Earlier in the day we would attend, or sometimes host our neighborhood’s famous backyard pancake breakfast. The hosts made the pancakes, and everyone brought another dish, usually bacon (I swear you’ve never seen so many plates of bacon!). Afterwards we would go to the town fair - jump in the moonwalk until we were sick, have our faces painted, get soaked in the water balloon toss, and maybe take a whirl on the miniature ponies. Depending on the leniency of my mom that particular year my brother and I may have even split a funnel cake or a root beer float. Regardless, by late afternoon, our minds inevitably turned to fried chicken. Fried chicken, mashed potatoes, biscuits, coleslaw and from-the-box brownies to be exact.”

I remember feeling that I needed to capture something about years past with my post. Something sweet to hold on to in case the America I yearned for was swept away. Certainly we knew what was to come; like the smell of rain before the storm, the winds of change were already blowing.

At that point the possibility of a black president was still an apprehensive hope. Bernie Madoff’s investors were blissfully unaware that they had lost billions. Sarah Palin had not yet begun torturing the American people. Michael Jackson was planning a comeback. Elliot Spitzer, John Edwards, Gov. Sanford, and John Ensign still had bright political futures and wives who loved them. “Bailout” and “stimulus package” were not yet dropped into casual conversation. Our dinosaur TVs still worked. Swine flu had not yet caused mass panic and just as quickly, disinterest. Pirates were associated with Johnny Depp, and tea parties remained a proud reference to American Independence.

It’s been a big year for America. One of hardship and indeed “hope”. Some survived against all odds and many did not. At Imagine 2050 we have watched tragedies unfold that stretched the emotional endurance of our writers, celebrated our heroes, and exposed threats to our freedom. At this moment we are struggling and the outcomes are still unclear. Will we emerge a better nation, a multicultural, tolerant nation?  Or will we fall short, unable to fully embrace the changing face of America? Today we don’t have an answer, but we do have the opportunity to reflect, to celebrate, and yes, even be proud, of a nation that is redefining freedom, mourning our mistakes, finally shedding the bonds of apathy.

Happy Independence Day.

This is a strange opportunity to see just how being a journalist in this nation differs from being a journalist elsewhere. In other places journalists fear for their lives. Seeking, exposing, and distributing the truth is dangerous work in places with deep issues. But does this mean that we don’t have complicated social issues to deal with in the US? Or does it mean that we’ve been lulled into complacent acceptance of “fluff’ news by media conglomerates that smother the very essence of journalism?

In Somalia a few weeks ago a radio director was shot dead in broad daylight. This is the fifth journalist to die in Somalia in 2009. 14 of Somalia’s leading journalists said they will be forced to flee unless security improves.

In the Philippines, four journalists have been murdered this month alone. A recent report said 124 journalists had died in Russia since 1993. Close to 40 of them were assassinated, while the remainder died in work-related accidents or conflicts.

This doesn’t mean journalists aren’t at risk in the US. According to a report by the Committee to Protect Journalists, “Between 1976 and 1993, 12 journalists were assassinated in the United States. Ten out of the 12 were immigrant journalists reporting in their first language (Vietnamese, French, Chinese, or Spanish) to immigrant communities, and all but a few of those murders remain unsolved.”

In Iran, determined journalists are risking their lives to show the world courage and truth by any means necessary. Roughly 40 journalists have been arrested by the Iranian government as a result. The media crackdown is unprecedented, Iran has more journalists detained than any other place in the world. Their fate is unknown, and their absence, along with the detention of hundreds more protesters, has had a chilling effect. Proving once again that taking away those who challenge power, speak out, and seek truth, removes the life blood of democracy.

On Monday night, protesters in Tehran again took to the streets in the face of heavy militia forces. But with the world’s eyes turned away, the Iranian government crackdown will only become more effective. This week’s headline? a celebrity is mourned while Iran burns.

Considering Von Brunn’s background, this number probably held special significance for him. A twisted sort of golden birthday perhaps or an inside nod to the white nationalist movement he was active in for several years.

Von Brunn’s attack is another in a series of major planned or executed attacks by individuals involved with white nationalist groups since Obama’s presidential win became reality last Fall.

The most gruesome attempted killing spree was planned by two teenagers in Bells, Tennessee. Daniel Cowart and Paul Schlesselman were apprehended by the FBI hours before they planned to go on their racist rampage. They told police that they were planning to kill 88 people and behead 14 of them, and that after targeting a mostly black school they were going to attempt to assassinate then-presidential candidate Obama. The would-be killers had covered their car in racist slogans, including the numbers 14 and 88, a swastika and WWHD which stood for ‘What Would Hitler Do?’ The bumper had a sign that stated ‘Honk if you love Hitler.’

