Superblogger Dave Neiwert has a typically exquisite post on what the Minutemen are really all about. The patina of respectability and patriotism racists like Michelle Malkin sought to cast on the neo-fascists is belied by Neiwert’s reporting.
I’ve long held that immigration reform is an important issue that requires serious discussion, but I don’t believe for a moment that scapegoating and harassing border crossers is going to provide any solutions. My experience has been that if you scratch beneath the surface of those who do, you quickly find that they are more likely to be concerned with Latino (or any nonwhite) immigration, not illegal immigration per se, though of course they pay lip service to the latter.
The Stormfront forum is especially enlightening, since it is a specifically neo-Nazi chatroom. Especially noteworthy were the many posts questioning the use of the Nazi symbology at the rally, since it would “turn off” many whites. It’s worth remembering that most dedicated racists take care not to let it show publicly — unlike these fellows. But the whole thread makes clear to what extent these extremists now move among allegedly “mainstream” right-wing operations and not infiltrate them, but fully hijack them.
And as much as they might disguise themselves in the process, the vicious nature of this contingent eventually manifests itself.
Theere’s a lot more in this post about just how ugly and racist the Minutemen are, based on first-person reporting of their orgies of hatred rallies. Not that I ever doubted it; seeing them lionized by the Malkin-Johnson noise machine was a telltale sign.
1
By Gordon
Richard,
Did I read that right? Are you trying to incinuate that Michelle Malkin is a racist?
That’s one of the most ridiculous accusations I’ve heard..next to your claims that Bush could have prevented 9/11.
August 9, 2005 @ 7:46 pm | Comment
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By richard
Gordon, I do believe (make that “know”) she is a racist, and I’m certainly not the only one who’s said it. Even conservative Republican Andrew Sullivan has said so, and createdthe Malkin Award in her honor. Check it out!
Malkin harbors the same Johnson-like contempt for Muslims, but hers is a far more inclusive racism, its venemous tendrils reaching out to embrace other groups such as Mexicans and blacks. And it’s so ironic, coming from a minority woman who was hired to fill a racial quota.
Here are some fun links on our adored Michelle Maglalang:
1. Michelle showing her contempt for US Marines – if they might be suspected (key word, suspected) of being an illegal immigrant
2. Her simplistic and deranged description of the swastika-waving Minutemen:
3. Orcinus’s documentation of Malkin’s all-too-blatant, even gleeful racism
4. Then we have the piece de resistance, a book by Malkin titled — are you ready? — In Defense of Internment, praising the wisdom of our interning innocent Japanese citizens on the West Coast and putting them behind barbed wire based on the color of their skin, an act the US has repeatedly apologized for and acknowledge as one of the darkest and saddest moments in its history.
I don’t want to argue this point; I won’t argue whether such an obscene act of racist hysteria was justified. You can find the finest, best-researched post of the subject here, by a reporter who wrote his own book about the tragedy of the internment, titled Strawberry Days. The post also deals with how Malkin was forced to apologize for slandering one Herzig Yoshinaga in her book — please Gordon, please, read this, read Malkin’s rather icy apology for fucking up so terribly. Read it, and tell me she isn’t a racist. You can do it, you can tell me she’s not a racist, but you’d only be lying to yourself.
There’s so much more, I could spend weeks documenting proof of Malkin’s racism. (I cite Neiwert – Orcinus – a lot because this is his specialty, the Japanese internment, domestic terrorism and the dangers of the freeper mentality; you’d do well to study his site.)
But please, don’t be in denial. It’s all there, in her own words. Just follow the links and you’ll see — if you really want to.
August 9, 2005 @ 9:44 pm | Comment
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By Ivan
Actually I think it might be more accurate to say Malkin is a Nativist-Nationalist. Nationalism can be just as evil and destructive as racism.
By the way I agree with the distinction George Orwell made between Nationalism and Patriotism, in his 1946 essay “On Nationalism” – he argued that Nationalism (of which the best exemplar then was Hitler) is NOT based on love of country, but on hatred of others – whereas patriotism is the reverse, based on love of country (and of ALL kinds of compatriots) but patriotism can be loving and charitable toward other countries, whereas nationalism is not.
Anyway I actually think Gordon has a good point here – I think Malkin is NOT a racist – but she’s a very ugly Nationalist (of the Nativist stripe)
Oh and I mean ugly in several ways…
August 9, 2005 @ 10:02 pm | Comment
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By richard
Thanks Ivan – with these new definitions, maybe I’ll alter my wording and substitute “nationalist minority-hating banshee” for “racist.” But either way, what she does is totally reprehensible.
