Minutemen? KLANSMEN
I received an email from Peace Action Denton on Thursday asking if anyone was interested in counter-protesting "The Minutemen" - an odious group of white supremacists and the unwitting members such groups exploit - who were sponsoring a national day of protest at day labor centers across the United States.
Thanks to the tireless and absurdly undervalued work of Jay Taber, David Neiwert and a handful of like-minded researchers, I was already familiar with The Minutemen. Left unchallenged, The Minutemen will make 2006 the Year of the Vigilante, a welcome prospect for an increasingly desperate, lawless Republican Party in dire need of a hyper-polarizing issue to further divide America.
I needn't remind anyone here how successful the Far Right is today thanks to the neocon media Wurlitzer. Countering it will be an uphill struggle, much more difficult than is generally assumed.
I emailed Jay to ask for advice as to how best respond to The Minutemen event:
Peace Action Denton folks weren't expecting much of a Minutemen turnout, if any, but it doesn't take much of a turnout to garner media attention after issuing a confrontational press release. If only one person showed, it would be one too many.
I was told the local organizer was a woman with a history of rather bizarre public behavior exhibited on Fry Street and purportedly extreme enough to alienate some conservatives who might otherwise by sympathetic to wilding on some Mexicans for a little scapegoat action. I was doubtful, as it takes takes an awful lot of crazy to alienate today's right wingers from an oppressive, anti-social cause of any kind.
A couple of Peace Action Denton guys left to scout the protest area and reported a sizeable counter-protest contingent, three or four Minutemen, several cops and a strong media presence.
Off, we went.
LULAC, Denton County Democrats, Gay & Lesbian Association of Denton and Peace Action Denton converged to let the media know and sleepy Saturday morning drivers The Minutemen wouldn't be steamrolling over a passive citizenry in these parts. It's a rare thing, unfortunately, for all three groups to be on the same page. The need for social justice organizations to cooperate with each other has never been greater, nor have the opportunities for such coordination ever been easier. We have to do better in this regard, or there can be no effective resistance to fascism. It's as simple as that.
My prior estimate of a half-dozen Minutemen was about right. They were outnumbered ten to one, and it seemed to rattle the Minutemen. It was pretty obvious they hadn't expected any real opposition.
The Minutemen had signs. Such a simple thing. The media was keenly aware of the ratio of fair-minded Americans to white supremacists, but the shortage of visuals on our side doesn't give media much to shoot for compelling stills or video. Unfortunately, many of the motorists passing by likely thought a lot of counter-protesters were Minutemen.
Police presence was reasonable for the size of the protest and the cops were all very professional and courteous. Pictures were taken all all the way around and nobody got bent out of shape.
Aside from the Denton County Democrats banner and a great LULAC T-shirt people were flying, mine was the only other sign.
Granted, people showed up and that's a very encouraging start. But in the age of the mighty spectacle, it's not nearly enough. Counter-protesters seemed surprisingly oblivious to the visual aspect of the event. Our visual impact sucked, and, in my usual diplomatic fashion, I shamed everyone for not bringing signs. Several people said they were signless because of the short notice, and I encouraged them to make anti-Minutemen signs when they got home because 2006 was going to be a long year and we needed to be prepared next time around. People were under the impression it was a one-off deal for The Minutemen, and I did what I could to counter that impression.
The crowd deterred the Minutemen from harassing the immigrants who showed up Saturday morning to wait for jobs. This is important because, as the rightwing rhetoric heats up to full steam a-hate in the neocon media, the day labor sites across America will become ground zero for ugly episodes of vigilante crime.
Click here the Fort Worth Star Telegram article by Bill Teeter.
While it's true some Mexican laborers who would have showed up on Saturday morning no doubt avoided the scene, many did not and flatly refused to yield to the Minutemen's bullying - a difficult action made easier when people on the ground ready to oppose racial thuggery.
As for broadcast media, anchor FOX 4's coverage absolutely sucked. To represent the counterprotesters for an audiovisual clip, they picked an uninformed camera monkey whose overall presentation is best described as Wake & Bake. As one would expect, the FOX producer didn't show a visual of my sign (which got a great deal of attention from press & public alike). But, of course, IT'S FOX News even if it is a local affilliate. Predictably, lingering shots of Minutemen signs were everywhere on that broadcast.
NBC-5 covered the story and showed the Minutemen signs, as well, but they were CONSIDERABLY more balanced than Channel 4. They aired several counterprotesters chanting "FIGHT RACIST POWER" (nice work!) and the piece closed with a generous shot of yours truly and the visual message we had hoped to convey:
Thanks to the tireless and absurdly undervalued work of Jay Taber, David Neiwert and a handful of like-minded researchers, I was already familiar with The Minutemen. Left unchallenged, The Minutemen will make 2006 the Year of the Vigilante, a welcome prospect for an increasingly desperate, lawless Republican Party in dire need of a hyper-polarizing issue to further divide America.
