How Do We Know FAIR is a Hate Group?
John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou, the immigrant-bashing Los Angeles who were suspended earlier this year when they and marveled that the late pop singer 鈥渢ook this long鈥 to die, are back on the air and up to their old tricks.
In the August 3 edition of the 鈥淛ohn & Ken Show,鈥 the duo took up for the (FAIR), an anti-immigrant organization that the Southern Poverty Law Center has called a hate group since 2008 because of its virulent and false attacks on non-white immigrants.
鈥淭he Federation for American Immigration Reform, I think, has been defined by some of these think tank organizations as a hate group,鈥 Chiampou said.
鈥淩eally? The Federation for American Immigration Reform, which just researches the facts concerning America鈥檚 immigration policies, puts out reports concerning the amount of dollars spent on illegal immigrants, goes up and through that. But because some of their stuff points out the truth, which the other side doesn鈥檛 like, concerning how many illegals we have in this country, how much it costs this country, our failing policies, politicians who don鈥檛 stand up for our laws, who don鈥檛 stand up for border patrol, how they are suddenly labeled a hate group.鈥
OK, Ken, we鈥檒l bite.
First, a quick factual correction. FAIR doesn鈥檛 鈥渏ust鈥 research 鈥渢he facts鈥 about immigration policy. It is a lobbying organization. This is no secret. On its own website, under 鈥淥ur Objectives,鈥 FAIR said it seeks 鈥渢o influence public policy directly by lobbying (to the extent permitted by our tax status) and by protecting the citizens' rights in the courts.鈥 Its 鈥渕ission,鈥 in part, is to 鈥渁dvocate immigration policies that will best serve American environmental, societal, and economic interests today and into the future.鈥
So there鈥檚 that.
And then there鈥檚 the 鈥渇acts鈥 FAIR puts out there, the alleged 鈥渢ruth鈥 that, you say, is so disliked by the 鈥渙ther side.鈥
Sometimes FAIR鈥檚 鈥渇acts鈥 are true. More often, they鈥檙e debatable, culled as they are from dubious sources like FAIR鈥檚 sister organization, the .
The bottom line is, FAIR doesn鈥檛 peddle facts; it peddles hate. Its lobbying and legal efforts 鈥 such as the campaign that led to 鈥 are based on fomenting fear, on exploiting racial tensions and economic anxieties to convince people that they had better not let any more 鈥渁liens鈥 into their country.
FAIR founder , a man with a of friendly correspondence with Holocaust deniers, a former Klan lawyer and leading white nationalist thinkers, has repeatedly suggested that racial conflict will be the outcome of immigration. In 1998, he told a reporter that whites would inevitably develop a racial consciousness because 鈥渕ost people don't want to disappear into the dustbin of history,鈥 and added that once whites did become racially conscious, the result would be 鈥渢he war of each against all.鈥
Dan Stein, FAIR鈥檚 president, is no better. 鈥淚mmigrants don't come all church-loving, freedom-loving, God-fearing,鈥 he said in 1997. 鈥淢any of them hate America, hate everything that the United States stands for. Talk to some of these Central Americans.鈥
Need more examples? Former Colorado Gov. Richard Lamm, a longtime member of FAIR's board of advisors, once said that 鈥渘ew cultures鈥 in America were 鈥渄iluting what we are and who we are.鈥 And , FAIR鈥檚 former Western field representative, once accused Mexican immigrants of turning California into a "third world cesspool.鈥
Not to mention FAIR鈥檚 鈥渟uggested reading鈥 on immigration, which includes white nationalist Alien Nation, a book whose central thesis is that America should remain a country dominated by whites.
FAIR also recommends Pat Buchanan鈥檚 , which argues that America鈥檚 shift away from being white-dominated is "one of the greatest tragedies in human history.鈥
So yes, John and Ken, FAIR is a hate group. Not because it promulgates 鈥渇acts鈥 and 鈥渢ruths鈥 its opponents would rather ignore but because it promotes hatred of immigrants, especially non-white ones.
By defending racism, encouraging xenophobia and nativism, and giving its all to efforts to keep America white, FAIR has more than earned its place in the pantheon of hate groups. That is where it belongs, and that is where it will stay.