HEIST: Who Stole the American Dream?

Shock for Breakfast? March 28, 2016: 11:59 PM FDA Shock Dockets Close

Today is the last day to sign the petition before the docket closes.

The FDA is attempting to down-classify the shock device to say that shock treatment (shooting electricity through the head to cause a grand mal seizure) is 'safe enough' for people with "treatment-resistant" depression or who "require rapid response".

#FDAStopTheShockDevice

This video is about #FDAStopTheShockDevice Sign petition here: https://www.change.org/p/fda-stop-fda-from-down-classifying-the-shock-device-to-a-class-ii-device-stop-shock-treatment Info for submitting your own comment to FDA here: http://www.madinamerica.com/2016/02/40-days-to-tell-the-fdastoptheshockdevice

Posted by Lauren Tenney on Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Please speak out before it's too late.  Our petition and complaint to the FDA are below.

https://www.change.org/p/fda-stop-fda-from-down-classifying-the-shock-device-to-a-class-ii-device-stop-shock-treatment

http://www.madinamerica.com/2016/03/only-72-hours-left-to-stop-shock-device/

EJF NEWSLETTER: LESSONS LEARNED FROM VETERAN ARREST DATA

Lessons Learned  From Veteran  Arrest  Data

Charles E. Corry, Ph.D., F.G.S.A.

President

Since July 2010 I’ve been tabulating veteran arrests in El Paso County, Colorado, on a daily basis. To date that amounts to ~15,500 arrests of some 9,000 veterans, or about 8 per day. Without going into a lengthy statistical analysis these are some of the lessons learned:

General lessons

·      The percentage of veterans arrested who are simply common criminals remains indeterminate for a variety of reasons but is probably in the range of 20% to 40%.

·      The local veteran trauma court is a dog and pony show. Of the ~9,000 veterans arrested while that court has been in operation only ~300 have been admitted to the veteran court, and the veteran has to plead guilty to whatever fanciful crime he may be charged with before he can be admitted.

·      Arrest and incarceration do not help veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI), or other issues. In fact, an arrest and conviction clearly makes their conditions worse.

·      If the first arrest and conviction doesn’t work, and it usually doesn’t, more arrests and convictions are guaranteed to make the veteran’s problems worse.

·      Veterans are batted between judges like shuttlecocks with no apparent consistency in treatment. Veterans commonly have to appear before 8 to 15 different judges before their case is settled. That is a waste of court resources and virtually guarantees injustice for the veteran.

·      The “justice” system operates on a “catch, convict, release” cycle with multiple arrests seemingly the norm.

·      Classical definitions of recidivism do not seem to apply to wounded warriors. The data suggest many of their problems are episodic, often with years, a decade, or more, between episodes.

·      Most wives or girlfriends who call the police during an episode are seeking help, not an arrest.

·      Many veterans do not have friends or relatives able to post bond for them and their choice is often to plead guilty to a crime they didn’t commit or rot in jail for months awaiting trial. At ~$100 a day cost to citizens for them to sit in jail there needs to be a better way. And this says nothing of the costs to the veteran in loss of their jobs, benefits, homes, cars, children, etc. while in jail.

·     A veteran who dares to plead Not Guilty and demand a jury trial but cannot afford bail will likely be held in jail until the trial, at great cost to the taxpayers.

·      Arrests of veterans often occur at a much older age than the general population. First arrests are commonly in the 30-40 or older age range. Past age 50 virtually every inmate in the county jail is a veteran. The county jail should not be an Old Soldiers Home!

·      Public safety is typically degraded by veteran arrests. With a criminal conviction it becomes almost impossible for them to find employment and more crime becomes commonplace.

·      Probation conditions commonly prevent the veteran from returning home where they might find family and community support. Committing another crime here becomes almost inevitable.

·      Even a veteran who sits in jail for months awaiting trial, if convicted is virtually certain to be given probation, time served, and put back out on the street again; almost certainly unemployed.

·      After 3 or 4 arrests the veteran is very likely to become homeless.

