Gomez v. FAIR
For the past several months, I’ve been going back and forth about how to approach my EEOC/OHR racial discrimination case against the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR).
I have tried to pick up the pieces of my life by letting it go and returning to an industry that gave me birth: Radio. I was a radio journalist for 17 years… I’m 32 now and I started at the age of 15 if you can believe it.
But going back to radio is no longer an option for me, in part due to the relationships FAIR has with AM Newsradio. Some of those relationships FAIR ruined for me and that’s #unFAIR but that’s alright. I don’t cast blame on anyone in the radio business, it’s a tough business and some talk show hosts work 18 hour days for pennies and little to no health insurance. They do it because they love it and I realize an opportunity for an all-expense paid trip to D.C. at the “luxurious” Phoenix Park Hotel is too sweet to pass up. I set it up after all.
Let me back up.
I was called a spic, while I worked at FAIR and mocked for being Mexican-American.
Woa, I just read that out loud and that is – a – powerful – statement – but it’s true.
I worked as a spokesperson and press secretary for the Federation for American Immigration Reform for 9 Months, there’s not enough volunteer work I can do in this lifetime to make up for it.
FAIR is labeled as an anti-immigrant hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, and while you may have differing opinions of what the SPLC does (I certainly did) in this case I believe they are spot on. FAIR portrays itself as a non-profit organization, reliant on its 2 million members and supporters, to fight the establishment to protect America’s borders.
The reality is, they’re a lobbying group with waning influence and get most of their money from the ultra-rich Colcom Foundation (I know I’m making a lot of enemies here, but that’s okay).
If they really had 2 million members and supporters do you think they would only be able to raise just under $2,000.00 in over a week?
It’s all a show.
What isn’t a show, however, is the palpable disgust they have for dark-skinned Latin immigrants from developing countries. And, the number of employees (former and present) who know it’s a dysfunctional organization with a hostile work environment and active racial discrimination.
I was a victim of that racial discrimination, I saw and heard everything that went on at FAIR (and probably still goes on). I’m not a disloyal person, but I am a person who can’t turn his back on injustice or let the seeds of hate flower.
Not anymore.
Chapter One: The Press Secretary
When I first started working at FAIR I noticed there was a high level of tension in the office. Especially from minorities in the workplace. One person who stuck out to me and had a particularly high level of stress and anxiety was the Office Manager who was African-American. I asked her about the racial tensions at the workplace and she looked at me with raised eyebrows and started laughing. We were to get lunch to talk more about it but before that happened I received an email indicating that she was severed from the organization.
That’s when I began to realize something was off.
“WHITE NATIONALIST”
There was a “revolving door” at FAIR that swung faster than even some of the most dysfunctional radio stations I’ve worked at (and that’s saying something). One man who I went through the initial “indoctrination,” process with at the organization (Stein’s words not mine) was gone within several days of starting. He was to be replacing Ian Smith at the Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI). Ian had taken a job at the Department of Homeland Security where FAIR/IRLI has several significant connections. Ian eventually left DHS after it was discovered he had a penchant for writing to White Nationalists (The Atlantic).
“I don’t even know what a White Nationalist is! What does White Nationalist even mean? I’m a White Nationalist!” I remember my manager crowing at me.
His name was Dave Ray, a squatty former professional weightlifter in his 50’s. Ray was as bald as a newborn baby, had a long well manicured red-dyed beard and piercing blue eyes.
“Look, this is very abnormal, we don’t usually have people leaving at this rate,” Ray told me, which turned out not to be true. People came and left from FAIR/IRLI and a stunning rate, several co-workers of mine later told me that this was a pattern that had existed for years and it stemmed from disorganization at the top.
DANE v. STEIN
Apparently, FAIR President Dan Stein and the Executive Director Bob Dane really didn’t like each other. I think Dane to some degree really felt as though Stein was over the hill and a crazy extremist. Stein, on the other hand, thought Dane was weak, and so would bully him around constantly. The dynamic between those two men created a lot of toxicity for the rest of the work environment.
There were many attempted coupes against Stein from within the organization but all of them failed, the “old man” was too smart. I have to give credit where credit is due, Dan Stein is a highly intelligent person, otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to get his agenda through. But Stein made a mistake similar to the mistake Trump made and that is by stoking so much anger and resentment against immigrants to build FAIR’s base, it began to turn into an extremist and racist organization.
Continue reading in: Dane v. Stein.
EDITORS NOTE: Since FAIR is raising $5,000 I’m raising $5,000 too. Donate at my GoFundMe page: There’s Nothing FAIR About Discrimination