Governor Eliot Spitzer's mandate to grant driver's licenses to the undocumented has sparked a huge controversy. However, behind the scenes, something more sinister is evolving. The anti immigration movement is slowly being infiltrated by white supremacists. One must question those who are the most vocal. Let us consider the protest of one Peter Gadiel. Mr. Gadiel unfortunately lost his son , an employee of Cantor, Fitzgerald on 9-11. Mr. Gadiel is also the president of an organization known as "9-11 Families for a Secure America"
In a response to Spitzer’s decision, president of 9/11 Families for a Secure America ,Peter Gadiel told the Times that “Governor Spitzer will demonstrate abject stupidity and breathtaking disregard for the victims of 9/11 if he hands these powerful ID’s to people who sneak across our borders. Terrorists here illegally used licenses to kill my son and thousands of others in the World Trade Center; if they do it again using New York licenses issued by this governor, the blood of the victims will be on Mr. Spitzer’s hands.
The problem here is that Mr. Gadiel was listed on the board of directors of an organization called
F.A.I.R. in 2004. ( Federation for American Immigration Reform.)
FAIR was created following a factional split in Zero Population Growth led by John Tanton. Along with Sidney Swensrud and Sharon Barnes, Tanton founded FAIR in 1979. FAIR’s links to other local and national organizations that are stridently anti-immigrant, anti-Latino, and supremacist have undermined FAIR’s own credibility and led to questions about the underlying agenda of its restrictionist approach to immigration. Referring to FAIR and associated groups, the Southern Poverty Law Center concluded an article on immigrant hate groups stating: “Opinion polls consistently show that a majority of Americans believe that immigration needs to be cut below current levels, although that does not imply that they support the ideas of white supremacists or other bigots…. The danger is not that immigration levels are debated by Americans, but that the debate is controlled by bigots and extremists whose views are anathema to the ideals on which this country was founded.”
FAIR is also funded by a little known group called the PIONEER FUND. The Pioneer Fund located at 954 Lexington Avenue in New York City supplied funding for the Bell Curve, a book that argued the lesser intelligence of Blacks and a scientific study pioneered by William Shockley which assessed that Blacks were inherently inferior.
While presenting itself as an organization that simply advocates for immigration reform in the public interest, the Federation receives significant funding-- rarely noted in press accounts-- from a foundation that is explicitly motivated by a racist, eugenicist ideology. For years, the Federation has been supported by the Pioneer Fund, a trust founded in 1937 by Wycliffe P. Draper, a textile millionaire who promoted sending blacks back to Africa.
The Pioneer Fund has been described in the London Sunday Telegraph (3/12/89) as a "neo-Nazi organization closely integrated with the far right in American politics." Pioneer is one of the Federation's key financial backers. According to Internal Revenue Service records, the group has received more than $1 million from Pioneer since 1982. In 1992, the most recent year for which figures are available, Pioneer gave the Federation $130,000.
The Pioneer Fund's charter specified that its trustees should give scholarships only to students "who are citizens of the United States...who are deemed to be descended predominately from white persons who settled in the original 13 states prior to the adoption of the Constitution." In 1983, due to public criticism, the word "white" was omitted.
Although Governor Spitzer's proposal is somewhat flawed, one must also scrutinize it's opponents as much as one scrutinizes the edict.
In a response to Spitzer’s decision, president of 9/11 Families for a Secure America ,Peter Gadiel told the Times that “Governor Spitzer will demonstrate abject stupidity and breathtaking disregard for the victims of 9/11 if he hands these powerful ID’s to people who sneak across our borders. Terrorists here illegally used licenses to kill my son and thousands of others in the World Trade Center; if they do it again using New York licenses issued by this governor, the blood of the victims will be on Mr. Spitzer’s hands.
The problem here is that Mr. Gadiel was listed on the board of directors of an organization called
F.A.I.R. in 2004. ( Federation for American Immigration Reform.)
FAIR was created following a factional split in Zero Population Growth led by John Tanton. Along with Sidney Swensrud and Sharon Barnes, Tanton founded FAIR in 1979. FAIR’s links to other local and national organizations that are stridently anti-immigrant, anti-Latino, and supremacist have undermined FAIR’s own credibility and led to questions about the underlying agenda of its restrictionist approach to immigration. Referring to FAIR and associated groups, the Southern Poverty Law Center concluded an article on immigrant hate groups stating: “Opinion polls consistently show that a majority of Americans believe that immigration needs to be cut below current levels, although that does not imply that they support the ideas of white supremacists or other bigots…. The danger is not that immigration levels are debated by Americans, but that the debate is controlled by bigots and extremists whose views are anathema to the ideals on which this country was founded.”
FAIR is also funded by a little known group called the PIONEER FUND. The Pioneer Fund located at 954 Lexington Avenue in New York City supplied funding for the Bell Curve, a book that argued the lesser intelligence of Blacks and a scientific study pioneered by William Shockley which assessed that Blacks were inherently inferior.
While presenting itself as an organization that simply advocates for immigration reform in the public interest, the Federation receives significant funding-- rarely noted in press accounts-- from a foundation that is explicitly motivated by a racist, eugenicist ideology. For years, the Federation has been supported by the Pioneer Fund, a trust founded in 1937 by Wycliffe P. Draper, a textile millionaire who promoted sending blacks back to Africa.
The Pioneer Fund has been described in the London Sunday Telegraph (3/12/89) as a "neo-Nazi organization closely integrated with the far right in American politics." Pioneer is one of the Federation's key financial backers. According to Internal Revenue Service records, the group has received more than $1 million from Pioneer since 1982. In 1992, the most recent year for which figures are available, Pioneer gave the Federation $130,000.
The Pioneer Fund's charter specified that its trustees should give scholarships only to students "who are citizens of the United States...who are deemed to be descended predominately from white persons who settled in the original 13 states prior to the adoption of the Constitution." In 1983, due to public criticism, the word "white" was omitted.
Although Governor Spitzer's proposal is somewhat flawed, one must also scrutinize it's opponents as much as one scrutinizes the edict.
No comments:
Post a Comment