·      If a veteran isn’t suffering from PTSD when they enter the “justice” system they will almost surely have it after.

·      We’ve heard of multiple problems with prescription drugs provided veterans for PTSD, TBI, pain, etc. However, marijuana has proven both safe and effective in most cases.

PTSD and domestic violence

·      Under current laws any manifestation of PTSD is “domestic violence.” That primarily serves to break up families and destroy the children.

·      There is little or no evidence for a “cycle of violence” in the veteran arrest data. There is, however, evidence of periodic PTSD episodes.

·      In about half the arrests for domestic violence there are no allegations of interpersonal violence.

·      Most veterans arrested for domestic violence return home immediately after their release from jail.

·      The percentage of false allegations of domestic violence, child abuse, etc., is very high; somewhere around 50% to 70% when divorce or child custody are at issue.

·      Girlfriends and wives often use false allegations of domestic violence or abuse, or child abuse, as a method of revenge and vengeance, as well as for advantage in court to gain custody of children or property.

·      Experience has shown that a veteran charged with domestic violence who pleads Not Guilty and demands a jury trial has a very high probability of having the charges against him dismissed. If he can afford a competent, experienced attorney it is a virtual certainty that his case will be dismissed or that he will prevail at trial.

·      Physical disabilities associated with TBI and PTSD often lead to charges of child abuse when accidents happen that are a result of the veteran’s handicaps. Putting their children in foster care and charging them with child abuse afterward compounds the problems for the veteran and society.

Traffic and similar problems

·      Memory loss problems often lead to veterans forgetting to pay traffic tickets or show up in court. That often leads to the issuance of a warrant and their arrest. It would seem cheaper and more effective to pay veteran peer mentors to help disabled veterans attend these, and other appointments or have police take them directly to court upon arrest.

·     Removing a veteran’s drivers license does not eliminate the necessity that they drive, e.g., for court hearings, meet with probation officer, UAs, therapy, medical, or just for groceries. Hence, they are all too frequently rearrested for driving under restraint. It would be cheaper and more effective to issue many of these veterans limited licenses. That would also allow them to have car insurance, enhancing public safety.

·    Either ignition interlocks are not being required in driving under the influence cases or veterans are stupidly adept at circumventing them and continuing to drive while drinking. Multiple DUIs are definitely a public safety problem.

·      Short term memory problems associated with TBI often lead to veteran arrests for shoplifting as they “forget” they have picked up something in a store and walk out without paying. Most return as soon as they remember they have something but haven’t paid for it. In other cases restitution and treatment would seem preferable to an arrest and conviction.

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Progress in the World Radio Show: 9 Things You Had Better Know When Facing Corrupt CPS and Family Court Officials

Sadly, our justice system is not based on justice. It is based on profit. It is a good old boy and girl network that is ripping apart unsuspecting families and turning kids over to abusers.

Join us as two mother's explore this situation with me as we take a peek into Louisiana courts and CPS systems.

THIS IS A RADIO SHOW. 

Call in number 

310-861-2349

10 AM Pacific/12 PM Central/1 PM Eastern

Sunday 20 March 2016

NIMH Deletes and Blocks Truth During Public Q& A about Shock Treatment on Facebook

On March 17, 2016 the National Institute of Mental Health held a one hour Facebook Question and Answer period on shock treatment with Dr. Lisanby.

Below, please see the photographic record of comments that were made by myself, Lauren Tenney, and then subsequently deleted.  I also was blocked from commenting and reacting to posts made by others.

I think that NIMH ought to be held accountable for giving acurate information about shock treatment. Do  you?

