Texas leader of Minuteman group resigns

[Judi Lynn]

July 27, 2005, 12:30AM

Texas leader of Minuteman group resigns
Associated Press

VICTORIA — The Texas leader of the Minuteman volunteer border patrol group has resigned, saying the chapter lacks structure and claiming racist tendencies among members from his area, a newspaper reported.

Bill Parmley, a Goliad County landowner who heads the Texas chapter of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, resigned by e-mail Monday in a letter to Chris Simcox, the group's national president, and Goliad County Sheriff Robert DeLaGarza, the Victoria Advocate reported in today's editions.

The Minuteman group drew national attention earlier this year for its volunteer patrols of the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona. It is planning similar patrols in Texas this fall, and Simcox said the resignation would not change those plans.

Parmley, who lives in the tiny Goliad County town of Sarco, accused members of working to undermine DeLaGarza because he is Hispanic. He also said the group was holding secret meetings without him in violation of the bylaws.
(snip/...)

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/3283908

[KG]

1. heh.

[Rebellious Republican]

2. Couldn't see this coming could we! Who would have thunk it.

A bunch white redneck vigilantes patrol borders with guns because they are so civic minded! :sarcasm:

[Ian David]

3. North American Minuteman Border Legionaires Association (NAMBLA)

Use their full name, ok?

[mbperrin]

4. I'm not going to say I told you so,

but I did!

[tanyev]

5. Too many chiefs and not enough Indians, I betcha.

[UTUSN]

6. KKK by Any Other Name (including the Swiftbots, Repukes) n/t

[MrTriumph]

7. So why is it that you say protecting American jobs is racist?

Maybe what this guy in the article says is accurate. But for most of us favoring closing the border to illegals, it is a jobs issue.

Some DUers who haven't seen the ravages of illegal labor (many are not "immigrants"; they plan to return home after a while in the US)don't understand what has happened to low-end and what used to be medium-paying jobs since the overwhelming wave of illegals began.

Remember: Bush & his cronies love illegal labor.

[Roland99]

8. "racist tendencies"?? The hell you say!

[Judi Lynn]

9. Kick!

:kick: :kick: :kick:

[TroglodyteScholar]

10. Dupe

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=1660710&mesg_id=1660710

[Judi Lynn]

11. Mine was posted on Wednesday. n/t

[newscott]

12. You know what they say about the first ones against the wall.

[Judi Lynn]

13. Kick!

:kick: :kick: :kick:

[AlphaCentauri]

14. Texas Minutemen head quits, cites racism in group

The head of the Texas Minuteman Civil Defense Corps has quit, saying he has been unable to overcome racism among members in Goliad.

National leaders say the resignation of Bill Parmley won't have any effect on the planned actions targeting illegal immigrants in Houston and other Texas cities this October.

However, they also acknowledge Parmley was a driving force in organizing that effort.

It was Parmley's idea to run operations in Houston targeting day laborers and the contractors who hire them. And Parmley, a petroleum geologist and landowner in Goliad County, bought the plane tickets to fly in national Minuteman leaders from Arizona last month to begin organizing efforts here.

Parmley said he has become concerned that some of the Minuteman activists in his region have a vendetta against the Goliad County sheriff, who is Hispanic.

He asserted they also have made comments about shooting illegal immigrants or letting them die from dehydration.

"That's their mind-set, and I don't want my name and my reputation associated with a group of people who are racist like that," he said.

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/3285468

Minuteman Divisions
Internal squabbles tear at anti-immigrant movement

Early one recent Sunday evening, standing in the shade of the oak trees outside the VFW hall in Campo, California, Sally wrung her hands. “I don’t understand why there isn’t more people out here. I really don’t.” A round woman with graying blond curls, Sally (who asked me not to print her full name) had driven from her home in El Cajon to this tiny high-desert town about 50 miles west of Calexico to help out with the first of California’s three competing Minuteman Project–inspired civilian border-militia efforts.

http://www.laweekly.com/ink/05/36/news-ehrenreich.php

[geek tragedy]

15. They should ask Michelle Malkin to fill in--she loves racism. eom

[keta11]

31. Good choice for replacement

She is one of the most racist xenophobes extant.

[KG]

16. Parmley: i ain't racist! mexicans ain't a race!

[bushisanidiot]

17. Guess wearing the sheets and putting on the hood was going too far, eh?

these thugs are nothing but a recycled KKK group... they've been itching to kick some brown skin ass for years and this was their big chance.

[Book Lover]

18. "I herded racists together, and then they started acting rascist!"

"What the hell?"

