The Zeskind Fortnight No. 1
01 March 2008
Thiaspi Arvense By Any Other Name
John McCain campaigns for president by stumping for a new Hundred Years War. Mike Huckabee believes, and really that is all you need to know about him. Ron Paul might expect to abolish the Federal Reserve Bank; it has been one of his bugaboos for almost thirty years. Hillary Clinton says that she can fight the Republican right-wing attack machine and still bring health care to every man, woman and child. Barack Obama promises to heal the American soul and bring us all together, and he makes people weep with hope at the prospect. But in Kansas City—not too far from the geographic middle of the continental United States—the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps is tearing us apart.
This particular Minuteman faction is one of several descended from the events of April 2005, when armed civilians went to the Arizona border promising to enforce the country’s immigration laws. Even President George W. Bush called them vigilantes. Others described them as white nationalists, citing the presence of white power skinheads and known national socialists among the border watchers and protestors. But others, such as Rep. Tom Tancredo (R. CO.), described them as “heroes,” and the enrolled Minuteman groups grew fat with new members until they burst apart in a scramble for money and prestige. One of those flush with cash is Chris Simcox’ Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, which has been at issue in Kansas City. (According to tax records, they took in $418,000 in 2005 and spent more than $140,000 of it for fundraising.)
The conflict began last June when Kansas City, Missouri Mayor Mark Funkhouser, appointed Frances Semler, an unrepentant Minuteman member, to the city’s Parks and Recreation Board. In response, civil rights groups, Latino activists, and others thought she should step down or be removed. The Minuteman’s history of verbally vilifying immigrants did not make for good community relations, they said. The city council voted nine to six, asking the mayor to replace her. The daily newspaper, the Kansas City Star, editorialized against her appointment. But the mayor would not budge. As such, business leaders were not happy after National Council of La Raza announced that it was pulling its 2009 national convention away from Kansas City in protest, taking its five million tourist dollar-impact along with it.
The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps answered by claiming that they were not racists, but simply patriotic Americans concerned about “illegal immigrants.” If you came to the United States with the proper papers in hand, they said, that was okay with them. And they were not vigilantes, but more like a neighborhood watch organization reporting law breakers to the police. And they had their supporters too. Semler is just a grandmotherly gardener type, they noted, and her new position was an unpaid one of public service. Letters to the Editor ran two to one in favor of keeping her on the Park Board. One AM talk radio show regarded the Minutemen as champions and Frances Semler as a victim. And to be fair, the activist group that went to Semler’s house and knocked on her door, while delivering a letter that asked her to resign, gave her an unnecessary fright. Delivering the mail is a job for the post office.
The controversy continued into 2008, until Semler resigned in mid-January, two weeks before Minuteman Civil Defense Corps’ commander-in-chief Chris Simcox came to Kansas City. On the weekend of February 1, the nativists held a members-only “regional leadership conference,” as well as a public event at the Uptown Theater.
In opposition, several hundred souls gathered at a local church to talk about the events at hand. They marched to the theater while chanting anti-racist slogans, stopped for a thoughtful prayer, and retired back to the church. In all, about 350 people participated in these events, gathering from across racial, ethnic and religious lines to make a common statement.
Inside the theater at the open-to-the-public Minuteman rally, about 500 folks congregated (the Kansas City Star counted “at least 310 people,” but several independent observers put the attendance at 500). Men out-numbered women more than two to one, but a smattering of middle-aged couples dotted the room. A couple of uncomfortable-looking liberals were in attendance, but otherwise this was an anti-immigrant crowd. When Simcox asked all the Minuteman members to stand, about 20% of the room did so. Those ranks were augmented during the evening, as a steady stream of men went to the Minuteman table in the back to sign up and pay dues. One asked if he could use his conceal-and-carry gun permit as personal identification.
A couple of speakers preceded Simcox. Francis Semler went to the platform for her ten minutes and received a standing ovation. Heart of America (KC area) chapter leader Ed Hayes took a few swipes at the so-called North American Union, as “sovereignty” issues always animate “patriots” in this part of the country. And radio talk show host Darla Jaye received honorable mention for her help with the cause.
When Simcox took the stage, he gave a Fidel-like two hour peroration and power point presentation. He invoked the names of Cesar Chavez and Martin Luther King, Jr., claiming they were early opponents of illegal immigration. He hit this theme time and again, claiming that the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps is not a racist organization and it is open to all ethnic groups. Simcox talked about how the Minutemen are the beginnings of a revolution to take America back from the “corporatist oligarchy.” He also told the crowd that they represented the re-emergence of “state’s rights” activism. His were a mish-mash of ideas, until he presented his version of immigration reform.
Simcox urged, first, an executive order to secure the borders (and build a bigger thicker fence line). Second, he wanted to put several thousand National Guard troops on the border. Both ideas were met with mild applause. When he proposed making English the official language, the crowd was a bit more enthusiastic. But the idea to abolish “birthright citizenship” for the children of “illegal aliens” made the crowd go wild. And it is on that last point that the whole “Minuteman is not racist, we just oppose illegal aliens” argument fell apart.
In the nativist telling of events, women sneak into this country and give birth to babies in American hospitals so that they (the mother) will one day have a greater chance of becoming a permanent resident, because their child will automatically have citizenship. Presidential candidates Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul are opposed to such birthright citizenship. So are the ninety congressmen who co-sponsored a bill to outlaw it. And large swathes of the anti-immigrant movement oppose it.
The first problem for the “we-just-oppose-illegals” crowd is that these newborns are legal. The nativists want to make them illegal. But they need a law to do that. So the truth is that they oppose immigrants without proper documents as well as American citizens. With just a little deciphering, it becomes manifestly evident that the real issue is not “legality,” but culture and language. And in private conversations held on the sidelines at the Uptown Theatre, that is just what the attendees told each other.
The second problem for them is that such citizenship is guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution, by the Fourteenth Amendment in particular. Yes, it is true that nativists have concocted a set of respectable-sounding legal arguments by which they think they can abolish birthright citizenship without abrogating the Fourteenth Amendment. Without ideological blinders, however, it is impossible to miss the plain-faced meaning of Section 1: All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
I will go a step further in this discussion. Any person or organization that advocates turning citizens into non-citizens, or that seeks to abridge the Fourteenth Amendment is, by any fair standard, a racist person or organization. They need not parade around in white sheets or swastika armbands; or spout racist obscenities like a barroom bigot; or make clever statements about the biological or cultural inferiority of certain peoples. They need only touch one hair on the Constitutional Amendment that guaranteed the citizenship rights of freed slaves after the Civil War, and they are ipso facto a racist.
Nevertheless, the Minutemen were well pleased with their performance at the Uptown Theater. Since that meeting they have been pushing hard for legislation in Kansas sponsored by Sen. Peggy Palmer (R. Augusta) entitled the “Kansas Illegal Immigration Relief Act.” A set of publicity ads they produced have been airing over the radio waves in southern Kansas, and they are gearing up for a recruitment drive at gun shows in the bi-state area. And in the future, Minuteman leaders will continue to claim that they are not a racist organization, but simply a law and order neighborhood watch. In this regard, they are like the Thiaspi arvense. You can call it a fanweed, a field pennycress, or anything else—but this noxious little plant by any other name is still a stinkweed.
End TZF No. 1