Angry White Kid

Woodfin Suites Hotel organizes and provides free lodging for anti-immigrant activists

If we're rent-a-thugs, these kids must have been rented from their parents' country clubs. Perhaps that sign is self-referential.

In an earlier post I called Woodfin an "evil corporation."  But even according evil corporation standards, this is just downright appalling.  An email from the East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy reports the following:

The right-wing, anti-immigrant, anti-worker squads are at it again. This time, they're being sponsored, and paid for, by the Woodfin Suites Hotel in Emeryville.

This past Saturday, during our regular picket at the Woodfin, we were joined by twenty five counter-protestors identifying themselves as College Republicans from UC Davis and San Francisco State. They showed up carrying provocative placards - “No Green Card, No Work”, “Justice is at the Back of the Line”, “Union Thugs Go Home”, "Legals YES, Illegals NO," and “Marx Would Be Proud” - and tried to disrupt our protest.

The counter-protestors were openly taking direction from the Woodfin's management, going where the hotel’s General Manager told them to, standing on hotel property. They even bragged that Woodfin management had put them up in free hotel rooms the night before!

When we tried to separate ourselves, they physically shoved into our picket line- even pushing and berating the young children of Woodfin workers! Finally, the Emeryville police created a barrier between them and our peaceful picket, for the safety of all involved.

Join the pickets. Contact the Woodfin.

You win some, you lose some

Too bad, Warriors, too bad.  Well, at least they beat the Mavs.  And now I can stop watching the playoffs.

On the other hand, Jerry Falwell died.  So, in the end, things balanced out yesterday.

Warriors, warming and awesome kids

Though I was just giving a friend some flack about engaging the spectacle when he tried to convince me how great Obama is, I gotta say, the Golden State Warriors are unreal. Making Oakland proud.

Here's a gem from Arkansas my uncle sent me.  Honestly, I was unaware of this liberal conspiracy.

And these kindergarten kids have just conducted the best May Day/anti-Minutemen protest ever.

I'm off to Wyoming for the weekend, so any comments might not go up until Sunday night.

Minutemen: Not so tough without their guns

Minutemen attack protesters at Columbia.

Today a friend chided me for not blogging about the shutting down of the Minutemen at Columbia University last week.  I've been negligent.

For those who missed it, on October 4, Jim Gilchrist, founder of the Minuteman Project, and two other anti-immigrant activists were invited by the College Republicans to give a talk at Columbia University.

The first speaker ranted for 45 minutes. Then, as Gilchrist started his speech, students - led by Chicanos and Latinos - took the stage with a banner reading "No one is illegal."  While Gilchrist  quickly fled in the face of opposition, other Minutemen goons attacked the anti-racist protesters, kicking one in the head, as can plainly be seen in this footage from Univision.

The right wing media went nuts, condemning the protesters and coddling the vigilantes. Ignoring the facts, the rest of the mainstream English-language media got in the act and the demonstrators have faced near-universal denouncement.

Even Jon Stewart attacked the anti-racist activists. (Have the White Nationalists he's been interviewing, like Lou Dobbs, Trent Lott, and Pat Buchanan, gotten to him? Is there a direct correlation between the increase in racists and the decrease in humor on that show?)  Yet the protesters remain unbowed:

We want to state clearly: We are proud to send the message to the country that racist and fascist groups are not welcome at Columbia or in New York City.

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 United States. Over 3,000 people-including hundreds of children-have died in the desert. Their blood is on the hands of Gilchrist and his thugs.

They now face possible disciplinary actions by the university. We can help by signing a petition supporting them.  ANSWER has also set up a way to fax Lee Bollinger, Columbia's president, a statement supporting the demonstrators. As the students' statement says, "Fascist scapegoating is not up for academic discussion."

For more on this, I highly recommend today's Democracy Now! program, where yet again, in the face of reasoned opposition, this time from Karina Garcia, Political Chair of Columbia's Chicano Caucus, Jim Gilchrist stammers and flees like the racist coward he is.  May the Minutemen be greeted similarly wherever they show their heinous faces.

PS: For more anti-racist fun - St. Louis style - check this out.