Less than a day after Obama was sworn in as President, a man in Brockton, Massachusetts went on a shooting spree that included the rape and murder of a young woman, the shooting of her sister, and the killing of a homeless man. In an interview with the Boston Herald, prosecutor Frank Middleton said the suspect, Keith Luke, intended to massacre individuals attending an event at the local Jewish temple because Luke was acting out “an evil plan of mass murder and rape targeting victims he identified as non-white.”

Just this past April a man engaged in a standoff with Pittsburgh police and murdered three officers.   The gunman was linked to white nationalist website Stormfront, and allegedly subscribed to anti-Semitic conspiracies.

“What we’re seeing is a movement of individuals who are convinced that racial revolution is the only solution to repel a multicultural democracy,” said Eric Ward, national field director at the Center for New Community.

The reality is white nationalism and racism are stubbornly entrenched in American culture. Organized bigotry has a history of manipulating American perceptions during hard economic times.

The poor economy is merely a tool for white nationalists as they amass support against an African American president and a rapidly shifting US demographic.

Nathan Deal

In a cynical move to build support for his campaign for the governorship of Georgia, U.S. Representative Nathan Deal has rekindled racist fervor to gut birthright citizenship and the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. By doing so he has once again –boldly and baldly—positioned himself at the intersection of racism and immigration.

HR1868, the “Birthright Citizenship Act of 2009,” would permit citizenship status to children birthed in the U.S. only if at least one parent is a citizen or legal permanent resident. Now co-sponsored by 73 Members of the U.S. House of Representatives—53 of whom are members of the FAIR-fueled anti-immigrant House Immigration Reform Caucus (HIRC)—the bill rekindles the fervor for dismantling a cornerstone of rights won by African Americans in the post-Civil War era.

Ratified in 1868, the 14th Amendment abolished the “Black Codes” that the former slave states had enacted to prevent newly freed African Americans the equal rights granted through citizenship, and overturned the drastic rulings set forth by the U.S. Supreme Court in the infamous Dred Scott case of 1857. In that case, the Court set forth a legal framework for institutional racism in America when it declared that African Americans were not citizens and that they were “so inferior that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect.”

The chances of moving HR1868 are slim, which even Representative Deal admits. Yet he continues to press it in his campaign and in the Congress, stirring the old embers of racism in a state—and a nation—still seeking to overcome its long, sordid legacy of discrimination against African Americans, and reminding voters of the old battles of white supremacy. A bid to cut a similar path is currently underway via The “California Taxpayer Protection Act,” a 2010 ballot initiative to put an end to “birth tourism” of “illegal aliens” in the U.S.

Such contemporary, immigrant-focused efforts to gut the 14th Amendment are usually looked upon as political grandstanding, with virtually no possibility of gaining traction in law or in the public arena. The warnings of history, however, ought to sober such an assessment.

In spite of the protections afforded African Americans by the Amendment, Jim Crow reigned for decades and the deadly forces of discrimination ravaged Black communities nationwide. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1883 and the National Origins Act of 1924 were enacted to keep immigration as white as possible. The forced expulsion of tens of thousands of Mexicans—including many who were U.S. citizens—marked another era of economic crisis and rampant unemployment. The WWII internment of Japanese-Americans unmasked the nation’s paranoia over “foreigners” in its midst. And no one ever thought that Klansman and avowed white supremacist David Duke would ever come as close as he did to pulling off a Louisiana victory in the U.S. Senate race of 1990.

In 2007 Duke urged his followers to support Nathan Deal’s Birthright Citizenship Act, reissuing on his web site the Numbers USA posting on the Act. That link in and of itself is telling: racists love to gather at the intersection where they can undercut the rights of Black Americans and immigrants at the same time, and the 14th Amendment “battle” gives them common cause and common cover to do so.

Take the case of Fred Elbel, who runs a website dedicated to explain “the original intent” of the 14th Amendment and its current “misinterpretation,” that is, the error of its ways in permitting immigrants birthright citizenship. Another Elbel call to “revisit” the Amendment ran in the Spring 2007 issue of John Tanton’s Social Contract Press. Elbel is on the Board of Advisors and serves as webmaster for D.A. King’s anti-immigrant “Dustin Inman Society” based in—Georgia; in 2007 King accepted over $5,000 from Tanton’s US Inc.

It was in the heat of the (unsuccessful) 2004 effort by anti-immigrant activists to take over the Board of the Sierra Club, however, that Fred Elbel revealed himself—and likely mirrored his cohorts in the 14th Amendment battle—when he declared in an email response to criticism of his role in that campaign:

“Damned right. I hate ‘em all - negroes, wasps, spics, eskimos, jews, honkies, krauts, ruskies, ethopians, pakis, hunkies, pollocks and marxists; there are way too many of them. I’m all for trout, elephants, bacteria, whales, wolves, birds, parrot fish, deciduous foliage and mollusks. Time to rebalance the planet, bleeding heart liberals be damned.”

