This should be good. You know how much the Emperor loves to be challenged directly.
Simcox said Wednesday that he’s sending an ultimatum to the president, through the media, of course — “You can’t get through to the president any other way” — to deploy military reserves and the National Guard to the Arizona border by May 25.
Or, Simcox said, by the Memorial Day weekend Minuteman Civil Defense Corps volunteers and supporters will break ground to start erecting fencing privately.
Simcox has learned the art of spin from his GOP counterparts, because what they are proposing is much more than a fence. They are building a war zone.
Behind the fence will be a 60- to 70-foot wide unpaved but graded dirt road, along with inexpensive, mounted video cameras that can be monitored from home computers. On the other side of the road will be a second, 15-foot fence, with more concertina wire on its outside.
It’s easy to relegate the immigration debate to a political ploy, but the situation here in the southwestern United States is entering dire straits. Not only is it making our political leaders batshit crazy, we are living in an unacknowledged police state.
Sígame…
The U.S. Border Patrol is not situated just at the line, they are located all across the southern parts of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California. There are checkpoints at virtually every single major roadway that connects the cities of our region.
When I drove to San Diego last month for a meetup with blog friends, I went through three separate stops (both ways). At the second checkpoint, located about 30 miles east of the San Diego metro area, I was asked by Border Patrol agents to lift the lid of my hardshell that covers the bed of my truck so they could inspect it. The drug-sniffing dogs were out and about, and I was asked the standard question: “What’s your citizenship?”
As I was retelling the story to the meetup folks, one of them couldn’t believe that I was asked to clarify my legal status. To be honest, I was surprised at her question because it is a regular occurrence down here, especially for someone like me who looks Mexican. It’s just part of the routine to answer “United States” (if you answer “American”, they will question you further, because apparently they think you are trying to deceive them since there are North, Central and South varieties of that title).
I don’t tell these types of stories to elicit sympathy, rather as an education that there are scores of American citizens like me who get the extra-fun version of routine screenings. Whether it’s at the airport or driving in my vehicle to go see friends in Sierra Vista, I can count on extra attention.
It’s beyond fucked up.
I am sick of groups like the Minutemen who have invaded my city for the month of April, sitting in their lawn chairs with binoculars, looking out for any brown folk who cross their path. I’m a proud liberal because I stand with groups like the ACLU who are fighting against this entrenched racism and bigotry that has permeated the American culture so deeply that most people don’t even recognize it anymore.
It is very tempting to blame illegal immigrants for my woes as a Mexican American living in such close proximity to my motherland. It is easy to say, “get the fuck out, so La Migra will leave me alone,” but that is not a path of humanity that honors my ancestry.
The reality is, the policies of the U.S. government have destroyed the balance that will be necessary to build a system of migration that is amicable to all affected nations. The United States of America has become a global empire that holds far too many economies and people of the world in submission. It’s outrageous that the Republican leadership gives a wink and a nod towards a “comprehensive bill” while at the same time running blatant lies in the Spanish media blaming the very people who have the power and conscience to fight back against the hate and divisiveness. Luckily the Democrats are fighting back, but it is not enough.
The backlash is beginning against those of us who marched in solidarity for human rights on April 10th. I have no regrets for standing up for what I believe – the dignity of every person, no matter what gender, race, creed or nationality. Will the American people do the same or will the United States continue to spiral down the path of global isolation?
The Minutemen know where they stand, do we?
is not the answer.
Please, keep telling your story. I think it’s all to easy for many of us to ignore the realities that communities of color face when law enforcement decides to turn its attention their way, let alone the enormous powers wielded by the Border Patrol that everyday bypass civil rights most of take us for granted. All too often, complaints are ignored/dismissed as coming off the proverbial ‘chip on the shoulder’ ’til the tale is told by ‘someone we know.’
Given how loudly the immigration enforcement crowd has trumpeted the ‘we’re a nation of laws’ theme, I hope the illegal vigilante movement can be painted in that light.
Given how loudly the immigration enforcement crowd has trumpeted the ‘we’re a nation of laws’ theme, I hope the illegal vigilante movement can be painted in that light.
Here here!! (hear hear?) bah booze!)
