Discussion focuses on hate groups in Arizona

by Scott Wong and Yvonne Wingett - Aug. 13, 2009 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic

Immigration has become the predominant recruiting tool for hate groups across the country, resulting in a rise in hate activity in Arizona, a representative from Southern Poverty Law Center said Wednesday during a visit to Phoenix.

The Montgomery, Ala.-based civil-rights organization tracked 173 Nativist extremist groups nationwide last year, compared with just a handful in 2000. And nine out of 10 rallies held by hate groups last year focused on anti-immigration, said Heidi Beirich, the center's research director.

"This is like a prairie fire raging across the country in terms of organized anti-immigrant sentiment," Beirich said. "These are very extreme organizations that have come up in a very short period of time."

At the invitation of Mayor Phil Gordon, Beirich met with media and participated in a panel discussion to highlight the presence of hate groups in the state.

The economic recession, Latino immigration and election of the first Black president have fueled the popularity of White supremacist, Nativist and other hate groups, Beirich said.

"All three of those things are frankly driving White supremacists crazy," she said. "They are terrified at the direction the country is taking. . . . They are terrified enough that they are willing to commit acts of violence."

The center defines hate groups as those that have "beliefs or practices that attack or malign an entire class of people, typically for their immutable characteristics."

About 600 hate groups existed in the country in 2000, according to the law center. It tracked 926 last year, 19 of them in Arizona.

Beirich said she is troubled that two of Arizona's elected officials - Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and state Sen. Russell Pearce, both Republicans - have associated with local hate groups.

She said Arpaio has been a guest speaker of United for a Sovereign America, which the center considers a Nativist extremist group. She referenced a widely circulated photo of Pearce posing with J.T. Ready, a member of the neo-Nazi National Socialist Movement.

"It's very dangerous when mainstream characters hang out with these folks. At the end of the day, it helps them sell their message, it endorses what they are doing and it empowers them," Beirich said. "It really is incumbent on public officials to stay away from people who essentially hate Jews, hate Blacks and hate Latinos."

Pearce rejected the center's characterization, saying he backs groups that stand for enforcing the law. He accused the center of ignoring criminal acts, such as rapes, home invasions and kidnappings, committed by illegal immigrants.

"This is a radical, radical hate group themselves. They make the ACLU look conservative," Pearce said. "They have an agenda, and their agenda is to attack every group that stands up for American moral principals and patriotic values."

Arpaio asserted that he has never condoned racist neo-Nazi groups and said Beirich was part of a broader effort by Democratic politicians to prevent him from enforcing illegal immigration.

"She happens to be in Maricopa County where the sheriff has been elected five times and has higher polls than anyone in the state," Arpaio said. "If she wants to insult me, she is insulting all the people who elected me."

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