Republican Hate-mongering 'Illegals' Rhetoric

Grand Old Party of Hate

Update: Scott Walker says he would repeal President Obama's "amnesty" on Day One, in one of Walker's self-proclaimed "big, bold" ideas: "For goodness sakes, we’re seeing the real – the very real – public safety risk for what happens when you have people who commit multiple, multiple criminal offenses. They are a public safety risk to anyone in this country." (Breitbart) Who knew multiple, multiple criminals were invading and rampaging America, creating a public safety risk to anyone in this country? Republican racists know, though this is sheer, hate-mongering nonsense.
 ---
"Long past time for media to stop calling people 'illegals,'" reads a headline from DesMoinesDem writing in the Bleeding Heartland from Iowa.

The Iowa writer also hits GOP politicians, Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), and Radio Iowa and its 50-plus affiliate Iowa radio stations (division of Learfield Communications) for their continued use of the racially charged invective Republicans use to appeal to rural whites in America still in thrall to anything injurious to the other—them.

That goes for Fox News too, but one miracle at a time.

White and racist equals Republican Party today. Whites for liberty and equality vote for someone else.

Didn't always be that way, but appeals to racism are a main stable of the Republican political diet.

Throw in evangelical Christianitites and you have an Iowa Caucus election custom-made for Scott Walker, though Walker's faltering campaign has many anti-Latino, anti-equality and misogynistic rivals looking at other candidates with demonstrable knowledge of public policy.

Republican candidates for president see racist appeals and voter obstruction of minorities as a winning combination, and decency will not prevent the GOP from sowing the seeds of hate. (Mal Contends) (J.P. Green) (Mal Contends) (James Vega)

At the National Review, Republicans shoot down immigration reform

President Barack Obama delivers remarks on immigration
at Del Sol High School in Las Vegas, Nev., Jan. 29, 2013.
(Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Update: On Morning Joe, Joe and the GOP's Dan Senor express dismay at the tone-deaf John McCain and the National Review, agreeing these idiots are bringing back the "47 percent rhetoric" that worked so well for the White Party in 2012.

Not even pretending not to be racist.

Rich Lowry and and the editors at the National Review are advocating defeat of President Obama's Comprehensive Immigration Reform.

I repeat here: The bigots in the Tea and Grand Ole Parties will kill this immigration initiative, blaming President Obama and play to the white parties' racist base.

Write the National Review editors:

And, if we are to take Hispanics at their word, conservative attitudes toward illegal immigration are a minor reason for their voting preferences. While many are in business for themselves, they express hostile attitudes toward free enterprise in polls. They are disproportionately low-income and disproportionately likely to receive some form of government support. More than half of Hispanic births are out of wedlock. Take away the Spanish surname and Latino voters look a great deal like many other Democratic constituencies. Low-income households headed by single mothers and dependent upon some form of welfare are not looking for an excuse to join forces with Paul Ryan and Pat Toomey. Given the growing size of the Hispanic vote, it would help Republicans significantly to lose it by smaller margins than they have recently. But the idea that an amnesty is going to put Latinos squarely in the GOP tent is a fantasy.

Updated—President Treating Latinos as Human; Will GOP Racists Follow Is Open Question

Racist business cards left at Fond du Lac, Wisconsin
Library event in 2009 - Racism lives on and on

Updates: "President Obama on Tuesday put the weight of his administration behind efforts to pass legislation allowing many of the nation’s 11 million illegal immigrants to earn citizenship, seeking to build on a rapidly shifting political consensus around the issue." (Goldfarb. Post)

"Immigration remains tough, not doomed." (Bernstein. Post)

It is doomed. And there is no political consensus among the major political parties.

Bipartisan immigration reform is about as likely as a two-state solution in the Middle East.

The racists in the Tea and Grand Ole Parties will kill this immigration initiative, blaming President Obama and playing to the white parties' racist base.

But this is a political winner for President Obama. Obama retains options as an end game—Reagan-like amnesty as granted in 1986.

Ask yourself. Do you believe Republicans really want millions more minority voters in highly populated Latino states such as Colorado, Nevada, Arizona, Florida, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia and America's 'urban areas'?

