White Nationalists Tied to Tea Parties

The article below is from the blog Imagine 2050. Contributors to the blog include activists, immigrants, artists and students who are invested in a future nation that embraces multiculturalism and tolerance.

White Nationalists Tied to Tea Parties
April 14, 2009
By Jill Garvey

It’s no secret that conservatives have a hard time keeping racism out of their ranks (airwaves), and now it seems it has surfaced in even their grassroots (astro turf) movements. The whole tea party thing (except with representation and a high income bracket this time) is being organized by conservative corporate lobbyists, Freedom Works and Americans for Prosperity, who are no doubt milking this all the way to their billion dollar bank accounts.

If that wasn’t hard enough for real [sic] conservative activists to swallow, they are really going to hate showing up at rallies only to rub elbows with white nationalists. Kris Kobach got the party started in Kansas on April 4th when he hosted a joint tea party/anti-immigrant rally with Billy Gilchrist, Topeka chapter leader for the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps. In 2004 Kansas Republican leader Timothy Burger wrote in response to Kobach’s failed congressional run, “It doesn’t help matters that Kobach was hired by FAIR, widely perceived as a racist anti-immigrant group during the campaign.” But that stinging accusation hasn’t stopped Kobach from working for the John Tanton network ever since, or from dipping his tainted toes into anything that smells ripe for manipulation and publicity.

Continue article at http://imagine2050.newcomm.org/2009/04/14/white-nationalists-tied-to-tea-parties/

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Anti-Immigrant Message Not Welcome at Tea Parties

Today, Americans for Legal Immigration PAC (ALIPAC) sent out an email to members telling them that they are lending their support to the Tax Day Tea Party efforts nationally on April 15, 2009. They had this to say:

"We are notifying our supporters of the plan for pro immigration enforcement groups to lend our support to the Tax Day Tea Party efforts nationally on April 15, 2009."

There are currently two separate groups organizing their own nationwide tea parties: The Nationwide Tax Day Tea Party (www.taxdayteaparty.com) and the American Family Association's (AFA) Official Taxed Enough Already (TEA) Party www.teapartyday.com. We attempted to contact them both for comment.

Speaking by phone with Julia Nelson, spokesperson for the Nationwide Tax Day Tea Party, she explained that her organization was not aware of ALIPAC’s announcement. She also explained that although her group could not deny ALIPAC supporters the right to attend their event, ALIPAC’s message against undocumented immigrants is not welcome and will not be a part of the Tax Day Tea Party message.

According to the Anti-defamation League, Americans for Legal Immigration Political Action Committee (ALIPAC), led by William Gheen, is the “largest anti-immigrant group in the country”. The ADL says that ALIPAC led by Gheen is “a xenophobic anti-immigrant group…publicly branding undocumented immigrants as murderous criminals and disease carriers".

In a report from the Southern Poverty Law Center, William Gheen makes a habit of using “nativist aphorisms” like “Call me old fashioned, but people should be able to shop at Wal-Mart without worrying about catching [t]uberculosis.”

The first of the “Tea Parties” were organized in February after CNBC reporter Rick Santelli called for "tea party"-style protests over the Federal stimulus package and government bailout programs. Since then, right-wing activists have been mobilizing for April 15th to protest any plan of President Obama and the Congress to save the country’s ailing economy.

We attempted several times to get in touch with the American Family Association, however were unable to get a comment from them on ALIPAC’s announcement at the time of publication.

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