Nathan Deal stands in bad company. The battle to gut the 14th Amendment is a sleeper issue of our day, looming large at the intersection of racism and immigration. The warning signs are posted, and ought not be ignored.

About six months ago I came across a study that found that people who are incarcerated, unemployed or poor are more likely to be seen as “black,” and to self-identify as “black,” regardless of past racial classification.

Correspondingly, they were less likely to be identified, and to self-identify, as “white.”

Stop. Wrap your mind around that for a moment.

The message here is not that black Americans are more likely to be poor, unemployed or incarcerated than other Americans, a statement that is undeniably true. The message is that poverty, unemployment and incarceration make you black. That’s the “social construction of race” with a vengeance.

Here’s another case study on what cognitive scientists call hidden or “implicit” bias.

Researchers asked 600 randomly selected Whites to review videos of residential neighborhoods. Some saw images of White people getting their mail, parking their cars, strolling down the block, and so on. Others saw neighborhoods occupied by a mix of white and black residents engaged in the same activities. A third group saw only black residents.

Asked to evaluate the quality of the neighborhoods, Whites who saw all-white areas evaluated those neighborhoods most favorably, reporting that they looked safer, with better schools and higher housing values, than the racially mixed neighborhoods, which in turn were judged superior to the ones with black residents only.

Here’s the thing: the neighborhoods were the same neighborhoods and the “residents” were actors dressed the same and doing the same things. Only the racial makeup differed.

Now, as reported in Monday’s Washington Post, researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee have found that customers rate white male employees more favorably than female and minority employees even when performance is demonstrably identical.

For example, the researchers found that patient satisfaction, as reported in satisfaction surveys, corresponded to objective assessments of doctor performance only in the case of white male doctors. For women and minority doctors, “extra quality, accessibility and diligence not only did not result in better evaluations by patients, they produced worse evaluations.”

In other work, volunteers who saw a video of a white male clerk operating a bookstore gave higher marks to that clerk than volunteers who saw a black male or a white female clerk gave those workers. In fact, the clerks were actors who provided exactly the same service. And golfers reported greater satisfaction with golf clubs nationwide that employed fewer nonwhite workers than with those that employed more nonwhites even when worker performance was objectively the same.

Let’s hold off on the Post-Racialism Parade.

I’ve often argued within the Black community that there would still be an anti-immigrant movement even if there were not one single immigrant or refugee in the United States. The anti-immigrant movement is not interested in solutions to migration, rather it is more interested in dismantling civil rights, limiting citizenship, and redefining our national identity so that our society will benefit from an ideology called white nationalism.

The anti-immigrant movement, better known as the John Tanton Network, has made several overtures to the Black community over the last five years in an attempt to convince us that the present discussion on immigration will have no negative impact on us. In fact they have gone out of their way arguing that what they are attempting to accomplish will actually benefit us. Sadly some so-called African American leaders have begun to accept these false sweet-nothings as truth.

One of the “big lies” that the John Tanton Network throws at the black community is that immigrants and refugees are taking jobs that should go to African Americans. They say this with a sense of self righteousness as if they know without a doubt that the only jobs suitable for us are cleaning up for white people or raising their kids. Besides the fact that this anti-immigrant lie smacks of racist paternalism, did I also mention that it is a boldfaced lie?

According to African American Professor Steven Pitts who teaches at U.C. Berkeley there is no correlation between immigration and the lack of jobs for blacks in a survey of major metropolitan cities (where over 70% of us live). Pitts tells us that they real enemy of Black economic opportunity is a two-dimensional job crisis in the black community—unemployment and low wage work. This very real crisis stems not from immigrants or Latinos but from employment discrimination, substandard education at K-12 school levels and continuing attacks on organized labor.

Anti-immigrant groups don’t focus on any of these real problems facing the Black community and they don’t plan to. In fact this movement’s elected leadership has one of the most extreme voting records against Civil Rights in Congress.

It’s not just in congress that immigrant leaders show their disdain for African Americans but on the streets as well. According to Daily Kos, Marcus Epstein who’s published his work in the Tanton Network publication Social Contract Press is to be sentenced on July 8, for an assault on a Black woman he didn’t know in D.C. During the assault he used the “N” word. Epstein was detained by an off-duty Secret Service officer. Finally the John Tanton Network continues to maintain strong ties with members of the reconstituted white citizens’ council that fought to maintain segregation in the South during the Civil Rights Movement.

The anti-immigrant movement knows that immigrant rights are a blow against both organized bigotry and structural racism. They continue to whisper sweet nothings in our ears hoping that Black Americans won’t pay attention to what is really happening—a real chance to strike a blow against organized bigotry and structural racism—an opportunity to save our own hides.

If we are able to pass real immigration reform grounded in both opportunity and racial equity we will do exactly this.