I am so glad to see the "Minutemen" fall apart, I can hardly say. Good riddance to bad rubbish.

on edit: Welcome to DU, AlphaCentauri!

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

20. Hehe...can't wait for all the DU patriots to show up :)

[Susang]

22. 5..... 4..... 3..... 2.... 1......

:nuke:

[marmar]

19. Didn't he find the concept of Minutemen...

to be rather racist to begin with?

:dunce:

[Skinner]

21. There's a shocker

There are racists in the Minutemen? Unbelievable. :sarcasm:

[Susang]

23. Hard to believe, isn't it?

A group who's main intent is to keep Mexicans out of the country, racist? Outrageous! :eyes:

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

24. See I told you my thread wasn't flamebait...it was matter of fact

:D

[Solly Mack]

45. I well remember that one

You were right on the money!

[MidwestTransplant]

32. I had to read the article twice......

[SemiCharmedQuark]

83. Upstanding citizen Chris Simcox would never be involved with such a thing!

[LibertyLover]

25. Minutemen

I wonder what gave him the first clue? Could it have been the fully functioning hangman's noose on the belt that everyone was wearing?

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

26. Come on folks! Get this on the greatest page!

[union_maid]

27. This is a fairly big problem among anti-immigration people

Good for him. But it's going to be an even more uncontrolled situation unless something is done. Vigilante organizations don't tend to work out well. I mean, they're probably not all racist. You can come up with other good reasons to want to control or even stop illegal immigration. But it does attract racists.

There's a constant struggle on Long Island, having to do with undocumented day workers. It's gotten ugly at times. It's resulted in criminal convictions of people who have seriously assaulted people just because they were believed to be illegal aliens. The most telling thing was a number of years ago. The citizens' group that wanted an end to shape-up lots in their area used to meet at the firehouse. Eventually, though, the fire department kicked them out because they couldn't stand to hear the racist talk anymore. The firemen who spoke about it for publication said it was unbelievable.

[XemaSab]

64. Let's round up a bunch of unemployable fellows

with nothing better to do and start us a vigilante group to camp down in the desert and keep the Mexicans and Arabs out of the country. We'll get a case of PBR and bring the guns and the ATV's.

If a man can't trust the federal government to keep out terrorists, he has to do it hisself. Those illegals are getting uppity and taking American jobs and taxpayer money and a white man can't hardly find work these days.



What in this scenario could possibly attract racists?

[madrchsod]

28. you mean they have aryan nations in their group?

well i`m shocked!!!

[Xipe Totec]

29. Welcome to DU!

:hi:

[kenny blankenship]

30. Isn't this a little like Fred Flintstone quitting the Moose Lodge or

whatever fraternal order he belonged to, because they wore silly hats?

The reason behind the existence of armed "citizen border patrol" is racist to the core: to join one, you have to believe that the people coming in across our borders are SO BAD that ordinary folks are justified in taking the law into their own hands and stopping border crossers with deadly force. You just can't get there from a normal orderly citizen's life without gettin' off the main road for some racist pitstops. Nothing normal and non-malignant would propel you to it.

Defending your own house and family from trespassers is one thing--anybody can be or should be prepared to go to extremes to defend those who depend on them. But that's totally different from getting in your trucks and roaring off to the border areas with loaded guns to meet people coming north looking for work for themselves or their families, even if you think these people take jobs from Americans. You have to hate the people you think you'll meet to threaten their lives that way with no justification of self-defence.

[Lerkfish]

33. gee, that's funny...when I mentioned it mayb a racist group, I got my head

handed to me here back then.


hmmm.

[donco6]

34. Just wait, they're coming.

I know they're still out there.

[Lerkfish]

37. AH..i see you were correct.

:)

[ConfuZed]

35. The intention of the group isn't racist

They are just trying to get existing laws enforced but since they are automatically labeled as racists by activists who rather see their people be exploited by rich republicans this group is going to attract racists. We have immigration laws for a reason but if our public service officials don't want to enforce them just take the laws off the books.

[Lerkfish]

38. riiiiiiiiight.

sounds plausible to me.
It isn't a racist group, but the leader quits because of racism...

okeydoke.


I guess its just me unfairly labeling.

yeah, that's it.

[ConfuZed]

40. Are you mis-quoting me purposely or you only read half of what I said?

I clearly said this group "intentions" isn't racist thats evident because when a few members made those comments they immediately disbanded they clearly don't want racists associated with their group.

[Lerkfish]

43. I'm disagreeing with you.

no misquote intended.

you are saying it isn't a group with racist "intentions". I think it IS a group with racist intentions.
I'm disagreeing with you. I consider a group with racist intentions and a racist group to be synonymous.

for some reason you do not.

that's all.