To see the NIMH transcript and deleted comments, please visit: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByfGR4ZrDF0oVGhCd0FfS01wcTg/view

Posted by Lauren Tenney on Thursday, March 17, 2016

Comment on Complaint to FDA Ombuds Office #FDAStopTheShockDevice on Talk with Tenney

March 17, 2016

9-11 PM Eastern

Comment on Complaint to FDA Ombuds Office #FDAStopTheShockDevice

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/talkwithtenney/2016/03/18/talk-with-tenney-comment-on-complaint-fda-ombuds-office-fdastoptheshockdevice

Tune in on March 17, 2016 from 9-11PM Eastern (267)521-0167 to hear and comment on the Final Draft of Official Complaint to Ombuds Office at FDA concerning the processes that FDA has taken in the proposed down-classification of the shock device 

The rule proposed is that for people who are 18 years of age and older, who experience a “depressive episode” as part of “major depressive disorder” or “bipolar disorder” and are “treatment-resistant” or “require rapid response” that the “probable benefit of ECT outweighs these risks” (p. 81228).  

March 28, 2016 is deadline for FDA comments. 

Tune in to hear the current situation, share your experiences of shock treatment, and encourage others to respond to the FDA. 

For more information and to sign the MindFreedom International Petition that has over 1,150 supporters see: https://www.change.org/p/fda-stop-fda-from-down-classifying-the-shock-device-to-a-class-ii-device-stop-shock-treatment

To read about the FDAs latest move to down classify see: 

http://www.madinamerica.com/2016/02/40-days-to-tell-the-fdastoptheshockdevice 

http://www.madinamerica.com/2015/12/shock-device-safe-as-eyeglasses-89-days-to-say-no/

https://www.change.org/p/fda-stop-fda-from-down-classifying-the-shock-device-to-a-class-ii-device-stop-shock-treatment

13 Days to say #FDAStopTheShockDevice: Talk with Tenney Special Radio Show

March 15, 2016 9-11 PM Eastern:: 

Call in (267) 521-0167 to be part of the show - 

13 Days to say #FDAStopTheShockDevice

Direct link if embed fails: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/talkwithtenney/2016/03/16/talk-with-tenney-special-13-days-left-to-say-fdastoptheshockdevice

 On March 15, 2016 from 9 - 11 PM Eastern, call in (267) 521-0167 to join people who are shock treatment survivors and allies discuss the current state of the FDAs attempts to down-classify the shock device to a class II device putting it in the same category as eyeglasses or wheelchairs. 

The rule proposed is that for people who are 18 years of age and older, who experience a “depressive episode” as part of “major depressive disorder” or “bipolar disorder” and are “treatment-resistant” or “require rapid response” that the “probable benefit of ECT outweighs these risks” (p. 81228).  

We have 13 days left to say #FDAStopTheShockDevice. 

Tune in to hear the current situation, share your experiences of shock treatment, and encourage others to respond to the FDA. 

For more information and to sign the MindFreedom International Petition that has over 1,000 supporters see: https://www.change.org/p/fda-stop-fda-from-down-classifying-the-shock-device-to-a-class-ii-device-stop-shock-treatment

To read about the FDAs latest move to down classify see: 

http://www.madinamerica.com/2016/02/40-days-to-tell-the-fdastoptheshockdevice 

http://www.madinamerica.com/2015/12/shock-device-safe-as-eyeglasses-89-days-to-say-no/

Watch this powerful video: ECT Destroys Life produced by Aftershock: Life After ECT here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jyi32-slxUk

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/talkwithtenney/2016/03/16/talk-with-tenney-special-13-days-left-to-say-fdastoptheshockdevice

17 Horrific Facts About Psychiatry That You Need to Know: Lauren Tenney on Progress in the World Radio Show

Progress in the World Radio Show

Sunday 13 March 2016

10AM to 12PM PACIFIC

Call in Number 

310-861-2349

Lauren Tenney,  PhD, MPhil, MPA, a psychiatric survivor and environmental psychologist will discuss current events in psychiatry that the State does not want you to know or think about including 

• Institutional and structural racism and classism in psychiatry 
• Psychiatric slavery 
• The mass drugging of people of all ages 
• Shock treatment 
• Shock treatment on veterans 
• Shock treatment on pregnant women 
• The current effort by the FDA to make shock treatment 'safe enough' for people who are said to be "depressed" and "treatment-resistant" or "require rapid response" of shock. 