At least that’s how I used to see Memorial Day up until two years ago. Back in 2007 I found myself in Portland, Oregon browsing for books at Powell’s Books. It’s one of those bookstores where, if you are a book lover, you don’t dare take your credit card. I was on the hunt for a book on the Abolitionist Movement in the United States. I had been making the argument in presentations that those working both to secure immigrant rights in the United States and defeat the anti-immigrant movement were the descendants of the early Abolition Movement.

The Abolitionist Movement was made up of Blacks being held as chattel slaves, Blacks who had escaped, free Blacks, and whites who were committed to overturning what was called the “Peculiar Institution” of chattel slavery. I was curious what lessons the book Bound for Canaan might offer to us today and I know that Powell’s would be sure to have it.

It was in the Civil War section of Powell’s that I learned another important lesson. While perusing books I found that Memorial Day was a holiday celebrated first by African Americans and only later did it become a national holiday. The celebration called “Dedication Day” eventually became known as Memorial Day. It is significant history that would be lost if not for the work of Professor David W. Bright of Yale University.

The first Memorial Day was celebrated by newly freed Africans in Charleston, South Carolina in 1865. Over 10,000 Blacks came together to give a proper funeral to those Union soldiers who gave their lives to the destruction of slavery in the United States. The actions of the newly freed Africans (not yet citizens) was profound in that they were willing to risk their emerging power by honoring those who fought and died for a common goal. For those celebrating the first Memorial Day these Union soldiers represented all who worked for emancipation. Their stories needed to be honored.

One hundred and forty-four years after the first Memorial Day I hope that those of us working to strengthen civil rights and democracy by defending the dignity of immigrants and refugees take the time to remember our stories of bravery as well.

It could be the story of Barbara, an African American woman, who came to the aid of immigrant workers in Laurel, Mississippi after a processing plant was raided by Immigration Custom and Enforcement. Barbara didn’t speak Spanish but knew that she had to open her doors to defend the soul of her community. Or perhaps it is the story of Tom from Greeley, Colorado who lost his position as Mayor because he dared to speak up publicly against the ripping apart of families when federal enforcement officers detained 262 residents of his community.

On this day I can’t help but to think of Robert who, responding to an immigrant raid in Bedford, New Haven, spent $200,000 of his personal money to provide bail to immigrants in his community who had been arrested and moved far away to Houston, Texas. Part of that money was used to help the families with rent and food. Barbara, Tom and Robert represent the stories of thousands of immigrants and non-immigrants around the United States who choose not to remain silent in the face of adversity and intolerance.

What makes each of them special is that each of them stood up neither for reward nor fear of punishment. They choose to stand against inequality because it’s the right thing to do. Today, let’s remember them. This is after all the essence of Memorial Day.

2. He promotes the use of the Bible and advocates for official prayers in public school.

3. He thinks Texas should secede from the nation and that he should be the president. Ha!

4. He supported Prop 8; California’s ban on same-sex marriage.

5. In his fervent support of Prop 8 he suggested that the LGBT community blame people of color.

6. He said recently that there may need to be a second revolution in response to increasing left leaning politics, and that “We the people have the authority according to America’s Declaration of Independence”.

7. He refers to creationism as intelligent design (gag), and has helped put creationism into the curriculum of 443 public school districts.

8. He invokes Thomas Jefferson’s name in supporting creationism in schools.

9. # 7 on his martial arts code of honor is “I will maintain an attitude of open-mindedness.”

10. He wrote a moronic letter to President Obama (in which he urged him to turn away from his pro-choice stance), entitled “Obama, now that you work for me …”

Just ten reasons why Chuck Norris is lame.

The story of migration, as it has traditionally been told, has been a masculine epic. But in the latter part of the 20th century, as women began immigrating to America in ever-growing numbers, the migration story became increasing a woman’s tale as well. Women are now on the move, as much as men. But their narrative is different from that of their male predecessors -– they are migrating not as lone individuals but as members, even heads, of families, determined to keep family bonds intact even as they travel great distances and adapt to new cultures.

Until the last half of the 20th century, there was a great gender imbalance, with males predominating in the migrant stream. Today, this balance has shifted to the point that women actually comprise half or more of the immigrants entering this country. Equally dramatic, women now make up more than half of the migrant population worldwide.

While immigrant women are more proactive about gaining citizenship and civic engagement in general, they are also more vulnerable to an immigration and detention system that leaves little room for humanity and is rife with abuse. A recent article in IPS News highlights the trauma women in particular are subjected to in places like Maricopa County:

Broken arms, dislocated jaws, intimidation and vulgarities are part of the daily routine immigrant woman experience in Arizona’s Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) jails, human and civil rights organisations charge.

MCSO is currently under investigation by the U.S. Justice Department over alleged abuses of a section of immigration law known as 287(g) that allows the federal government to deputise local police to enforce immigration law.