I needn't remind anyone here how successful the Far Right is today thanks to the neocon media Wurlitzer. Countering it will be an uphill struggle, much more difficult than is generally assumed.
I emailed Jay to ask for advice as to how best respond to The Minutemen event:
First off, we don't debate or repeat the talking points of Minutemen any more than we do their Nazi comrades, Holocaust deniers, or Confederacy apologists. What we do is attack their values and lies. Same for any media engaged in whitewashing these hatemongers. That said, some of these guys are misguided, but not evil. They can be culled through reasonable voices of moral authority sometimes. So we work with churches. We also document these guys, do background on them, and disseminate our information.So on this cool, bright Saturday morning shortly after dawn, sleepy and with an aching back from this week's info harvest, I pulled into Denton Square to meet up with comrades at Jupiter House.
[more...]
Peace Action Denton folks weren't expecting much of a Minutemen turnout, if any, but it doesn't take much of a turnout to garner media attention after issuing a confrontational press release. If only one person showed, it would be one too many.
I was told the local organizer was a woman with a history of rather bizarre public behavior exhibited on Fry Street and purportedly extreme enough to alienate some conservatives who might otherwise by sympathetic to wilding on some Mexicans for a little scapegoat action. I was doubtful, as it takes takes an awful lot of crazy to alienate today's right wingers from an oppressive, anti-social cause of any kind.
A couple of Peace Action Denton guys left to scout the protest area and reported a sizeable counter-protest contingent, three or four Minutemen, several cops and a strong media presence.
Off, we went.
LULAC, Denton County Democrats, Gay & Lesbian Association of Denton and Peace Action Denton converged to let the media know and sleepy Saturday morning drivers The Minutemen wouldn't be steamrolling over a passive citizenry in these parts. It's a rare thing, unfortunately, for all three groups to be on the same page. The need for social justice organizations to cooperate with each other has never been greater, nor have the opportunities for such coordination ever been easier. We have to do better in this regard, or there can be no effective resistance to fascism. It's as simple as that.
My prior estimate of a half-dozen Minutemen was about right. They were outnumbered ten to one, and it seemed to rattle the Minutemen. It was pretty obvious they hadn't expected any real opposition.
The Minutemen had signs. Such a simple thing. The media was keenly aware of the ratio of fair-minded Americans to white supremacists, but the shortage of visuals on our side doesn't give media much to shoot for compelling stills or video. Unfortunately, many of the motorists passing by likely thought a lot of counter-protesters were Minutemen.
Police presence was reasonable for the size of the protest and the cops were all very professional and courteous. Pictures were taken all all the way around and nobody got bent out of shape.
Aside from the Denton County Democrats banner and a great LULAC T-shirt people were flying, mine was the only other sign.
Granted, people showed up and that's a very encouraging start. But in the age of the mighty spectacle, it's not nearly enough. Counter-protesters seemed surprisingly oblivious to the visual aspect of the event. Our visual impact sucked, and, in my usual diplomatic fashion, I shamed everyone for not bringing signs. Several people said they were signless because of the short notice, and I encouraged them to make anti-Minutemen signs when they got home because 2006 was going to be a long year and we needed to be prepared next time around. People were under the impression it was a one-off deal for The Minutemen, and I did what I could to counter that impression.
The crowd deterred the Minutemen from harassing the immigrants who showed up Saturday morning to wait for jobs. This is important because, as the rightwing rhetoric heats up to full steam a-hate in the neocon media, the day labor sites across America will become ground zero for ugly episodes of vigilante crime.
Click here the Fort Worth Star Telegram article by Bill Teeter.
Arvin Hill of Peace Action Denton calls the Minutemen’s assertions “over the top.”Okay, so it wasn't the most pithy quote, but Bill Teeter was the first reporter to interview me and it kind of took me by surprise even though it shouldn't have. Practice, practice, practice. But at least "white supremacists" appeared in the article.
“They characterize immigration as an invasion coordinated by the Mexican government and elements of our own government,” Hill said.
Hill also said the Minutemen have been found to have ties to white supremacists.
While it's true some Mexican laborers who would have showed up on Saturday morning no doubt avoided the scene, many did not and flatly refused to yield to the Minutemen's bullying - a difficult action made easier when people on the ground ready to oppose racial thuggery.
As for broadcast media, anchor FOX 4's coverage absolutely sucked. To represent the counterprotesters for an audiovisual clip, they picked an uninformed camera monkey whose overall presentation is best described as Wake & Bake. As one would expect, the FOX producer didn't show a visual of my sign (which got a great deal of attention from press & public alike). But, of course, IT'S FOX News even if it is a local affilliate. Predictably, lingering shots of Minutemen signs were everywhere on that broadcast.
NBC-5 covered the story and showed the Minutemen signs, as well, but they were CONSIDERABLY more balanced than Channel 4. They aired several counterprotesters chanting "FIGHT RACIST POWER" (nice work!) and the piece closed with a generous shot of yours truly and the visual message we had hoped to convey:
posted by Arvin Hill at 1/06/2006 05:59:00 PM
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