It's no longer acceptable to call Latinos, "spics," it remains in fashion in the southern states to refer to these human beings as "border bonnies," "cockroaches," "field rats" and "mexcrement."
---
"And when each new wave of immigrants arrived, they faced resistance from those who were already here.  They faced hardship.  They faced racism.  They faced ridicule.  But over time, as they went about their daily lives, as they earned a living, as they raised a family, as they built a community, as their kids went to school here, they did their part to build a nation."

So said President Obama advocating Comprehensive Immigration Reform in an inspiring address today.

Republicans suddenly appear to be not too far behind the president, at least in rhetoric on this issue.

This represents a sea change for the apparatchiks of the White Party, aka the Tea Party and its sick cousin, the Republican Party.

"There has always been anti-Mexican prejudice in America but it has gained a profoundly new intensity and self-confident sense of official support and sanction ever since the Republican-sponsored state laws were passed. This new level of grass-roots harassment and persecution of Latinos did not begin at the lower orders of society—and then filter upward. Quite the contrary, it was designed at the highest levels of Republican state government and the Republican policy infrastructure and then filtered its way down. In their own minds the grass-roots harassers no longer feel like fringe 'extremists.' They see themselves as supporting a policy designed and endorsed by the highest Republican officials in their state," writes James Vega just last year as the highest Republican officials and presidential aspirants did their worst to show who was the most hostile to Latinos.

Republicans remain the Party of racism and ignorance. Plain and simple.

I predict they will find some way of torpedoing immigration reform, and its cynical efforts at winning the hearts and minds will fail.

They just can't help themselves.

Reads a Democratic e-mail today: "Tea Party Republicans will do everything possible to obstruct immigration reform. Stand behind President Obama right away: Support comprehensive immigration reform and demand cooperation from Tea Party Republicans."

Sarah Palin: Obama Is Pushing 'Myth That Racial Profiling Is Part' of Arizona Immigration Law

Amid a backlash from civil libertairans and law enforcement officials, Sarah Palin defedned Arizona's new immigration bill.

Sarah Palin appeared on Fox News and straightened out the record: No racial profiling in Arizona after-all. Sure, if you look brown and have no papers, you land in jail. The Fourth Amendment, the 14th Amendment, these rights are for wusses.

From Huffington:

Sarah Palin called Arizona's controversial new immigration bill a "reasonable...wake up call" Tuesday, and criticized President Obama for "perpetuating this myth that racial profiling is a part of this law."

In an interview with Fox News's Sean Hannity -- who introduced the segment by accusing "pro-illegal immigration" protesters of not actually reading the legislation -- Sarah Palin said "there is no ability or opportunity in there for the racial profiling" in the law.

Critics have argued that the broader powers of law enforcement officials to stop and question suspected illegals who would, with this legislation, be considered to be "breaking the law" if they are in the state, will inevitably lead to racial profiling.

Palin, however, denied these claims.

"Shame on the lamestream media again for turning this into something that it is not," Palin insisted. "Governor Jan Brewer did what she had to do as the CEO of that state to help protect the citizens of her state she had to do what the federal government has refused to do and that is help secure the borders."

Trail-blazing Latino Cop

Three years ago a street was named in Aurora, Illinois in honor of the city's first Latino police officer who was murdered on September 20, 1970.

From a piece appearing in May 2006.

Aurora, Illinois Amid the national mobilization of Mexican-Americans asserting their humanity, a Mexican-American hero was recognized today.

Officer Hector Jordan was honored today by the City of Aurora and the Aurora Police Department by the naming of a street, Hector Jordan Way, at a ceremony attended by some 120 people.

Jordan was the first Hispanic cop in the Aurora Police Department and was an acclaimed undercover federal narcotics officer for the precursor of today's Drug Enforcement Agency.
At six-foot, three inches, well-muscled, and intense, Hector "Bobby" Jordan cut an imposing figure on the Aurora police force in the 1950s.

But to the 1950s American mind, he had a serious issue, he was a Mexican-American, meaning the bigots didn't like him.