First institutionalized at 15 years old, Lauren's activist work uses video research and alternative media to shine light on institutional corruption which is a source of profit for organized psychiatry. She works to abolish state-sponsored human rights violations, such as murder, torture, and slavery, that are carried out via state-sponsored organized psychiatric industries. Sign this important petition to help:

https://www.change.org/p/fda-stop-fda-from-down-classifying-the-shock-device-to-a-class-ii-device-stop-shock-treatment

Dr. Lauren Tenney LaurenTenney@aol.com 718-273-8708 http://www.laurentenney.us/

Walter Davis walter@citizensdemandingjustice.org 760-917-1251 http://www.citizensdemandingjustice.org

Combat the American Psychiatric Association's Pro-Shock Treatment Campaign: Do Not Be Fooled! #FDAStopTheShockDevice

#FDAStopTheShockDevice: Sign the MindFreedom International Petition here:

 https://www.change.org/p/fda-stop-fda-from-down-classifying-the-shock-device-to-a-class-ii-device-stop-shock-treatment

Join 900+ Supporters saying #FDAStopTheShockDevice

Do Not Be Fooled

 It is important to understand that the psychiatric industry - the trade organization for the psychiatrists, the American Psychiatric Association--have their own campaign supporting the use of shock treatment on people that they assign as "depressed", "bipolar", "treatment-resistant", or "require rapid response". 

They are threatened by the truth. This statement is from the American Psychiatric Association to its members in its push to support shock treatment: 

"A similar reclassification proposal by the FDA in 2010 met significant resistance from anti-psychiatry groups and did not pass. That is why it is so important for psychiatrists to take the lead in expressing their views in regard to the role that ECT plays in clinical practice and in the treatment of major depressive disorder." 

The American Psychiatric Association tells its membership blatant lies: specifically they are arguing that the Shock Device is currently listed as "Class III (high risk)" and that what the FDA is proposing is to move them to Class II (low risk)". 

Class III means that the device has never been tested for safety or efficacy (and is usually high risk).  

Because the shock device existed prior to the FDA, it was grandfathered in as a Class III device.  

There is a move at the FDA to either have all Class III devices moved to Class I (general controls) or Class II (special controls) devices--or-- taken off the market.  

The American Psychiatric Association's claim to its membership that Class II is "low risk" is an outright lie.  

Class II means that there are special controls put on a medical device to try to mitigate risk.  

In the current case of the shock device, what the FDA is trying to do is say that by labeling the device with its known risks and brain and body damaging consequences, the risk is mitigated. This of course, is ludicrous. 


Putting a label on a device will not mitigate the real risks of shock treatment.   

The Risks

The risks of shock treatment consist of one whole section of the proposed rule. Yet, there is not one specific known benefit that the FDA lists in the proposed rule, just a consistent "unknown" benefit. Concerning risk, Section V (FDA, 2015, p. 81227) is as follows:

"After considering the available information from the reports and recommendations of the advisory committees (panels) for the classification of these devices, FDA has evaluated the risks to health associated with the use of ECT devices and determined that the following risks to health are associated with its use:

• Adverse reaction to anesthetic agents/neuromuscular blocking agents. The muscle relaxing and sedating (or sleep inducing) drugs that are a part of the procedure may hamper the patient’s ability to breathe spontaneously.

• Adverse skin reactions. The patient contacting materials of the device may cause an adverse immunological or allergic reaction in a patient.

• Cardiovascular complications. The therapeutic convulsions may be accompanied by arrhythmias (irregular heartbeat) or ischemia/infarction (i.e., heart attack). Hypertension (high blood pressure) as well as hypotension (low blood pressure) may be associated with ECT treatment. ECT treatment may also result in stroke (impairment of blood flow to the brain or bleeding in the brain).

• Cognition and memory impairment. ECT treatment may result in memory impairment, specifically immediate post-treatment disorientation, anterograde memory impairment and retrograde personal (autobiographical) memory impairment.

