July 14, 2004
OK, so you read the lies from the L.A. Times about Arizona's PAN initiative.
Now, here's "Proposition 200: Cutting Through the Rhetoric and Getting to the Facts About the Protect Arizona Now Initiative":
Large-scale illegal immigration is an important issue in Arizona and much of the rest of the nation, and it is crucial that the facts about Proposition 200 be reported accurately to the voters. What Proposition 200 says and does not say, what it would do and would not do, must be presented accurately so that voters can make an informed choice when they go to the polls on November 2.
The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), the leading immigration policy organization in country, has prepared an analysis of what is contained in Proposition 200, and answers to key questions about the initiative and those who are behind it. "We fully expect that opponents of the initiative will attempt to distort and mislead Arizona voters about Proposition 200," said Dan Stein, executive director of FAIR. "Therefore, it is important for the media and the public to have access to the facts about an initiative that has local and national implications." FAIR staff attorney, Michael Hethmon, is available to discuss and provide additional information about Proposition 200. He can be reached at (202) 328-7004 or at attorney@fairus.org
There's much more. If you live in Arizona, or are otherwise interested, check it out.
Posted to Immigration2003 at July 14, 2004 09:25 PM
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Did you see this? Any comments?
Center for New Community
PO Box 346066
Chicago Illinois 60634
708-848-0319
MEDIA RELEASE
Release Date: Immediate Release, August 6, 2004
Contact: Eric K. Ward, 708-848-0319 ext. 15
White Supremacist Leader Chosen to
Head Advisory Board of Arizona Initiative
Chicago, IL – The Center for New Community today warned Arizona public and civic leaders that the organization Protect Arizona Now has selected a white supremacist leader to chair its national advisory board. Virginia Abernethy is a leader in several racist organizations including the Council of Conservative Citizens (CCC).
The racist Council of Conservative Citizens is the modern incarnation of the Citizens Councils of America, more commonly known as the White Citizens Councils. The Citizens Councils of America fought to maintain segregation and actively promoted white supremacy. In addition to her leadership in the CCC Abernethy also currently serves on the editorial board of the racist and anti-Semitic journal, The Occidental Quarterly.
The Occidental Quarterly, first published in the fall of 2001 promotes the belief that "Immigration into the United States should be restricted to selected people of European ancestry," according to the Quarterly's statement of principles.
"Abernethy serves alongside a virtual who's who of white supremacist intellectuals," said The Rev. David Ostendorf executive director of the Center for New Community. "Her fellow editorial board members include unabashed white nationalists, anti-Semites, proponents of eugenics, and even an individual who has published over a dozen articles for a Holocaust denial magazine called the Journal for Historical Review," he said.
"With charges of racism already swirling around I-200, the controversial ‘Arizona Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act’ ballot initiative, the statewide anti-immigrant group supporting the initiative Protect Arizona Now (PAN) has taken a surprising step of choosing a leading figure in the white supremacist movement to chair its new national advisory board," so begins the newly released report entitled Protect Arizona Now Selects White Supremacists Leader to Chair National Advisory Board by the Center for New Community exposing Abernethy’s involvement with Protect Arizona Now.
The report documents the full extent of Abernethy's connections to white supremacist organizations and alerts both public and civic leaders to the dangers of such an appointment. The report is available on the Center for New Community website at http://www.newcomm.org/pan.pdf.
"This is a critical opportunity for citizens of Arizona to show that bigotry has no place in public policy initiatives," said Center for New Community’s field director, Eric Ward. "PAN’s appointment of Dr. Virginia Abernethy, an individual active in the leadership of multiple white supremacist organizations, has numerous disturbing ramifications. It legitimizes racism and xenophobia in the political arena, helping to “mainstream” white supremacy. It conveys respectability on white supremacist organizations. And, as California’s Proposition 187 campaign demonstrated, it forebodes the likelihood of an even uglier and more divisive situation in Arizona," Ward said.
The Center for New Community is a national organization dedicated to building community, justice and equality based in Chicago, Illinois.
# # #
Posted by: Adam Hunston at August 10, 2004 01:06 PM
Hey, "Adam." Thanks for pasting a whole press release into my comments when a link would suffice. I note also that this was posted from Chicago, IL, which is also the headquarters of that organization.
As for your press release, I'll let FAIR speak for me:
WASHINGTON, Aug. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- ...FAIR firmly believes in the motto e pluribus unum -- "out of many, one" -- that people of all races, religions and ethnic backgrounds who embrace the ideals of our constitution are part of one unified American community. We also believe that America is a society based on the rule of law and that rampant illegal immigration threatens the principles for which this country stands.
A recent public opinion poll shows that 74 percent of Arizona voters support Proposition 200...