😀
is a terribly funny phrase to throw around these days. Valerie Plame is outed and the entire White House purgured themselves about it to everybody. The Corporations are all doing the pump and dump every single day while our 401K’s simply disappear. Nobody did no torturing and nobody did no memos bout no torturing neither! A taxi driver in San Antonio who was born in Jerusalem told me last week that he is leaving America. He has lived here for 26 years and never thought he would leave but we have no quality of life now he says as everybody is working two jobs just to survive. He will move to Jordan and retire with his family there. That was so fucking funny hearing that man tell an honest tale on the streets these days! I wish that someone would tell Fox News that some people are leaving America to have an existence with some quality to it in the middle east!
sometimes I really need to hit that spellcheck while I’m ranting
put my finger on the pulse of the country, I would say that the Minutemen are considered heroes because “they’re doing something about the problem” All sides of the debate agree that the system is broken, but the solutions to fix it are wide-ranging and not mutually exclusive. It will take each of us to tell our friends and fellow progressives in our circle of influence about the ways these groups are manipulating the message in the name of exceptionalism and bigotry.
but I think that the Minutemen are viewed in such a light also.
No it isn’t the answer. Please tell me someone will come along soon enough to make sense. Please. Like I said in another comment…I don’t really know how much more I can take….
Thanks for this Manny.
and commenting CoD, I’ve got a few drinks in me too at the moment although I found it hard to enjoy my beer while talking about the atrocities being done in our name.
Is a massive understatement. I had no idea that the roadblocks and check points had become this intrusive…“your papers, please, comrade.”
Peace
two forms of i.d. and my social security card just in case. No joke.
Becarful..we don’t want a diary my three days in Agua Prieta.
Me too. I am native american looking…more white I would suppose Gene wise, however I have the dark looking skin and the eye features of Native American ancestry. (My great-grandmother was full blooded Sioux.) I always have them both just in case.
I think that we should encourage Simcox to build a 20 foot test fence, electrify it, then check it with his tongue.
Jeeze, Manny, I had no idea it had gotten this bad. You can’t blame people for wanting to come into this country when the government has turned a blind eye to illegal immigration to supply cheap labor for so long. Xenophobia is an ugly, ugly thing. I am the daughter of the daughter of an immigrant and the daughter of the son of an illegal immigrant. My Italian grandpa was an illegal until the day he died. My heart aches for the millions who are attempting to escape poverty in their own countries. Please keep posting your excellent diaries.
there has been a nonstop barrage of terrible policy coming from the Az state legislature, luckily most of it has been vetoed by our Democratic governor (wilfred diaried it here)
We’re lucky to have her, look at what’s happening in Georgia where they don’t have a buffer. I speak out because these laws don’t just affect immigrants, they affect people like me.
They affect us all…if you are my neighbor or friend or a stranger…these laws affect us all. We are being shoved back to some of the worst times of our history.
Back to an evil time
My first ancestors were early…but not all of them. Some were ostracized because they were Irish. I live 2 miles from a place that was a ‘camp’ for Chinese laborers from SF in the late 1800’s; because they didn’t want ‘them’ living near the white folk in SF. It’s why there are Italian, Japanese, and Chinese neighborhoods within SF…because they were segregated originally.
We will stand with you and fight to stop this wall and every other law that creates this hate. You face this hate and bigotry daily…but know that you are not alone in your fight.
means alot, SallyCat. Latino activists have been screaming about these issues for decades and have been ignored by the political establishment (except to be mocked). That’s why the streets have been filled for the marches.
My first ancestors were early…but not all of them. Some were ostracized because they were Irish. I live 2 miles from a place that was a ‘camp’ for Chinese laborers from SF in the late 1800’s; because they didn’t want ‘them’ living near the white folk in SF. It’s why there are Italian, Japanese, and Chinese neighborhoods within SF…because they were segregated originally.
Every bit of family history that I have heard had a some sort of oztraization. (sp?) It’s kinda of ironic when you think about it. I mean…some people really can’t handle it when someone is truly different. Whether that be racially, religiously, or ethnically. It makes the mind wobble sometimes.
Comment Influenced by Booze.
Thank you for speaking out Manny. I may not comment all the time…but I do read them. 😉
You can’t blame people for wanting to come into this country when the government has turned a blind eye to illegal immigration to supply cheap labor for so long. Xenophobia is an ugly, ugly thing. I am the daughter of the daughter of an immigrant and the daughter of the son of an illegal immigrant.
