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Announcement :: Protest Activity

Phone/Email Jam to Shut Down Racist Minuteman Recruiting!

HATE GROUPS TO RALLY IN TUCSON IN OCTOBER We are calling for an emergency phone and email jam of the venue, and are letting it be known that if the meeting is not canceled, the community will be out in force to protest these racist, fear-peddling fools!
HATE GROUPS TO RALLY IN TUCSON IN OCTOBER
Make polite but firm phone calls, faxes and emails to the venue demanding that this event be cancelled:

United Sports Arizona Race Park (www.unitedsportsaz.com)
Phone: (520) 574-8515
Toll free: 1-888-337-RACE(7223)
Fax: (520) 574-4406
staff (at) unitedsportsaz.com

On October 7-9 in Tucson, the Randy Graf for Congress campaign will be hosting "BorderFest 2005," an event to push a racist, anti-Latino ideology and to encourage a further militarization of the US-Mexico border (www.azborderfest.com). The speaker list reads like a Who's Who of Southwest xenophobes. There will be seminars encouraging people to join vigilante, anti-immigrant patrols, and spreading mythic tales of a Mexican plot to conquer the Southwest states.

These groups use the same hate-based rhetoric and tactics that Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan have used throughout history (just replace "Jew" with "Mexican"). In fact, neo-Nazis and the KKK have lauded vigilantes like the Minute Man Project (major participants in Borderfest 2005) and used their activities as a cover for recruiting. Minutemen co-founder Jim Gilchrist has been involved with the neo-Nazi affiliated Council of Conservative Citizens for a number of years.

The Minutemen and their BorderFest friends use racist, nationalistic and xenophobic rhetoric to stir up hatred and violence against Latinos and other immigrants. They blame Latinos for gangs, drugs, crime, exotic diseases (!), and the destruction of “American” culture. They claim that because “Arab terrorists” look like Latinos, they could come across the border to attack the US! These racist claims serve to normalize a fear and hatred of immigrants, making the rhetoric of more overtly white supremacist groups like the National Alliance and the KKK more publicly acceptable. In addition, by rallying public support for disastrous militarized border policies, the Minutemen and their ilk make it more likely that we will continue to see an accelerated rate of deaths in the desert, destruction of desert ecosystems and disruption of indigenous communities.

We call upon everyone who is concerned about this meeting to telephone, fax and email the United Sports Arizona Race Park and demand that the event be canceled. We will not tolerate this kind of racist fearmongering and recruiting in our community. We are calling for an emergency phone/email jam of the venue, and are letting it be known that if the meeting is not canceled, the community will be out in force to protest these racist, fear-peddling fools!

Please contact the United Sports Arizona Race Park (USARP) and let them know how you feel about them laying out the welcome mat for fascists. You may wish to point out that while everyone may have the right to speak, USARP has no responsibility to let racists rally on its private property! By hosting this event, USARP is facilitating racist recruiting and contributing to a climate in which hatred and violence against Latinos are becoming increasingly mainstream. USARP can claim to be “neutral” about this event, but actions speak louder than words….

United Sports Arizona Race Park (www.unitedsportsaz.com)
Phone: (520) 574-8515
Toll free: 1-888-337-RACE(7223)
Fax: (520) 574-4406
staff (at) unitedsportsaz.com

Please forward this message widely – together we can shut them down!!!

For more information, or to get involved in protesting this event, email sonoranaction (at) planet-save.com.
 
 

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