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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (April 4, 2012)
Page 8 A p ril 4, 2012 Hate Groups Spread Lies and Kill Cops gration PAC said that in order to save "white America" from the "dic tator Barack Obama," it may be nec essary to engage in "extra-political activities that I can't really talk about because they're all illegal and vio lent." These are just three troubling by M ark P otok examples of the dangerous anti- Last N ovem government backlash now grip ber, the FBI ac ping the nation. Given this toxic cused four mem environment, it wasn't surprising bers of a Georgia that in the new annual census of militia of conspir extremist and hate groups by the ing to attack cit Southern Poverty Law Center, we ies w ith the found that groups on the radical deadly ricin toxin, blow up federal right had grown dramatically in 2011 buildings, and murder federal law for a third consecutive year. This enforcem ent officials and IRS expansion has swelled the ranks of agents. extremists to record levels. In July, the leader of the neo The number of U.S. hate groups secessionist League of the South last year rose to 1,018. The number told followers that "we are already of these organizations has grown at war." Earlier, he had urged them to every year since 2000, when there buy AK-47s, hollow-point bullets, were 602 of them. But the most stun and tools to derail trains. ning growth came in the anti-gov And in August, the leader of the ernment "Patriot" movement, armed nativist Americans for Legal Immi m ilitias and other conspiracy- Contested election could make matters worse minded groups that see the federal government as their primary enemy. These groups increased by 55 per cent, from 824in 2010 to 1,274groups last year. Since 2008, the year Obama was elected, these groups have sky rocketed by 755 percent. What's going on? What's fueling this astounding growth? The expansion of the radical right is largely the result of our country's changing racial demographics, the increased pace of globalization and the associated flows of immigrant workers, and our economic woes. For many extremists, America's first black president is a symbol of all that's wrong with the country. For them, he's a Kenyan, a secret Muslim, a Marxist bent on destroy ing our democracy, as well as a harbinger of an America where non- Hispanic whites won't comprise a majority any more. This election season’s overheated rhetoric is only adding fuel to the fire. These groups are both driving and benefiting from political extrem ism. They poison our mainstream political discourse, injecting wild conspiracy theories and outlandish rhetoric into the debate while luring new members who fall victim to their propaganda. But they don't just spread hate ful ideologies and misinformation. Law enforcement officials around the country have reported increas ing numbers of violent encounters with a subset of the larger Patriot movement: anti-government "sov ereign citizens." These individuals generally don't believe they're obliged to pay federal taxes or fol low most laws. In February, the FBI reported that it's been flooded with calls from local government offi cials seeking assistance in dealing with the sovereign citizen move ment, which the SPLC estimates has as many as 300,000 adherents across the nation. Earlier, in September, the FBI is sued a bulletin to law enforcement authorities describing the sovereign citizens movement as a "domestic terrorist" group. It noted that "sover eigns" have killed six law enforce ment officers since 2000. The most recent incident occurred on May 20, 2010, when a dashboard camera cap tured horrifying images of a father- son team of sovereigns murdering two West Memphis, Arkansas po lice officers during a traffic stop. Coming in the middle of a hotly contested national election, things could get worse before they get better. If the campaign generates more attacks on Obama based on utter falsehoods, like the claim that he's not really American, it's likely that the poison will spread. And if he wins re-election, the reaction of the extreme right, already angry and on the defensive as the white popu lation faces the prospect of losing its majority status, could be truly frightening. Mark Potok is a senior fellow at the Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors hate groups, anti- government militias, and other ex tremist organizations. Standing with the President on Healthcare Everyone stands to benefit from health reform by C harles R angel The Supreme Court co m m en ced w ith three days of oral ar guments last week on the constitutionality of the mandate provi sion of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), or healthcare reform. These unprecedented legal pro ceedings, along with a subsequent ruling which is anticipated this June, could shape - perhaps irrevocably - the future of healthcare in our coun try. How did we get here? As chair man of the house Ways and Means committee in 2009,1 introduced the healthcare reform bill. I then stood proudly with President Obama on March 23, 2010, as he signed the legislation into law. Today, I continue to stand with President Obama knowing full well that the preservation of healthcare reform is vital to the health of m il lions who live in our great country. I strongly believe that we are on our way to improv ing our nation's collective h e a lth by ex p an d in g healthcare coverage to the millions of uninsured who reside here. • The idea of health reform in America is not a novel concept. Presidents, lawmakers, policym akers, and others with vested health policy interests have proposed various ways of overhaul ing healthcare over the past 100 years. Until now, however, we did not have a comprehensive health coverage plan that works. Now we do. There is one fact that I know: Democrat, Republican, or Indepen dent; Liberal, Conservative, or Moderate; member of the Tea Party Jlortlanft (Bbseruer Established 1970 USPS 959-680 ___________________________________ 47 47 NE Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd., Portland, OR 97211 Charles H. Washington EoiTOR.Michael L e ig h to n D is t r ib u t io n M a n a g e r : M a r k W a s h in g to n C r e a t iv e D ir e c t o r : P a u l N e u fe ld t or Occupy Wall Street; female or male; young or old; black, white, red, yellow, or brown - we will all become ill and be in need of quality healthcare at some time during our lives. Overall, everyone who lives in America stands to benefit from health reform. Yet, since the passage of ACA, the last two years have been fraught with incendiary and destructive rhetoric from Republicans who ulti mately want to repeal ACA by gradu ally and methodically using legisla tive means to dismantle key provi sions of the healthcare reform law. A common refrain of my Repub lican colleagues is that they want to "Take our Nation Back!" But where would that take us? Unless ACA is protected from repeal, Republicans will take our nation back to the days in which one could be denied health insurance coverage for pre-existing condi tions. Patients with chronic medical conditions - heart disease, diabe tes, end stage renal disease, cancer, AIDS, all could be once again de nied coverage. They will take our nation back to the days in which college students under the age of 26 must go without health coverage after being dropped from their par ents' insurance plans. Back again will be the days in which women were subjected to "gender rating" by most states and charged higher health insurance rates than men. These same women will be once again denied contra ceptive coverage by their employ ers. Healthcare costs will rise be cause socioeconomically disadvan taged patients will be unable to af ford expensive co-pays for preven tive care, this resulting in more costly treatments for health conditions that could have been addressed if de tected earlier. Gone will be the days in which insurance companies will have to be more transparent with consumers about justifying their administra tive rates and overhead costs. Even worse, insurance companies will again drop healthy patients from coverage once they become sick. Seniors will no longer receive rebate assistance to pay for M edi care "donut hole" coverage ex penses. Small businesses and fami lies would lose healthcare tax cred its. Lifetime caps on medical insur ance coverage would return. Medi care insurance fraud could once again run rampant. The list of harmful and deleteri ous effects of the potential rollback of healthcare reform is almost cata strophic to even imagine! Now is not the time for complacency. We must remain vigilant and aware that the possibility of losing all o f our hard-fought healthcare reform gains is here and it is real. N ow , we h av e a ta n g ib le healthcare reform system that works. Let's keep it that way. Let's stand together and say, "NO"! We won't go back. America just can't afford it. Charles B. Rangel is a Demo cratic congressman from New York. The Portland Observer welcomes freelance submissions. Manuscripts and photographs should be clearly labeled and w ill be returned if accompanied by a self addressed envelope. 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