I couldn’t tell you my exact heritage but I do know for sure it’s from England, France, Scotland, Germany, some Dutch, some African American, (both sides of my family fought for the right to keep/and or free the slaves.) Sioux…the list goes on a bit further.
Where would I go? Or my son? Or my husband…who I know from family history is more European than I am.
Seriously.
If we are being honest, I am sure that a number of undocumented workers come across the Canadian border, so how about a wall there?
time, Teacher Toni, give it time.
Damn, I was being snarky.
Somehow…if these thugs aren’t taken out soon. (Been lighting candles and saying prayers for Mr. Fitzgerald and our country.) Well….. You know.
Immigration really isn’t Bush’s issue. Rich boys like him always like having a supply of cheap labor. That’s why he proposed a guest worker program — creates a permanent underclass that can’t vote, can’t complain, have second class rights.
exploitation of the weakest in society has been the status quo for every empire in history.
I’m all for building a wall as long it’s around the white house and we use it to contain bush, the minutemen and everybody else who think that problems can be solved through the non-judicious application of brute force. They’re welcome to each other.
I was present for Manny’s story of being pulled over. This also happened with my son, his wife, daughter and me at a check point. My daughter in law is of Spanish decent and very dark. My son was shocked at the questions the agent was asking. People, this is not at the border, these incidents happen hundreds of miles away from the border. Drive up to LA from San Diego and you will see what we are talking about. This is, like Manny says, beyonf fucked up. These Minutemen want to take the law into their own hands. Before you know it there will be a civil war here again. Laugh all you want. Who would have thought six years ago we would be faced with an idiot in chief that lies about a hell of a lot more than BJs in the Oval Office.
but what authority have they to do so? are people seriously obligated to answer their questions?
Are you kidding? They have guns.
And I really mean that literally.
do they have any official authority?
the Minutemen or border patrol?
about protecting America from folks who are “different”…how about rounding them up and send them over to Iraq and Afghanistan? Aren’t we “fighting them there so we won’t have to fight them here”, after all?
Hey Cali…that was excellent!!
Can we call Homeland Security anonymously on May 26th and tell them there’s a group of sinister-looking individuals on government land with heavy machinery who look like they’re getting ready for some sort of large-scale deployment?
Hey, I don’t know, I’m just thinking maybe we should get them to work for us for a change.
happy to join you in those phone calls, only problem is the vigilantes are working with local ranchers to erect the barricades on their private property. The vast majority of frontera-land is owned by the gov’t, but not all.
Let them build those private walls. I bet it will be a waste of time and money, specially if they don’t use “cheap labor”. If they think that they can hold them back, then they must be on some kind of drugs.
Six feet deep trench, barb wire. etc? Get a hook, a chain and a truck and you’ll yank it right out.
And, if they do succeed in stoping the flow, then they will be messing with the organized mafia that profits from crossing people.
Send in some film crews. Film these yokels putting up the fence for a few hours . . . and then leave. See how long they care to work under a blazing Arizona sun, on a fence to nowhere that will be taken down, breached or otherwise circumvented within hours.
Are there any pictures of the Berlin Wall going up? It might be worth putting one side by side with a picture of the vigilantes and a caption, “SEPARATED AT BIRTH?”
Just hope Many will let us know when they put those cameras. I could use one, pecially if it is for
free 🙂
Where would you find an American film crew willing to work for hours under a blazing Arizona sun filming yokels?
Maybe the networks could check the Home Depot parking lot, somebody there will know how to operate a camera…
;->
Well, they wouldn’t have to be out there in the blazing sun very long. Just long enough to get the face’s makeup right, bring out the camera crew under a tarp for shade, make sure everyone has some water so they can stay hydrated, film a couple of minutes, and then go.
I predict they could come back in about two hours and there’d be no more progress than there was when the film crew left.
As for the home depot . . . you make me chuckle.
Checkpoints inside the USA? I had no idea this was going on and I’m horrified.
I was surprised that it wasn’t common knowledge since it’s such a fixture of our environment around here, but after talking to the BooTribbers in CA last month, I thought I would start talking abit about what it’s like to have the green-striped vehicles all around.
