Faced with plummeting Mexican migration in the wake of the financial crisis, American anti-immigrant groups have navigated their way from the brink of irrelevance by renewing their commitment to harassing blacks and Jews instead.
“I feel that we really lost our way,” said David Duke, founder of the Louisiana-based Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. “This was just a wake-up call to get us to return to our roots,” he explained. “As tireless as our focus on those Mexicans has been, it was just unsustainable. It really is all about sustainability,” he added, much to the chagrin of environmental groups who objected to Mr. Duke’s use of their mantra.
While Mexican immigrant groups have been quick to endorse the shift in anti-immigrant group targeting, the NAACP and the Simon Wiesenthal Center have both protested the change.
“We have been through that gauntlet,” said Benjamin Jealous, President of the NAACP. “It just goes against any possible notion of fairness,” he said. “They have been harassing us for centuries. So then, only a few years ago, they shifted their focus to the Mexicans. Now they want to shift back to us? That’s just wrong,” he added.
“I completely agree” said Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center. “We’ve been taking our lumps now for 2000 years. Finally, it was looking like we were off-the-hook. Now this?” he said. “We already had our turn. Can’t they go after the Canadians or something?” he added.
Not all anti-immigrant groups have embraced the shift in focus.
“We really invested a lot of sweat into hating the Mexicans,” said San Diego Minutemen founder Jeff Schwilk. “Everything was going just great. We were even hopeful that the national hysteria surrounding the swine flu pandemic was going to lead to a relaxation of the draconian laws against shooting Mexican migrant workers on sight,” he said. “Sure the border crossings are way down. But that doesn’t mean we can’t cause some grief for the few that still come,” he added.
Asked how the issue affected anti-hate groups, Southern Poverty Law Center founder Morris Dees responded “We are really okay with it. We’re in business either way.”
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