Alliance of White Anti-Racists Everywhere – Los Angeles
Cloee Cooper
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Posts by Cloee Cooper
Minutemen Civil Defense Corps Now Defunct
01 year ago
Last week, the Minutemen Civil Defense Corps announced that it will officially dissolve. The announcement distributed by President Carmen Mercer of Arizona mentions that the organization’s termination grew “out of concern for their volunteers’ safety and accelerating liability threats.” She cited concern about being held liable if members take their anti-illegal immigrant crusade too far. For those of us who remember the murder of Brisenia Flores last year by alleged spokesperson for FAIR and leader of the Minutemen American Defense, Shawna Forde, Mercer’s concern with violent associations is not surprising. Meanwhile, in the wake of the announcement, minutemen affiliates and former members have released statements attempting to take over leadership of the group’s estimated 1,200 members.
Since Mencer’s announcement last week, the Patriot Coalition president and former vice president of the MCDC, Al Garza, announced they would welcome all former MCDC members into their organization. Al Garza formerly served as the Vice President of MCDC and split from the organization in the summer of 2009.
The Declaration Alliance (the umbrella organization for MCDC), however announced that it appointed Chris Simcox as the honorary chairman of the Declaration Alliance: “We are also pleased to announce that Chris Simcox, who five years ago was a founder of the Minuteman movement to do the job our government failed to do — secure our borders — will be rejoining us as honorary chairman and policy strategist…the movement to secure our borders, halt amnesty and stop the illegal alien invasion will continue, with a renewed and urgent emphasis on political action.”
Jim Gilchrist of the Minutemen Project also threw in his two cents saying, “I have always supported independent Minuteman organizations like Chris Simcox and his MCDC no matter how large or small, as long as they are on mission. I wish Chris and his friends the best and encourage him to join our ranks; he is always welcome at the Minuteman Project, Inc.”
In response to the Declaration Alliance’s press release, the Patriot Coalition responded by circulating an email from Al Garza attacking Declaration Alliance for being a “money mongering” organization. He notes “Organizations like Declaration Alliance (MCDC was a project of Declaration Alliance) will infer that they are actively supporting “Minuteman” style operations and will, instead, use donated money for their own purposes. Even though MCDC is shut down, they will be using Minuteman and MCDC monikers and professionally crafted words to lure generous and patriotic Americans into giving money to causes with which they may not agree.”
Since the Minutemen Civil Defense Corps announced its dissolution last week with a specific concern to liability issues, two things have become blatantly clear. First, the leadership of the organization has not officially denounced violence. Second, the leadership of the organization is scrambling for power and resources.
Minutemen Civil Defense Corps may be defunct, but far right extremism in America is just gearing up.
English-only Policies Threaten Civil Rights
01 year ago
Tomorrow marks the 42nd anniversary of the Chicano Student walkout from LA high schools in 1968.
Bold Chicano students organized high school students across east LA to demand the right to speak their language without institutionally sanctioned abuse in their high schools. Students were forbidden from speaking Spanish in class or from using the restrooms during lunchtime.
While nearly 70% of the high school students in east LA originated from a Spanish speaking country, the teachers were mandated to physically abuse and humiliate students in front of the rest of the class who spoke Spanish. The common drill: a young person slipped and responded to a question in Spanish. The teacher calls the student to the front of the room demanding that they place their hands out for the class to see, and proceeds to use a baton against their hands until blood is drawn.
Despite the restrictive environment that rang loud across the halls “you do not belong here”, Chicano/a students, emboldened by civil rights gains in the 1960s, took democracy, freedom and equality into their own hands. On March 3rd, 1968, over 20,000 students and families took to the streets in east LA to demand equal language rights in their high schools. 13 students were arrested and many more beaten with batons. Months later, high school across east LA were forced to reconsider their English only policies and in 1964 the Civil Rights Act was passed which called an end to discrimination based on sex and race within public institutions – a huge victory for our nation.
42 years later, those gains and the civil rights struggle that underpinned them, are under attack. Pro-English and U.S. English, two organizations in the John Tanton Network have recently introduced a bill that opens the door for employers to enforce English-only policies in the workplace. The bill, H.R. 1588 – Common Sense English Act, was introduced by Rep. Tom Price R-GA – a member of the House Immigration Reform Caucus (HIRC), which was founded by virulent anti-immigrant former congressman Tom Tancredo and supported by the Tanton Network. H.R. 1588 would rescind the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that removed barriers based on sex and race in the workplace.
Unfortunately H.R. 1588, is one of many English Only Bills that have been drafted and introduced by John Tanton Network affiliates in recent years. The English Language Unity Act of 2009 introduced by Rep. Steve King R-IA, another HIRC member, is another on a seemingly endless list.
If not now, then when? In the name of Chicano Students who walked out of their classrooms, risking their future to demand opportunity and dignity, we might ask ourselves the question, what will it take for us to step out equally as bold against bigotry and racism now?
White Nationalist Rhetoric Prevalent in Mainstream Discourse
02 years ago
The term “illegal alien” or “illegal immigrant” is not acceptable in mainstream rhetoric. Not from anti-immigrant advocates and especially not from immigrant rights supporters. I sometimes hear conversations that allude to using the term “illegal” to gain support for immigration reform from people in the ‘middle’. While the argument sounds logical, the term “illegal” was inserted into the mainstream by anti-immigrant groups, and every time we use it, beyond criminalizing people, we perpetuate a racist framework.
