December 2006

by Molly Secours

Last week comedian Michael Richards fired a round of angry racial epithets at several young black men heckling him in a comedy club in Los Angeles. One week later, Sean Bell, a 23 year old groom-to-be and his two friends (all black) were gunned down by five plain-clothed New York City police officers who felt compelled to fire over fifty shots total at the three unarmed men who were celebrating Bell's impending marriage.

March 2006

by Tim Wise

[Most WIP readers are well aware of the recent and on-going targeting of our community by a neo-Nazi hate group called the National Socialist Movement. Various affinity groups in the community are organizing around this issue and we anticipate that related actions and projects will be announced as they unfold. In the meantime, in response to advice contained in "Points to Remember When Responding to Hate Groups," (see below) we are printing, with permission, this recent article by Tim Wise (2/3/2006).

March 2006

Reprinted from “When Hate Groups Come to Town: A Handbook of Effective Community Responses”, published by the Center for Democratic Renewal, Atlanta, 1992.

Avoid a divisive First Amendment debate on the rights of hate groups.

When community groups consider the problems posed by hate group demonstrations and parades, they often become embroiled in a debate over the free speech guarantees of the First Amendment. A Coalition may find itself increasingly divided, with some of its members arguing that restrictions aimed at limiting the public activities of the hate groups should be adopted while . . .

February 2005

by Mike Whitney

"I do not agree that the dog in the manger has the final right to the manger, even though he may have lain there for a very long time. I do not admit that right. I do not admit for instance, that a great wrong has been done to the Red Indians of America, or the black people of Australia. I do not admit that a wrong has been done to these people by the fact that a stronger race, a higher grade race, a more worldly-wise race, to put it that way, has come in and taken their place." Winston Churchill, to the Peel Commission of Inquiry 1937, defending the brutal slaughter of . . .