In the everyday struggles against racism and violence we face steep challenges, and how we respond to those particular challenges can have far reaching ramifications - negative and positive. There is a threat before us at this very moment and how we respond to it is no small thing. The Minuteman Project is coming into the area for a rally and recruiting/training session in the Chicago suburbs. If you haven't heard about the armed, racist vigilantes patrolling the border between Mexico and the U.S. then you absolutely must read the articles that I've linked to below. Despite the fact that these people are not affiliated (officially) with any governmental organization and are taking the law into their own hands they have been getting support from people in high places including Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California. The story should disgust and anger you but will hopefully make you want to stand up and assert your right to do something about it too. The question is so much bigger than immigration alone and is being taken up by students and youth, immigrant rights organizations, civil liberties groups, and anti-racist activists alike.

www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7358268/
www.cnsnews.com/viewnation.asp=\Nation\archive\200509\NAT20050916a.html
www.hispanicbusiness.com/forum/topic.asp
www.icirr.org/storydisplay.asp

Minuteman Project official website.
www.minutemanhq.com/hq/index.php

Short online video about the Minuteman Project, produced by the American Civil Liberties Union and others.
www.witness.org/option,com_rightsalert/Itemid,178/task,view/alert_id,43

Some grassroots efforts to stop the Minuteman Project.
www.immigrantsolidarity.org/Campaigns/Minutemen.htm

Some notes on the Christian Liberty Academy:

For one thing, it’s a private Christian school that teaches its kids with something called McGuffey's Eclectic Readers. These things, which were first published in 1836, teach kids the sexist aspects of the "proper" roles for men and women, Native Americans are "savages" and Jews are very, very bad. Among the speakers at the Minuteman Project event will be project founder Chris Simcox; Terry Anderson, a black conservative L.A. radio talk show host whose main thing is to gripe about immigration; Susan Tully, National Director of Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR, or the evil FAIR, as we prefer to call them); Dave Gorak, Midwest Coalition for Immigration Reform, Keith Butler, U.S. Senate candidate for Michigan, Kevin Fobbs, Michigan/Ontario Border Watch; Frank Penn, retired Illinois State Trooper; and others.