. If that makes you a racist then there are a lot more bigots in this country then you could ever imagine.
@whoa. whoa. she’s hot. the administration better not do a thing to her. protest me! protest me!
@copy editor Please fix the many typos in this text.
@Wow That is one hot anarchist-fascist!