Politics

Faux Rabble-Rousing In Minnesota

By Chris Good
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Twin Cities Indymedia reports that a "concerned citizen" infiltrated the speakers' list of an anti-immigration protest in Minnesota over the weekend and delivered a speech on the hazards of lax immigration policies--but, midway through, revealed he was talking about "European immigrants" who took over the country with genocide and brought "diseases like smallpox, which is responsible for the deaths of millions of Americans." (Skip to 2:15 in the video below to see it.)

"Let's round them up and ship them out. We need to hit them at home where they sleep," he says. "I don't care if we separate families, they should have known better when they came here illegally!"

The whole thing ends with a rousing chant of "Columbus go home!"

Listening to the first half of his speech, one can't help but assume he's talking about MS-13 and Latin American gangs. Not so. Here's the video:

Nothing like some good, old-fashioned fake rabble-rousing. Not that the whole thing isn't kind of depressing--that the protesters are unaware that the speaker, "Robert Erickson," is having such fun with them, that he so easily dupes them with his fake, humble honesty, and that they're so willing to cheer on the "round[ing] up" of immigrants and "hit[ting] them where they sleep"--which, whether or not you think law enforcement should actively seek out illegal immigrants and prosecute/deport them, sounds pretty violent.

I wouldn't put too much stock in this as a liberal victory over the tea partiers, but it's pretty fascinating nonetheless.

Via Think Progress