Reply from Karina Garcia who kicked Gilchrist's ass

on Democracy Now!


Thank you for your kind words and support during this difficult time. It is people like you who reassure me and my "cohorts" each day that we are fighting the good fight and that our success is important not only to us and to our families but to people like you, people of conscience who understand who we are fighting for and what we are fighting against.

So, thank you.



Right now, we are in the process of mobilizing our support, to show this city and this university that we mean business too. If you want to help us fight back, here's how you can do it!


Forward the following attachment to any and everyone you know and love. If you haven't already, sign onto our petition. Send a letter to President Bollinger and get your union, student group, community organization, church, etc to sign on as well. Demand that NO REPRISALS be taken against the student protesters.


Lastly, I wanted to address the concern about hate mail and intimidation from Minutemen supporters: Yeah, we've gotten some from them. But we've also gotten love from you. Ironically, both reassure us that we're moving in the right direction. So again, thank you.


Si se pudo! Si se pudo!


***Forward far and wide and please TAKE ACTION to support Columbia Student Protesters***



1)



FOR ORGANIZATIONS, SIGN-ON PETITION:



WE SUPPORT COLUMBIA ANTI-MINUTEMEN PROTESTERS



On Oct. 4, Columbia University College Republicans invited Jim Gilchrist, co-founder of the armed anti-immigrant vigilante group the Minuteman Project, to speak at Columbia. Hundreds of students and community members demonstrated against him. As Gilchrist was about to speak, students took the stage to unfurl anti-racist banners; they were violently attacked by Minutemen supporters. Now the mayor and conservative news outlets are demanding that Columbia discipline the students, saying nothing about the violent attacks.



We, the undersigned:



* Condemn the armed anti-immigrant vigilante group the Minutemen;
* Support the principled students who protested against the Minuteman on Oct. 4;
* Call on the Columbia University administration to drop all investigations or potential charges against protesters.



If your organization agrees to sign on to the above statement, please write an email to nominutemen@gmail.com with the subject line "We support Columbia anti-Minutemen protesters," and include in the body of the email the name of the organization and a way to contact you. Thanks for your support!



----------------------------------------------------------------------------



2)



FOR INDIVIDUALS,



a) CONTACT PRESIDENT BOLLINGER'S OFFICE TO EXPRESS YOUR DISAPPROVAL WITH HIS STATEMENT AND DEMAND THAT NO REPRISALS BE TAKEN AGAINST THE STUDENTS



For a sample email message please visit:

www.pephost.org/minutemen



Email: bollinger@columbia.edu

Phone: 212.854.9970, Fax: 212.854.9973



b) SIGN THE ONLINE PETITION

take a moment to sign an online petition at:

http://www.petitiononline.com/nominute/petition.html



To GET INVOLVED with and/or copy/send messages of support for the Columbia protestors,

please EMAIL THE COLUMBIA PROTESTER'S DEFENSE COMMITTEE at: nominutemen@gmail.com



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3) BACKGROUND INFORMATION:



a) MINUTEMEN VIGILANTES ASSAULT PEACEFUL PROTESTORS AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY



On October 4th, Minutemen leader Jim Gilchrist came to speak at Columbia University. Gilchrist's hate speech was met with a peaceful demonstration in which students came on the stage unfurling banners reading: "No Human Being is Illegal" and "Say No To Racism." The Minutemen responded to these non-violent protesters with force, in particular targeting Latino students on and around the stage with punches and kicks. After assaulting the pro-Immigrant protesters, the Minutemen ended their event early. Please see the damning footage below and take action to support the assaulted students.



Part I- Univision Coverage

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N41eXtVK7hA



Part II- Univision Coverage

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v %20=AwqPRmlb3Xg



b) RESPONSE FROM THE ADMINISTRATION



On Friday, Oct 6 Columbia University President Lee Bollinger issued a statement condemning the protesters' non-violent protest and remained silent about the violence of the Minutemen towards the students. The administration's "investigation" in effect blames the victim and gives cover for the use of vigilante violence against non-violent protesters.



President Bollinger's Statement:

http://www.columbia.edu/cu/president/communications%2520files/freedomofspeech.htm



c) SEE JIM GILCHRIST FLEE DEBATE WITH PROTESTER ON "DEMOCRACY NOW"

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/10/11/1430231



Thank you for all of your support

and Karina Garcia, at the bottom of the page. Had never seen the film clip of the kick delivered from one of Gilchrist's National Alliance thugs to the head of a man standing by the stage during the confrontation.
Very, very glad to get more background on this story, and to learn the corporate media gave us a totally distorted picture of what happened at Colombia.

Suppose we should assume this is standard, but it's damned hard to take, isn't it?

Thanks for the entire post, and a chance to sign the petition.

I hope between us all we can get Columbia to do the right thing.

It's great to see these bozos get slammed. Wherever you stand on immigration concerns, the pissy boy minute men are not the answer.

Did you watch the interview, Maestro? This young woman looks all of 19 or so, very composed and she chased this guy out of the interview like a chicken on fire. She must be 100 lbs soaking wet.

And these are the He-men guarding our borders!

:rofl:

That is the thing with these "guys;" they believe themselves to be some sort of protectors or paramilitary paladins here to take care of us poor people who are overrun by these brown people. The fact is, they are unintelligent, xenophobic, insecure, penis lacking twits who, in pyschology terms, "project" their bravado, but when reality comes crashing on top of them, they run like the cowards that they are. I hope to hell they do, at least, put up some fence just so I can watch it fail miserably. Of course, at this point, they will bring out their guns and start shooting. They will probably shoot a border patrol officer first.

Link TV ran a documentary that disclosed that many of these brave conservators of Amerikan Culture have criminal records for spousal abuse, public drunkenness, possession of illegal weapons or drugs.

I wouldn't trust any of them with a hand mixer. :)

Have you put this in GD? Even though we have our Minutemen supporters in DU, there are many who agree with us about the racist motives of this group. This message needs to be out there for all to see.

lol

I thought I'd put it up tonight or you or anyone would like to, that's fine.

I love to see these kids stand up to these cowards and to the system that is turning a blind eye to their destructiveness and racism.

:toast:

Thanks for sharing this!