Anti-Immigrant Organizations Linked to Racist Hate Groups.

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) just issued a report linking several mainstream anti-immigrant organizations to racist and White supremacist groups. The report concludes that the groups FAIR, Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), and NumbersUSA. Here’s an excerpt:

Three Washington, D.C.-based immigration-restriction organizations stand at the nexus of the American nativist movement: the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), and NumbersUSA. Although on the surface they appear quite different — the first, the country’s best-known anti-immigrant lobbying group; the second, an “independent” think tank; and the third, a powerful grassroots organizer — they are fruits of the same poisonous tree.

FAIR, CIS and NumbersUSA are all part of a network of restrictionist organizations conceived and created by John Tanton, the “puppeteer” of the nativist movement and a man with deep racist roots. As the first article in this report shows, Tanton has for decades been at the heart of the white nationalist scene. He has met with leading white supremacists, promoted anti-Semitic ideas, and associated closely with the leaders of a eugenicist foundation once described by a leading newspaper as a “neo-Nazi organization.” He has made a series of racist statements about Latinos and worried that they were outbreeding whites. At one point, he wrote candidly that to maintain American culture, “a European-American majority” is required.

FAIR, which Tanton founded and where he remains on the board, has been listed as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Among the reasons are its acceptance of $1.2 million from the Pioneer Fund, a group founded to promote the genes of white colonials that funds studies of race, intelligence and genetics. FAIR has also hired as key officials men who also joined white supremacist groups. It has board members who regularly write for hate publications. It promotes racist conspiracy theories about Latinos. And it has produced television programming featuring white nationalists.

The full report can be found here.

There was always something deeply troubling about the rhetoric coming out of the anti-immigrant camp but it was hard to put a finger on exactly what it was. But it’s clear now, thanks to the folks at the SPLC.

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Is it Possible That Progressives are Finally Growing a Pair?

I don’t know what I’m more excited about, the fact that I’ve yet again been vindicated or the fact that it appears progressives in the US are finally stepping up to the plate. Back in May, I wrote a post entitled “Conservatism has failed wherever it has been tried,” in which I basically called the right wing out on some of its bullsh*t rhetoric.

Then today, I got a video from a friend of mine who lives out on the West Coast. The video was put out by the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank based in Washington, DC. It starts off with a couple of White dudes, one wearing a tag that says “Con” and the other a tag that says “Pro.” The “Pro” guy identifies himself as a progressive and then lists all the great stuff progressive thinkers and movements have accomplished for society. The “Con” guy, identifies himself as conservative concedes that the only thing he’s for is tax cuts for the rich.

Wow! I need to pinch myself. Am I dreaming? Is it possible that, after decades of silence in the face of conservatives’ outrageous claims and acts, the left is finally waking up? Can it be true that progressives, after 30 years of being on the losing side of the culture war, have again found their voice? Dare I hope that liberals will quit trying to remove the differences between themselves and conservatives, and put an end to the ridiculous righward shift in modern American politics?

One can only hope.

In the meantime, enjoy the video.

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