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Nazi
Hate Groups Attack Hispanics
ST. LOUIS, Mo. (By
Mara Schiavocampo, NBC News) June
11, 2009
―
On a recent Saturday afternoon, hate
was on the march in St. Louis. About
85 members of the National Socialist
Movement (NSM), the nation’s largest
neo-Nazi group, gathered in the
shadow of the famed Gateway Arch for
a march and rally celebrating its
35th anniversary.
Clad in all black, with their pants
tucked into tightly laced combat
boots, the group carried swastika
flags and signs urging immigrants to
leave the country. They chanted
“Sieg Heil,” a popular rallying cry
in World War II Germany, accompanied
by a Nazi salute: one arm
outstretched, fingers tightly
joined, palms facing down.
Their critics say groups like NSM
are the faces of homegrown hate,
something the NSM denies. They
instead call themselves a “white
civil rights organization.” Its
ultimate goal is to whitewash
America. If they had their way, U.S.
citizenship would be limited to
“those of pure white blood”;
minorities would live in the country
as guests. All Jewish people and
gays would be forced to leave and
immigration would be prohibited.
As shocking as those views are,
groups like this are more popular
than ever.
“Right across the board, extremist
groups are thriving right now,” says
Mark Potok, Director of the Southern
Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence
Project.
The SPLC has been tracking hate
groups for almost 30 years. In its
spring 2009 Intelligence Report,
they found that 926 hate groups are
currently operating in the U.S., an
all-time high. These groups include
the Ku Klux Klan, neo-Nazis, racist
skinheads and Black separatists.
Potok attributes this rise in hate
groups to the recession, the
election of the nation’s first black
president, and the immigration
debate.
“We’re looking at a kind of perfect
storm of factors that really favor
the continued growth of these
groups,” he says.
Last month the Department of
Homeland Security issued a report on
the expansion of right wing
extremist groups, saying those
organizations are being fueled by
the economic downturn and the
election of Barack Obama.
But experts say it is the Hispanic
immigration debate that is most
significantly contributing to the
rise of hate groups, an issue that
is exacerbated by the shaky economy.
“These groups have really
successfully exploited the
immigration issue,” Potok says. “For
them it’s ‘brown skin people are
coming into this country to destroy
us.’”
Some groups, like the NSM, blame
Hispanic undocumented for the
scarcity of available jobs.
“The government keeps telling us
these people are coming here to take
the jobs that no one else wants,”
says Jeff Schoep, head of the NSM.
“I think it’s a lie, I think it’s a
farce, and I think the American
people are tired of being lied to.”
Officials say the NSM is a
non-violent organization. But others
are turning their frustrations into
violent action. The Hispanic immigration
backlash has led to a surge in hate
crimes against Hispanics, up 40
percent between 2003 and 2007,
according to FBI statistics.
Last November, 37-year-old
Ecuadorian immigrant Marcelo Lucero,
a 16-year resident of the U.S., was
attacked while walking near his home
in Patchogue, New York. Prosecutors
say a group of seven teens taunted
Lucero with racial slurs, beat him,
and fatally stabbed him in the
chest. The reason? According to
prosecutors they were “beaner
hopping”: attacking Hispanics for
sport. All of the defendants have
pled not guilty.
“In that moment, the world collapsed
on my shoulders and everything
changed,” says the victim’s brother,
Joselo Lucero. “I don’t want my
community, my people suffering
anymore. Because everyday people
wake up to work and they don’t know
if they’re going to come back.”
Potok says the election of Barack
Obama as the nation’s first black
president has also been a powerful
recruiting tool for some hate
groups, and led to a rash of
violence and vandalism in the days
after the election.
While that overall situation is
worrisome, Potok points out that in
some ways it also marks signs of
progress. “The long arc of history
really does bend towards justice.
What we are seeing I think is a
backlash to real and significant
social advance.”
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