Thread: Kansas: Minutemen and foes plan Friday events

Posted on Wed, Jan. 30, 2008
Minutemen and foes plan Friday events
By LYNN FRANEY
The Kansas City Star
Kansas City, prepare to be educated.

At its first-ever regional conference this weekend, the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps says it will educate the public about its mission: fighting illegal immigration with legal protest activities.

Civil rights groups plan a countermarch Friday to educate the public about what they say the Minuteman organization embraces: hate speech and vigilantism.

The coming showdown arose out of the controversy over Mayor Mark Funkhouser’s appointment last year of Frances Semler, an active member of the Minuteman group, to the Kansas City Parks and Recreation Board.

Civil rights groups urged Funkhouser to rescind her appointment.

When he did not, the National Council of La Raza, a nonprofit organization that advocates for Hispanics, threatened to take its 2009 convention out of Kansas City.

In response, the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps organized its own conference in Kansas City.

The group plans a conference kickoff at 7 p.m. Friday at the Uptown Theater in midtown Kansas City. On the agenda are a speech by Minuteman founder Chris Simcox, a question-and-answer session with Simcox and other national Minuteman leaders, and a showing of the movie “Border,â€

Hope someone gets video.

When the "civil rights groups" start yelling and calling people names it needs to be documented. Maybe they'll bring "their" flags. Here's hoping.

There is a place beside this article to vote, Minutemen or protester or neither. Please go vote.

Posted on Fri, Feb. 01, 2008
Minuteman gathering hails Semler as a hero
By LYNN FRANEY
The Kansas City Star

Frances Semler received a hero’s welcome Friday night at the anti-illegal-immigration Minuteman Civil Defense Corps’ first regional conference.

At least 310 people filling the Uptown Theater — according to a Star reporter’s count — stood and applauded the Minuteman member, who had faced strong opposition from civil rights groups after Kansas City Mayor Mark Funkhouser appointed her to the city park board.

Minuteman opponents accuse the group of using racist language and harassing Hispanics.

“I have a new hero: Frances Semler,â€