• Death. Death may result from various complications of ECT such as reactions to anesthesia, cardiovascular complications, pulmonary complications, or stroke.

• Dental/oral trauma. Dental fractures, dislocations, lacerations, and prosthetic damage may occur as a result of strong muscle contractions during treatment.

• Device malfunction. Faulty hardware, software or accessories (electrodes) or improper use may cause electrical hazards, such as the risk of excessive dose administration, prolonged seizures, and skin burns.

• Manic symptoms. ECT treatment may result in the development of hypomanic or manic symptoms.

• Pain/discomfort. The patient may experience mild to moderate pain following the motor seizure induced by ECT treatment.

• Physical trauma. Inadequate supportive drug treatment may allow the patient to be injured from unconscious violent movements during convulsions.

• Prolonged or tardive seizures. ECT treatment may result in prolonged or delayed seizures, and status epilepticus (continuous unremittent seizure) may ensue if prolonged seizures are not properly treated.

• Pulmonary complications. ECT treatment may result in prolonged apnea (no breathing) or inhalation of foreign material, such as regurgitated stomach contents.

• Skin burns. Excessive electrical current or improperly designed electrodes may cause the patient’s skin under the electrodes to be burned.

• Worsening of psychiatric symptoms. ECT treatment may be ineffective and therefore may result in worsening psychiatric symptoms."

Again, there is not one specific known benefit that the FDA lists in the proposed rule.

What Psychiatric Survivors and Allies Are Doing
People who are psychiatric survivors, particularly people who are survivors of shock treatment, allies, and MindFreedom International members have held 9 national teleconferences since the FDA released the proposed rule, December 29, 2015.  

We have created a petition stating that the FDA should not down-classify the shock device for any reason.  We are also demanding that the FDA hold hearings about this proposed rule to down-classify the shock device.  If this rule is put in place the use of shock treatment to soar. 

What You Can Do

Please join the 900+ supporters who are calling on the FDA to do the right thing and not down-classify the shock device, and listen to those who have been damaged by those who subjected them to shock treatment.

Sign the petition here:   https://www.change.org/p/fda-stop-fda-from-down-classifying-the-shock-device-to-a-class-ii-device-stop-shock-treatment

Thousands Are Having Shock Treatment For Breakfast. #FDAStopTheShockDevice

3 FOIA Requests Reveal Shock Treatment Used on Veterans and Their Fetuses

3 FOIA Requests Reveal Shock Treatment Used on Veterans and Their Fetuses 

3 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Requests reveal that veterans have been subjected to shock treatment in the VHA system.

Most disturbing, the draft data released shows that only 2 or more shock treatments were counted.

We have no idea of how many vets were shocked once.

Even more problematic, guidance on the use of shock treatment was released, and this included using shock treatment as a first line treatment for women who were pregnant.

That is electricity shot through her brain, general anesthesia, muscle relaxers, and pain killers, and not eating for long periods of time before the brain-damaging procedure, multiple times a week.

For more information see my Mad in America article:
Electroshocking Veterans and Their Fetuses.

You can hear more on the Talk with Tenney episode, FOIA: Evidence of VMAs Electroshocking Veterans:

Right now, the FDA is trying to say that shock treatment is 'safe enough' for people experiencing a "depressive episode" as part of "major depressive disorder" or "bipolar disorder" that is "treatment-resistant" or "requires rapid response".

 Please join our efforts to stop the FDA from being able to do this.