August 9, 2005 @ 10:19 pm | Comment
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By lirelou
So Richard. Are all people who want the immigration laws enforced in the US racists? And if not, then can you assure me that everyone who went down to assist law enforcement in keeping out illegals was, in fact, a swastika waving neo-nazi? And where is the irony of a minority woman hired to fill a minority position being racists? Does not the non-white percentage of the U.S. population have its quota of racists also? Moreover, is not the establishment of racial preferences itself evidence of racism? As I recall, it used to say “whites only”. The racism in that was self-evident. And the policy: “qualified whites need not apply”. That is not racist? OK, these are rhetorical questions. You don’t need to address them as I believe your previous comments lay out your position clearly.
August 9, 2005 @ 11:02 pm | Comment
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By richard
Lirelou, thanks for your comment. No, of course all people who want immigration laws enforced aren’t racists. I want them enforced, legally (as opposed to via self-appointed, self-anointed militias). But many of the Minutemen were/are racists, hiding it under the mantle of “anti-terrorism” and “patriotism.” Of that there’s no question, and everyone here in my state of Arizona is aware of it. And no, if you see Neiwert’s post he’s clear that not all the Minutemen were swastika-waving racists. But racism was the one common tie that binds them, it was the key motivator. That is generally understood by all but the Malinians.
Racial preferences are a form of racism, sure, but that is another pandora’s box. They are evil, but I’m afraid they are a necessary evil. Without them. Colin Powell and Clarence Thomas, both products of affirmative action, would be in the ghetto today. Some of the incredibly talented blacks like Condi would have escaped, but most would never have gotten into college, it would simply have been impossible with all they were unfairly up against. After what we put blacks through for so many years, stigmatizing them and oppressing them (check up on the Jim Crow laws and, more recently, the George Wallace years) we had to do something to help them out of their rut. Is it fair? Of course not. But we weren’t fair to blacks for two centuries. We can deal with some unfairness ourselves, or we can watch them wallow in the ghetto forever, no matter how hard they try to escape.
“Qualified whites need not apply” is certainly racist, though I have never seen it. I think it would be illegal, too, as it should be.
August 9, 2005 @ 11:18 pm | Comment
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By Raj
I would like to step in here if I may, though I’m not an American and don’t feel qualified to comment on these people as you can.
I have never met a Neo-Nazi, but it is interesting to see their views expressed over the internet. It also reminds me that facism isn’t a “white” phenomenon, as I have come across many Chinese people on Chinadaily who believe in the international Jewish conspiracy – especially as they claim it manipulates our media and government, no doubt making them feel better about their own autocratic one-party state.
It seems to me that sadly we have to tolerate people such as this, because if we tried to ban them we would be risking the very things they want to destroy. But it is important that the security forces monitor them and prosecute whenever they commit offences. Also society never tries to tolerate or sympathise with their views. lirelou I’m not sure how to read your post. I’m not going to make any assumptions, but obviously richard wants laws enforced.
But mob rule is not the answer. We have systems of law that must be respected – flouting them at our convenience is shameful and risks damaging the confidence built up in them. No doubt that’s how the Neo-Nazis hope to gain control – discredit the current systems so they can propose something that will ensure “stability”.
August 10, 2005 @ 2:42 am | Comment
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By Ivan
Raj,
WOW! Finally I’ve found someone else who has experienced what I have, of the Chinese belief in an “international Jewish conspiracy.”
I don’t run across it often, but when I do it throws me.
I have no idea how China became infected with this idea. I have a few theories: I suspect part of it MIGHT go back to the late Stalinist influence on the CCP. In the early years of the PRC, many Soviet advisors came to China (and to Chinese universities, and most Chinese universities have followed the Soviet model since then) – and the main years of Soviet influence on China’s intelligentsia were from around 1945 to 1953, in Stalin’s final years when he had launched a vicious antisemitic campaign throughout Russia (the “Doctors’ Plot” etc)
So I think part of it might go back to the Stalinist influence on the CCP.
Stalin was a vicious antisemite, as many Russians are (I am embarassed to say), and Russia was influencing China at a time when Russia’s Communist Party was especially antisemitic.
A gloss on that: I want to say also, that Russia’s record of antisemitism is very mixed. A high proportion of the first Russian Communists were Jews. And Boris Pasternak (my favorite Russian author) was a Jew. So my point here is that China’s Communist Party was influenced by the Russian Communists during the most antisemitic phase of Russian Communism.
And finally, most Chinese I have ever discussed the matter with, have never known that Karl Marx was a Jew. I tell them, and then they reply,
“No, Marx was a German” – and then I have to explain that being German and being Jewish are not inconsistent….
