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Page A2
lune 07. 2006
Activists See Anti-Immigrant Backlash
Hateful, racist
i rhetoric cited
J
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•
(AP) — As the fight over immigra-
tion reform drags on, an ominous un-
dercurrent to the debate — racism —
is becoming more pronounced.
From muttered ethnic slurs to vio­
lent attacks, activists say an anti-im-
migrant backlash seems to be growing
in A m erica’s neighborhoods and
workplaces. A few political leaders
have called proposed immigration
measures before Congress “racist.”
"The climate has gotten demon­
strably w orse and it is racially
charged,” said Devin Burghart of the
Center for New Community, which
tracks anti-immigrant activity. “It’s
not simply adebate about immigration
policy... It’s about race and national
identity and who and what we are as
Americans.”
Some activists say the House of
Representatives started it.
When lawmakers passed a bill in
December that would make illegal
immigrants felons, many felt that was
Frustration with illegal immigration spills onto a billboard next to a Florida gas
station. (AP photo)
a swipe at Latinos, who make up 80
percent of the nation’s estimated 11
million illegal immigrants. Former
President Jimmy Carter has said the
bill had “racist overtones,” and that
feeling helped push more than 1 mil­
lion demonstrators to attend street
rallies in recent months.
Some reacted the same way after
the Senate passed an amendment to
its immigration bill last month that
declared English the national language.
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, a
Nevada Democrat, called that “rac­
ist” and “divisive.”
The amendment’s sponsor, Okla­
homa Republican Sen. James Inhofe,
replied that Reid’s statements were
“ridiculous.” Republican Rep. James
Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin, who
wrote much of the House bill, issued a
study on six countries’ immigration
policies and found that five — includ­
ing Mexico — make illegal entry into
their nation a criminal offense.
But Luis Valenzuela, of the Long
Island Immigration Alliance in New
York, said the measures feel hostile to
many immigrants. The bills “set (an)
overall climate which is quite racist,”
he said. “That elicits action by extrem­
ists.”
Mark Potok of the Southern Pov­
erty Law Center, which has tracked
hate crimes for decades, said that hate
groups “consistently try and exploit
any public discussion that has some
kind of racial angle, and immigration
has worked for hate groups in America
better than any issue in years.”
The Anti-Defamation League, a
nonprofit that fights anti-Semitism and
other bias, put out a report last month
that said “hateful and racist rhetoric”
aimed at Latino immigrants had grown
“to a level unprecedented in recent
years.”
The report did not give an overall
figure for hate speech and hate crimes,
but detailed numerous examples, in­
cluding two men in Tennessee who
were sentenced to prison in Decem­
ber for shattering windows and paint­
ing Nazi symbols in a local Mexican
market.
Other hateful acts included an
Internet video games called “Border
Patrol” that urged players to shoot
characters drawn as Latino carica­
tures and New Jersey Internet radio
talk show host Hal Turner who posted
an “ethnic cleansing manual” on his
Web site days after the massive May
1 protests.
Near Houston, two white teenag­
ers were arrested in April, accused of
beating a Latino youth and sodomizing
him with a pipe. Days later, on Long
Island, a white teen was accused of
threatening two Latinos with a ma­
chete and a chain saw. Police say
ethnic slurs were used in each case.
Les Schwab Tire Centers Under Lawsuit
Bias against
women charged
Les Schwab Tire Centers vio­
lated federal employment dis­
crimination law by failing to hire,
train and promote women into
management jobs, the U.S. Equal
Employment Opportunity Com­
mission charges in a lawsuit in
U.S. District Court in Seattle.
Megan Morris and Jennifer
Strange worked in various Les
Schwab stores in the Puget
Sound area. Although they re­
quested to work in the tire bays,
they were repeatedly denied
these jobs and the opportunity
for promotion due to their gen­
der, according to the EEOC.
took over this store, they de­
moted me to bookkeeper,” said
Strange. “When I asked about
my prior position, I was told 'No
gal in the company would ever
make that kind of money. Gals
should work in admin.’ I stayed
for almost two years trying to
move back into sales and man­
agement, but the company re­
fused to consider me for that
kind of job.”
EEOC San Francisco Dis­
trict D irector Joan Ehrlich
noted, “Company founder Les
Schwab’s own published book
exposes a corporate culture
where men get the better jobs.
Mr. Schwab’s book describes
in great detail how men get
ahead in the company, and it
The agency also alleges that
Les Schwab failed to hire fe­
male applicants into sales and
service department jobs. These
positions — which involve
mounting, dismounting, repair­
ing and rotating tires — are
held mainly by males and are a
prerequisite for entry into more
lucrative management jobs. The
federal officials found that Les
Schwab excluded women from
those roles for over 50 years
and only recently promoted one
woman to the position of assis­
tant manager.
“In 1996, I started at the bot­
tom and worked up to sales and
management for an independently
owned Les Schwab Tire Center.
But when Les Schwab corporate
reinforces a decades-old idea
that men do certain jobs and
women do o th ers. Mr.
Schwab published the book
some time ago, but a copy is
still available for sale in every
Les Schwab store. Our law­
suit should go a long way
toward bringing women into
a workplace that historically
has shut them out.”
Les Schwab company offi­
cials denied the allegations,
claiming the business is an
equal opportunity employer
that is open and welcome to
all women.
There was no word about
the lawsuit from Schwab, 88,
who reportedly is in ill health
and living in Prineville.
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(AP) — A state-appointed com­ Thomas of Chapel Hill estim ated
mission ¡surging North Carolina to that the economic losses calcu­
provide reparations for the 1898 lated today are “probably in the
racial violence that sparked an exo­ billions o f dollars.”
State Rep. Thomas Wright, a
dus of more than 2,0(X) black resi­
Democrat who helped establish and
dents from Wilmington.
The 500-page report that was chair the panel, said the next step is
produced after six years o f study to file a bill in the Legislature with
also said the violence, which the recommendations.
The 1898 violence began when
killed as many as 60 people, was
not a spontaneous riot but rather white vigilantes, resentful after
the nation's only recorded coup years of black and Republican po­
litical rule during Reconstruction,
d 'etat.
The com m ission did not pro­ burned the printing press of a black
vide any cost estim ates, although newspaper publisher, Alexander
com pensation advocate Larry Manly.
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