Jordan Gruver, a U.S. citizen of Panamanian and Native American descent, won $2.5 million in damages after he was severely beaten by members of the Ku Klux Klan because they thought that he was an “illegal Latino immigrant.” The 16-year-old Gruver was taunted with ethnic slurs, spat on, doused in alcohol and beaten by three Klan members during a recruiting mission in Brandenburg, Ky.
“We look forward to collecting every dime that we can for our client and putting the Imperial Klans of America out of business,” said Morris Dees, founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center.
The struggle against racism and anti-immigrant oppression continues all across the country. Anti-immigrant rallies organized by the neo-Nazi National Socialist Movement in Tyler, Texas, and Columbia, Mo., were respectively confronted by about 100 and 250 counter-demonstrators. At the Columbia event, 200 police escorted the neo-Nazis to their destination, arresting two anti-racist protesters. The National Socialist Movement promotes racism and violence.