“The abuse of these powers within the jails is worse than in the street,” said Salvador Reza, an organiser with the pro-immigrant group Puente that has been monitoring the alleged mistreatment. “If we were able to stop torture in Guantanamo Bay, we should be able to do that in Maricopa County,” he added.

Months ago on this blog, Melissa Ross wrote movingly about the hardships facing immigrant women, saying:

The violence and abuse immigrant women face on a daily basis in the United States are challenged, mostly in solitude, by the immigrant rights movement. By and large, the women’s movement has failed to stand in solidarity with the women who suffer under anti-immigrant activity. Why haven’t more women leaders and women’s organizations added their voices to the national dialogue and opposed the push for stricter immigration enforcement practices and the dehumanization they portend?

The women’s rights movement over the last several decades has largely been about equal rights and equal treatment. But women, always on the frontline, are the most deeply and intimately impacted by systems and institutions wrought with injustice. The tragedies suffered by Juana Villegas and other immigrant women are intolerable in a just society, yet without women of conscience taking a stand, these violent practices will undoubtedly continue.

As evidenced by the terror that immigrant women face in the United States, the struggle for women’s rights is not over. It will take the efforts of women throughout the country to ensure that all women, whatever their “status”, live in a safe and just environment.

We may not have all the answers yet to the myriad issues facing immigrant women, but a few things are clear: they are essential to the health of immigrant and American communities at-large, and their cause should be championed by women everywhere.

The study does not provide a direct link between racism and emotional problems because the study did not follow the 5th graders over time, but the study’s co-authors are adamant that the link is no coincidence. Tumani Coker, a UCLA pediatrician and RAND Corp researcher, stated that this was the first study of its kind to ever be conducted. Her co-author, Mark Schuster, a Harvard pediatrician stated, “It’s possible that prejudice harms children’s mental health, but it is also possible that troubled kids prompt more discriminatory remarks from peers or that children with emotional problems perceive more bias.”

Mr. Schuster offers many examples that increase the likelihood of the link. Hispanic children who report racism are three times more likely to have symptoms of depression than other children. African American children are more than twice as likely,and children categorized as “other minorities” are almost four times as likely to have symptoms of depression. The study also found that children who are racially abused are more likely to have symptoms of ADHD, oppositional defiant disorder and conduct disorder. According to the study, twenty percent of African American children, fifteen percent of Hispanic children, sixteen percent of “other minority” children, and seven percent of white children reported that they have been racially abused.

Grade school is meant to be carefree, with little homework or stresses, but the study found that 80% of the racial abuse occurred at school. 5th grade was the year that I moved to the United States from Ireland and though it was difficult at first, everyone accepted me and made me feel welcome. If I had been racially abused in 5th grade it would have had a very negative impact not only on my education but my health. Just the thought of going to a place where you know that you are going to be racially abused is enough to bring about symptoms of depression. Because 80% of the racial abuse is happening in schools, the school districts must step up and attempt to tackle the problem. Schools in metropolitan areas are more diverse and therefore more likely to have problems with racism. If teachers promote equality at this young age, then it will benefit the children greatly in later life.

Nobody in this world should have to deal with racism, especially children. This study’s conclusions are very serious and must not be taken lightly. The study looked at just over 5000 children, that is only a tiny portion of the total number of 5th graders in the United States. Still, the numbers are staggering and are hard to ignore. I can only hope that this is the first of many studies that look at the negative effects of racist abuse because the more studies that are published, the better the chance that something will be done.

Some readers will know about Ricci v. DeStefano, a case filed by white firefighters in New Haven, CT, my home town, after the City invalidated the results of a test that would have promoted 15 whites, one Latino and no African Americans. The US Supreme Court recently heard the case.

Last week I read a less-ballyhooed story out of New Haven about a program called Project Restart. The idea is that, rather than perpetuate the sweep-lockup-release cycle that ensnares so many petty drug offenders, the police instead would spend more time targeting high-level dealers while offering lower-level ones sentencing alternatives like school or job training.

The story focuses on Raheem Vaughn, a 19 year-old African American whose criminal record consists of a charge for possession of a mini-ziplock bag of marijuana and a bust for selling $50 worth of the stuff. That record, according to Assistant Police Chief Pete Reichard, leaves him too “hardened” to qualify for the sentencing alternatives.

Seriously?

A 19 year-old who already went through drug counseling and is trying to finish high school… beyond redemption? Don’t be stupid. But check him out after the minimum four years in prison the state prosecutor, Brian Leslie, wants to drop on him. After that, Vaughn will be in his mid-twenties, with no high school diploma, four years of prison “education” to his credit, and a felony conviction. What’s that saying about doing the same old stupid things and expecting a different result?

In the meantime, if Mr. Leslie or Mr. Reichard wants to know exactly where and when to catch Yalies doing a lot more than $50 in coke, marijuana, and whatever else on a weekly basis, I could find out in the space of two phone calls. I bet they already know. Think we’ll see New Haven’s finest busting down Yale dorm doors anytime soon?

