MSU students protest racist 'minuteman'

Wherever racist anti-immigrant so-called “minuteman” Chris Simcox appears, student protests erupt. When Simcox appeared at Michigan State University on April 19, though, the school administration and campus police worked hand in hand with Simcox and racist student organizations like Young Americans for Freedom to brutalize Latin@ students and suppress anti-racist protest, arresting five students. Two are charged with felonies.

On April 20, holding a large banner, “Ningún ser humano es illegal! No human being is illegal” Latin@ students and their supporters told the story of how Latin@ and other students of color were singled out for repression. “I was one of the first people asked to leave, and I was one of the last to exit,” said Margo Cotter, who is white. “I don’t know if it would have been different had I been a person of color, but the only logical answer to that in my mind is ‘yes.’”

Campus cops climbed over white protestors to attack people of color, taking their cues from the right-wing students who pointed out Latinos for arrest. The first person ushered out by the police was a Muslim woman who sat quietly in the meeting, had no sign and didn’t chant. University administration officials looked on approvingly and stayed inside the racist meeting, although students called out to them as they were removed from the room and arrested.

Students are demanding that the university drop the charges and instead take action against the racist anti-immigrant and anti-LGBT organizers on campus. All events are documented on YouTube (www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZT84sMUwNu0&mode=related&search=)

In an escalation of repression against Latin@ activists, police raided an off-campus home two weeks after the MSU arrests.

Last fall a coalition of student groups including LGBT campus organizations forced the university to cancel a racist anti-immigrant “game.”