Here’s a google search for border patrol checkpoints. You’ll see what I mean.
I followed your link Manny and it was a real eye opener. So if I understand what I did read, legally the Border Patrol can not stop anyone a hundred miles past the border?…is that why some states are passing laws to make it ok for police to stop and question anyone who they think looks ‘suspicious’, that they think doesn’t belong here?
Manny, I didn’t know either how bad this was as to the checkpoints and I really don’t know what to say.
they are laying the groundwork for massive roundups of human beings and their selection will be arbitrary. The checkpoints aren’t mapped (that I know of) because they rotate locations to “keep ’em guessing”. They haven’t set one up between Tucson and Phoenix yet, but I know of one between here and Nogales, between Benson and Sierra Vista, and between Three Points and Ajo (where the Minutemen are currently patrolling).
I’m glad you are talking about this. I hadn’t a clue, and I live in CA. Not near a border though, so maybe it’s different there.
Of course, things are changing all over the place lately, so one never knows.
in SoCal for obvious reasons, but I’m honestly amazed that more people don’t know about the checkpoints.
Apparently there was some controversy when they tried to set up a similar operation in Michigan.
U.S. citizens are not required to carry proof of citizenship. Only alien residents are required to carry some paperwork. If federal agents pull over a “suspicious” U.S. citizen, that individual will very likely not have any means of proving his innocence.
When I lived in the UK and traveled around Europe, I was asked to show my papers quite often and it made me very “identity” conscious. Since my return stateside, I’ve always carried a certified copy of my birth certificate with me. I don’t look “alien” so it’s just a paranoid quirk with me. But, Manny, I think you should consider adding this proof to your wallet before making another road trip.
Clearly, this ain’t the Land of the Free no more.
It’s always been that way in SoCal. We’ve got major, bigtime permanent checkpoints on I-5 north of Oceanside (but just south of the San Onofre nuclear power plant and OC) and I-15 north of Escondido. It’s the sort of insanity that’s always been there, and so always accepted.
The last several times I’ve driven north through them, there have been no agents stopping traffic. But that’s a few times out of many. Also, I’m a white male blue-eyed Anglo, so they never care about me.
You know, they used to (and maybe still do) have those warning signs on the roads down there showing a running family- based on the people who try and cross the open freeway to avoid the checkpoints. Well, when I was in jr high and high school, a very popular t-shirt among the white beach bum kids was a replica of that road sign.
When I was a kid in the OC I thought my family and our family friends were the only Anglo families who weren’t taught to hate the brown hordes. Probably not true, of course, but it sure seemed that way. We knew relevant history, could speak the language, make friends, enjoy the culture and live happily together. Maybe that was resented some. Not to make this a “some of my best friends are brown” type thing, but that’s how I grew up and that’s why it’s so easy to call a Gilchrist an asshole. He’s just slime. Hateful, petty, unintelligent, and full to bursting with Teh Fear.
Count me among those who are not too fussed about the demographic changes in Southern California. Anything that demolishes the (still-thriving) white classist racism here is fine by me.
I’ve seen those tshirts before and find them disgusting. They don’t realize that these signs are posted so motorists won’t kill any human beings that may be darting across the road. It serves the same purpose as this and this.
Yet another tool used to dehumanize the victim. It’s easier to hunt them that way.
When I first read your comment about the check-points in Michigan, I thought that you were referring to the hub-bub from several years ago. When I followed the link, the cited article was from this last Tuesday! It’s interesting that it hasn’t made the mainstream local papers (and I read two of them daily).
The round-ups have already begun.
Also, a friend recently returned from their winter home in the Rio Grand valley. Despite being blond & blue-eyed, they were stopped at three check-points along the way, made to open the car trunk, etc. This is not the United States that I grew up in!
Great diary Manny! I was surprised that you were surprised that I was so surprised, or something like that. ;>)
I am still horrified that people are not royally pissed off, if for nothing else than at being so inconvenienced. A while back, I was going to a show in San Francisco and encountered a DUI checkpoint. What amazed me though, was that they gave a warning a block back, so I just turned the corner rather than deal with the hassle. I take it you have no such warnings there.