You can sign and share the petition here: https://www.change.org/p/fda-stop-fda-from-down-classifying-the-shock-device-to-a-class-ii-device-stop-shock-treatment

https://www.change.org/p/fda-stop-fda-from-down-classifying-the-shock-device-to-a-class-ii-device-stop-shock-treatment

www.laurentenney.us

What Every American Needs to Know About Israel/Palestine - Mass Demonstration

Dear Walter, We urge everyone to go to Washington, D.C. on March 20th to join the Palestinian led mass demonstration against AIPAC. We'll be there and hope you will be, too! It's time to show our politicians how many of us oppose AIPAC's destructive influence over U.S. policies. This rally has been initiated by the largest Palestinian organization in the U.S.—please support it! Below is the announcement from the Palestinian Right of Return organization, Al-Awda: 12 Noon: Assemble at the White House 1 pm - 5 pm: March to the Washington, D.C. Convention Center On March 20, 2016, we aren't just protesting AIPAC but we are being direct about supporting Palestine hence the theme! We are asking people from all over The United States of America to come support justice for Palestine by standing against AIPAC which will be convening in DC on this day! We cannot continue to let AIPAC (which advocates for an illegal foreign entity not on U.S. soil) dictate our American foreign policy.  SUPPORT PALESTINE! PROTEST AIPAC! #SupportPalestineInDC2016 Please support our work in making this national rally the great success it deserves! Thank you! Please click on this link to donate: https://www.gofundme.com/resistance48 See you there! RSVP and invite friends to the rally!

Quick Links Protest AIPAC in DC onMarch 20th! Join this rally spearheaded by Al-Awda, The Palestine Right to Return Coalition. Connect With Us Facebook Twitter Donate

Website | Our Mission | Contact us | Unsubscribe Mailing address: 5694 Mission Center Rd, Suite 602-710 San Diego, CA 92108

Thousands Are Having Shock Treatment For Breakfast #FDAStopTheShockDevice

If the FDA is successful with its new proposed rule that is open for public comment, shock treatment will soar.

Sign the petition to tell the FDA they must hold hearings about the down-classification of the shock device and that the shock device must not be lowered to a Class II device for any reason.


Sue Clark-Wittenburg (1955 - 2015), 2015 shared her experiences on Talk with Tenney and reminds me and everyone else to keep focused. Shock treatment is torture.

Sue through her work in organizing the International Campaign to Ban Electroshock would be working to stop the FDA from its current shady proposed rule to down-classify the shock device from a Class III experimental device to a Class II device, putting the machine used to generate the shock in shock treatment in the same category as eyeglasses or a wheel chair.

The FDAs proposed rule allows that shock treatment is 'safe enough' for people who experience a "depressive episode" as part of "major depressive disorder" or "bipolar disorder" and who are "treatment-resistant" because you 'failed' neuroleptic or psychotropic drugs, or "require rapid response".

In the Talk with Tenney episode that this excerpt of Sue is taken from, Electroshock: A Crime Against Humanity, Sue explains that when she was a teenager, she was shocked, and that the last shock treatment she had stopped her heart.

Sue is not physically here to lead the fight, but her memory persists and what happened to Sue, and millions like her, will not be in vein.




In Loving Memory of Sue Clark-Wittenberg from Lauren Tenney on Vimeo.

Watch People Who Are Shock Survivors and Allies After 2011 FDA Shock Device Hearings

#FDAStopShockDevice

In 2011 the FDA held public hearings on the shock device that delivers electric shock treatment (electroconvulsive treatment, ECT).  The panel voted in nearly all situations to keep the shock device a Class III Experimental Device.




Now, the FDA is proposing to down-classify the shock device to a Class II device with "special controls" that would put it in the same category as a pair of eyeglasses or a wheelchair specifically for people who are over 18, have a "major depressive episode" as part of "major depressive disorder" or "bipolar disorder" are deemed "treatment-resistant" or "require rapid response".

The FDA is proposing that since they held hearings in 2011 they do not need to hold hearings now. Not one of the members of the decision-making panel from 2011 is on the panel today.

Please get involved and tell the FDA not to down classify the shock device for any reason and to hold public hearings.

Psychiatry ought not be allowed to get away with this fraud! The FDA needs to be held responsible for the damage this will cause. Shock treatment will soar.

Sign the petition here: https://www.change.org/p/fda-stop-fda-from-down-classifying-the-shock-device-to-a-class-ii-device-stop-shock-treatment

Americans In Jeopardy Opt In USA

What Your Lawyer Says Behind Your Back

You might surprised what your attorney says behind your back. You may be only as good as your last check.

