Local TV channels all over California are airing a multitude of virulently racist, anti-immigrant ads. These ads, which began airing Oct. 29, blame undocumented immigrants for everything from high crime rates and overcrowded schools to job loss and global warming—all of which have nothing to do with immigration and everything to do with the structure of capitalist society.
The ads portray “Americans” as sparkling clean, white middle-class people and “immigrants” as brown-skinned gangbangers posing for a mug shot. According to the ad on global warming, an immigrant’s carbon footprint grows by 4 percent after entering the United States, but if they were stay in their own countries, it would be “a start to ending global warming.”
The group paying to air these vicious clips is Californians for Population Stabilization (CAPS). CAPS is a member of America’s Leadership Team for Long Range Population-Immigration-Resource Planning (“Leadership Team”), which has four other member groups.
One member is the Social Contract Press, which publishes its quarterly journal, Social Contract. The Spring 2008 issue, called “The VDare Reader,” devoted itself to republishing the works of the anti-immigrant Web site VDare.com. (Virginia Dare is credited as being the first white person born in the Americas.)
This Web site’s “links” page is a labyrinth of racism and hatred, including links to the Web sites of the “Minutemen Civil Defense Corps” and “White America.” Interestingly enough, an organization praised on the “White America” Web site is NumbersUSA, another member of the Leadership Team.
John Tanton—a major architect of the contemporary anti-immigration movement—is also the founder and publisher of The Social Contract Press. Tanton’s self-made non-profit, U.S. Inc., helped found and fund CAPS and the other members of the Leadership Team.
The national media director for CAPS is Rick Oltman. Oltman—aside from being the western regional director of the hate group Federation for American Immigration Reform, having connections with the Council of Conservative Citizens, and speaking at Minutemen rallies—has the distinct honor of having his name in the title of a piece on VDare.com called “Inside the Big Enchilada: Rick Oltman Debates Hispanic Journalist,” written by Brenda Walker (who is also a regular contributor to Social Contract). The article starts: “What happens on the inside when nearly 2,000 Hispanic journalists convene in a major city with a Spanish name? Is it an open-borders zone where Minutemen are stoned on sight and all ketchup has been replaced with salsa?”
The spiral of chauvinistic racism and hatred only continues to go deeper and deeper, but the real question is this: Why is it that a group founded by John Tanton—a man who is connected with 13 anti-immigrant groups (three of which are listed as hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Center) through either funding, founding or active involvement—is allowed to broadcast its messages of hate on television stations across California using the public airwaves?
In a time of severe economic crisis—where one in 10 U.S. workers are officially unemployed, education and social services are being stripped bare and war funding is off the charts—the ruling class has no choice but to divert workers’ rage from the failings of capitalism. In order to keep the masses from ripping them apart, the capitalists keep the workers fighting amongst themselves. To that end, anti-immigrant bigotry is a handy tool.
Historically, such tactics have led to horrible atrocities against workers. This threat is what led the Party for Socialism and Liberation to join with the ANSWER Coalition (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism), the newly formed Bay Area Latin American Solidarity Coalition and others in an emergency protest in front of the local KRON channel 4 station on Nov 3. The lively group of dozens of people picketed the entrance with signs demanding “KRON 4 Stop the Racist Ads,” and “Stop attacks on immigrants.”
Located on a prominent street in San Francisco, the protest received support from both honking vehicles and passersby who expressed deep concern for the type of rhetoric being expressed by the racist CAPS group that is allowed to have statewide distribution of its bigoted propaganda on TV stations such as KRON 4. Those who didn’t stop by to get information were informed by the bullhorn chants “Full rights for immigrants, Stop the Racist Ads” and “El Pueblo Unido, Jamas Será Vencido.” The group vowed to come back and continue the fight against KRON 4’s complacency until they remove the CAPS commercial.
Racism, sexism and homophobia are social constructs that thrive in a capitalist society but are not inherent to human nature. We must stand up and fight against these ads and all displays of hatred and oppression in our society. Workers and oppressed of the world unite!
