Rick Oltman: Environmentalist or White Supremacist?

Written by Jill Garvey

We recently posted an article on Imagine 2050 about the anti-immigrant group Californians for Population Stabilization (CAPS). Shortly after, CAPS’s National Media Director, Rick Oltman, sent us a comment disputing some of our claims in that article.

As the Managing Editor of Imagine 2050, I would love to address Mr. Oltman’s concerns; however, we have a strict policy against debating white supremacists.

Oltman ended his comments to us by stating the following:

“Facts are troublesome things, we know. But we shouldn’t let them stand in the way of an honest debate about this or any other issue.”

I couldn’t agree more. So in lieu of a debate and in the spirit of honesty, I’m… Read more

Who are the Real Pirates?

Written by Guest Blogger

By The Rev. Cheryl Green

Like many around the world, I listened intently to the news reports of the Somali pirate attacks. I prayed for the safety of the persons on board, as well as a peaceful resolution to the conflict. Yet, in my listening to and reading accounts of what was occurring, I did not hear nor fully understand the reasons, the underlying “real” reasons for the ongoing piracy.

Reports from news agencies made it sound as if a group of Somali’s woke up on the morning in question and decided for the heck of it to hijack peaceful ships steaming along in Somali waters. Somehow the Somalis in question were not people with… Read more

Immigration

Hog-Tied to the Flu

Written by Rev. David L. Ostendorf

Speculation is rampant that the swine flu epidemic may be tied to the industrial hog operation run by Smithfield Farms’ Granjas Carroll de Mexico (CGM) at its site that produced 950,000 hogs from 56,000 sows in 2008.

The earliest known case of the virus was isolated to a 4-year old who lives near the operation, which has been the focal point of recent, local protests by residents over water contamination, respiratory infections, and widespread illness in a nearby community of three thousand. While CGM has claimed that none of its employees was sick, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization has sent a team to inspect hog farms in the area to determine whether they may… Read more

Immigrant Haters Promote Flu Hysteria

Written by Jill Garvey

Anti-immigrant groups have begun seizing on the Swine Flu scare to spread hateful messages about immigrants. When Flu hysteria started to take hold over the weekend I said ‘wonder how long before hate groups start blaming Latino immigrants?’ The words barely passed my lips before ugly comments were circulating the internet.

William Gheen, head of ALI-PAC is placing the blame for all the American non-deaths at Obama’s doorstep. “The Obama administration’s failure to secure our borders against a possible pandemic is putting American lives at risk at a time when days and hours matter,” said Gheen. “The weak and inadequate “passive surveillance” described during Sunday’s press conference is offensive to the rational mind.” ALI-PAC is… Read more

Immigration

Racist Email Distorts Patriotism

Written by Jessica Acee

Hilary Clinton spent three hours in Lebanon Sunday morning and passed along a message of support saying, “You have been through too much and it is only right that you are given a chance to make your own decisions”. Lebanon’s upcoming elections in June could see Hezbollah winning a larger slice of the political pie.

Just two generations removed from the immigrant’s story and still my stomach is tied up over Lebanon’s upcoming elections. I have never even set foot on its soil but I have spent countless summer evenings listening to my grandmother and aunts talk about their home and what it meant for them to leave. And what it means to look… Read more

Politics

Torture Discourse Impacts National Character

Written by Jill Garvey

Like a lot of people I’m worn out by the non-stop coverage of torture. After all who wants to hear more about Bush, Cheney and Abu Ghraib? Americans already divorced themselves from the horrification of war; our romanticized notion of a country defending democracy long ago turned to disgust and apathy. The real war infected us, became chronic and painful, so we amputated ourselves from it. Many are wondering, why talk now about something we’ve managed to ignore for so long?

UN Racism Conference Ends In Shambles

Written by Stephen Piggott

In 2001 in Durban, the UN held their first racism conference, designed to gather all nations of the world to tackle racism of all forms. The problems started before the conference even began. The United States walked out of the conference in Durban claiming that the conference was “wrecked by Arab and Islamic extremists whose aim was to condemn Israel as racist.” Every UN event that does not involve the United States or any of the Security Council members is deemed by many to be illegitimate and even though the 2001 conference produced a declaration agreed upon by the participating members, most of the headlines revolved around the absence of the world’s most powerful nation.… Read more

Immigration

CAPS Falsely Blames Immigrants for Environmental Problems

Written by Katie Bezrouch

Environmentalists everywhere need to stand up against hate groups in America.

Californians For Population Stabilization (CAPS) is an anti-immigrant group that has been pushing its racist agenda on Californians for years now. They insist that immigrants are responsible for the “destruction of forests, national parks, and natural habitats….over-consumption of precious natural resources; deadly sewage on our beaches; continually expanding urban sprawl; and more.”  Out of all of the bogus, bigoted ideas put forth by CAPS, this is by far the most ridiculous reason to hate on the immigrant community. Most recently CAPS released their “Nine Things to Talk About on Earth Day”, another attempt to position themselves as an organization that cares about the environment.… Read more

Immigration

Op-Ed Highlight: Anti-Immigrant Groups Joining the Green Movement?

Written by Jill Garvey

Eric Ward’s Earth Day op-ed for The Progressive delves into the little-known activity of anti-immigrant groups as they attempt to inject themselves into environmental agendas. Bigots trying to pass them themselves off as concerned environmentalist? Scary and shameful.

On Earth Day, the environmental movement in the United States must reject bigotry. It should not join hands with anti-immigrant groups. These groups are trying to infiltrate the environmental movement and coopt its message.

On Earth Day of all days, the environmental movement can’t let anti-immigrant groups divert us into a narrow ideological cause that reflects neither realism nor inclusiveness.
And environmental organizations cannot afford to remain silent in the face of a few anti-immigrant leaders

… Read more

Immigration

It’s NOT the Economy: Bigotry and Racism Drive the Anti-immigrant Movement

Written by Rev. David L. Ostendorf

In the canon of American myths resides the notion that “economics” drives bigotry and racism. Nothing could be further from reality.

The contemporary anti-immigrant movement in the US is first and foremost grounded in and driven by the inherent bigotry and racism of white nationalism–the ideology that the US is a nation crafted by, for, and of whites.

The strategy of using economic downturns, job losses, and competition for public resources to build a restrictionist base aimed at curtailing immigration is but a weapon used by that movement to advance its goal of maintaining white control, white dominance, and white political power as demographic change moves the nation towards minority white status by about mid-century.… Read more