[aden_nak]

55. EDIT: replied to wrong post

[SlavesandBulldozers]

61. no they're not racist

that's why there's all those minuteman guarding the Canadian border too.

:eyes:

[XemaSab]

65. They're under deep cover

masquerading as ice fisherman.

Oops, did I say that? Off to gitmo for me!

[ConfuZed]

68. The canadian border isn't the problem :)

Millions of canadians are not running across the border illegally and being exploited for cheap labor when they arrive.

[SlavesandBulldozers]

77. yes, so what do the minuteman do?

do they go after those who hire this cheap labor? of course not! why? because they don't know where to start.

instead they load up the rifle, hop in the pick-up and go to the desert so they can play special-forces instead of going to Iraq where they shoot back.

[AspenRose]

72. Believe it or not....

those idiots are planning to do just that (according to local TV news here in NM)

[SlavesandBulldozers]

75. bwahahah

desert heat got to em, no doubt.

[donco6]

41. Hmm mmm mmmm mmmm

Just humming to myself.

NOT saying I told you so.

Just humming.

[Lerkfish]

44. yea, I'm humming with you...

and you DID tell me so!

:)

[Igel]

50. The only objection I have to much of the reasoning here is that it's

apparently impossible to distinguish between wanting to shut off the largest source of illegal immigration and wanting to kill, after violently torturing, proud members of la Raza. At least at some level of abstraction. Or distraction.


So if we had primarily illegal immigration from Canada, we could stop it ... well, no, there'd be some objection. Let's assume that's a trivial objection to overcome, for the sake of argument.

But since most illegal immigrants aren't easily mistaken for Icelanders, it must be racist.

Mexico guards its southern borders and deports illegal immigrants, primarily Central American. They deport few "anglos" or "gringos".

Must be racism.

[Lerkfish]

52. why is illegal immigration a worse problem than outsourcing to India?

just askin.

[Lerkfish]

60. apparently, no one has an answer.

figures.

[SemperEadem]

47. Then why aren't they up at the northern border doing the same thing?

Why aren't they targeting the Ukrainians and other Eastern European illegals? An illegal immigrant is still an illegal immigrant regardless of their skin color.

Their group is about racism, not defending this country against people coming in illegally.

[Book Lover]

51. Well, let's look at it this way

If you want immigration regulations to be enforced because you see in your everyday life that they are not, you can do many things to try and correct this. One way is to work within the political system, trying to get more funds for Border Patrol, working to enforce fines against employers who hire people who do not have the right to work here legally. Or you can pack up your gun and drive hundreds of miles to the Mexico-US border to intimidate people trying to enter the country. Do you see why many liberals see the second action, which is the one advocated by this group, as racist?

[CAcyclist]

56. But WHY Do You Want Immigration Laws Enforced

Why shouldn't Mexicans be able to emigrate here legally? (edited to add - not necessarily you personally - sorry I didn't mean for this to sound like a personal attack )

They can't because of immigration laws. I say the immigration law is wrong, not the people trying to break it.


What I do object to is corporations getting the government to change the law to bring in people who otherwise would never think about coming just so they can get cheap labor in high tech fields. Or worse dumbing down our regulations for professions so less qualified people can be employed.

I have a problem with the corporations benefiting from this - like the high tech field and Banfield (trying to change our laws so they can employ less well qualified overseas veterinarians here) - but I have no problem with the people themselves.

We need immigration overall - it benefits this country and it is supposedly what this country was founded on. We may have a resource problem because the rich are hoarding to many of our resources, but it is not the fault of the poor migrant worker.

[Strelnikov_]

57. Delete

Why bother.

[ConfuZed]

71. Re: "Why shouldn't Mexicans be able to emigrate here legally?"

Who says they can't, millions of mexicans have immigrated to america legally like everyone else.

[CAcyclist]

88. The Question Was: Why Do You Want Immigration Laws Enforced? nt

[Bridget Burke]

84. When my ancestors came to the US...

All you needed was your health. There were restrictions on some ethnic groups, but they needed lots of Irish with strong backs.

Now, even multi-degreed professionals must hire immigration lawyers for the right to stay. And these are the highly qualified ones.

[Igel]

48. Here's a tough philosophical problem:

Is it possible for a group that has avowedly non-racist goals to contain racists?

Moreover, is it possible for a national group to have local chapters that have a higher concentration of racists than the group as a whole?

[Lerkfish]

49. is it possible to defend racism through argument?