But, to be hassled not just occassionally, but constantly because you are driving while brown is beyond belief. Thank you so much for letting everyone here know the reality you live with everyday. It is really important that people understand just what is going on in the Southern US. Many of us Northerners simply have no clue.
<Hugs>
thanks for starting a great conversation in Del Mar, I’m glad it can continue with respect and a willingness from everyone to learn from each other.
I think the outrage isn’t there because 1) it’s been going on for quite a long time so it’s part of the routine around here and 2) just like the country was ready to be strip-searched at airports right after 9/11 to “protect our safety”, they’ll put up with this inconvenience to tighten the net around the “aliens”.
He and his wife are both US citizens, he is naturalized, she was born in the US. Both are ethnic Latin/Native Americans.
They told me that they have made Xeroxed copies of their passports, and his wife also of her birth certificate, although there is no requirement that they do this, the new Georgia law allows any police to imprison anyone suspected of not having documents purchased from the Washington retailer.
They hope having copies will persuade the police to check the numbers on the spot as opposed to imprisoning them for a few days or weeks while their “status” is checked at leisure. Their USA-born kids are middle school age, but still not old enough to fend for themselves without parents, even for a few days or weeks. Many people there, he says, are concerned about their children more than about what will happen to themselves. People are trying to set up informal arrangements, of who will care for their children when they are seized, much like many Americans from other high risk groups have had since 911.
Manito, yes, the situation is dire, yes, it is hurtling toward open armed hostilities very rapidly, and my guess is that the vast majority of the mainstream US demographic will opt to “stay out of it.”
There may be people from other regions who would like to do that too, but we do not have that choice, and I could not in good conscience take it if I did have it, and I suspect neither could you, who also do not have it.
For the most part, the mainstream will express its support for one side or another quietly. They may support human rights for their migrant and immigrant brothers as a matter of principle, but I would not expect to see many of them willing to put themselves at risk over it.
And the same is true, to an extent of the other side. There are plenty who will wish to keep their support of the MinuteMen low key, and whisper that they are right, and doing God’s work, as they slip a bill or two into a pocket, but few of them will be standing shoulder to shoulder there at the border, gun at the ready.
The big question is where do the Afro-Americans stand?
The mainstream demographic is hoping no one will tell them that put together with the Latin Americans, they would make a majority. And that does not even count the Asians, South or otherwise. ;->
I was reading through this thread, planning to write about the new Georgia law if someone else hadn’t mentioned it. At the moment, the new Georgia law is the most extreme in the United States, but more is coming in other states. Local cops are charged with a duty to detain anyone who can’t satisfy the local cops that they have good legal status.
I’m an immigration lawyer. There are a hundred ways that people can be in valid status without having the kinds of documents that some ignorant redneck cop thinks are needed. For example, a foreigner can be in the United States in perfect valid immigration status with (1) no driver’s license, (2) no currently valid foreign passport, (3) no currently valid visa stamp, (4) no social security card, and (5) no currently valid photo ID. Thus, one of my clients, for instance, a physician from Iraq who works lawfully in Georgia, might only be able to show a little white card called an I-94 that says “ADM 2/20/04 J-1 D/S” and an inscrutable one-page form called a DS-2019. Without getting into all the technical crap, those two documents are completely sufficient to establish lawful presence, valid immigration status, and work authorization.
But you tell that to a stupid redneck cop when you’re stopped out in the boonies for driving while Muslim!
I’m getting to where I just seethe with hatred and fear and loathing for this damned, doomed country.
I have one client who has married an American in a beautiful romance. This client has overstayed a tourist visa by less than two months. This client will be able to lawfully obtain permanent resident status (green card) very soon, but can’t apply until I take care of another technical detail (which will take six months or more because the damned government is so damned incompetent and slow on almost everything). A few weeks ago this client was awakened at 5:30 a.m. by three ICE agents with drawn guns and taken away in handcuffs to be imprisoned and put into deportation proceedings. This is just plain evil. (I’m going to rescue this client, but it’s a hideous trauma for this family…I can’t say more about the facts without a risk of disclosing identities. Many other foreigners who run into ICE just plain get iced.)
Did you know that the U.S. government deports hundreds of U.S. citizens every year? Probably not. They do.
