Controversial Official Leaves FAIR
Posted By Heidi Beirich On January 8, 2008 @ 10:21 am In Anti-Immigrant | 4 Comments
In late December, the Federation for American Immigration Reform [1] (FAIR) reportedly let go Joseph Turner, its western region representative, who had been hired just 13 months earlier, in November 2006. Calls to Turner and FAIR 
officials seeking an explanation for Turner’s unannounced departure were not returned, but a Hatewatch call to the FAIR switchboard asking for Turner met with this hard-to-misunderstand response: “He’s no longer with the company.” This comes in the wake of an Intelligence Report story [2] that detailed FAIR’s ties to white supremacy and designated FAIR a hate group, a move that garnered some national publicity. The Intelligence Report story pointed out that Turner was the founder and long-time leader of a group the Southern Poverty Law Center lists as a hate group —Save Our State, which developed a reputation for allowing neo-Nazis [3] to participate in its rallies.
Although Turner has denied being a racist, he has defended white separatism. “I can make the argument that just because one believes in white separatism that that does not make them a racist,” Turner wrote [4] in Save Our State’s Web forum in 2005. “I can make the argument that someone who proclaims to be a white nationalist isn’t necessarily a white supremacist. I don’t think that standing up for your ‘kind’ or ‘your race’ makes you a bad person.”
Some in the most radical sectors of the anti-immigrant movement have claimed publicly that FAIR fired Turner. A person identifying himself as “Al Lewis” of the Americans for Mass Deportation Yahoo group wrote: “Joe Turner has been fired from FAIR by [President] Dan Stein, apparently because of that pro-illegal outfit the southern poverty law center [sic] called [sic] FAIR a ‘hate group’ or some nonsense about Joe being a racist.”
Turner’s exit did not go down well in at least some anti-immigrant circles. “I’m very worried that we may have been sold down the river again by those damn groups in DC,” Lewis wrote in another post. Americans for Mass Deportation founder Liz DeMarco [5] lamented that she “did not even warn [Joe] about [FAIR] because I knew he needed the money for himself and his family.” Laine Lawless, who in 2006 encouraged [6] neo-Nazis to attack undocumented immigrants, slammed FAIR as well: “That’s the problem with FAIR — no one knows what they actually DO, except make speeches occasionally, once a year put on a ‘workshop’ with guest speakers, and of course highly-over-paid Dan Stein goes on FOX News periodically.”
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Article printed from Hatewatch | Southern Poverty Law Center: http://www.splcenter.org/blog
URL to article: http://www.splcenter.org/blog/2008/01/08/controversial-official-no-longer-at-fair/
URLs in this post:
[1] Federation for American Immigration Reform: http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-files/groups/federation-for-american-immigration-reform-fair
[2] story: http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=846
[3] reputation for allowing neo-Nazis: http://www.splcenter.org/intel/news/item.jsp?aid=16
[4] wrote: http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?pid=1473
[5] Liz DeMarco: http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=689
[6] encouraged: http://www.splcenter.org/intel/news/item.jsp?aid=54
[7] : http://www.writing.com/main/view_item/item_id/1135586
[8] : http://www.youtube.com/user/admsparrow14
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4 Comments To "Controversial Official Leaves FAIR"
#1 Comment By Westernman On January 10, 2008 @ 12:16 pm
Laine Lawless is one crazy old hag. This witch makes a living burning flags and lives in an RV trailer(no joke). I even seen her in person once at the recent protest at Pruitt`s in downtown Phoenix where all the granny packs gather to protest illgal aliens. Now that the situation at Pruitt`s is resolved between Pro-Immigration rights activists leader Salvador Reza and Roger Sensing owner of Pruitt`s. But the old nativist haggarts continue to cause mayhem on our city streets. Why do I call them “old”??? Just look at those natavists gathering about and sweatin to the oldies, these are the scum that wants to go back to the 60`s haystackin era. Sorry to say it, I’m no “Messakan”(redneck linquistic stock for Mexican), Latino, hayspanik or otherwise. I just hate White Supremacists plain and simple, just like most Non-Whites and Jews do. Is that gonna make me a racists too???
#2 Comment By Kenneth B. Lucas On January 10, 2008 @ 8:21 pm
You might be interested in the essay I have posted on the writing.com website pointing out the need to increase immigration.
[7]
#3 Comment By J.B. On January 14, 2008 @ 3:55 pm
“I just hate White Supremacists plain and simple, just like most Non-Whites and Jews do. Is that gonna make me a racists (sic) too???”
You’re not so much a racist as a hate-monger. You give this site a bad image by raving just like the skinheads on the Hal Turner forum. The only difference between you and them is that they’re radically right and you’re radically left. Both sides confuse the issues with nothing but vitrilolic hate.
#4 Comment By Thomas Rowley On January 24, 2008 @ 10:49 pm
Maybe Turner will now have more time to post [8].