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An attempt by members of the United White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan of Okfuskee County, Oklahoma, to recruit new “knights” ended up doing a bit of the opposite, and freaking a few people out in the county to the point that the “valiant knights” had to do damage control.

Lorna Davis found a flyer on the doorstep of her job, assuming it business mail, and picked it up. It turned out to be an invitation to the KKK; offended, Davis called up the Klan to tell them that she didn’t want to find things like that on her property. However, Davis is not the only person in the area. Apparently these klansmen were contacted by several people in the towns where they spread flyers, feeling that the “Klan needed to make it’s presence known.”

The reaction of horror toward the flyers though was not just limited to Lorna Davis, apparently. The guys who posted the fliers made public comments about it. One of the distributors argues that the Klan is “not racist,” and that the violent Klan of history (read: domestic terrorism) is a thing of the past. He even apologized for offending people, saying it is “not our purpose.”

Despite being in an era where the Klan is in decline — to the point that they must anonymously post flyers in the dead of night in small towns — they are still picky about potential donors, writing in their flyer a list of “Twenty reasons why you (if qualified) should join, aid, and support the United White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.”  The Klan’s website features a quote from the “national director of knights,” Thomas Robb, claiming that there is a “race war” being waged against whites, but they will remain “committed to a non-violent resolution.”

Really?  The Klan can whitewash it’s history as much as it wants, but the truth of the Ku Klux Klan and its past are a firm part of American history. The reality of what the KKK is and what it would like to be again are seemingly being kept at bay by tolerant, accepting people of all races. It’s time for the Klan to realize that it and other hate groups, regardless of what race they are composed of, are going to the trash heap of history.

[Photo By Image Editor]

There are roughly half a million people in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Of those, 17% are Latino. But if you were to ask Milwaukee’s Police Chief Edward Flynn, most of those Latinos are criminals.

Let’s hover over his logic, to see how he slides into his conclusion: this all comes as a consequence of a study of that city’s police traffic stops, done by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. According to that study,

Milwaukee police pulled over Hispanic city motorists nearly five times as often as white drivers, according to the review, which took into account the number of licensed drivers by race.

Disturbing as this may sound, the fact that Latino drivers are pulled over more often than white drivers, in any U.S. city, is a surprise to no one. The average is about 2:1 Latino stops to white stops — think of it as an acceptable norm, which is why it’s disturbing. Now consider Milwaukee’s rate — 5:1. So when Milwaukee’s chief Flynn was asked about this trend, he

…acknowledged the department’s targeted crime-fighting approach can result in disparities because high-crime neighborhoods tend to have larger minority populations.

“I would say it’s not an unexpected consequence,” Flynn said. “If we are going to heavily engage with those communities that are both victimized and from whence a significant majority of our offenders come, we are going to generate disparities because of where we’re physically located.”

So “it’s not an unexpected consequence,” because, basically, that’s where the criminal are? If you take the chief’s rank and file officers’ actions into account, five out of six criminal suspects in Milwaukee are Latino. That’s roughly 83% — in real numbers — 495,000. The Latino population in Milwaukee is about 100,000.  

So Milwaukee Latinos, the elderly and children included, are are about five times more suspect just because they are Latino? According to a Journal Sentinel report:

Black and Hispanic drivers were arrested at twice the rate of whites after getting stopped, which follows trends in other big cities, researchers said. Meanwhile, white drivers were issued traffic citations at a slightly lower rate than black or Hispanic drivers and were let off with written or oral warnings more often.

But if Latinos are stopped at a rate five times higher than whites, then the arrest rate — which, granted, equals that of other cities — is logically five times higher as well. In his defense, Chief Flynn says that his department’s “proactive patrolling approach” has driven-down the city’s crime rate. There has been a double-digit decline in violent crimes.

“Yes, of course we are going to stop lots of innocent people. The point is, do folks understand what their role is as a cooperative citizen in having a safe environment.” Flynn said.

If you’re a Latino in Milwaukee that means you’ll have to be five times more cooperative.