I’d like to see the Bush Crime Family get deported back to their homeland in Saudi Arabia. One can dream.
Most migrants and immigrants do not have access to or resources with which to obtain the services of a lawyer, and will, as you say, be “iced.”
I am aware of the deportation of US citizens, what is not clear is what redress, if any, they have.
There have also been instances of passports being taken from infants born in the US, and deporting them along with their parents, this practice I heard of in the wake of the 911 events.
The law, the saying goes, is whatever the man with the gun says it is, and while some of the world’s nations have made an effort to advance a bit behind this primitive system, the US has made a different choice.
And as always in any war, it is the children who will suffer most. Regardless of citizenship, if they are in sight when the parents are seized, they too will be imprisoned to await deportation, if not in sight, they will be left, in the best case scenario, to the care of willing friends and relatives with whom arrangements had been made previously, in many cases this will be a temporary arrangement as those caregivers are also seized, in which case they will either be warehoused by the state, or left to their fate on the streets, where the high retail value that all children have will make them most attractive to entrepreneurs and wealth builders.
I grew up with this crazy shit going on down in South Florida, too, except it was on boats.
Pre-70s, before I was around, the racial tensions were mostly between blacks and whites since Florida was a holdout state on segregation and Jim Crow laws in a fairly major way, and there was a lot of personally direct and institutionalized racism against blacks. By the end of the 70s, I was cognizant of the context to some extent, and things had been (slowly) getting better between not only blacks and whites, but also between blacks, whites, and Cubans (of whichever racial identity), as by then we had a sizeable Cuban immigrant population due to those who’d fled Cuba during and immediately after Castro’s rise to power. The govt was pretty welcoming of Cubans up to that point.
But after the Mariel boatlift in ’80, things started to get crazy. A lot of Anglos freaked out; chunks of the local black population were similarly pissed off. Racial tensions suddenly became often about black & white Americans on one side, and Cubans on the other, although when I say this I don’t mean to downplay how bad it still was for blacks given the legacy of Jim Crow, and the continuing personally direct & institutionalized racism, I just mean to point out that the dynamics changed a lot around then.
Cubans began to be turned back in big numbers, and all of the sudden Cuban immigration was considered to be a major threat. A lot of this was, I think, about class issues as much as race issues, since the earlier immigrants were more commonly of the propertied class, educated, as well as whiter, and they were given political asylum, while these later immigrants were poorer, less educated, and browner. They were frequently scapegoated for rising crime rates and other social problems.
And then the way the politics of the immigration thing went, by the early 90s (iirc), the law became that Cubans who got to the shore could stay, but if they were caught when they were offshore, they could be sent back. So the Coast Guard would forcibly deter these poor people in a variety of ways (they were caught using pepper spray, among other things) who had just spent a week starving and floating on the ocean on a goddamned inner tube raft just trying to get to freedom and better opportunity. (This atrocious behavior was also deployed against immigrants seeking asylum from other places, such as Haiti, but the Haitians had far less local political power to negotiate for any better treatment.)
::nods vigorously::
too broad of a brush, I would say that there is still a lot of brooding hatred between the Latino and African-American communities. I can’t tell you how much my deceased tata hated los negros. We tried to talk sense in him, but he wouldn’t budge. I don’t get the hatred and hope I never do. We are a diverse species and there is much richness there, we should celebrate our differences and honor each other’s histories, not build walls and remove their dignity.
I know what you mean. In Miami during those times, most of the anger from the black communities seemed to be about the fact that, as a disadvantaged population, they were already suffering from a lack of resources (good police and emergency services coverage, money into the schools, etc.) due to the racism of whites, and there was a perception that the immigrants from Cuba were taking resources out of their communities — which was misdirected, I think, because imo really it was the fault of racist whites.
Growing up as a white kid (I am actually part Spanish from my mother’s line, but of European ancestry, and that was a no-no where I was from so I learned early to identify as white) where I did was an interesting experience. Whites were the racial majority in my elementary school, but I was bussed to an arts program at another school where I was one of maybe 10 white kids in a predominantly black school, which was a very good experience for me.
Then in junior high & high school, my schools were both predominantly Latino (Cubans mostly, but also many people from Central and South America) and there were a lot of harsh racial and ethnic divisions with black & white Americans on one side, Latinos on the other. My high school, for example, had two parking lots for students, and they were unofficially but clearly divided into The Cuban Parking Lot and The American Parking Lot.
