Immigration

Tanton Network banned from Earth Times website

Written by MJ Olahafa

The Earth Times, an environment specific news agency, has taken a bold step and is attempting to remove all the content  from its site that was added by anti-immigrant groups affiliated with John Tanton.

The Tanton Network is an array of anti-immigrant organizations founded or funded by white nationalist John Tanton. Well known as an advocate of racial eugenics, Tanton was nicknamed The Puppeteer for orchestrating the most powerful anti-immigrant movement in the United States. In his own words:

“I’ve come to the point of view that for European-American society and culture to persist requires a European-American majority, and a clear one at that.” – Dec. 10, 1993, letter to the late Garrett

… Read more

Culture

Justice prevails for victims of 2005 racially motivated attack

Written by MJ Olahafa

On January 31, a hearing was held in Illinois’ Kankakee County Courthouse for a case brought by three young African-American men against four white men convicted of attacking them.

The lawsuit states that while Vantis, Isaiah and Kenyon Coiley were outside a friend’s home in February 2005, an angry mob of white males, including defendants Larry DeLawder, Jeremiah Spainhour, Jason Stinebring, and Richard Rybolt confronted them and then became violent.

“It was a brutal attack. The case shows that despite all the gains we made in race relations, brutal racially motivated attacks like this still happen and they must stop,” said Betsy Shuman-Moore, an attorney with the Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under… Read more

Immigration

Arizona migrant rights groups call for civil discourse on immigration

Written by MJ Olahafa

In the wake of nationwide cries for political civility since the tragic Tucson shootings on January 8th, a coalition of immigrant rights groups in Arizona are calling for a moratorium on all anti-immigrant legislation during this legislative session.

Press conferences were held on January 19th at the Sandra Day O’Connor Federal Courthouse in Phoenix, AZ and in front of City Hall in Flagstaff, and over a dozen organizations from throughout the state drafted a joint statement calling on the Arizona state legislature to pledge a one-year moratorium on the following:

•           Federal or state legislation to deny birthright citizenship to children born to undocumented migrants;

•           State legislation to obstruct children’s… Read more

Politics

It’s time for GOP to sever ties with anti-immigrant bigots

Written by MJ Olahafa

Earlier this week, the Hispanic Leadership Network Conference was hosted in Miami, and the topic of immigration was inevitably broached. Part of the panel on “Media & Messaging: Communicating Principles with Precision” was syndicated columnist Ruben Navarrette, Jr. who gave a no-holds-barred rundown of the state of the GOP on immigration. Navarrette argued that the GOP has a problem with offensive rhetoric on immigration, and pointed out that Republicans have compared Latino immigrants to “dogs,” “grasshoppers,” etc.”

He also made the argument that the Republican Party (1) deals with immigration dishonestly (2) caters to that ugly element of racism and (3) offers “solutions” that ignore the problem such as the attacks on the… Read more

International

Haitian immigrants targeted by the anti-immigrant movement

Written by MJ Olahafa

A year ago, a magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck the island of Haiti on Jan. 12, 2010, killing more than 230,000 people. Today, roughly a million remain homeless amid the debris and stuttering reconstruction efforts in Port-au-Prince.

Last year’s earthquake was just one of the disasters the people of Haiti suffered in the last few years. In August and September of 2008, Haiti was hit by four consecutive hurricanes (Fay, Gustav, Hanna and Ike) which killed over 800 people, displaced tens of thousands of Haitians and devastated the Haitian economy. If there was ever a country which fit the description and had a need for Temporary Protective Status [TPS], it is Haiti.

The Bush Administration… Read more

Immigration

A stroll in the Arizona desert

Written by MJ Olahafa

The state of Arizona, located in the Southwest region of the United States, shares a 389 mile border with Mexico. After the passing of the Secure Fence Act of 2006, a 640 mile fence has been built along the US/Mexico border, and much of the foot traffic has been funneled to Arizona, forcing migrants to pass through its harsh desert.

As part of a student delegation by the Center for New Community to Arizona earlier this year, I had the privilege of following a few migrant trails and spending some time in the Sonora desert myself. What I saw and experienced in only half a day in the desert were pretty terrifying. Clothes had… Read more

Culture

‘Angel’ of hate infiltrates Illinois churches

Written by MJ Olahafa

Christmas is here. This is a time when churches are bustling and the kindness of patrons abounds. But in churches across Illinois a stranger is lurking, and extending a simple kindness to him has consequences.

A man named Andrew Angel is walking into places of worship and asking to have his picture taken with unsuspecting pastors and church leaders. Those pictures are inevitably ending up on a white supremacist website called ‘Divine International Church on the Web,’ owned and operated by Mr. Angel. A closer look at this website reveals that Andrew Angel follows the teachings of Christian Identity, a racist theology which teaches that salvation is solely for whites, that people of… Read more

Politics

Heritage Foundation comes under fire from former allies in the anti-immigrant movement

Written by MJ Olahafa

The Heritage Foundation, which describes itself as “a research and educational institution,” has long been flirting with the anti-immigrant organizations with ties to white nationalists. Now those friendships are coming back to bite the conservative think tank.

Last February, Robert E. Rector, Senior Research Fellow of The Heritage Foundation was on a panel with Mark Krikorian, executive director of Center for Immigration Studies [CIS]; James G. Gimpel, Professor of Government, University of Maryland; and Rep. Steve King, R-IA, member of the House Immigration Reform Caucus [IRC]. During this discussion entitled “Immigration: The Defining Issue for the Republican Party,” Krikorian stated that immigrants are “19th century rural peasant workers” who are coming to 21st… Read more

Immigration

Apple sells white power music on iTunes

Written by MJ Olahafa

For those who have been following the recent controversies at Apple, it’s clear that hate has found a home in the company’s many platforms.

Apple recently launched an app for NumbersUSA, an anti-immigrant group that is part of a network with ties to white nationalism. NumbersUSA’s executive director Roy Beck is a frequent contributor to The Social Contract Press, a white nationalist quarterly journal published by John Tanton. Both TSCP’s editor, Wayne Lutton, and Roy Beck have associated with Council of Conservative Citizens, a white supremacist organization.

Apple also broadcasts The Political Cesspool, a radio show hosted by white supremacist James Edwards. Along with hailing Hitler and advocating his hatred for… Read more

Politics

Apple tools used to promote bigotry, company ignores problem

Written by MJ Olahafa

When it was announced two weeks ago that Apple approved an app by anti-immigrant group NumbersUSA, it quickly became clear that it was part of a pattern of controversial material promoted using the company’s platforms.

Apple’s online store has many apps pertaining to immigration including one for Arizona’s immigration laws and several for US citizenship tests, but disturbingly one can also find an app called ‘Illegal Immigration Game.’ This lovely app, which has a free and paid version, is described as a “fun and educational trivia game about illegal immigration and securing the nation’s borders.”

Visitors can also find the aforementioned app called NumbersUSA, created by the anti-immigrant organization of the same name. NumbersUSA… Read more