[Photo By Vincent Desjardins]

Times are tough. After his recent recall in Arizona, the architect of Arizona’s SB1070, Russell Pearce, is out of work and hanging around a Home Depot east of Tempe hoping to land a landscaping job.

He brings with him many qualifications, and El Guapo, of kind heart and delectable ass, has a few suggestions for the beloved hero:

1.) Walmart Greeter

He’s old and racist. I believe Wall-Mart hires greeters exclusively on these two traits.

2.) Scat Shoveler 

He can even wear a cool shirt with the letters SS bedazzled right on the sleeve. He’ll really dig the shirt. Plus, he can goosestep with other like minded scat shovelers.

3.) Boss Hog

If they remake The Dukes of Hazzard (again), then the casting director need look no further.

4.) Porn Star

He spent his political life trying aggressively to screw a large group of people. Seems that he’d be right at home in a colorful orgy. “So, I’ll pretend to be an ICE agent and you be one of them there illegals.”

5.) Farm Worker

While it may sound like unbelievable good fortune, Pearce lost his job just as Alabama is losing billions in rotting crops due to a SB1070 copycat law that resulted in an exodus of farm workers.

Russell, you’re welcome buddy.

Your handsome and humble servant —

El Guapo

[Photo By Gage Skidmore]

A few changes took place at  Indiana University’s Latino Cultural Center, La Casa,  during the most recent orientation. For one, a note that said “criminals deport” and for another, the words “You need to leave” spelled out in magnets on the fridge. Creepy. Racist-ey.

Unfortunately, it’s not the first time such a thing has happened at this particular school; in November, two blocks away a rock was thrown into the window of the Chabad House Jewish Student Center.

Here’s an excerpt from WSBT:

Late last week, La Casa staff found two notes. One left on a kitchen table that read “criminals deport”. Across the room on a refrigerator the phrase “you need to leave” was spelled out in magnets…

Director of La Casa Lillian Casillas said the message came during a week in which they were working with thousands of incoming freshman on diversity training.

“I mean it shows the need that there’s still a lot of education that needs to happen,” Casillas said. “You know I don’t know if the notes were left as a joke or somebody who is hateful but the point is it’s somebody who is really ignorant.”

Man, you’d think, wouldn’t you? You’d think that, shoot, this is 2011, Barack Obama is our president, universities are places where enlightened people are, etc. But you’d be wrong, wouldn’t you? It seems like this incident is being dealt with appropriately, hopefully these hateful people don’t continue to make their way through the ethnic centers of this school and find some useful employment, like, uh, not committing hate crimes.

Watch this video for more info.

[Video By WSBT]

Former Colorado congressman and virulently anti-immigrant personality Tom Tancredo has filed paperwork to form the American Legacy Alliance, a political action committee that has one purpose: stemming illegal immigration and repealing the 14th Amendment, you know, the birthright citizenship one. The idea is to raise an unlimited amount of money to this end.

When the Denver Post wrote about the website for the PAC earlier this week, it appeared that the website was working, today however the site returns an error message. The cached screenshots on Google, however, include jingoistic language that seems to split people in this country into the “us” and “them” category. The photos on the site of blonde, smiling faces seem to add another dimension to this division.

Here’s a sample of some of the language from the site:

• Your children and grandchildren are going to inherit a very different America than the one you live in today. [As in the 2010 Census?]
• English will give way to the hodgepodge of languages spoken by those that chose to ignore what few immigration laws remain.
• The rule of law will only exist to protect the rights of those that break the law and exploit the system. [Like, say, immigrants, or what?]
• Western civilization will only really exist in the history books, if they are allowed to learn about it. [Don't suppose this may be referring to Arizona's ethnic studies fight?]
• Defeat The Obama Amnesty [What amnesty?]
• And they will use everything, even America’s own values, to succeed. [So now immigrant success stories are scary?]

So, the idea is to raise an unlimited amount of money towards this end. If the photos, the language and the money doesn’t scare you into becoming involved in 2012, I’m not sure what will.

Follow Sara Inés Calderón on Twitter @SaraChicaD.

