Hi, I'm Don Zimmerman, and this is Rebecca. We're kinda racist.
Austin City Council member
Don Zimmerman nominated Rebecca Forest to a
Commission on Immigrant Affairs.
The Austin City Council is poised to yank the recent appointment of a woman to an immigrant advisory board after learning she made remarks lamenting the number of Hispanic legislators in Texas and wrote an online post conflating immigrants with “bio-weapons.”
Uh oh. The hoopla began when Forest was quoted, during a speech, saying things like:
Forest, a co-founder and past president of the Immigration Reform Coalition of Texas, said, “If you really want to know why in Texas we don’t get immigration legislation passed, it’s because we have 37–36 Hispanic legislators in the Texas Legislature. All of the states that have passed legislation have a handful. And I mean literally, some of them have no Hispanic legislators, maybe three or five. So that’s part of our problem, and we need to change those numbers. We need to do something about that.”
Eghad. This prompted City Council Member Gregorio Casar to propose rescinding
Rebecca Forest's nomination.
During a speech at a political rally, the recent nominee from District 6 has displayed a bigoted attitude toward communities of color that violates our core values as a City as well as the purpose of the Commission on Immigrant Affairs. Therefore, I believe the Council has a duty to rescind this appointment.
Don Zimmerman has rushed to Forest's defense, releasing this memo to the
Council and press:
This Resolution targets District 6 appointee Rebecca Forest – the only appointee to Immigrant Affairs made on April 2nd - who made remarks which were verified by the Austin American Statesman’s “Politifact” as “True”: http://www.politifact.com/...
Thoughtful constituents should reject the assertion that the “truth” could be “bigoted”. Ms. Forest mistakenly spoke of “Hispanic legislators” without distinguishing rule-of-law legislators who uphold and defend immigration laws, versus legislators who refuse to defend immigration laws. In fact, Ms. Forest supported Larry Gonzales for State Representative and supports any elected official of any ethnicity who will defend the rule of law regarding immigration.
[bold my emphasis]
Strangely, Zimmerman doesn't explain that what Politifact called "truth" in Forest's statement was that yes, legislatures where there aren't hispanic representatives or have very low hispanic representation do pass super racist immigration laws. For his part, Zimmerman is trying a personal approach as well as his it's not a stereotype if it's true racism.
“I think she got caught up in some of her words, and when she was done, she said, ‘I shouldn’t have said that,’” Zimmerman said. “She misworded her comments. If you get to know who she is over a period of 10 years, she’s a very, very thoughtful and deliberate person.”
Besides the fact that the logic of that statement is a snake eating its tail, it is also, according to my brain—untrue. Here are some other thoughtful and deliberate things Rebecca Forest has said on
Facebook:
GOV. PERRY needs to FIRMLY tell our Muslim President that TEXAS WILL NOT be participating in his little relocation program of BIO-WEAPONS. The illegal aliens need to be quarantined ALL TOGETHER in camps near the border until we can send them back where they came from. Governors need to stand up and do what is right for American citizens. IMHO - Bringing in thousands upon thousands of illegal aliens infected with SERIOUS diseases and then placing them among our families in our communities is NOT in our best interest.
All caps is Forest being
deliberate. Saying people need to be quarantined in camps because they are BIO-WEAPONS, is racist, fascist and at the very least offensive. But, it clearly passes for
thoughtful to someone like Don Zimmerman.