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.
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