House Immigration Reform Caucus member Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC) is causing a stir after appearing on the white supremacist radio show Political Cesspool. While the eastern North Carolina congressman is likely to keep his seat irrespective of the appearance, it once again shows how little daylight there is between unabashed white nationalism and the anti-immigrant movement.
Jones has been long-time favorite of the FIRE Coalition, a collection of fringe right movement boosters whose biggest accomplishment this year was the introduction of HR 3168, “The Illegal Alien Crime Reporting Act of 2011.” That bill, of course, was introduced by none other than North Carolina’s representative from the Third District, Walter Jones. Six of ten sponsors of HR 3168 are from the House Immigration Reform Caucus. One of the bill sponsors is Brian Bilbray, the current chairman of HIRC, a former FAIR lobbyist and currently sits on the FAIR board of advisors. Among the causes Bilbray has championed over the years is overturning birthright citizenship.
Among Jones’ firebrand associates is James Johnson, the former southeastern regional coordinator for the FIRE Coalition and now president of NC FIRE. The two have shared the stage at FIRE Coalition events in North Carolina. Johnson has been increasingly unabashed about his white nationalism and Islamophobia. Aside from sharing articles from the eugenicist American Renaissance on Facebook and writing letters to the editor to VDARE.com bragging about its harassment of the mobile Mexican consulate, Johnson said in reference to the recent Libyan embassy crisis: “When is someone going to call this for what it is, [sic] it’s a religious war between Islam and Christianity. “Terrorism is just one TACTIC they use.” In reference to another article about Muslims, he continued: “You don’t house-train a dog by pretending it didn’t crap on the floor.” Johnson remains to be a regular conservative quote source for news articles in the state, regularly appearing on the news during North Carolina’s ongoing consideration of anti-immigrant bills in the state legislature.
Among Political Cesspool’s white nationalist sponsors is the Council of Conservative Citizens, formerly known as the White Citizens’ Council. While the name changes, the message remains the same; CCC has referred to African-Americans as a “retrograde species of humanity.” Roan Garcia-Quintana, a CofCC board member, stated at the organization’s 2010 conference that “there are three types of people in the world, Negroids, Mongroids and Caucasians.”
While Jones’ conservative district might afford him a certain amount of security from scrutiny, no political party should embrace the dissident right as much as Jones has. But if the people of eastern North Carolina continue to embrace Jones, why shouldn’t he tell us how he really feels?