August 10, 2005 @ 5:56 am | Comment
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By Matt
The main problem is the government is not solving the problem, and thus when a neo-Nazi says that we need to stop illegal immigration, he’s in the majority. It is not a racist position, although I’m sure 100% of racists agree with it.
This is a failure of law. Polls show 70+% of Americans hold that position, including 40+% of Hispanics! When Nazi’s have a position that even 40% of Hispanics agree with, there’s something wrong with the law.
This poll is on a different issue, but has similar results.
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/politics/DailyNews/poll010829.html
Richard, if Colin Powell and Clarence Thomas would be in the ghetto if it wasn’t for affirmative action, doesn’t that mean they are inferior? At least in Powell’s case, the military is probably the most meritocratic organization in America, so it’s not racism holding anyone back. Maybe Clarence Thomas got into college thanks to it, when schools intentionally didn’t recruit blacks, but he didn’t get on the Supreme Court because of it. I think white racism would have kept them in the ghetto in 1940, but today? I don’t see any organized racism against any group. Everyone should be treated equally now. Institutionalizing reverse racism just perpetuates the idea of group identity, which is the foundation of racism.
August 10, 2005 @ 12:07 pm | Comment
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By richard
Matt, I won’t argue about affirmative action, guns, abortion or certain other hot-button issues that I find are a can of worms. Many people believe in affirmative action, many don’t. I believe in it. It has zero to do with inferiority. If blacks were on a level playing field that might be a valid argument. But I know that when an employer faces two candidates, one black and one white, the white one has built-in advantages. As I said, AA is a necessary evil, and I’m not a crackpot saying it; millions of Americans have believed in it, and most importantly, it’s been of huge benefit to millions of black people. But that’s enough on that; we can’t resolve that question here.
The issue is not that a neo-Nazi agrees with secure borders. That wouldn’t make it a bad cause. It’s that many of them went there for the sole purpose of living their racist fantasy of harrassing Latinos. If you read the Neiwert post, you’ll see how respectable politicians who at first wanted to be associated with the Mintemen recoiled and renounced the movement when they became aware of the level of racism among them.
August 10, 2005 @ 12:22 pm | Comment
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By Sam_S
I got off the Minutemen’s mailing list when they got too strident, but racism is no part of their official policy.
By the way, I did go to apply for a job once at the City of Dallas, which I was well-qualified for. There’s no giant banner on the building of course, but another applicant as much as told me; “A white male, applying here, today? You’re joking, right?”
August 10, 2005 @ 9:57 pm | Comment
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By lirelou
Richard, Not to counter your arguments, which have been well presented, but simply to take issue with a single point. Colin Powell. Yes, he credits affirmative action. As a one time peer (he obviously eclipsed me) I disagree. To quote a fellow serving officer: “Is it any surprise that the first Black Chairman of the Joint Chiefs is of Jamaican descent? Hardly. Powell’s parents generation of Japaican immigrants came to this country in pursuit of the American middle class dream, and they instilled in their children very middle-class Anglo-American attitudes. Work hard, don’t make excuses for yourself, learn from your mistakes, and aim high. Those are the values they passed on to their children, andthose are the values that Powell and many other children and grandchildren of Jamaicans lived.” They are values that were shared by some other segments of the African- American population. I joined the US Army in 1962. My first Battery Commander was Black. By 1966 I was a Special Forces sergeant, and Tiger Wood’s dad was a Captain in our unit. (And no, I didn’t “know” him, and any conversations were limited to ‘Airborne, Sir!” “All the Way, Sergeant” variety.) In 1967, fresh out of officer candidate school, I commanded a infantry training company. My battalion commander was Black, as was, two months later, my new brigade commander, a colonel who went on to make General in 1968. This was all in the days before affirmative action. That policy may have given Powell an advantage that resulted in his selection as a White House fellow, thereby giving him visibility that helped bring him to the attention of the Army leadership, but he was already a success story with a track record when he went up for that nomination. Had affirmative action not been in place, he could have well gotten the nod anyway. At the very least, he would have retired from the Army as a much younger colonel, and stepped into a second successful career in either business or diplomacy. Again, I know that he credits affirmative action for that crucial step up, but as a once upon a time peer, I strongly disagree.
p.s. My “fellow serving officer” was a White Anglo-Jamaican with Canadian citizenship who joined the U.S. Army specifically to go to Vietnam.
August 11, 2005 @ 2:40 am | Comment
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By richard
Sam, you are totally correct that racism isn’t part of their official policy – otherwise they’d lose that “patina of respectability.” It’s when you are actually there with them on the border that you see what it’s really about. They won’t be showing that swastika photo in any of their brochures, trust me.
August 11, 2005 @ 8:14 am | Comment