This was not something that came into my own friendship group — we were consituted of people of all backgrounds — but it often made things hard. We all took a lot of racist and racially charged crap off of other people for the way we arranged our friendship group, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. I really don’t understand how more people don’t see beyond the bullshit.
They have declared war on their fellow citizens of color, and are going to start building obstacles that can cause harm and maybe even death to people.
may not use their firearms that they carry around proudly, but these ditches planned will certainly kill human beings; either through a direct attempt to move a vehicle through the gauntlet or by funneling the flow of migration to even more remote parts of the desert.
I too, like others upthread, didn’t realize this was happening on such a massive scale. You have done us a valuable service to put this out there for us to learn about first hand, through your eyes and experiences. But it’s not isolated, as many have pointed out earlier, that is so true. Though I like to fancy myself as living in a very tolerant and accepting state (at least we don’t have any of those nasty new laws pending or even proposed at this point), little scenes of racism occur every day.
For example, my sister’s boyfriend is of Mexican descent (his great-grandparents came here long ago) and is rather dark, though he was born, raised and has lived his entire life here in whitebread middle America. Yet he has told me on many occasions of being hassled just because he happens to be brown. And I speak much more Spanish than he could ever muster up, as the language was more or less forbidden when he was growing up, so he never really learned it. Racism, pure and simple, has never really died in this country, it just goes below the surface to fester until ignorant, bigoted types like the Minutemen start stirring the pot again and bringing it back to the almost fashionable fore.
As others mentioned above, I too can envision a civil war starting sooner, rather than later, and when push comes to shove, I will put myself on the line with the oppressed, because they are more brothers and sisters to me than the ones with whom I may share a skin tone. We used to use a chant back in my demonstrating days in the 80s that is still as potent and as appropriate as ever … El pueblo unido, jamás será vencido!
I’m sticking with el pueblo, because that’s where my heart has always been and will always remain. Somos todos unidos hasta la victoria contra el racismo…
I can relate to your sister’s boyfriend’s situation. I’m the darkest-skinned member of my family by far and I get razzled by them on a regular basis. It’s all in jest, but I confess that it has made me feel uncomfortable on more than a few occassions and I’ve had to call them on it. That’s in addition to the sideways looks I get at the store, etc etc etc
Sometimes the bias is so deep that we don’t realize it’s even there. In the case of the vigilante groups though, they are proud bigots.
Maybe Minuteman needs some education…
http://memory.loc.gov/learn/features/immig/introduction.html
But hey, you know that American had always been suffering from foreigners. Ask the Native Americans, if you don’t believe…
by Walt Whitman, thx for sharing it blackspot. The immigration “issue” has also affected many Native Americans (many Mexicans fall into that category, but I digress), including the Tohono O’odham Nation which was split in half by the current border.
Man Egee, you made Crooks and Liars late night thread with this wonderful expose of the checkpoints all around Southern California.
There are also two checkpoints north of San Diego, one on the I15 about 50 miles north of SD and one on the I5 about 55 miles north of San Diego.
here is the link for Crooks and Liars.
http://www.crooksandliars.com/
to see you around here, my friend. Thx for the heads up on the C&L linkage, I perused the comments over there, yikes! Hope you’re doing well. Paz
Cool on that linkage Manny..and I read some of the comments also..idiot Lou Dobbs talking points by some of the cretins posting there.
it is the prevalent mode of thinking, there has been so much propaganda on this issue that hits a populist chord with hard-working families. We are being squeezed by lack of a living wage, increasing health care costs, rising gas prices, overseas outsourcing of jobs, looting of retirement funds, social security uncertainty, Medicare D(isaster), etc etc etc and the illegal immigrant population is being made out to be the reason for all the woes – especially wrt wages.
So untrue, and all it takes is some digging and research to learn that it is the permagovernment in action that is reducing our quality of life.
Nice to see you around these parts. It’s been way too long, my friend.