It costs an average of $44k/year to incarcerate an inmate in Connecticut — $176k over the four years the prosecutor wants to lock Raheem Vaughn up. How about taking HALF of that money — $88,000 — and investing it in a productive future for Raheem Vaughn? For that amount of cash you could give him the tutoring he may need to finish high school and prep for college and STILL have some money left over for books, fees and tuition at a state school.

How about a Project Restart worthy of the name?

The trial for two of Ramirez’s attackers ended on Friday when Derrick Donchak, 19, and Brandon Piekarsky, 17, were acquitted of aggravated assault, reckless endangerment and ethnic intimidation. Attorneys for the two attackers argued that Ramirez was in fact the aggressor against the four intoxicated teens. Right. Anyway, the all-white jury seemed to find that pretty plausible and only found Donchak and Pierkarsky guilty of simple assault. Everything about this story, from the investigation to the trial, stinks of old-fashioned collusion, cover-up, and bigotry.

Injustice is meted out to the disadvantaged every day in this country, but sometimes the brazenness is too much to bear. Aside from the controversial handling of the case by local police (it took 13 days to arrest the teens for one), anti-immigrant groups wasted no time capitalizing on the racial tensions in the community, setting up shop within weeks of the murder. Not surprisingly there have been more hate crimes committed in Shenandoah since then.

I’ve been talking about ALIPAC a lot lately, from tea bag parties to stirring up swine flu fear to rallying against immigrants in Shenandoah, the folks at ALIPAC seem to pop everywhere that white supremacy needs a hand (read here for more info on ALIPAC’s increasing activity). William Gheen, ALIPAC leader, along with his friends at Voice of the People USA, Illegal Protest and Last Americans Standing, were the organizers of a nice rally in Shenandoah for anti-immigrant supporters, a month after Luis Ramirez died and the same day as a unity rally. Mighty sensitive of them, huh? This was the same rally where a group of racist skinheads showed up to lend their support. Although Gheen says they weren’t invited, he failed to ask them to leave. After Friday’s verdict, these were some of the disturbing messages posted on ALIPAC’s forum:

Posted: Sat May 02, 2009 12:45 am Post subject: Shenandoah Teens: Free at Last!
by Turtle
The verdict is in: Not Guilty for most charges. Brandon Piekarsky was found guilty only of simple assault. Derrick Donchak was found guilty only of simple assault, 3 counts of corruption of minors, and 3 counts of furnishing alcohol to minors.
VICTORY!!!!
I had the honor and pleasure of spending the day with the families of both boys, and was invited into the family room for the duration of the jury deliberations. Out of respect for these people who have been through much more than they ever should have been, I won’t elaborate. I will say, however, that they are all loving, caring, family-oriented people and all were distraught over this whole mess. I’m glad I was able to be their voice for the last nine months.

Posted: Sat May 02, 2009 11:46 am Post subject: Re: Shenandoah Teens: Free at Last!
by jshhmr
WOW! This was very unexpected. I figured that the illegals were going to get their way on this one. Finally, some justice being served. I KNEW there was more to this story than the illegals wanted to admit.

And then in response to another poster’s misgivings about celebrating a murder, jshhmr writes,

I do feel bad for the guy, but it’s just like we say when the reverse happens. If he hadn’t been here to begin with it wouldn’t have happened. He would be back home enjoying the life that he was supposed to live. He chose to break laws, including rape. I believe in karma. Things happen for a reason.

As I’ve previously pointed out, ALIPAC recently formed a coalition with twenty-five other anti-immigrant groups, most of whom are funded by, off-shoots of, or closely associated with the John Tanton Network.

Hateful forces are brewing in the Shenandoahs all over America, turning small-town kids into hateful killers. I should know, I went to high school with a kid who joined a neo-Nazi group that set up shop in our community. One day this “kid” went on a killing spree - targeting and murdering African-Americans and Jews. Luis Ramirez was targeted because of the color of his skin; this was not a street fight gone too far. It is time we recommit our nation to tolerance and expose those in our communities who incite hate.

Faces of May Day, Faces of America from Imagine 2050 on Vimeo.

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 back.

I follow the news, dream of someday visiting, and listen attentively whenever I hear Arabic in hopes that I might recognize a word. That I look back, two generations removed, does that make me less of an American?

I find it so ironic when people question the patriotism of Latinos forging their American identity. No one ever questions my patriotism because of my rich immigrant history. But when it comes to Latinos all bets are off the table.

I recently received an email about a supposed incident in CA where Latino students at Montebello High School put the Mexican flag above an upside down America flag on their schools flag pole. Here is an excerpt of the email’s text:

“I guess they already finished their English homework!!! The protesters at Montebello High School took the American flag off the school’s flag pole and hung it upside down while putting up the Mexican flag over it. Pass this along to every American citizen in your address books… If you choose to remain uninvolved, do not be amazed when you no longer have a nation to call your own.”