Anaheim's Rascist-As-Hell History

http://www.ocweekly.com/news/anaheims-racist-as-hell-history-beyond-the-kkk-and-why-oc-weekly-covers-it-7009856

ANAHEIM'S RACIST-AS-HELL HISTORY BEYOND THE KKK, AND WHY OC WEEKLY COVERS IT

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BY GUSTAVO ARELLANO

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2, 2016 | 20 HOURS AGO

White supremacist looking at peace march on Monday. By all accounts, he was nice Photo by Brian Feinzimer

Yesterday, the Anaheim Police Department—which was nowhere to be seen when counter-protestors fought Ku Klux Klan members at Pearson Park, in a melee that's making international headlines—put the blame on the media for the whole fiasco. Per the Los Angeles Times, APD spokescop Darren Wyatt said "unlike previous [KKK] gatherings, the media announced the Klan was meeting ahead of Saturday’s rally and in at least one case, encouraged counter-protesters to show up"—code for theWeekly. Hey, Darren: What part of—and we quote ourselves—"Protest PEACEFULLY" and "Do NOT try to beat them up and feed into [the Klan's] victim narrative" don't you understand?" You can look it up—hell, we even offered a tip on how to make carne asada tacos.

Meanwhile, the Times' editorial board essentially parroted Wyatt's position, writing, "One can imagine that if everyone had ignored this rally,' the Klansmen (and women) would have exercised their 1st Amendment right to spout hate, gotten bored with the lack of outraged response, then left with nothing to show for their deliberate attempt to stir up trouble." 

For the Times, Anaheim PD and people who decided to rally against the Klan two days after the Klan actually showed up, racism in the city ended when the Invisible Empire ruled over Klanaheim in the 1920s, and the Kluckers showing up last weekend is an anomaly. "Isolated" incidents shouldn't be acknowledged to this crowd, but rather left alone in the hopes bigotry finally fades away on its own. But to them, to parachuting reporters ready to offer tut-tutting dispatches from Anaheim, and to everyone shocked and disgusted that Klukkers decided to emerge again , we have this to say: you don't know your Anaheim, and you obviously haven't been reading the Weekly.

No press coverage as of yet has discussed racism in Anaheim outside of the Klan, yet no other city in Orange County—not even Huntington Beach and Costa Mesa, long the OC cities most associated with neo-Nazis in the local imagination—can boast of a white-power history as noxious as Anaheim. And for the past 20 years, this infernal rag has documented how white supremacy is interwoven into the city's DNA, going all the way back to its foundation myth of a stupid Mexican selling the plot of land that German settlers turned into Anaheim because he thought it couldn't support a goat. The Klanaheim story is old hat, the one all the media is retelling because it's easy—we told that one, too, but we highlighted someone no one ever had: brave Orange County District Attorney Alexander Patrick Nelson, who took on the Klan by himself (if only our current DA had but a pubic hair of Nelson's manhood). 

2012 cover story on the defeat of the Klan in Anaheim by OC DA AP Nelson OC Weekly archives

And oh, have we told tales. We dug into Klan membership rolls to show Anaheim and a bunch of Orange County towns still has street names, schools, and businesses named after Klan members. We documented how beloved Anaheim pioneer Rudy Boysen, the man who set up Pearson Park, once kept Mexicans penned up in a segregated section of the park and arrested a Mexican activist for daring to go into the white part. Speaking of Pearson Park, you know the pool also used to be segregated, just like the city's schools? Or that packs of white teenagers would beat up Mexican students like my Tí­o Ezequiel at nearby Fremont Junior High in the late 1960s simply because they were Mexican? And you can't forget Anaheim's much-lionized citrus industry, which essentially treated Mexicans like slaves–and when they tried to organize for better working conditions in 1936? Brutal suppression. 

RELATED STORIES

• Anaheim Residents Wake up to KKK Fliers in their Neighborhood Trashing Martin Luther King, Jr.