Hey ghost, was just thinking about you yesterday-good to see you here. Hope you are doing well.
while visiting SD, but only briefly. Dr.Mc. is a pale redhead and I’ve got blue eyes to go with my (at the time) Minnesota winter-pale bald head. Guess who got waved right on through without having to produce any ID or do more than slow down? Somehow I think I’d have had more problems in summer in my younger days when the long dark hair and the tan brought out the Sioux side of my ancestry.
Thanks for this diary Man E. I haven’t been posting much, but I have been lurking and you’ve been doing outstanding work on the immigration issue.
Manny. First, this was a wonderful piece of writing. Gifted.
Second, I’m sickened by the treatment you’ve been subjected to. My proposal: You should set up citizens’ check points in your city, and profile minutemen. Your SOP. Stop the car. Ask if the driver is a fascist? If he scoffs in anyway. Question him more vigorously. Once you’ve ascertained his or her fascist status, direct him to the brown clothing aisle at the local J.C. Penny’s (or whatever) and direct him or her to clothe him or herself appropriately.
Your movement is strong. You are going to prevail. We are going to prevail.
long as we are willing to fight and motivate other fighters to carry on. I’m empowered, my friend, thanks ot you and others’ efforts.
Much of this conflict seems to be psychological (much, but certainly not all). I think there needs to be some extra psyching-out of the perpetrators.
Me, I’d start looking into the ancestry of some of these guys. You never know what you might turn up.
numerous ties between the KKK and other white supremacist groups to vigilante movements like the Minutemen, American Border Patrol and National Alliance. Here’s a couple of write-ups: one from Duke1676, the other from Eternal Hope.
It’s blatantly obvious down here that these militias are full of racist a-holes, but their message comes across positively to the masses who don’t know their backgrounds and just want to get rid of “them”.
Well then it seems appropriate to see if you can paint these yokels as members of “them” who are in deep self-loathing.
Unfortunately you probably wouldn’t get very far if you try to tie them into white supremacist and other racist groups, because I suspect the people who support the Minutemen Project secretly approve of those groups as well. But wouldn’t it be delicious irony to find out that if these guys had their way, some of their own grandmothers would never have been able to enter the country?
Limitless xenophobia. They’ve forgotten where we’ve all come from, somewhere else, in an attempt to find a better life here.
So instead of build it and they will come, it’s come and they will build it. Because it’s those impoverished, tired, dehydrated Mexican immigrants that are the true danger here and not the nuts that seek to keep them out.
And that would be my question, are they really keeping immigrants out of the US or protecting the Mexicans from our wingnuts?
< /rambling >
since we’re airing out dirty laundry
I vote for the immediate arrest and indefinite incarceration of anyone connected with these plans to target undocumented workers and non-residents.
OK, that’s over the top. I still believe in habeas corpus, I don’t think it’s right to hold Jose Padilla forever without a trial and I don’t think it would be right to hold these scum indefinitely without a trial, no matter how much they deserve it.
But here is something I’ve been talking about ever since the War on Terra® was announced. It might have even been the weekend after 9/11. If the government is serious about going after terrorists, they need to start with the ones here in this country. Actually at the time I said that if they were declaring war on terror, as if you could, they would have to target not only al-Qaeda, but also the IRA, Hamas, the Maoist rebels in Nepal whose name I forget, the ETA (Basque separatist movement) and any of dozens of other groups that waged war on terror. And that included domestic Nazis, white supremacists, racists and any other groups within the United States whose primary activity was to install fear in someone else for a political purpose.
And of course by that time I had already been targeted as a moonbat for daring to suggest that trying to wipe all of the “Arabs” (meaning Muslims, no doubt) off the face of the earth was ineffective, was merely becoming the creature we hated, would turn us into a pariah nation, and stating that trying to wipe out large blocks of alleged perpetrators was attacking the symptoms and leaving the disease unchecked. So nobody paid any attention to what I said other than to mock it.
Sometimes it sucks being right.
I was just going to post that. The legislator, Terrance Carroll, is a REALLY good guy.
The e-mail’s author may not actually be a Minuteman
Some of our local Minutemen are falling all over themselves to distance themselves from the e-mail — while siding with its sender in attacking Carroll.
Well that sounds great! why spend tax dollars on something private citizens are willing to do themselves? Also it would free Bush of the whole legislative hurdles he’d have to go through to get the darn thing approved.
I say let them build! But watch them closely.