The problem with emails like this is that it takes one specific incident, distorts what occurred, and then uses that distortion to make broad general accusations about a whole group of people. The statement about English homework is a racist accusation that suggests falsely that the students are foreign (i.e. enemy) because they are Latino.

And does not finishing your English homework somehow make you a traitor or an enemy? If that is the case, then there are a lot of students in the United States, Latino or otherwise, who the government will have to make room for in Guantanamo.

What the author was trying to infer when they wrote “Pass this along to every American citizen in your address books . . .” is that just being Latino means you are somehow not a citizen. Citizens fly the flag upside down a lot. I don’t agree with it but it happens.

I’m thinking of white supremacist Randy Weaver, the Freeman in Montana, folks participating in the tea parties and others. When they do it, we don’t question their citizenship. Why is this group of students any different, simply because they are Latino? What do protests have to do with immigration? Protest is an American tradition that is protected in the bill of rights. Finally . . . yes this incident happened but not in the way that the email leads you to believe. No students of the high school actually participated in the protest.

It’s something uniquely American to really feel the transformation, struggle, and rebirth of starting anew in an unknown place. And that has been a part of our history from the beginning. The dichotomy of setting up life somewhere new, while wrestling with where you’ve been, does not end with the first generation born on foreign soil. It is something we carry within us, as immigrants, as descendants of immigrants, and most importantly, as Americans.

As painful as it is to hear, national discourse on torture is necessary. What makes it harder is Obama’s confusion about how to handle this can of worms. Perhaps though Obama’s bumbling missteps are merely a reflection of our nation’s moral missteps on how to treat those we detain.

Critics of Obama’s decision to release Bush-era torture memos are concerned that it will detract from other pressing issues. ‘Why focus on the past’ they ask ‘when we desperately need to move forward?’

It is tempting to stick it in the ‘let’s forget the Bush Administration’ file, but there are too many reasons not to; reasons that affect our future nation.

60 years ago we entered into an agreement to operate more humanely, even if others didn’t agree to do the same. We committed our nation to being a role model for democracy and governance, and even though we failed, transparency is a means to regain our tarnished democracy.

Torture and racism go hand-in-hand; if we really want to overcome racism then talking about torture is a step in the right direction. Race plays a significant role in who is allowed to torture, who it is acceptable to torture, and the punishment one receives for torturing.

The economy is crippling America’s poor, our immigration system is in shambles, hate crimes are on the rise, and how we treat our fellow man in desperate times has everything to do with who we are. We torture people; not just in Iraq, but in our prisons, jails and detention centers. Our acceptance of torture outside of our borders affects our entire justice system within them.

As a nation we need to come to terms with how far we have fallen. Confusion, denial, anger, shame and finally acceptance are part of the process. By my calculation we’re already working our way through confusion and denial, just watch one of Obama’s speeches or listen to the dizzying excuses for why torture isn’t really torture, but is ok if it was torture.

The intense debate on torture can’t be summed up by one individual’s tragic story, or one successful instance of information gathering; it needs to be understood and resolved through the prism of every angle of the truth. So let’s find the truth, all the ugly, horrifying details of it, and hope that we are a nation that can solve more than one problem at a time.

This is not to say that my parents’ marriage was a form of political activism. I still prefer to believe that there was some love involved in their initial union. However, the political and social environment they grew up in allowed for opportunities and gave social acceptance to the mixing of religions. So my father’s Orthodox Christian background joined my mother’s Catholic/atheist heritage (my grandfather was a Communist.) In Yugoslavia there was always confusion between religion and nationality, but my parents always insisted on making a distinction between their religion and their nationality since, after all, they lived in a multiethnic society. They asserted that it was their full right to declare themselves as Bosnians.

Growing up with these sensibilities, I found myself unprepared for the rise of ultra- Nationalism and the movement of public discourse towards ethnic homogeneity, and calls for ethnic cleansing during the late eighties and early nineties. The fact that I was in my teens during that period did not help either.

I remember the first time I became aware of the problematic nature of my multi-ethnic background. It was 1991 and I was listening to a radio talk-show following the start of war in Croatia. A majority of calls received called for the isolation or destruction of “unclean and polluted” members of the society, since they were seen as the traitors of their various ethnic groups. While most callers were guarded and somewhat diplomatic in how they expressed these views, there were a few who outright called for violence and murder. I distinctly remember a woman who stated that the unborn children of mixed marriages should be “cut out of their mothers’ wombs.” What I did not fully understand at that time was that I was witnessing an evolution of my society towards war and genocide.