The term “illegal alien” is fairly new. When the 14th amendment was ratified in the 1800s, the term did not exist. After 1965, when the Immigration and Nationality Act was passed, which redressed previous laws that favored immigrants from Europe, terms like “illegal Immigrant” or “illegal alien” were inserted into mainstream discourse by white nationalists. Those that saw this country as a homeland for white people – not only to be controlled economically and politically by whites, but to look white – were disturbed by the influx of people from the global south after the 1965 Act.
It was intentional on the side of anti-immigrant leaders to label immigrants of color as “alien” and as the “other”. The term “illegal” was part of the effort to repeal anti-discrimination laws passed during the civil rights era, and to enact a set of legislation and enforcement that criminalized and restricted immigrants of color from entering the country. The language created by white nationalists is reflected in so many of the comment sections of blogs and articles on immigration. Just recently, Dream Act students blasted USA Today reporter Emily Bazar when she used the term “illegal student” in an article.
Language constructs reality. So why do I find it disturbing when I hear strategies about gaining support for immigration reform by using the term “illegal”? Not only does it irk me to use the framework and language of white nationalists, but it is a way of consenting to bigotry.
While we must always act strategically and gauge our goals based on the actual political climate, when we take up the language of anti-immigrant white nationalists it is not concession; it is putting our hands up and claiming defeat. This is a time to stick to what we know is right, to use the term “undocumented”, to fight for what is true and real in the face of political games and gains. If we do, we will have laid the foundation for a society that is based on human dignity rather than fear, divisiveness and separation.
Coming Home
02 years ago
I just returned from the small town of Mt. Shasta, CA. It was the first time in 10 years that my family (8 siblings and my parents) plus new found family members gathered at the home many of us grew up in. There we were – the wooden floors, tall ceilings, skylights -each corner and plank of wood told a story of our early years. It was the 10 year anniversary of a significant shift that occurred in many of our lives.
10 years ago this year, NATO dropped over 20,000 tons of bombs on Yugoslavia as an ultimatum for Milosevic to withdraw his troops from Kosova. That year, my family visited Kosova former Yugoslavia. With no previous ties to the region, we decided to sell our home in Northern California and move to Peja/Pec for an open-ended period of time. I was 13 years old.
When our family arrived in November 1999, refugees were returning from the war, 90% of the homes were destroyed in the city of Peja/Pec where we stayed, and the streets were lined with NATO military and UN cars. The region was a UN protectorate. Tensions were high between the Albanian majority (who were suppressed under Milosevic’s regime) and the Serbian minority (who found themselves in enclaves protected by international military). The smell of bloodshed and terror was nearby. But the abundance of love, Turkish coffee, families of 24 living in two bedroom apartments and stories and dancing to unfold until dawn kept my heart pumping faster than it ever had. I lived there for 4 ½ years.
One of the first Kosovar people I fell in love with was named Antoneta. Her sister was Sevdije. Beauty exuded from their eyes which glistened with both sadness and rejoicing. They soon became like new found sisters.
In 1999, following NATO’s attack on Yugoslavia, some of the most brutal massacres occurred. Not far from Peja/Pec is a village by the name of Zahaq (Zahach). On June, 1999, paramilitary troops entered the village. Just as other days, when Antoneta and Sevdije heard the trucks, they ran into the surrounding hills. One of Antoneta’s sisters and her mother remained in the house on this day to prepare a traditional meal for their family of nine. As her sister stepped outside to fetch water, the paramilitary saw her and took her. Her mother followed. The paramilitary took her as well. They rounded up women and children into a village home. Antoneta and Sevdije were in the hills running. They heard gun shots from not far away. When night came, they returned to their home. Their father, sisters and relatives were all gathered. Her sister and mother never returned.
When internationals entered Kosova following the crisis, Antoneta started volunteering as a translator for an organization named Balkan Sunflowers – a children’s organization that my eldest brother was organizing with. From the moment I met her and her sister, I felt like I knew them for a very long time. Together, we made our first documentary film which highlights the experiences of women in conflict and post-conflict Kosova.
Antoneta just completed her masters in journalism and film. In 2003, she married my eldest brother and is now mother to my two beautiful nieces. Sevdije, after receiving multiple awards for the best cinematographer in Kosova, was just accepted into a master’s degree cinematography program at the American Film Institute in Los Angeles as the first student from the Balkans ever to matriculate at AFI. We had much to give thanks for this thanksgiving. Ten years ago we left our home in northern California to move to Kosova. This year, we gathered back in our home – this time with new members of our family and new stories to tell. Our two new sisters from Kosova were with us. My two half Kosovar nieces saw the place I grew up for the first time. The home glistened in a way it never had.
My Kosovar American niece of four-years-old held me tight the first night. She took me to the outside of the house and pointed to the wood. In Albanian she said to me “This is the most beautiful home I have ever seen. This is the most beautiful home in the world.” With all of the people who gathered in this home and the culmination of ten years of memories in one place, it became one of the most beautiful homes in the world.