In fact, in 1955, Jordan faced down bigotry or those who tolerated bigotry, from the top of the police force. Before assuming duty, Jordan was told then by the powers that be how to behave and act around the "white" citizens he would encounter as the first Mexican-American officer on the force.

Jordan, angry and insulted, would have none of it, and suggested that the police find someone more "pliable," telling the powers that be to take him or leave him.

They took him. And Jordan went on to become the Aurora policeman of the year (1964), and rose to the top of his field in a career as an undercover federal narcotics agent (1965-1970) that officers in this dangerous line of work have described as legendary.

"Hector taught me that policing is the noblest of callings. He believed that police officers were the knights in shining armor. That we were the modern-day Don Quixotes. That we were the 'guardians' that Plato talked about. That if we failed to do our job, the democracy would crumble. Hector Jordan believed these beliefs in the depths of his soul," said Michael Nila, Aurora Police Captain (ret.) and Jordan's nephew.

Murdered on September 20, 1970 outside a going-away party thrown for him as he was set to leave for Madrid, Spain to head an international narcotics team, Jordan was viciously attacked by a gang of thugs who bludgeoned him to death [Jordan lapsed into a coma and died weeks later] simply because Jordan was a cop.

At least they didn't murder him for being a "spic," as Mexican-Americans were approvingly known by white society around Aurora those days, but Jordan pierced through that bigotry like an angry, Latin chain saw cutting up the veil of bigotry that separates us in his own unique way-human kindness, concern and humor, traits he brought with him to his position as a federal narcotics agent.

"Hector always had a way of getting things juiced up and firing up the [DEA] squad, sometimes somebody's having a bad day, well, Hector would always be there to do something funny, taping up a desk, hiding car keys, taking someone out to lunch. He was there for everyone. Someone had a problem, or a financial problem, he would always loan him some bucks. ... He was constantly the jokester, just having fun," said John Peoples, former partner and close friend of Hector Jordan, and retired DEA agent.

One time, Peoples recalled, an agent, John Wagner, had an assignment in Turkey, so the agents threw a going-away party and Jordan snuck in a live turkey to the party, a rather loud and aggressive animal when put in an office setting.

Another time in downtown Chicago in the late 1960s, an edgy time for the police, at a bar full of some 40 cops, Jordan surreptitiously lit off a firecracker sounding just like gun shots, setting off a frenzied quest of checking for weapons and diving to the floor, to Jordan's very private amusement.

The dedication event was jointly sponsored by the Aurora Hispanic Heritage Advisory Board and the Aurora Police Department. The fact that an official organization as the Aurora Hispanic Heritage Advisory Board even exists today is a testament to the work of people like Jordan and those who carry on his tradition by stressing hard work and pride in the face of contemporary bigotry.

"Because of the pioneering achievements of people like Bobby Jordan in the 1950s and 1960s, a lot of Hispanics have an easier time achieving the American dream today. He is a true hero," said Joan Aguado, Jordan's niece, and an attorney in Milwaukee. "I worked in the Aurora-Chicago area in the Hispanic community after my first year of law school. I saw the racism that Hispanics have to overcome. Jordan overcame that racism, he challenged it head-on. I love hearing stories about Bobby Jordan because I think he is a role model for all Hispanics as today we face a threatening backlash."

Today, the powers that be in Aurora, the chief of police, the mayor, sing Jordan's praises.

Jordan loved people, and during that period - late 1960s Chicago - when cops were not always loved back, Jordan never lost his faith and love for humanity, and his shared laughter with the people he vowed to protect with his life going undercover, hiding under cars, or playing the role of a doped-up druggie.

Reportedly, even some of the people he busted during his many headline-grabbing cases would brag about being busted by the legendary Bobby Jordan.

Recalled Jordan's daughter Marsha, an award-winning Chicago TV reporter-writer-producer:

I remember John Peoples [Jordan's partner] when I used to go visit my father at the federal building...and after we would protest, that's what you did in the 1960s, ... and march over with the Conspiracy Eight [the infamous trial of the Chicago Eight/Seven] people to the federal building, and then I'd go up and see my dad. And he'd say, 'How did it go down there? You guys getting anywhere?'