My precarious problematic identity was highlighted and scrutinized often during the Bosnian War. Anxiety, fear and the pain people felt had to be released in some way, and my sister and I were often the closest and most convenient target for those unable to contain their emotions for long. I recognized that, for the most part, the personal attacks were misdirected attempts to regain some sense of control over the chaos and destruction of war. However, this visibility as a problematic demographic helped shake my belief that I truly belonged in Bosnia. I felt unwelcomed not just by those who sought to kill us, but also by the same society which I identified with and hoped to help preserve. Society was changing, and I could not find my place in it anymore. I was an outsider.

I often wondered how was it possible for me to find myself at home in America and adjust to my life here so well. Now I know that being an outsider was a familiar milieu, the one in which I functioned so well. I came here and joined others who did not “belong” and began my quest towards reconciliation. Witnessing my country’s gradual destruction and evolution into a war culture made me acutely aware of nuanced social change. That is why the Department of Homeland Security’s report on a potential uprising by White Supremacist and Hate groups is particularly troublesome. This time I am prepared to stand up to intimidation and fight against discrimination, racism and threats of violence. I see things more clearly now. I have been here before. Perhaps being an outsider is not a terrible thing after all.

While reasons for the shootings are and will be argued endlessly by the commentariat, the Binghamton, New York massacre at the American Civic Association goes to the heart of the American gun culture that fed and led even a struggling, gun-licensed immigrant to rectify his grievances via mass murder. The levels of tragic irony in the Binghamton shootings are virtually incomprehensible. Among Jiverly Wong’s victims was Layla Khalil, who had survived three bombings in her native, war-torn Iraq. Other victims were from China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Haiti, and Pakistan, living and working their way into the proverbial American dream. Instead, they died in the violent nightmare of American identity.

Jiverly Wong was an American citizen who had apparently been in the country long enough to learn that at the heart of the nation’s identity is its gun culture and an incipient inclination to settle wrongs, slights, grievances, and territories with deadly force. From the founding to the frontier to the future, American identity is wrapped up in gun violence, shrouded in the endlessly argued Second Amendment, and defended to the death by true believers, fearful and fearsome in their zealotry.

In short, the right to bear arms, the “right to carry,” the “right to concealed weapons,” the “right to defend oneself,” the “right to automatic weapons”—all such “rights” abrogate and override the fundamental human right to live peacefully, free from the fear that some gun-bearer is going to vent his anger in a death-to-all massacre. The response, ever-circular, is that if only the victims had been armed, the shooter would have been stopped. Short-lived is the career of the pundit, the preacher, the politician, the police officer who goes against the grain of the gun.

The U.S. is the most gun-violent nation on earth. Regardless of reason or motivation—be it job loss, family dispute, criminal behavior, or the infinite listing of “other” reasons people pick up the weapon—easy access to guns and the cultural acceptance of gun violence and gun-deaths is so deeply imbued in the American psyche as to be impenetrable. We’ve known for years that the sheer number of television shows heralding this grim reality contributes to its generational spread. We know that the reign of gun violence across the southern border is largely American-generated. We know that our own indifference notably marks the violent deaths that occur regularly in communities of color—in Chicago alone twenty-nine students have been killed this school year. And we know that every time another gun massacre takes place, we either join the “we never thought it could happen here” chorus or carry on with our lives, thankful that it happened “there.”

This is an utterly senseless reality of American life, of American identity. Our children are dying. Our neighbors are dying. Old residents and newcomers are dying.

But this is America. It is our right to be well-armed. Jiverly Wong was an American who took that right to heart as he went on his murderous spree in Binghamton, and as he wrote in the letter he mailed just before he started firing—the ubiquitous American message, “Have a nice day.”

Glenn Beck spent a little while on his Fox News show yesterday explaining to his audience that law enforcement in Missouri shouldn’t be concerned about right-wing extremists because the real problem is cop-killing parolees on the loose in Oakland, California.

Or something like that. It was hard to piece the argument together, but the nub of it seemed along those lines. First he went on at length about how the weekend’s horrible shootout in Oakland, which left four police officers dead alongside the shooter/parolee, was another sign of things going to hell in California. OK, whatever. But then he makes the big leap:

Beck: Next, look at the government’s priorities. This is an actual cop killer, who clearly wasn’t rehabilitated. But the Missouri State Troopers now — and wait until you hear the rest of the story, the update on this one coming up in a few minutes — they’re worried about militias.

Beck then goes on to mostly regurgitate last week’s rant about a Missouri State Patrol intelligence report discussing the recent resurgence of militia activity in their neck of the woods specifically and in the country generally.

But as we reported then, the report (you can read it for yourself here) is in fact entirely factual, and simply a normative report giving an accurate profile of right-wing extremists’ behavioral tendencies.

Read more at http://dneiwert.blogspot.com/

But don’t just take my word for it…

Click HERE to listen.

Music in this edition includes works by:
Lucky Man Clark
Ennio Morricone
Chumbawamba

Scratches by KGB and effects from the Free Sound Project.