San Francisco: Gonzales-free territory

Alberto Gonzales has been run out of San Francisco before he could even get here. 

In an event sponsored by the SF Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Gonzales was supposed to meet with a small group Friday morning at Medjool Restaurant to talk about immigration.  But with just about every group in the Bay Area planning to protest this architect of torture and advocate of Bush's immigration indentured servitude plan, the SFHCC (and Gonzales?) got cold feet.

The Bay Area Immigrant Rights Coalition states:

We are happy to report that the event with U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales will not take place tomorrow.  As a result, no protest will be organized.  We express our gratitude to Medjool restaurant for supporting the cancellation of this event.

The SF Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the organizer of the event, does not intend to hold the event elsewhere - citing “security reasons.”  While the Hispanic Chamber has stated that it does not endorse Gonzales or President Bush’s immigration proposal, many people in the Bay Area immigrant community express concern that the Chamber would offer a platform to a known champion of torture and human rights abuses. BAIRC and its allies hope to continue to dialogue with the Hispanic Chamber on human rights and immigration reform.

Unfortunately, though not showing his face in SF, Gonzales will instead be hosted by the Commonwealth Club of Silicon Valley (always ready to greet war criminals with open arms) in Santa Clara, near San Jose.  A call to protest has been issued by the South Bay Mobilization:

Friday, July 21
Unwelcome Attorney-General Gonzales to the South Bay! - Santa Clara
Amnesty for All Immigrants-No 'Bracero' program!
End the Torture-Shut Down Guantanamo!
No to U.S.-Israeli Assaults on Gaza and Lebanon!
10 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Santa Clara Marriott
2700 Mission College Blvd (near Great America Parkway and Hwy 101)

Who cut holes in the Minutemen's fence?

The geniuses known as the Minuteman Project, who thought stringing some barbed wire across the desert would stop migration, have been thwarted by someone with a pair of wire cutters.

An 800-foot section of the three mile barbed wire fence was cut.

"Cut so cleverly that it could not be repaired, it has to be restrung because it's cut right here at the post," says Carmen Mercer of the Minuteman Project.

I toast to you, fence-cutting friend.  May it be imitated wherever fences stand.  In their fencing frenzy, the vigilantes have apparently found a job that vigilantes won't do: putting up miles of fence.

The Minuteman Project has hired a private contractor to finish building its border fence at a local ranch, a spokesman for the group confirmed Wednesday.

Al Garza, the national executive director of the civilian border watch organization, acknowledged that soaring summertime temperatures may have driven some volunteer fence-builders from the Palominas work site. But he said the move to a contractor was made primarily to ensure quality control.

How ironic would it be if some of the workers on contractor's team were "undocumented"?  Though if one doesn't have papers and can afford to avoid that job, they should, for the sake of their own personal safety.  Reminds me of  some other racists whose hiring decision didn't turn out as planned.

UPDATE 6/22: Here's what 's happening  at some places in Texas:

A few Texas ranchers tired of costly repairs to cattle fences damaged by illegal immigrants have installed an easier route over the U.S.-Mexican border - ladders.

"It's an attempt to get them to use the ladders instead of tearing the fences," said Scott Pattinson, who owns one of a group of ranches known as La Copa.

Family targeted by Lee Kaplan speaks out

My last post on Lee Kaplan mentioned "a recent action of his that is too horrible to share."  But given the latest developments, it can now be discussed. 

Last month, in his hysterical campaign against the International Solidarity Movement, Kaplan hit a new low (even for himself, and that's saying a lot), and published a confidential plea from a misguided but loving father who was concerned about his son's involvement with the ISM.  Going directly against the wishes of the father and wreaking havoc on a family, by publishing his emails, Kaplan shows that there are no bounds to his visceral and illogical hatred of the ISM and the lengths he will go to in order to attack it. 

But those used and abused by Kaplan are now speaking up.  Brian Malovany and his father, Robert Malovany, have responded to Kaplan's ruthless attack, and I publish their words here, with their permission. Lee Kaplan Watch has also posted this, and others should spread the word about it, too.

