Barbara Coe, Racist Nativist Leader, Dies in California
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, the vitriolic California racist who regularly called undocumented immigrants 鈥渟avages鈥 and once claimed that these 鈥渂arbarians鈥 were busily 鈥渃utting off heads and appendages of blind, white, disabled gringos,鈥 has died.
Although she was widely known for statements like those, especially in recent years when she also charged that President Obama was not American and admitted she was a member of a hate group that has described black people as a 鈥渞etrograde species of humanity,鈥 Coe was once a key player in the nativist movement. In 1994, her California Coalition for Immigration Reform (CCIR) helped push through the state鈥檚 Proposition 187, which barred the undocumented from services including non-emergency medical care but was ultimately struck down by the courts.
Coe, who was 79 when she died of lung cancer at her Huntington Beach home on Aug. 31, made a routine of viciously attacking immigrants and anyone who supported them. When an 18-year-old student committed suicide because he could not get legal status in the United States, she as just another 鈥渟icko yellow-belly coward illegal alien 鈥榮ob story.鈥欌 During the 2003 Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride, held to support legalization of the undocumented, she wondered 鈥渉ow many in this group of foreign invaders have robbed, raped and possibly murdered law-abiding American citizens and legal residents?鈥 When Antonio Villaraigosa was elected mayor of Los Angeles in 2005, she accused the son of a Mexican immigrant of plotting to return Southern California to Mexico. After newly elected California Gov. Gray Davis refused to pursue the Proposition 187 court case, she accused him of being a Communist and began calling him 鈥淩ed鈥 Davis.
She despised Obama, who she characterized as a lying Muslim born in another country. Less than an hour after the president announced the killing of Osama bin Laden in 2011, she her followers: 鈥淥BAMA is a proven, radical pro-Islamic Muslim BUT will do/say ANYTHING to get re-elected. OBAMA has illustrated that he complies with Sharia Law 鈥 which demands Misleading or Lying (TAQIYYA) to promote the Koran鈥檚 mandate to 鈥榯orture, kill ALL non-Muslim infidels.鈥 DUMP OBAMA (and his fellow-TRAITORS) or DIE! YOUR CALL!鈥
Not that she limited herself to hating Democrats. At a 2007 March Against the North American Union 鈥 referring to a about a secret plot to merge Mexico, the United States and Canada 鈥 she said that President George W. Bush and undocumented immigrants were working together to impose the 鈥淣ew World Order,鈥 a reference to a much-feared global government. 鈥淚llegal aliens,鈥 she said, 鈥渁re the ground troops needed by Bush Jr. and his globalist buddies for the ultimate death of America.鈥 She went on to charge that Bush and other 鈥済lobalists鈥 were exploiting the 鈥渉erd mentality鈥 of immigrants to achieve their aims.
In Orange County, Coe鈥檚 death was noted in an Orange County Register story that described her in forgiving terms. Coe, the obituary said, was 鈥渂est known for tapping into some citizens鈥 deeply held concerns about illegal immigration.鈥 The piece said nothing of her self-admitted membership in the , an openly racist group, and it quoted none of her more vitriolic statements. It did, however, cite CCIR board member Evelyn Miller, who insisted that the 鈥渃harge of racism is used by charlatans鈥 and vowed to continue Coe鈥檚 work.
Others celebrated Coe鈥檚 dubious contributions. According to the Register, the far-right Eagle Forum of California planned to honor her in a meeting yesterday. And the CCIR itself vowed to continue her work, the paper reported, with board member Vaughn Becht saying, 鈥淲e have a board that will carry on her legacy.鈥
Barbara Coe was born on a Sioux reservation in South Dakota, but eventually moved to California, where she became a crime analyst for the Anaheim Police Department 鈥 until she left in 1994 after reportedly being caught using a department camera to photograph striking workers she suspected of being undocumented immigrants.
By her own account, Coe鈥檚 hatred for immigrants took off when she accompanied a friend to a social services office in Orange County in 1991. 鈥淚 walked into this monstrous room full of people, babies and little children all over the place, and I realized nobody was speaking English,鈥 she recalled three years later. 鈥淚 was overwhelmed with this feeling: 鈥榃here am I? What鈥檚 happened here?鈥欌
During the 1994 Proposition 187 campaign, Coe announced plans to post flyers near polling places on Election Day saying 鈥淥nly citizens can vote.鈥 She was accused of trying to intimidate voters, and the FBI questioned her but did not bring charges.
The next year, she and racist nativist organized a speaking event for , another nativist who runs the white nationalist VDARE website. VDARE stands for Virginia Dare, said to be the first English child born in the New World.
With Spencer, she claimed to have discovered another non-existent foreign plot against the United States 鈥 the so-called 鈥淧lan de Aztlan,鈥 a supposed Mexican conspiracy to reconquer the seven states of the American Southwest.
In the late 2000s, Coe became a board member of the , a major anti-immigrant citizens border patrol group whose members President Bush once characterized as 鈥渧igilantes.鈥 While there, she became embroiled in a complicated internal battle over control of the group, helping to fire founder Jim Gilchrist for alleged mismanagement. She resigned from the group鈥檚 board in 2007.
鈥淪he was fire and brimstone,鈥 Spencer for its obituary earlier this week. And she was certainly fire, as anyone who has heard her speak can testify. But Barbara Coe may be even better remembered as brimstone, an archaic word for sulphur.
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