Someone needs to get Roy Beck a dictionary. Apparently this man has no idea how to define "hate speech."
Last week, Georgia signed into law anti-immigrant Arizona copy-cat legislation. Musician Carlos Santana reacted and expressed his disbelief and disappointment, saying:
I am here to give voice to the invisible…I would invite all Latin people to do nothing for about two weeks so you can see who really, really is running the economy. Who cleans the sheets? Who cleans the toilets? Who babysits?
According to Roy Beck, this is “a new low in hate speech against American workers.” Either Roy Beck doesn’t understand what hate speech means, or he’s just making a really bad joke.
Let’s put the cards on the table and lay down some facts.
Roy Beck is the Executive Director of NumbersUSA, which is an anti-immigrant, pro-mass deportation organization. He created NumbersUSA under the umbrella and mentorship of John Tanton, who has recently been referred to by the New York Times as the “Anti-Immigration Crusader”.
In the past John Tanton has made statements like “One of my prime concerns… is about the decline of folks who look like you and me,” and “I’ve come to the point of view that for European-American society and culture to persist requires a European-American majority, and a clear one at that.”
As Tanton’s little puppet, Roy Beck has been an accomplice in Tanton’s ongoing anti-immigrant, hate speech rhetoric. He has served as editor of John Tanton’s anti-immigrant journal, the Social Contract Press, which produced an issue called "Europhobia: The Hostility to European-Descended Americans". He also edited John Tanton’s book "The Immigration Invasion",which was condemned by the Southern Poverty Law Center as “raw in its immigrant bashing”.
Roy Beck can claim Santana’s comments were “hate speech” but the facts clearly point to a different reality.
Frank Sharry, Executive Director of America’s Voice, couldn’t have phrased it better:
Given the recent New York Times story on Mr. Tanton and his extreme views, it comes as no surprise that hate speech is on Mr. Beck’s mind. Perhaps he should look a bit closer to home, though, before aiming the charge at others.
Cross-Posted at America's Voice.