Politics

Sarah Palin and the Pied Pipers of Political Violence

Written by Eric Ward

It’s only been four days since the attempted assassination of Congresswoman Giffords of Arizona and already the rightist spin machine is operating at full throttle.  As calls for civility grow, the American public must also remind those practicing the politics of division that actions speak louder than words – particularly when those words continue to flirt dangerously with justifications for political violence.

Media accounts confirm alleged perpetrator Jared Lee Loughner specifically targeted Giffords. Written notes recovered by law enforcement suggest that Loughner pre-planned the crime. Facebook posts along with YouTube videos also suggest that, while struggling with mental health issues, Loughner embraced issues long promoted by rightist movements in the United States.  In The… Read more

Politics

Communities in fear, the after effects of hate violence

Written by Eric Ward

Saturday’s assassination attempt on Congressional Representative Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona is part of a growing trend that began years ago.

The candidacy and ultimate election of Barack Obama touched off a deep and sustained political backlash. Politically motivated hate violence included arson of a predominantly African-American church on election night, the murder of Cape Verdean immigrants, and a few months later, the assassination of abortion doctor George Tiller.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation reported that while overall bias crimes dropped by 2% from 2007 to 2008, incidents of anti-Black bias crimes rose by nearly 5.9%.

During the 2008 Democratic National Convention in August, police in Denver, Colorado detained three individuals after discovering a… Read more

Politics

Fox News Steps in Own Trap Over New Obama Book

Written by Eric Ward

Excuse the pun but an old British proverb reminding us that “a fox should not be of the jury at a goose’s trial” certainly applies to a recent controversy surrounding Fox News.  One of my favorite Yahoo News bloggers, Michael Calderone, reports that during Fox’s most recent installment of “I’ve Never Met an Obama that I like,” Fox News threw a tantrum over a recent children’s book written by the President to his daughters.

The book “Of Thee I Sing: Letters to my daughters” is Obama’s praise of values, ethics, and gifts that he sees within his children.  The President then introduces his daughters to historical figures that he perceives as having… Read more

Politics

Theocratic Third Party Flexes its Muscle during 2010 Election

Written by Eric Ward

While Americans around the country celebrated and mourned the election results of both Democratic and Republican party candidates.  The third largest political party in the United States was taking stock of all its hard work.  If you’re thinking of the Libertarian or Green Parties, you would be wrong. Those committed to an American democracy built on opportunity and inclusion would do well to take note of The Constitution Party in future elections.

Today the third largest party in America is The Constitution Party.  It’s vision of America calls for the political reversal of Constitutional Amendments that affirm the citizenship of African Americans, overturn the practice of chattel slavery, and guarantee the right of… Read more

Politics

White Electorate Engages in Civil War

Written by Eric Ward

Writers, bloggers, and pundits assert that national polls, both past and present, show a large slice of the white electorate has embraced a strange brew of bigotry mixed with a healthy measure of outlandish racial and religious conspiracies.  In actuality these polls may more accurately show that whites are engaged in an ideological civil war with each other — an intra-racial struggle over national identity and belonging.

Recently, writing for the Village Voice, Steven Thrasher announced in the title that “White America Has Lost Its Mind.” Thrasher succinctly argues correctly that in both poll and deed the domestic political backlash against President Obama, immigrants, and Muslims is indeed basting in a soup of racist… Read more

Politics

NumbersUSA Refuses To Break Ties With Political Extremists

Written by Eric Ward

The anti-immigrant group NumbersUSA and its executive director Roy Beck just can’t seem to steer clear of controversy.

The Center for New Community reports that on June 4 Beck will address an event organized by the Maryland-based Institute of the Constitution. In 2004 the civil rights organization Southern Poverty Law Center named Institute co-founder Michael Peroutka as a member of the League of the South, a racist organization that seeks to create its own nation in the American south.

Peroutka personally accepted a national endorsement from the League of the South as the Presidential nominee for the far right Constitution Party in 2004. Peroutka’s vice-presidential running mate was Chuck… Read more

Immigration

Group Behind Arizona Law SB1070 Endorses Armed Militias

Written by Eric Ward

Having already created a national political environment fueled by racism, FAIR is now asking that armed quasi-governmental paramilitary organizations be added to the mix. Barely a week before the 15th anniversary of the terrorist attack on the Oklahoma City federal building, FAIR’s legal front group, the Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI), produced a paper justifying the creation of what it calls “well regulated militias.”

In language reminiscent of the Fascist Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, the papers state that the real purpose of the 2nd Amendment is for the State “to set forth a system where men would train together in the Art of War and an espirit de corps would flourish.” Mussolini… Read more

Politics

Fifteen Years After Oklahoma City Multiracial America Still at Risk

Written by Eric Ward

In Oklahoma City, on the morning of April 19, 1995, far right activist Timothy McVeigh detonated an explosive device beneath the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building murdering 168 people and injuring 680. Fifteen years later the lesson of Oklahoma City is disregarded, leaving a multiracial democracy at risk.

Americans responded with horror as news emerged that the explosion at the federal building was an act of terrorism. The majority of pundits speculated that the perpetrators must be foreign terrorists and Muslim, only reluctantly dropping the news angle after the arrest of Timothy McVeigh four days later. Since that time the public has tried to come to terms with the fact that the originator… Read more

Politics

Tea Party Harbors Dangerous States’ Rights Agenda

Written by Eric Ward

The so-called “tea party movement” is actually made up of a number of factions, including Tea Party Patriots, Tea Party Express, and the Tea Party Nation, that have latched onto the concept as a way of attracting attention and pushing a political agenda that has so far relied on old fashion racism, intimidation, and sometimes violence.

Alongside operatives of the Republican Party, neo-confederates, and anti-immigrant activists the tea party movement is drawing support from “States Rights” supporters. In fact a cursory search of the terms “states rights” and “tea party” turns up numerous examples of Tea Party leaders defending the concept and the right of states… Read more

An Open Letter to Mark Krikorian

Written by Eric Ward

Mark Krikorian
Executive Director
Center for Immigration Studies
1522 K Street N.W., Suite 820
Washington, DC 20005-1202

Dear Mr. Krikorian,

Thank you for your recent response regarding a post on the blog Imagine2050, entitled “Tanton Network Caught in Bed Again with Anti-Semites and Holocaust Deniers,” which ran September 13, 2009 at www.imagine2050.org. Feedback from readers is very important, particularly from individuals like you, who have “never heard of our site . . .”

Your comments on “Tanton Network Caught in Bed Again with Anti-Semites and Holocaust Deniers” indicate that you have given much thought to this particular blog post and I appreciate your frank appraisal of it. To be… Read more