Hate Groups Connected to English Only Movement

Back in June I asked the question, "Is hate funding funding English Only?" That would seem to be the obvious question what with Crafton pushing racist legislation while repeatedly declining to reveal the identities of his donors.

Just recently it was revealed that Crafton's funding is coming, almost exclusively, from a Virginia based group named ProEnglish. And now the rest of the story is beginning to come out. ProEnglish was started by a man named John H. Tanton. He started Pro English and another group named Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR).

And not surprisingly, Mr.Tanton has taken massive sums from hate groups. In fact, FAIR itself has been named a hate group for its connections with white supremacist groups. From the Tennessean:

The Southern Poverty Law Center identified FAIR as a hate group last winter based on its acceptance of $1.2 million from a white supremacist organization, employees' ties to other such groups and a history of "anti-Latino and anti-Catholic attitudes."

The Southern Poverty Law Center is a Montgomery, Ala.-based civil rights group that monitors extremist activity. It took a second look at FAIR in 2007 after learning that a senior official of the federation met with leaders of a Belgian political party known for its racist views, said Mark Potok, director of the law center's Intelligence Project.

So everything is really beginning to make sense now. You can take all that bullshit Crafton has been spewing about how he isn't a racist and shelve it. As I said before, it doesn't matter if he really isn't (or really believes he isn't). The legislation itself is racist. That's all that matters. And now we find out that he is funding this entire racist, ridiculous, embarrassing saga with money from overt, hate-filled, bigoted racists.

Shame on anyone who votes for this abomination. Nashville is better than this, and it deserves better than Eric Crafton and his arrogant, selfish motives, which are apparently more important to him than than the constituents which he is supposed to be representing.

Eric Crafton should resign his position as a Metro Councilman immediately.

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The good news:

It looks as though the English Only proposal may not qualify to be on the ballot in November after all. From the Tennessean:

Metro attorneys are trying to determine whether a proposed English-only referendum could legally be held as part of the Nov. 4 general election.

The Metro Charter says proposals to amend the charter — as Nashville English First hopes to do — can't be "submitted by petition more than once in each two years." The last time such a charter amendment was on the ballot was Nov. 7, 2006, so the English-only amendment would be decided three days too early to satisfy the required two-year gap, said attorney Gregg Ramos, a leading opponent of the English-only idea.

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