Brisenia story contains a factual error
Mark Day’s February 18 article, “The Brisenia Flores Murder: Why the U.S. Media Buried the Story,” contains a glaring factual error that needs to be corrected.
In the article, Mr. Day states that convicted murderer Shawna Forde had served as a spokesperson for the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). That assertion is patently false. At no time did Ms. Forde ever serve as a spokesperson for FAIR. Furthermore, Ms. Forde has never had any association with FAIR. None. She was never an employee, a volunteer, an activist, or even a member of the organization.
Ms. Forde, who has a long history of lying, misrepresented herself as a spokesperson for FAIR in an appearance on a television program in Yakima, Washington. In writing the article, Mr. Day did not call FAIR to verify that information.
Mr. Day’s other misrepresentations about FAIR’s record, while false and repeatedly refuted, are his opinions. The issue of whether Ms. Forde ever had any association with FAIR is a matter of indisputable fact. No association of any kind ever existed.
Dan Stein
President, Federation for American Immigration Reform
Mark Day Responds:
Who is Dan Stein and What is F.A.I.R.?
After my piece on how the media buried the story of the murder of Raul Flores and his nine-year-old daughter Brisenia by Minuteman Shawna Forde was published (La Prensa, Feb. 18), editor Dan Muñoz received a response from Dan Stein, president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (F.A.I.R.) (see preceding letter)
Stein’s letter, disavowing any connection between F.A.I.R. and Forde, was also sent to the Huffington Post and other media outlets.
It is understandable that F.A.I.R., a staunch foe of undocumented immigration, would not want to be associated with a convicted murderer who purportedly spoke on its behalf. What is curious is how and when Forde assumed the role of a F.A.I.R. spokesperson for herself, and how long it took F.A.I.R. to disavow any connection with her.
The incident that Stein refers to in his letter was a panel discussion that took place on Nov. 14, 2006 in Yakima, Washington and was later broadcast on KCTS-9 in Seattle, a PBS station, to a viewing public that covered most of Washington State. Clips from the program have also been widely viewed on Youtube: (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErqCmLiWQj8 )
Though Forde represented herself as a F.A.I.R. spokesperson in Yakima in 2006, it took almost three years before F.A.I.R would distance itself from Forde when she was arrested and charged with murder on June 12, 2009.
In the KCTS-9 program, Forde parroted F.A.I.R.’s main talking points: Illegal immigrants are law breakers who degrade our society, cost us millions of dollars, and in the wake of 9-11 they are viewed as possible terrorist suspects. Moreover, protecting our borders is a key priority for our national security.
Forde was not originally selected to speak at the Yakima event, said Enrique Cerna, who moderated the forum for KCTS-9. “Actually, it was a pilot from Mercer Island, Washington, but he was called to work at the last minute and had to cancel. Someone else asked Forde to fill in for him.”
At no point, Cerna told La Prensa, did F.A.I.R. contact him or other producers at KCTS to disassociate itself form Shawna Forde as its spokesperson.
Ira Mehlman, F.A.I.R’s national media director told La Prensa that his organization had never heard of Forde until she was arrested. “In any case,” he added, “neither she nor anyone else would have been authorized to speak for us. We can recommend speakers, but they don’t formally represent F.A.IR. But we never recommended Shawna Forde.”
F.A.I.R. also blasted the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) on its website for suggesting that a relationship existed between F.A.I.R and Shawna Forde, and called SPLC statements on the issue “vicious smear tactics and a disgraceful attempt to exploit the murder of a nine-year-old for self serving purposes.”
In 2007, the SPLC designated F.A.I.R. as a hate group based on extensive research on the group’s alleged racism and relationships with white supremacists.
F.A.I.R. also claimed that its record of advocacy for immigration enforcement was responsible and that F.A.I.R. “categorically repudiates all acts of violence,” stressing that immigrations “must always be treated with respect and dignity.”
But many are asking whether or not Stein and F.A.I.R. serve the same purpose as hate-oriented radio hosts and propagandists who egg on extremist elements with talk of “invasions from Mexico.” Stein once asked during F.A.I.R.’s television program Borderline, “How can we preserve America if it becomes 50% Latin American?”
Congressman Brian Bilbray
Locally, one of F.A.I.R.’s strongest supporters is Congressman Brian Bilbray (R-Solana Beach.), who serves on their advisory board and earned $300,000 as a F.A.I.R. lobbyist. Last year he announced that illegal immigrants can be spotted by the shoes they wear. This led a group of activists to deposit hundreds of shoes at his office.
The activists asked for an apology for Bilbray’s statement. He refused, saying, “Just because I disagree with you doesn’t mean I’m a racist.”
Currently, there is a growing number of hate crimes against immigrants because of this toxic environment, oftentimes inflamed by the statements and radical policies of some political figures. Recently, Virgil Peck, a Kansas state representative, told the legislature that one solution to the immigration problem would be “to shoot these immigrating feral hogs from a helicopter.”
The Minute Men
When Shawna Forde spoke at the Yakima immigration forum in 2006, she was introduced both as a spokesperson for F.A.I.R. and as a member of the Minutemen.
Dan Stein, writing in the Arizona Star, staunchly defended the Minuteman Project and its vigilante tactics. “President Bush and the Congress would do well to pay attention to the Minutemen’s message,” Stein wrote. “Citizens are tired of the selective enforcement of our nation’s laws.”
Although several Minutemen groups quickly distanced themselves from Forde after she was arrested, she retained close ties to Jim Gilchrist’s Minuteman Project, based in Orange County, Calif., until her murder trial began in Tucson.
As Scott North, a reporter with the Everett (Washington) Herald told La Prensa, “Shawna Forde never left the dance. She just changed partners.” In her career as a border vigilante, Forde represented Minuteman groups based in Washington, Arizona, and California before forming her own group, the Minutemen American Defense (MAD).
North wrote that when she was expelled from the Washington state Minutemen, Forde joined forces with Chris Simcox and his Minutemen Civil Defense Committee in Arizona. She was later expelled from the group.
In 2008, Jim Gilchrist of the Minuteman Project named her border coordinator for his organization, calling Forde “one tough lady.” But after her arrest, Gilchrist removed any references to Forde in his website and staunchly rejected any accusations that he showed bad judgment in promoting and defending her to the end.
Ultimately, it was two Minutemen that Forde met with at a Colorado truck stop that proved to be her undoing. They contacted the F.B.I when Forde invited them to participate in a home invasion robbery of a suspected drug trafficker.
Their testimony at Forde’s trial was critical and helped jurors convict her of the Flores’ murders in Arivaca, Arizona.
Mark Day can be reached at: mday700@yahoo.com