---------------------

Hello,

My name is Brian Malovany, and I am a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement. Until the murder of Rachel Corrie, I had not heard of the ISM, but since then I have done everything I could to support the non-violent resistance of the Palestinian people against the Israeli occupation and ethnic cleansing, and I am proud to do so. I have been lucky to visit Palestine twice in the past 2 years, and I have made many friends as a result, Palestinians, Israelis and Internationals. The work of ISM and countless other groups in Palestine/Israel is not easy or without risk, but it is incredibly important; such as demonstrating against the theft of land in Bil'in, working with medical teams in Balata refugee camp retrieving murdered Palestinians from their homes, or walking children to school in the Tel Rumeida neighborhood of Hebron, where they are harassed by racist and violent Israeli settlers.

That said, working with ISM has not come without a price. As in many other Jewish-American families, the issue of Palestine/Israel is a very divisive and painful one, an issue which is surrounded by a web of fear, hysteria and ignorance. Despite being the only member of my immediate family to have ever visited there, it is still very difficult to get across to them just how incredible my experiences there have been. Along with such issues of politics and Jewish identity, my family has had its share of difficulties and clashes, like many other families. It is obvious that we all need to learn to listen to each other, accept each other's differences, and to never lose hold of the love that we all share.

Although Lee Kaplan and his ilk take great pride in smearing us and writing their lies on the internet, it is of no real consequence; he is a truly pitiful man that almost no one takes seriously, including me. I had always thought that, no matter how blinded by his support for Israel my father becomes, he would be able to see clearly the racism and stupidity in Lee Kaplan's "investigative journalism." Unfortunately, that was not the case, but he now knows just what a dishonorable and untrustworthy man that he is.

Since nothing can be retracted from the internet, I offer my father's apology for the record, for what it is worth. To all who have supported me in this debacle, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

in solidarity,
Brian Malovany

-------------------------------------

Dear Brian,

What can I say?

The Kaplan letter was a mistake to put it mildly.  I had every reason to believe that my communication was going to be private and confidential.  I was betrayed.  I was used.

Yet, I bear total responsibility for what happened.  I should have known better.  I exercised faulty judgement and I regret this.  It was never my intent to hurt you or to be cruel to you.  You do not deserve this.

But at lest it gives me the opportunity to say things to you that I should have been saying regularly for a long time.  Brian, I love you.  I love you more than I love my life.   A day does not go by that I don't think about you and worry about you.  Of course that I worry about you is not your responsibilty.  Parents worry about their children, it goes with the territory.  But I think I have carried this worrying to an irrational and unhealthy extent. Since the Kaplan stuff came out, I have not slept and have been deeply upset at my helplessness  to make everything right.  I guess this will take some time.  I don't know what else to do.  But remember again, that your mother and I have not ever rejected you, we love you dearly. You always have a home here with us if you should ever need it.  We are there for you.

I love you Brian. I may not have shown this as well as I should have, but please know that it is true and it will always be true.

Love,
Dad

Who will be next?

More flags than brains in San Jose

This piece is by my partner, the self-proclaimed "Angry Asian Girl," reflecting on an anti-immigrant protest we went to counter on Saturday in San Jose.

I was angry today.  Mean, spitting, red in the face about to cry, angry. It was because of these racist, xenophobic idiots. Waving their American flags, preaching their desire to uphold fucked up laws, and smug in their belief that somehow a group of people are to blame for issues our government is clearly responsibly for.  In this case, it was an anti-immigrant group attacking undocumented migrants, but it could have been my people under attack.  It could have been targeting any group of non-white peoples.

I am from this country.  When someone today told me to go back to where I came from, I truthfully told them I was born here.  But I know that as soon as China – the country of my ancestors - does something to threaten the United States, I could start calling an internment camp my home.  I could have to register myself with all the other Chinese.  The Japanese were in interment camps in WWII (not the German immigrants).  The Arabs had to go to special registration.  It is unfortunately an all too real possibility.

Do you remember the spy plane incident?  The U.S. was spying on China, its plane went down, and China kept it a little too long, though they released the crew right away (you know the U.S. wouldn’t have done the same).  Immediately after that, outbreaks of racist attacks against Chinese occurred all over Middle America.  It is because of the threat of detention without cause, the threat of being perceived as smart and untrustworthy, crafty and cunning, that I protested against these racists today.  The fact they have no sense of humanity and are xenophobic morons doesn’t hurt either.