[Igel]

78. Nobody's defending racism.

Well, maybe some are; I'm not.

What I am saying is that it's possible for a group that primarily serves a non-racist purpose to have a certain percentage of racists in it, or even for non-racists and racists to have the same short term or interrim goal. I don't believe in guilt by association.

When there's a source of illegal immigration that happens also to overlap heavily with a given ethnicity, the two can look the same.

The original claim by many DUers was that the organization was founded to be a racist organization. The guy who founded the organization leaves when it is obviously populated with racists and starts pursuing a goal that is blatantly racist. The contradiction here is sufficient for me to consider the original claim refuted.

[Lerkfish]

80. I disagree.

we'll have to leave it at that.

My POV is that to form the group IN THE FIRST PLACE and to place themselves ON THE MEXICAN BORDER is blatantly racist in its intent, regardless of what is claimed by the founder.

Therefore, I do not find recent events have refuted anything at all, sorry. Instead, I think the founder had .9 level racist intent, but knew enough PR to cover it up in interviews. Then, some yahoos join who don't have his PR savvy, and start making overtly racist comments or actions, and the founder realizes the veneer he's worked hard to build to shield his racist intent is in jeopardy.

Sorry, I just calls em as I sees em.

[Bridget Burke]

85. Parmley did NOT found the organization.

He was the Texas leader. He lives in Goliad--a town founded by the Spanish--& gets along with the Tejanos who live there.

Some who oppose illegal immigration have other reasons than racism. He was one of them. But he found out he was outnumbered by the other Minutemen.

[donsu]

36. kick

nt

[Cocoa]

39. that's why I quit the Klan

I know how disillusioned Parmley must feel.

[donco6]

42. Really? Me too!

I never could figure out where all that racism came from.

I just thought the sheets made me feel . . . pretty.

[SlavesandBulldozers]

63. bwhahah

:applause:

[NNguyenMD]

46. The LAWeekly story reads like a bad comedy sketch, pretty funny actually

these guys act like a punch of school yard thugs fighting over who gets to use the monkey bars first.

[LibertyorDeath]

53. WTF it has just dawned on him that these pukes are racists

What a moran.:crazy:

[Shipwack]

62. Let's not be too harsh...

He did make a mistake and fessed up to it. Which is better than many people would do, especially when in the spot light.

True, maybe he shouldn't have been surprised that racists were attracted to his group, but he first tried to change them, and then turned his back on an organization he had put a lot of time and effort into.

I've done/thought stupid things from naivety too, and learned from it. Hopefully he'll do the same, and take that energy and will use it to change rules that punishes illegals, but not the businesses that use/abuse them.

[geckosfeet]

54. Duuhhh. nt

[KamaAina]

58. Much more on this in this month's issue of DUH! magazine :)

Racism? In the Minutemen? Naw. Can't be! :sarcasm:

[alarcojon]

66. Another feature story: MI5 links 7/7 bombings to

Britain's Iraq campaign. It takes an intelligence analyst to see that, huh?

http://www.newkerala.com/news.php?action=fullnews&id=9915

[robertpaulsen]

74. Biggest laugh I've had all day.

Thanks!

:rofl:

[pitohui]

59. what was his first clue

he should probably drop out of the kkk as well

[Lone_Star_Dem]

67. I'm glad to see this

It helps to shed light on the fact that they ARE a pack of racist bigots no matter how they try and frame their "work".

[NNN0LHI]

69. Good. Now Lou Dobbs can take the position

He will fit right in with them good old boys.

Don

[AspenRose]

70. Well "color" me shocked

*snicker*

Idiots.

[WhiteTara]

73. I am shocked that he didn't know that racism

would be rampant in an organization like this.

edited for syntax

[Robbie Michaels]

76. You Don't Say...

You have racists in your group, Mr. Parmley? Heaven forbid you be associated with a group of people who target Mexicans! Who else would volunteer to patrol the border, you nitwit!

[Orsino]

79. "Fish quits, becomes reptile, cites water as too wet." n/t

[Sven77]

81. what is racist about closing the border

and keeping jobs in america, im for it. just because an organization is against illegals doesnt mean its a white supremeacy group.

[Lerkfish]

82. if jobs is the issue, they should be targeting corporations who

outsource and downsize.

oh, that's right, they don't.

[Bridget Burke]

86. Parmley was concerned about illegal immigration.

But he's a native-born Texan & got along well with his Hispanic neighbors.

According to him, the Minutemen are one of those white supremacy groups. He just voted with his feet.

[in_cog_ni_to]

87. Racist tendencies?

I'd say! He just now figured that out? Interesting.