Colorado’s Republican representative Doug Lamborn recently called President Barack Obama a “tar baby,” which he later said he didn’t know was a racially derogative word for African-Americans. He later said what he really meant was “quagmire.” It’s like the time the Kansas politico said we should shoot immigrants from helicopters — or the time that the Alabama politician said we should deal with immigrants by doing anything short of shooting them.

Words matter, and when politicians break loose with this kind of violent rhetoric directed very pointedly at Latinos and African-Americans, calling it racism is pretty easy. Lamborn’s statement went something like this according to The Huffington Post:

Now, I don’t even want to have to be associated with him. It’s like touching a tar baby and you get it, you’re stuck, and you’re a part of the problem now and you can’t get away.

Taking into account the blatant disgust Lamborn seems to feel for the president, it’s safe to say this is a pretty racist statement — unless you live in his head. This is what The Root had to say about the whole affair:

The term “tar baby” has origins going back to an 1881 Uncle Remus story by writer Joel Chandler Harris and can be used to imply that a situation is difficult to solve. It has recently developed more derogatory connotations related to African Americans.

Lamborn, who has been called the most conservative member of Congress, was of course only familiar with the “difficult to solve” definition. And he’s already decided that the president will accept his apology, telling the Denver Post, “I am sure that he will not take offense and that he’ll be happy to accept my apology because he is a man of character.”

The country is in dire straits right now, we were barely able to pass the debt ceiling legislation to keep our economy on its wobbly track, and we’re not even out of this recession yet. Even as we ramp up to the 2012 election knowing that Latinos are going to be key voters across the country, the rhetoric used in politics is racist and derogatory.

But, I give The Root’s Jenée Desmond-Harris kudos for making an excellent point: given that Lamborn is one of the most conservative voting members of Congress, the words he uses to describe Obama are probably the least of the president’s problems.

Follow Sara Inés Calderón on Twitter @SaraChicaD

[Image By E.W. Kemble]

The following pretty much speaks for itself, so here’s a brief introduction. The Texas Democratic Party sent out a press release today including the remarks of a Texas Tea Party leader, Rebecca Forest, who’s also the founder of the Immigration Reform Coalition of Texas.

“If you want to know why we can’t pass legislation in Texas it’s because we have 37, no 36, Hispanics in the Legislature. All of the states that have passed legislation have a handful and I mean literally, some of them have no Hispanic legislators, well, maybe 3 or 5 or something. So that’s, umm, part of our problem and we need to change those numbers.

“Umm, we need to do something about that in fact, during the debate on ‘sanctuary cities,’ several Hispanic legislators testified that their grandparents and their parents were migrant workers who came over here to work and that they even worked in the fields. And some of them even admitted that they had been here illegally and that they came illegally. So the problem is these Hispanic legislators…is that it’s too close to them and they, umm… simply cannot vote their conscience correctly. So that’s about all I have to say to you, please come to the hearing, and help us spread this message. Thank you.”

So the problem is that Latinos have become elected officials? Wow, um, I guess that pretty much says it all, now doesn’t it? Here’s the video:

Follow Sara Inés Calderón on Twitter @SaraChicaD

[Video By cparkerBNHR]

In a few weeks Arizona Schools Superintendent John Huppenthal will issue a ruling on whether or not Tucson Unified School District’s Mexican-American Studies program is in violation of state law. Recently we wrote about a student protest in Tucson that took over the school district boardroom to protest another move to try to undo the program, making the entire curriculum electives as opposed to core courses.

What’s at stake is millions of dollars in funding for the school district if found to be in violation of the anti-ethnic studies state law.

Trying to find mainstream coverage of this potential ruling is difficult, luckily the Tucson Citizen’s Three Sonorans are on the job. For example, Three Sonorans reported that Huppenthal ran ads plain stating “I Will Stop La Raza,” last year, leaving little question as to what his ruling will be on the matter. Three Sonorans reported that the investigation that generated the findings upon which Huppenthal will issue a ruling were a joke, for example:

…the audit has been a joke. They skipped over reviewing the curriculum and when they did go into the MAS classrooms they were more interested in taking pictures of the posters on the wall. Expect lots of Che Guevara is a communist and communism is being taught reports coming out of that audit, nevermind what is actually being taught.

