Ernest
02-02-2008, 10:15 AM
A Call to End Hate Speech
By Ariel Alexovich
The head of the country’s largest Latino civil rights organization called on CNN, MSNBC and Fox News to stop providing a forum for pundits who consistently disparage the documented and undocumented Hispanic immigrant population.
The group, the National Council of La Raza (meaning “the people”), also has asked Mike Huckabee to renounce the endorsement of Jim Gilchrist, a co-founder of the Minuteman Project, a private organization dedicated to preventing people from illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.
Speaking at the National Press Club in Washington on Thursday, Janet Murguia, the N.C.L.R. president, said that anti-Latino remarks on the big three cable news networks are insulting not only to minorities but also to the greater American population.
“It’s personal, it’s intolerable, and it has to end,” she said.
Besides contacting network executives and the Huckabee campaign, the N.C.L.R. has created a Web site to illustrate how disparaging language negatively affects race relations in America.
She listed Glenn Beck, who sometimes appears as a commentator on CNN as well as hosts his own radio show, as one of the worst offenders. Last June, he suggested that America create an alternative energy source out of the bodies of illegal immigrants.
Such talk has serious consequences, Ms. Murguia said. She cited an F.B.I. report which showed a double-digit percentage rise in violence against Latinos since 2003. What’s more, these negative feelings towards Hispanics carries over into U.S. legislation.
“Very often they’re taking their issues straight from some of the hate groups that we just described here, so that actually these words that go out from the hate groups get turned into campaign strategies and political strategies,” said Cecilia Munoz, an N.C.L.R. vice president.
Other major “vigilantes” that need to be kept in check are CNN’s Lou Dobbs, and Fox’s Sean Hannity and Alan Colmes — and most of their guests.
Ms. Murguia didn’t directly endorse any candidate or, for that matter, any political party. However, she had kind words to say about John McCain, the arguable front-runner in the Republican race. Mr. McCain’s plan to handle immigration does not involve the deportation of all illegal immigrants.
“With his emergence as a leading Republican presidential primary contender, I do think that we’ll see this toned down,” Ms. Murguia said. “He has not bought into the demonization or the dehumanization of the undocumented. And, you know, we give him a lot of credit for that. He has stuck principally to that position.
Does it mean that we know everything he’s going to do in that area of reform? And I know he’s got his work cut out for him with a number of people, and we’ll see him put this whole platform together, but we do believe that if he ends up being in a lead role here, we think that that issue will be tapered down.
But it’s not just because of his views — we’re also seeing that it’s a strategy that is not winning for candidates who use it.”
With that she pointed to the single-issue, anti-immigration platform of Tom Tancredo, who withdrew from the Republican race in December. Mr. Tancredo, a congressman from Colorado, had created a particularly scary ad that portrayed Hispanic immigrants as dangerous criminals.
Ms. Murguia argued that hate speech should not be tolerated, even if such censorship were a violation of First Amendment rights:
Everyone knows there is a line sometimes that can be crossed when it comes to free speech. And when free speech transforms into hate speech, we’ve got to draw that line. And that’s what we’re doing here today. And we need to make sure that network executives will hold their people accountable and not cross that line.
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/01/a-call-to-end-hate-speech/
By Ariel Alexovich
The head of the country’s largest Latino civil rights organization called on CNN, MSNBC and Fox News to stop providing a forum for pundits who consistently disparage the documented and undocumented Hispanic immigrant population.
The group, the National Council of La Raza (meaning “the people”), also has asked Mike Huckabee to renounce the endorsement of Jim Gilchrist, a co-founder of the Minuteman Project, a private organization dedicated to preventing people from illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.
Speaking at the National Press Club in Washington on Thursday, Janet Murguia, the N.C.L.R. president, said that anti-Latino remarks on the big three cable news networks are insulting not only to minorities but also to the greater American population.
“It’s personal, it’s intolerable, and it has to end,” she said.
Besides contacting network executives and the Huckabee campaign, the N.C.L.R. has created a Web site to illustrate how disparaging language negatively affects race relations in America.
She listed Glenn Beck, who sometimes appears as a commentator on CNN as well as hosts his own radio show, as one of the worst offenders. Last June, he suggested that America create an alternative energy source out of the bodies of illegal immigrants.
Such talk has serious consequences, Ms. Murguia said. She cited an F.B.I. report which showed a double-digit percentage rise in violence against Latinos since 2003. What’s more, these negative feelings towards Hispanics carries over into U.S. legislation.
“Very often they’re taking their issues straight from some of the hate groups that we just described here, so that actually these words that go out from the hate groups get turned into campaign strategies and political strategies,” said Cecilia Munoz, an N.C.L.R. vice president.
Other major “vigilantes” that need to be kept in check are CNN’s Lou Dobbs, and Fox’s Sean Hannity and Alan Colmes — and most of their guests.
Ms. Murguia didn’t directly endorse any candidate or, for that matter, any political party. However, she had kind words to say about John McCain, the arguable front-runner in the Republican race. Mr. McCain’s plan to handle immigration does not involve the deportation of all illegal immigrants.
“With his emergence as a leading Republican presidential primary contender, I do think that we’ll see this toned down,” Ms. Murguia said. “He has not bought into the demonization or the dehumanization of the undocumented. And, you know, we give him a lot of credit for that. He has stuck principally to that position.
Does it mean that we know everything he’s going to do in that area of reform? And I know he’s got his work cut out for him with a number of people, and we’ll see him put this whole platform together, but we do believe that if he ends up being in a lead role here, we think that that issue will be tapered down.
But it’s not just because of his views — we’re also seeing that it’s a strategy that is not winning for candidates who use it.”
With that she pointed to the single-issue, anti-immigration platform of Tom Tancredo, who withdrew from the Republican race in December. Mr. Tancredo, a congressman from Colorado, had created a particularly scary ad that portrayed Hispanic immigrants as dangerous criminals.
Ms. Murguia argued that hate speech should not be tolerated, even if such censorship were a violation of First Amendment rights:
Everyone knows there is a line sometimes that can be crossed when it comes to free speech. And when free speech transforms into hate speech, we’ve got to draw that line. And that’s what we’re doing here today. And we need to make sure that network executives will hold their people accountable and not cross that line.
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/01/a-call-to-end-hate-speech/