You may know Arizona State Representative Kyrsten Sinema as the person who led the successful – and historic – campaign to defeat Arizona’s proposed constitutional amendment that would have denied legal recognition for gay couples. This was the first time such an amendment had been defeated, making Rep. Sinema a hero to the cause of equality.
Rep. Sinema may also be familiar from recent news reports about a bill she introduced that targets armed vigilante groups like the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps – and the wave of threats she’s received in response. The threats have been physical, and even sexual, in nature.
“I have received numerous threats of rape, kidnapping and forced prostitution in Mexico, along with one e-mail threatening to kick out my uterus so I cannot bear children,” Sinema told Weekly Report. “These are the most concerning.”
These threats have not been attributed to any specific organization, but such sick behavior – whoever is responsible for it – MUST be condemned.
Rep. Sinema, who is a member of People For the American Way Foundation’s Young Elected Officials Network, continues to receive threatening messages. Please do what you can to show her some support in this difficult time. Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper, post a message denouncing the threats against her on a blog, or contact her office (602-926-5058 or
[email protected]) to let her know there are Arizonans out there who are offended by the sleazy intimidation tactics of the Radical Right.
The aggressive debate over Rep. Sinema’s bill has also brought to light some disturbing trends in Arizona, and in fact, across the nation. Anti-immigrant hate mongering has become the new rallying cry for white supremacist groups. The Ku Klux Klan has been experiencing a national resurgence with immigrants (primarily Mexican immigrants) as its preferred target, and after a steady decline throughout the 1990’s, neo-Nazi groups are back on the rise. In a recent committee hearing on Rep. Sinema’s bill, a member of the notorious National Alliance actually showed up to testify on behalf of the vigilante groups.
If you write a letter to the editor, please join us in condemning not only the threats against our friend, Rep. Sinema, but also in raising awareness about this terrifying new wave of racism.
Thank you.
-- Your Allies at People For the American Way
White supremacists have a long history of mobilizing around the fear and hatred of immigrants. The KKK was actually at its peak in the 1920’s, when its primary concern was the large wave of Irish and German immigration to the U.S.
Latinos have been the recent victims of hate crimes including an incident in Kentucky, where a cross was burned on a family’s front lawn, and an incident last year in Houston, in which a Latino teenager was beaten and raped to chants of “white power.”
The Anti-Defamation League has released a report documenting the rebound of the KKK, the rise of new hate groups and the increased cooperation between the KKK and neo-Nazi groups.
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