In response, pro-education supporters will be holding daily protests across from Huppenthal’s office, again Three Sonorans reported:

With the state audit of Ethnic Studies turned in, it is now up to state superintendent John Huppenthal to issue his findings within the next 10 days.

Thus, the protests will move to the Arizona Department of Education, right across the park from the State Capitol, to let John Huppenthal, who ran ads last year saying “I will Stop La Raza” that his continued attack on our students and teachers is not acceptable.

It’s important to remember that, while Mexican American studies is being axed, European history can stay — the very definition of targeting. We’ll try to keep you updated here at News Taco on the outcome of Huppenthal’s decision.

Follow Sara Inés Calderón on Twitter @SaraChicaD

[Image By Huebi]

“You don’t look Mexican” is something I hear a lot. I hear it from whites, African-Americans, Asians, Mexican nationals, Latinos from Latin America, just about everyone. Of course, in polite company, what I usually respond is, “Oh, yeah, I get that a lot.”

In my head, however, I usually think, “What, exactly does is a Mexican ‘supposed’ to look like?” This is, in turn, followed by some expletives. I find it uncanny that, in 2011 with a country and a world that is increasingly multiracial, that educated people still assume that certain people are “supposed” to look one way or another. Boggles my mind.

So, since I don’t “look” Mexican, I get assigned a variety of other nationalities, ethnicities and races, depending on the particular situation and circumstance. I’ve had people on the phone ask me if I was French. People from Argentina want me to be from there. Some who have travelled through Latin American assume automatically that I’m Chilean or Colombian.

Because my surname has a similar equivalent in Italian, I often get assigned that ethnicity by people on the East Coast. Some people, remarkably considering my obvious border Spanish, even try to make me into a Cuban or a Puerto Rican. Whatever.

It’s not that I’m personally offended by being assigned all these other ethnicities or nationalities, that’s not it at all. I’m just perplexed that people feel the need to play “Let’s Guess The Race” with me so often. I don’t go around doing this with other people; quite frankly if I don’t know where people are from, in most day-to-day activities, it doesn’t really affect my interactions with them. If people want to share a little about their cultural background with me, I’m always eager to learn, but I don’t screen my conversations this way.

And, I guess what bothers me the most is that there’s a very apparent stereotyping (if not prejudice) playing in the background of these conversations. If Mexicans aren’t light-skinned with green eyes, then they’re….what? Dark brown with black hair, a burro and a saguaro cactus? What’s implied in that statement “You don’t look like a Mexican”? Whatever it is, I don’t like it.

I don’t think it’s hatred or racism necessarily that prompts people to engage in these conversations. It could be discomfort, curiosity, interest or a great many other things. But, the probability that it’s happened to me enough times that it prompts me to write this column is an indication that there’s a bigger theme there, too. Maybe people think they’re being sensitive by quizzing me until they “figure out” what my deal is? I don’t know, though, because I’ve never asked.

Follow Sara Inés Calderón on Twitter @SaraChicaD

Two Pennsylvania men convicted of the hate crime killing of immigrant Luis Ramirez were sentenced to 9 years in prison each today. Derrick Donchak and Brandon Piekarsky were convicted on federal charges of a hate crime and depriving Ramirez — who they called racist names as they beat him to his death — of his civil rights.

The Associated Press reported:

a group of white high school football players in the small town of Shenandoah who attacked 25-year-old Luis Ramirez in 2008. Prosecutors alleged they beat and kicked Ramirez because they didn’t like Hispanics and wanted them out of their town.

The jury found that the reason Ramirez died was because he was Latino, because of his race. Also, there were two local police officers who were convicted of trying to cover up the crime after it happened.

This incident holds many lessons, but one that is especially salient in light of the shooting of U.S. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords: Hate speech uncheck can lead to violence. Do you think these young men ever heard any nasty rhetoric about immigrants in their community before they attacked this young man (who had several U.S. citizen children)?

Follow Sara Inés Calderón on Twitter @SaraChicaD

[Image By blakeemrys]