I also remember back then, John, you visited our home, and my father was so crazed by this particular record that I had by the Velvet Underground. He said, 'John, you gotta hear this, listen to this!' The song was 'I'm Waiting for My Man, $26 dollars in my hand' which was the price of a bag of heroin at the time. And John got so outraged: 'What are they, are you hearing this? What is their problem?...We're supposed to be underground. This is supposed to be a secret.' And my father just roared with laughter, and just fell over the floor. And the more irate you became, the more entertained he was. And that, as John said, was the great gift of his, his humor, the pleasure, the joy and the mischief that he elevated to masterful levels. As a cop and then as an agent, he was always about seizing the dare of the day with peril and purpose.

You taught me to live like a man so it would empower my womanhood. So many of those quiet secrets we shared before the morning sun would hasten the hours of the ordinary. And the ordinary was not the Jordan way. Goethe said, 'He only earns his freedom and his life who takes them everyday by storm.' Listening to Jordan's loved ones speak today, as millions march to acclaim their lives and their freedom to live as Americans, I cannot help but feel that the proud Mexican-American Jordan, were he alive, would look on smiling and ask: 'How's that going? You guys getting anywhere?'

77 Percent of GOP Sens Committed Against Sotomayor

Update: For Puerto Ricans, Sotomayor's Success Stirs Pride

With Judge Sonia Sotomayor poised to be confirmed as Supreme Court Justice, the Republican Party did not disappoint its political opponents expecting it to overwhelmingly oppose confirming the first Latina on the high court.

Of the 40 GOP senators, 31 have committed to opposing Sotomayor. That's 77 percent. The White Party remains true to its ultimately destructive and contemptible form.

Nationally, the Southern Strategy is still employed, it just does not work as well in a changing America.

Sotomayor is a wise Latina judge, and the White Party remains mostly foolish, oblivious or hostile to the concerns of brown and black America.

A Challenge to Fondy Neo-NAZI: Let's Meet

To the racist coward(s) who left hate cards at a Hispanic-Latino diversity event held last night at the Fond du Lac, Wisconsin Public Library: Let's meet.

And I'll write a piece on your views.

Your group's Fond du Lac contingent, the neo-NAZI "Aryan Wear", comes out only at night, in the dark.

I'm from Fondy, pick a dark alley there, I'll find it and I'll come.

Click this headline and post a comment at the bottom of this piece or e-mail me at: maleon@charter.net.

Neo-NAZI Acts at Fond du Lac Gathering on Hispanics and Latinos

Update: Washington Post - Bad Economy May Fuel Hate Groups, Experts Warn

Michael Leon

A social diversity event held last night at the Fond du Lac, Wisconsin Public Library entitled "¡Hola! Hispanic and Latino Experiences in Fond du Lac" was marred by a card left on the car windows of several participants by a neo-NAZI "Aryan Wear" group asking if the car-owners had "had enough diversity?"

The card is pictured above-right and was obtained by e-mail from Ken Hall, director of the Fond du Lac Public Library.

The card was left on the car window of a highly-placed Fond du Lac City official, Hall said he heard this morning.

Hall was an event attendee who also had the card left on his own car window last night.

Fond du Lac Police are interested in and actively investigating the incident, according to a police official contacted by phone this morning.

Hall estimates that some 70 people showed up at the event.

"Inside, there was a good discussion going on, a nice group of people exchanging views, And outside there was some coward in the night, sad. He would have been welcome to come in and talk," said Hall by phone this morning.

Another event attendee, a long-time Fond du Lac resident who parked just outside the Library on Portland Street, said, "Fondy has its racism in the past, I'm not surprised, but I feel bad to have that kind of hate staring you in the face."

A similar anti-Obama, racist flyer was left on car windows during the election, reports a Fond du Lac resident speaking on background.

The site, Aryan Wear - Aryan Wear, White Power T shirts, Nationalist Clothing, features various "white power" and NAZI paraphernalia, including a link to an audio recording of the racist fantasy book, the Turner Diaries, and patches and other body wear. [Pictured below are some of the hate links from the Aryan Wear site.]