Alliance of White Anti-Racists Everywhere – Los Angeles
Immigrant Organizations
Tanton Memo of the Month – U.S., Inc.
01 year ago
by Sarah Viets
in American Immigration Reform, Anti-immigrant movement, Civil Rights, Demographic Composition, Demographic Issue, East Africa, Face Of The Nation, Federation For American Immigration Reform, Financial Umbrella, Immigrant Organizations, Immigration, Immigration Issues, Immigration Studies, John Tanton, Mak, National Organization, Native Animals, Parochial Schools, Preserving The Environment, Racial Makeup, Scenic America, Social Contract, Support Projects, Umbrella Organization
Tanton at a Social Contract event
This February’s Tanton Memo of the Month* details a list of nearly 30 organizations founded by U.S., Inc., John Tanton’s financial “umbrella” organization. The other day I found this document in our archives. As I plied through a variety of anti-immigrant documents, I stumbled across John Tanton’s description of his “umbrella”, U.S., Inc. For those unfamiliar with John Tanton, he’s the founder of a variety of anti-immigrant organizations, including Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), NumbersUSA, Pro-English, U.S. English, the white nationalist publication The Social Contract, and a variety of environmental and anti-immigrant projects.
Tanton has also financially supported over 50 organizations and individuals who, essentially, campaign on his behalf. Not all of his projects directly relate to immigration issues. Some support projects preserving wildlife, like ProWild, “a project that promoted the ranching of native animals in East Africa, or “Bringing Out the Best in Ourselves”, which “is a series of small grants to local public and parochial schools,” and Scenic Michigan, “an affiliate of the national organization Scenic America.”
Some are familiar with John Tanton from our work on immigration issues. John Tanton orchestrated today’s anti-immigrant movement. Tanton also cares deeply about preserving the environment, but only for a certain sector of the population. As Tanton openly admits in an interview, “Immigration is a demographic issue.” The entry point for Tanton, whether its immigration, the environment, or English-only issues, is the demographic composition of the nation. He may filter his language for a post-civil rights audience, but the message is the same. As white nationalist circles have no problem claiming that a community’s racial makeup is to blame for high rates of poverty in communities of color, Tanton will simply say that immigrants south of the border are a “brain drain” and negatively affect the successes of western civilization. Even though Tanton may not state the cause of this “brain drain,” the fact that he defines immigrants as a “drain” matches perfectly with white nationalists’ perception of people of color.
As you scroll the list of organizations, you will notice that some of these organizations no longer operate directly under U.S., Inc., for example the anti-immigrant group NumbersUSA. This does not mean that NumbersUSA no longer works with John Tanton. In fact, NumbersUSA received financial support from Tanton in 2007. NumbersUSA also signed onto a joint project with U.S., Inc. and the population control organization, Californians for Population Stabilization (CAPS), an organization that has also received financial support from the Pioneer Fund, a foundation that financially supports scientific racism.
As immigrant rights supporters push for immigration reform, the John Tanton Network’s participation in our national debate on the issue is not benign. To John Tanton, immigration is a “demographic issue.”
*The John Tanton letters and memos are a public collection at the Bentley Historical Library.
The National Council for Science and the Environment Should Dump Roy Beck
02 years ago
- Roy Beck presenting for the Council for Conservative Citizens
The white nationalist movement has long tried to dress up opposition to immigration as a “progressive” effort to protect the environment from population stress. So it should come as no surprise that Roy Beck, Executive Director of NumbersUSA, a Tanton-network group, will speak at a conference that starts today entitled The New Green Economy. What is both surprising and disturbing is that the National Council for Science and the Environment (NCSE) invited him.
The environmental movement has been a target of aggressive tactics by anti-immigrant organizations for over 20 years. The strategy was first clearly articulated in 1986 by Beck’s former employer, and the original fiscal sponsor of NumbersUSA, John Tanton — widely described as the architect of the American immigration-restriction movement.
According to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), Tanton wrote in a then-secret memo to colleagues that their cause would benefit from getting the Sierra Club to adopt an anti-immigration position. Tanton’s idea was to deflect any damaging accusations of racism by having groups seen as “liberal,” such as the Sierra Club, take up policies opposed to immigration.
Let’s insure that Roy Beck doesn’t have the chance to further his hateful cause while distracting conference goers from real environmental concerns.
Platforms such as this conference only serve to provide a veneer of mainstream credibility to Beck’s disturbing agenda. Join me in calling or emailing the organizers of the event to ask them why they are supporting a controversial figure with ties to white nationalism at their conference.
Peter Saundry, Executive Director
Peter@NCSEonline.org 202-207-0002
Chris Bernabo, Director of Science Solutions
Chris@NCSEonline.org 202-207-0007
Let Peter and Chris know that Roy Beck is not an innocent man.
· Roy Beck has long associated with white supremacists and their organizations. In 1996, Beck spoke at a conference put on by the white supremacist Council of Conservative Citizens, which has described Black people as “a retrograde species of humanity” and opposes racial intermarriage, among other things.
· NumbersUSA opposes automatic citizenship for children born in the U.S., as guaranteed by the Constitution’s 14th Amendment. They endorsed vitriolic anti-immigrant ballot initiative called the California Taxpayers Protection Act. “It is time,” it says on the initiatives website, “to stop the proliferation of the Third World in the United States.”
· Beck, NumbersUSA and their allies, including organizations designated as hate groups by the SPLC and key figures in America’s white nationalist movement, have been a top concern of civil rights organizations for a number of years. Their tactics have led to a dangerous increase in racial disharmony and intolerance and have had a direct impact on the disturbing rise in hate groups and hate crimes in America.
Clearly Beck wears many hats, from spokesperson for a hate group to anti-immigrant activist, but one thing he is not is an environmental expert. The inclusion of Beck among a roster of otherwise highly respected experts stretches the bounds of a well-rounded dialogue.
There are no excuses for NCSE to give the white nationalist movement space to spread their hate. Let’s make sure NCSE knows we’re watching.