While organizations like the Southern Poverty Law Center and the virtually unknown Center for New Community would like to tar all supporters of immigration reform with the same brush, there is a time for complete candor and sober assessment. When there is evidence someone has crossed the line, we are compelled to speak out: Views expressed by a Ms. Virginia Abernethy, a Nashville, Tennessee advisor to Kathy McKee -- appointed after the signature turn in and utterly uninvolved in the signature gathering process -- are repugnant, divisive and do not represent the views of the vast majority of Arizonans who support Proposition 200. These views were reported by the Arizona Republic on Saturday, August 7, 2004. We do not know why she was appointed by Ms. McKee, but FAIR and everyone FAIR represents categorically denies and repudiates Abernethy's repulsive separatist views.
This gross error in judgment by Ms. McKee -- appointing someone whose views are so marginal and discreditable -- continues a long pattern of similarly inexplicable and erratic conduct by McKee, and confirms the need for both to step aside at this juncture. Beyond the actual turn in of signatures, Ms. McKee has had little to do with advancing Proposition 200 for months... [rest of press release at the link]
Posted by: The Lonewacko Blog at August 10, 2004 09:19 PM
I don't know what you're implying but I'm actually in River Forest, Illinois, not Chicago.
-Adam
[rest of comment deleted. River Forest is a suburb of Chicago, and as stated above, don't copy and paste entire press releases into the comments when they're available online--LW]
Posted by: Adam Hunston at August 13, 2004 09:43 AM
Congratulations on your geographic mastery. Lets see if you'll actually keep this posted...
CNC Responds to FAIR Press Release on PAN
August 12, 2004
In an August 9, 2004 press release entitled, “What FAIR Believes… One Unified American Community,” the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) took the exceptional step of denouncing Protect Arizona Now’s (PAN) new national advisory board chair, Virginia Abernethy, for her “repugnant” and “divisive” views.[1]
The FAIR release came in response to a report published by the Center for New Community on August 6, which exposed Abernethy’s involvement with several white supremacist organizations including the Council of Conservative Citizens and The Occidental Quarterly.
While the Center for New Community believes that FAIR’s denunciation of Dr. Abernethy is a laudable first step, a closer examination reveals that FAIR continues to work with numerous organizations and individuals who either work alongside Dr. Abernethy in racist organizations or share her “repulsive separatist views.”[2]
Unfortunately, rather than using their considerable clout to rid racists and anti-Semites from leadership positions across the anti-immigration movement, FAIR’s press release appears to be part of a cynical attempt to snatch control away from PAN’s local leaders.[3]
http://www.newcomm.org/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=6&Itemid=2
Posted by: Adam Hunston at August 14, 2004 08:59 AM
FAIR has an interesting press release of their own: Who is the Southern Poverty Law Center and What is Their Role in the Campaign Against Prop. 200?
Anti-PAN forces will try to re-circulate information from groups like the Southern Poverty Law Center attacking pro-PAN advocates. BE ADVISED: This information is very unreliable: journalists should verify this information independently before using it.
As predictably as the rooster crowing at dawn, whenever and wherever American citizens protest mass immigration—legal or illegal—the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) springs into action, attempting to malign them as "hate groups." So, when concerned citizens in Arizona, with the support and encouragement of local and national elected officials, and national immigration reform organizations, mobilized to place an initiative on the November 2004 ballot, SPLC immediately instituted a campaign to discredit them. To date, no organization advancing the case for reduced immigration is viewed by the SPLC as a "legitimate" organization—not one!
...The charges invariably leveled by SPLC have long since been discredited as utterly specious, or at best a McCarthyist version of Six Degrees of Separation, in which everyone advocating immigration reform can charged with having talked someone, who talked to someone, who talked to someone else who is a bad person...
The most often cited, and most often repudiated allegation of SPLC is that all immigration reform advocates and organizations are, in fact, advocates of a long discredited pseudo-science known as eugenics. This charge, on which SPLC's entire smear campaign is based, stems from the fact that the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) received money from the Pioneer Fund in the 1980s. Some of the founders of the Pioneer Fund, in the 1930s, had supported research in the field of eugenics.
Based on that line of reasoning—that the views of a foundation's founder some three-quarters of a century ago have any bearing on the foundation's grantees today—all recipients of Ford Foundation largesse would have to be considered suspect of harboring racist and anti-Semitic views. Such assertions are, of course, patently ridiculous...
[...list of U.S. universities that have received Pioneer Fund grants deleted... full text of Harper's Magazine article 'THE CHURCH OF MORRIS DEES' deleted...]
Posted by: The Lonewacko Blog at August 16, 2004 08:58 PM
God Bless "PAN"
Posted by: Brad S at September 8, 2004 12:08 PM
