June 16, 2009 7:38 PM
The arrest of three Minutemen for the murders of a Latino man and his 9 year old daughter has led to a rewriting of history on anti-immigrant sites around the country. All of a sudden, no one knew the three killers, even though one of them was a prominent figure in the movement.
Shawna Forde, who allegedly cooked up the deadly plot to raise money for political action had close ties to Jim Gilchrist, one of the two founders of the Minutemen. His website had defended her against criticism from other anti-immigrant activists as recently as January of this year. Yet, if you go to his site today, pages that Google says listed her have been scrubbed.
Same thing with VDARE, the homepage of educated racism. The site had an article criticizing a newspaper that had called Forde's claims of having been abducted by aliens (Latino immigrants, not space monkeys) far-fetched. The page was scrubbed. It only exists as a Google cache and will soon disappear. Cowards. If you want to back up a woman her brother describes as a sociopathic liar you should at least leave your endorsement up when she is also shown to be a psychopathic murderer.
Chris Simcox is one of the founders of the Minuteman militias. His name is familiar to some Long Islanders because of his role in trying to create an armed anti-immigrant militia group here on Long Island at the behest of the now defunct Sachem Quality of Life organization, a one-time ally of Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy. Simcox is now running for Senate against John McCain in the Republican primary in Arizona. I went to his web site and noticed that he stopped posting as soon as the three Minutemen were arrested for the Arizona murders.
A lot of Minuteman groups around the country are claiming they never heard of her and that she was not involved in their movement. Or, they are claiming that they did know her but didn't really have anything to do with her. None of this seems to fit the known facts about her and her involvement with the top leadership of the organization, with men who have been frequent guests on FOX News and Lou Dobbs Tonight.
Jeff Schwilk, the leader of the San Diego Minutemen, in his denial of involvement with Shawna Forde gave the most damning statement about her and his own armed militia: "I've been concerned about her and her impact on our movement... Irrational people with assault rifles at the border is a recipe for disaster."
Exactly what I've been saying since I first heard of the Minutemen.
Watch video of Shawna Forde at the Border.
More Links to the Minuteman Murders
Since the police first revealed the Minuteman connection to the murders of ten year Brisenia Flores and her father Raul, Long Island Wins has provided intensive coverage of this story. Here is an index of the most important articles we've posted:
The Crime
The shocking murder of a little girl and her father focused our attention on recent Minuteman activities in Arizona.
The 911 call by a mother who had just seen her husband and child murdered.
Excepts from the police reports on the murder investigation.
Anti-Immigrant Groups Deny Ties To Shawna Forde, The Mastermind Of The Murders
Although Forde was a part of Minuteman from its early years, anti-immigrant groups around the country immediately branded her an insignificant figure, in spite of ample evidence to the contrary.
More on Shawna Forde's extensive connections with anti-immigrant groups.
While the Minutemen depict her as a minor figure, their own web site described Shawna Forde as a person in the leadership.
Shawna Forde had close ties to Jim Gilchrist, co-founder of the Minutemen. Is Gilchrist an important figure in that movement?
Inside The Mind Of Shawna Forde
Video interview with Shawna Forde on "patrol" along the border.
Shawna Forde's blog from the Tea Party a month before the killings.
The Glenn Spencer Connection
Glenn Spencer, one of the founders of the "border protection movement" and the man who inspired Suffolk's anti-immigrant movement had ties to Shawna Forde. She was arrested nearly two weeks after the killings immediately after visiting him.
Glenn Spencer speaks out on the Minuteman murders.
The Minutemen Speak
The weird response of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps to the media coverage of the murders.
Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy And The Minutemen
Steve Levy's endorsement in 2006 by the founder of the Minutemen.
Steve Levy and the Suffolk Minutemen.
The New York Times covers the Minuteman murders.
I've been waiting for comments from lou dobbs on his favorite hate group, but all I hear are crickets...
By anna June 17, 2009 06:47 PM
One of the big anti-illegal immigration groups, ALIPAC, was warning people about Shawna starting back in January. http://www.alipac.us/article4307.html Just because someone claims to be a leader in a grassroots movement doesn't mean that everybody they claim to be working with them actually is. Shawna's organization was actually very small, and she'd been kicked out of others so she formed her own. Jim Gilchrist deserves a lot of the blame for enhancing the credibiity of this unstable woman when others were saying, 'wait a minute.' The vast majority of Minutemen and other immigration activists are ordinary people who pose no threat to anyone.
By Bart June 18, 2009 03:58 AM
Bart, I did note in a post that FAIR is now denying that Forde was their spokesperson. I also stated that ALIPAC had warned about the credibility of one of her stories back in January. I included these caveats in my posts because I, unlike the members of these organizations, have an allegiance to the facts.
However, you neglect to give a full account of the ALIPAC warning. The ALIPAC warning had described Forde as a "leader in this movement". This was at a time when Forde's prior involvement in prostitution and her arrest for shoplifting had already come to light. So, as of January, ALIPAC, while critical of Forde, considered her a leader.
In spite of the protests by many Minutemen this week that Forde had nothing to do with the armed anti-immigrant movement, your own statement that "she'd been kicked out of others" organizations indicates, of course, that until recently she had been part of those so-called "mainstream" militias.
Your statement dismissing her prominence is belied by your further statement that "Jim Gilchrist deserves a lot of the blame for enhancing the credibiity of this unstable woman". Jim Gilchrist is not some marginal figure in Minuteman, he was one of the two founders. He has appeared as the organization's spokesperson on FOX and was given national prominence when he endorsed Mike Huckabee for president and campaigned with the preacher politician in Iowa and elsewhere.
By Pat Young June 18, 2009 09:41 AM
Bart - funny!
Everyone knows about all the infighting within the California groups. If you don't hate this person you can't join that group. If you join this group, then you can't be a member of the other group. You wonder why you all are losing the battle in California? It's because you're too busy battling amongst each other. Minutemen are too stupid or too egotistical to join together and actually do something. I see the San Diego Minuteman going down next.
Your post alone shows the hatred that minutemen carry. Not only hatred for foreigners, but hatred amongst each other. At least when the "Mexicans" put on a rally, they can come together for one purpose regardless of who anyone is or where they live.
By Anon June 25, 2009 10:27 AM