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by Anne Winkler-Morey, W A M M
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While applying for jobs and wondering what a curious prospective employer might find, I googled myself the other day. Turns out I’m on an internet hate list. It is called the “SH*T list of 7,000 self-hating Israel-bashing Jews.” It seems that what the 7,000 on the list have in common is a commitment to join thousands of Israelis in speaking out, as Jews, against Israeli foreign policy.
Okay, I know it’s just the work of one lone kook; and I know it is quite an honor to be associated with the likes of Naomi Klein, Rachel Corrie, Adrienne Rich, Howard Zinn, Noam Chomsky, Rabbi Lerner, and Amy Goodman. Still, I felt a pain in my chest seeing my name next to the words “kike bitch.” I imagined how it might affect someone considering me as a future colleague. Being told you’re a self-hater somehow bites.
I thought about other times in my life when I encountered hate groups.
Early 1980s, Mora, Minnesota: Members of a local church mobilized to attack gays and lesbians. People from all over Minnesota came to Mora to counteract the organized bigots. My mind is foggy on the particulars. What I remember is standing there with so many strangers in good company, united in our desire to counteract hate.
1989, Northern Wisconsin: Native Americans asserted their spearfishing rights and encountered an angry mob. WAMM, among other groups, organized people to go stand in solidarity. Signs saying “Spear an Indian, Save a Walleye” left a shocking impression. But again those who came to support treaty rights vastly outnumbered the local hate group.
2001, Minneapolis, Minnesota: In the aftermath of 9/11, in response to attacks on Arab Americans, students, staff, and faculty gathered at the University of Minnesota to express solidarity with their Arab and Muslim brothers and sisters. It was an unusually diverse crowd. People representing different ethnic racial and religious groups gathered together to speak out against these hate crimes.
2005, Owatonna, Minnesota: A march in support of immigrant rights. The circle we formed around the local square was penetrated by a group of European Americans in their 50s and 60s armed with signs saying “Go back to where you came from.” The ugly looks on their faces strengthened the resolve of those gathered not to rest until everyone understands that “no human being is illegal.”
2006, St. Paul: The Minutemen, a hate group that hangs out on the U.S.-Mexican border and dedicates itself to harassing immigrants, came to the Minnesota Capitol hoping to whip up some support. Instead they were met by 300 immigrants’ rights advocates. As people gathered to speak and chant and sing, the Minutemen got on their motorcycles and drove away.
More insidious than individual or private hate groups, however, are the hate policies of government. I’m not talking just about historical legally sanctioned hate: slavery, Jim Crow, Indian Removal, Chinese Exclusion, and Mexican Repatriation. No, I’m thinking now of the arrests of hundreds of Latino meat packers by U.S. immigration (ICE) in Worthington, Minnesota, last month; the ongoing torture of Guantánamo prisoners, using techniques aimed at defaming the Muslim religion; our Minnesota governor’s promise last fall to make sure the children of undocumented immigrant children in Minnesota will not be allowed in-state tuition; the refusal of our government to fund reconstruction, and social construction, in impoverished black neighborhoods in New Orleans and Minneapolis, instead pouring more of our young people and money into the destruction of Iraq.
Taking action against hate committed by private groups or by the government creates some powerful coalitions. Like the hate groups in Mora, Owatonna, and St. Paul discussed above, the arrests in Worthington have brought together labor and Latino activists, Christian and Jewish groups, and hundreds of others appalled at the crime of family separation and impoverishment due to government action. They have been protesting at Sen. Coleman’s office and conducting community hearings and organizing relief funds, food, and toy drives for affected families. These are actions of self-love, and love-of-humanity. You can tell because they feel good.
To get updates on the Worthington situation and participate in forthcoming actions go to www.mnfr.org or call Minnesota Immigrant Freedom Network at 651-287-0660.
Happy Valentine’s Day! |
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Word UP!
We can no longer afford to worship the god of hate or bow before the altar of retaliation. The oceans of history are made turbulent by the ever-rising tides of hate. History is cluttered with the wreckage of nations and individuals that pursued this self-defeating path of hate. As Arnold Toynbee says: “Love is the ultimate force that makes for the saving choice of life and good against the damning choice of death and evil. Therefore the first hope in our inventory must be the hope that love is going to have the last word.”
—Martin Luther King, Jr.
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© 2007 Women Against Military Madness. All rights reserved.
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Complete February 2007 Index - click here
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