• Alexander P. Nelson Was the Klanbuster

• The KKK Took My County Away: Meet the Klansman Who Helped to Found Orange County

Savanna High, 1990s—nope, no white power here! Courtesy of Gabriel San Blogman

All of that ancient history that has nothing to do with the present day, you say? Righteous Brothers member Bobby Hatfield declined to perform at Anaheim High School (his alma mater, as well as mine) in the 1980s and right up to his death in 2003 because he thought the school had too many Mexican students by then. The Confederate flag hung at Savanna High School (home of the Rebels!) well into the 1990s, and the school colors are still red and gray.  Tom Metzger's White Aryan Resistance (WAR) found many recruits at Katella, Magnolia and Esperanza high schools during the 1980s, especially whenever he appeared on Wally George's late-night show on KDOC-TV Channel 56. A former schoolteacher at Thomas Edison Elementary recently wrote in saying she remembers an incident during the 1990s when jack-booted thugs stormed Sycamore Junior High and Thomas Edison after school and then invaded the surrounding barrio—and police did nothing then, too.

How about elected racism? We profiled Anaheim Union High School District Trustee Harald Martin, who compared Mexican children to Tribbles, the spawning space aliens of Star Trek—that was 1999. We were there in 2001 when an anti-Mexican rally at Anaheim City Hall turned into a free-for-all where Anaheim police sat back and did nothing again (that was also the place where a black minister called me a "Jap," then a "Flip" because he thought I was Asian—HA!), and at the Phoenix Club in 2009, when notorious anti-Mexicans Joe Arpaio and Barbara Coe joined forces for a fundraiser for former sheriff's candidate Bill Hunt. Speaking of the German restaurant, we never got around to writing about the neo-Nazis who love to hang out there, but the Jewish Journal sure did–and they know a little something about hate. 

From left: Arpaio, Coe, and Hunt at the Phoenix Club OC Weekly archives

More! We exposed a nightclub called The Shack as a haven for white-power shows–that was 2001—and also found neo-Nazis at the legendary Doll Hut (under previous owners, not the current batch) in 2009. And can't forget the House of Blues, where PEN1 members love to keep the mosh pit for themselves and neo-Nazis terrorized people of color as recently as last year (although not before getting their asses kicked). We broke the story in January of the Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan–the same Klukkers who showed up at Pearson Park this weekend–frightening a multicultural city neighborhood with their fliers, a scare tactic they've employed across OC for years. Anaheim was where Sikh temple shooter Wade Michael Page said he had "the best time of his life. He'd always say it was like he'd finally found his bros."

Man, Anaheim is so goddamn racist that even the White Rabbit at Disneyland got caught being a bigoted ass. 

Yet we as the press—as a newspaper committed to exposing corruption in Orange County, as a newspaper run by an Anaheimer whose family has been here on and off since the 1910s—are somehow supposed to ignore all this and let racist dogs lie?

Our 2001 cover story on white-power shows in Anaheim. Strange but true: the next issue, 9/11 happened OC Weekly archives

Fuck dat.

Almost none of the above history will you find covered anywhere else. We don't subscribe to the Orange County Register's notion that the default bias of any OC publication should be that Orange County is a great place full of decent, God-fearing Americans. It's as if such chroniclers think that by closing your eyes, hate disappears—and then the Klan shows up and makes everyone crazy. But that's a dereliction of duty. Orange County is the best place on Earth—and it's filled with scum who muck it up for the rest of us.

And that's why we write: to let Anaheim, the county—whoever is willing to listen—know about the hate still present in a beautiful, multicultural town.

We've received plenty of criticism by people over the years for our coverage, by people who say to forget, that the past has no influence on the present. Yet you can thread a noose from Saturday's events all the way to the city's foundation. And when you have a city leadership intent on keeping the brown down by fighting Latino activists and throwing as much money as possible at the Resort District while letting the rest of the city rot, the KKK isn't an anomaly; it's the hometown cheer squad.

And we'll keep our eye on them, hooded or not, every goose step of the way.