Countering anti-immigrant hysteria
Joe Carr posted a summary of efforts by Kansas Mutual Aid and friends to counter the message of organized xenophobia put forth by the Minutemen at the recent MCDC conference here in Kansas City.
Kansas City Unites Against the Minutemen
Share ThisThe Minutemen Civil Defense Corps (MCDC) is a racist vigilante group that
carries out armed border patrols and harasses Latino/a workers and their
employers. They have ties to known hate groups such as the KKK and Arian
Nation. Controversy over the group erupted here when Kansas City Mayor
Funkhouser appointed Frances Semler, an active member of the MCDC to the
city Parks and Recreation Board. In response, Latino rights group La Raza
pulled their national convention from Kansas City, so the MCDC staged
their first national leadership conference here instead.Upon learning they were coming, the Kansas Mutual Aid collective called
for an organized response. Quickly joined by others, we helped put
together a coalition of over 30 Civil Rights, Migrants Rights, religious
and progressive organizations and called ourselves the Common Table
Coalition. It was the largest and most diverse coalition seen by this city
in a long time.
