By CAROLYN SZCZEPANSKI
There’s a lot of buzz going on at the Uptown Theater this week — but it’s not the kind that owner Larry Sells looks forward to.
Sells has been deluged with faxes and e-mails begging him to cancel an upcoming event by the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps. In September, Kansas City Parks Board member Frances Semler got a standing ovation at the Uptown when conservative talk show host Laura Ingraham recognized the Northland grandma’s dedication to the Minutemen. Semler, appointed to the parks board in June by Mayor Mark Funkhouser, had been the center of local controversy because of her membership in the anti-illegal-immigration group that patrols the border and pickets worksites to deter undocumented migrants.
To show support for their Minutewoman and to “educate” the city about their activities, the Minutemen decided to hold a “regional leadership retreat” in Kansas City next year, featuring a public “get to know the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps” presentation and a private, daylong session for the group’s state and chapter leaders. For the open house on February 2, they booked the Uptown.
Larry Sells
“Starting today and lasting all week, we're calling on everyone to call, fax, and e-mail the Uptown; to literally drown them in condemnation and demands to cancel the meeting at their theater,” the e-mail urges. “These actions literally will take ten minutes out of your day, but when combined with dozens and dozens of people taking the same action, we feel that these actions may ultimately force the Uptown to cancel the first day of the Minutemen's conference.”
The group heading the effort — Hate Free KC — doesn’t have a clear organizer, but plenty of people have joined the campaign. In the past three days, Sells says he has gotten at least 40 e-mails and dozens of phone calls telling him to call off the Minuteman engagement. The theater owner says the Uptown has always been a venue that welcomes speakers of all political persuasions, though, and he’s used to indignant phone calls.
“We have a contract with the Minutemen, and we honor our contracts,” Sells tells The Pitch. “I’m not a member of the Minutemen; nobody on the Uptown staff is. To say we support the Minutemen is not even close to being correct. But you’re either for free speech all the time — not just when it’s convenient — or you’re not for free speech.”
As far as the free speech that’s been coming across his phone lines, though, Sells isn’t impressed.
“It’s extremist, attack-dog tactics,” he says. “At some point it’s going to be interfering with our business and we’ll have a cause of action against them.”
Maybe the satirical holiday cards — from activists’ posing as Aryan Nation members, thanking Sells for supporting the White Racial Cause — will lighten the Uptown owner’s spirits. But those won’t arrive until later in the week.
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I saw a program concerning that on TV last week. Thanks for putting more meat on the bones
Color me a naive stupid Dodo Bird, but one of the coolest moments of all time would be when the Black Panther torture victims of Chicago, the Imperial Purple Wizards of Alabama, the ICE inmates at all the 100 or so "detention centers" in Texas, the Jewish society of Holocaust Survivors and Nazi Hunters, and the parents of Abu Graib torture victims could all meet and air their points of view.
Of course all folks present might have to be on Valium to suppress their natural rage at each other, but by the time they all got done presenting their views and likes and dislikes, they might find that they would have in common some very sinister enemies disguised as media, politicians, CEO's, and a bunch of bankers.
But don't be fooled. I see bad guys from all colors. You might have some super Yellow Supremacy Heroin Kingpins representing fom the East Side. You might see the Ex-Cuban Jewish Mafia moving weight at the Guantanamo Annex. You might even see some avowed Communist Revolutionaries buying real estate in the Hamptons. But, for the most part, the folks at this fantasy gathering would not be the ones invited to the Cotillion at the Chevy Chase Club nor the Owl Orchard Ritual Human Sacrifice Annual Soire.
So come one, come all, it's time for a great big group hug. Identify your real enemies, stupid.
dave,
thanks for the clarity and insight of your comments. it's important for everyone to be able to see through arguments that seek to divide everyday citizens like those reading this blog. i think it's sad when groups like the minutemen focus on our differences and creating larger physical and social divisions between us, and miss a much larger picture of who's in control of the work we all want and need to perform. immigrants want jobs, we want jobs, and global capitalism is going to send those jobs to wherever they can be most cheaply had. when people realize the more important walls are between everyday citizens and the orchestrators of global capital, we might be more likely to unite in a larger struggle to perform meaningful work that serves the needs of our local communities.
Ruben, get real.
The ACLU protects the KKK and Aryan groups when they try to protest. That's the weakest argument ever.
MEcha and La Raza are advocacy groups that fight discrimination and racism. Guess what, I'm a white person, and I've worked with both groups.
Your post is ridiculous baiting. How has any white person been discriminated against by these folks?
Also, by the way, the MCDC doesn't actively organize against MEcha and La Raza or the ACLU... they organize against migrant workers.... migrant workers who have overwhelmingly never done anything to white people other than clean their hotel rooms, grow their food, and serve them their burgers.
The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps Are Victims
of Racial Discrimination by Groups like mecha la raza ACLU And many other So called human Right groups that blame White people Not by there actions but by the Color of there Skin
Howard,
Can you actually explain how working class Americans get the "shaft" from immigrants? I agree with your assessment that big business bosses and politicians are robbing us and screwing us... but how does this logic lead us to targeting undocumented migrants?
Migrants should be our natural ally in this fight against the business and ruling parties... they're hardly our enemy, as they are victims of the same economic and political policies as us working folks born inside this country.
Maybe if the Minutemen actually went after the real enemy, as opposed to targeting people who should be our allies in this fight, your comment might make some semblance of sense.
There is no way you can argue that our jobs, health, or livelihoods have actually been harmed by migrants. To the countrary, the only people stealing our jobs are the rich who keep sending them overseas. The only people threatening our health are the rich who keep us from having real healthcare.
All of the problems that people like the Minutemen attibute to migrants are caused by rich primarily-WHITE people, and not brown skinned workers trying to seek some sort of better life in this country while fleeing the affects of NAFTA and the "War on Drugs".
Someone told just told me that Frances Semler is going to do a "performance art piece" (that's how it was termed, I swear) at the Minuteman event. She's going onstage wrapped in an American flag, lifting her leg and peeing on a Mexican flag. I think that's in the most vulgar taste imaginable and I'm ashamed of Mr. Larry Sells for desecrating the Uptown Theatree in that fashion.
Thumbs up to the minuteman and mr. sells. I glad to see them standing up, someone has to. It is awful to see what the politicians, big business lobby, and special interests have done to this country. Politicians get more money from big business, business makes more money from cheap labor, and special interests gets funds and grants ffrom big business and the politicians, while we get the shaft. Now don't let the republicans fool you, they also have had their hands down in big business pocket. They have just pulled them out for a little while to act innocent and act like they are concerned with the problem. It's all about power and money and they do not care about the citizens.
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