I know when I see them that I am looking into the face of my future oppressor.  These same people first hated the Arabs when they were the trendy group to hate, and now hate Latin@s because that is what is in these days. These people probably blame blacks for high crime rates. These people will hate me when China does something against the interests of the U.S. 

I am not Chinese enough to be even accepted by my own people.  I am a self-acknowledged Twinkie (white on the inside, yellow on the outside) that doesn’t speak the language and learned more about the culture from my white mom.  My Chinese-American dad instead taught me about the Chinese Exclusion Act and how our family got into this country “illegally” as paper sons.  But I look Chinese enough to be untrustworthy.  I look Chinese enough to be interned, to be registered, to be perceived as a threat. 

We as people of color and white anti-racists have got to stand up for our Arab brothers and Latina sisters.  They may be in the hot seat now, but you know it could be me - or you - that suffers the outrage of being blamed for something we are not even slightly responsible for.  Except for the indigenous, we are all descendents of immigrants or colonizers.

May Day and Save Darfur from what?

Follow ups on a couple posts:

If you won't be in the streets tomorrow for May Day, there are a few things you can still do. 

• Those who can't get out of school are being urged to protest silently in class.


• If you're in an office all day, join the virtual sit-in put on by the Electronic Disturbance Theater and the borderlands Hacklab.


• For news, keep an eye on your local Indymedia and pirate or community radio stations.

On the shenanigans in DC and elsewhere today relating the crisis in Darfur, Yoshie over at Critical Montages has been doing an excellent job following that story and examining the intricacies of it.  She has several great posts up, including one on how today's rally helped to not bring peace to Darfur.  Check it out. 

Courting Neo-Nazis and Urging the Shooting of Migrants - All in a Day's Work

Nowadays, one can't help but wonder if you have to be declared mentally unfit to become an anti-immigrant activist or if they'll just take your word for it.  Lately, these guys have been taking the term "crazy racist" to a whole new level.

To start off light, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting has released an action alert describing CNN's Immigration Problem.

[Lou] Dobbs' tone on immigration is consistently alarmist; he warns his viewers (3/31/06) of Mexican immigrants who see themselves as an "army of invaders" intent upon reannexing parts of the Southwestern U.S. to Mexico, announces (11/19/03) that "illegal alien smugglers and drug traffickers are on the verge of ruining some of our national treasures," and declares (4/14/05) that "the invasion of illegal aliens is threatening the health of many Americans" through "deadly imports" of diseases like leprosy and malaria.

Today, the Southern Poverty Law Center reported that Laine Lawless, founder of the Border Guardians,

has secretly urged the nation’s largest neo-Nazi group to launch a campaign of violence and harassment against undocumented workers in the United States.

Laine Lawless, who started a group called Border Guardians last year, sent an April 3 e-mail to Mark Martin, "SS commander" of the Western Ohio unit of the National Socialist Movement, which has 59 chapters in 30 states. It was titled, "How to GET RID OF THEM!"

[snip]

At the request of Lawless, who declined to respond to questions from the Intelligence Report, Martin posted her suggestions to a number of neo-Nazi bulletin boards. Those suggestions included:

• "Steal the money from any illegal walking into a bank or check cashing place."


• "Make every illegal alien feel the heat of being a person without status. ... I hear the rednecks in the South are beating up illegals as the textile mills have closed. Use your imagination."


• "Discourage Spanish-speaking children from going to school. Be creative."


• "Create an anonymous propaganda campaign warning that any further illegal immigrants will be shot, maimed or seriously messed-up upon crossing the border. This should be fairly easy to do, considering the hysteria of the Spanish language press, and how they view the Minutemen as ‘racists & vigilantes.’"

In another example, paranoia runs deep in vigilante country as second or third-hand reports of Mexican families leaving a town in Arkansas has morphed into discussions of a race war.  These emails come from a prominent anti-immigrant listserv and I have the full headers available.  I have included their names and email addresses, since if they're going to spew this garbage, people need to know who they are.