By Heidi Beirich
When 16-year-old Jordan Gruver attended a county fair in Kentucky two years ago, the last thing he expected was that he would be attacked by Klansmen.
But when two members of the Imperial Klans of America saw Jordan, they didn't see a young man looking to have some fun at the fair. They saw only his brown skin. That was enough to make him an “illegal spic” in their eyes.
The Klansmen, one of whom was twice Jordan's size, threw whiskey in his face and beat him severely, leaving him with two cracked ribs, a broken forearm and severe jaw injuries.
Jordan, a U.S. citizen of Panamanian-Indian descent, is just one more victim of the hateful anti-immigration hysteria that has gripped the United States. He is now being represented by the Southern Poverty Law Center in a lawsuit against the Klan.
It's tempting to think that what happened to Jordan in Brandenburg, Ky., couldn't happen in California because the state is home to a large, multicultural population. However, the state's diversity – and particularly its Latino population – could make it the nexus for anti-immigrant harassment and violence.
California, like the rest of the country, is seeing a surge in the number of hate groups operating within its borders. Last year, the number of groups rose to 80 – a 27 percent increase. No state had more hate groups in 2007.
Nationally, the number of hate groups documented in the law center's annual count grew to 888 in 2007, a staggering 48 increase since 2000.
There is little doubt that this growth is being fueled by the raging national debate over immigration and, in particular, the ugly, dehumanizing rhetoric that has become standard fare on talk radio and cable news.
Given the toxic nature of the debate and the rise in hate-group activity, it's no surprise that Latinos are being targeted for harassment and violence.
FBI statistics suggest a 35 percent increase in hate crimes against Latinos between 2003 and 2006. Experts believe such crimes are carried out by people who believe they are attacking immigrants.
Coinciding with the rise in hate-group activity, hundreds of new “nativist” groups have sprung up across the country in the past three years. Many of these groups exist not to argue over policy but to harass and intimidate immigrants in their communities.
Last summer, small children celebrating their First Communion at St. Peter's Catholic Church in Fallbrook were confronted by San Diego Minutemen taunting them with shouts of “illegals!” The Minutemen have regularly protested an informal labor center run by the church. They've even displayed an effigy of a priest wearing a devil's mask.
These groups are emboldened by the angry rhetoric they hear from TV pundits and politicians who portray immigrants as job-stealing, disease-carrying invaders set on destroying the American way of life.
The problem is that much of what we hear about the impact of illegal immigration either isn't true or is wildly exaggerated. Much of it, in fact, originates in the feverish imaginations of hate-group leaders. The rise of the Internet has given these groups a potent vehicle to spread the kind of myths and conspiracy theories that draw the ignorant and the impressionable into their world of hate.
Thanks to CNN's Lou Dobbs, there are people who believe immigrants were largely responsible for 7,000 new cases of leprosy reported in a three-year-period. It's a claim with no basis in reality.
Thanks to politicians such as Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., some people believe there is a secret government plot to merge the United States, Mexico and Canada. At least 18 state houses of representatives have passed resolutions opposing the “North American Union,” even though no such plan exists.
Thanks to talk-radio hosts such as Peter Boyles, some Americans believe undocumented immigrants have murdered 45,000 U.S. citizens since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. If this were true, it would mean undocumented immigrants, who make up less than 4 percent of the U.S. population, were responsible for 53 percent of all murders in the country through the end of 2006.
These claims only serve to make anyone who looks “foreign” a target for derision, discrimination and even violence.
Regardless of one's position on immigration policy, we should all insist on having a debate based on the facts, not propaganda that encourages bigotry, intolerance and violence. Otherwise, more innocents – people like Jordan Gruver – will get hurt.
Beirich is director of research and special projects for the Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Project, which tracks extremist groups. Beirich, a graduate of Vista High School and San Diego State University, was keynote speaker at the recent Hate Crimes Summit at the University of San Diego.
