Hot House Flowers And Free Speech
11/29/2006
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Via the SPLC's Hatewatch, [Children's book compares immigrants to weeds] I see a story about a Judge in Brooklyn who has self published a book which is a metaphor for uncontrolled immigration:

A Brooklyn judge is courting controversy with a new illustrated children's book that some critics are calling a thinly veiled anti-immigration screed.

Criminal Court Judge John Wilson's "Hot House Flowers" warns of "effects of unregulated immigration" in a plot line about beautiful flowers that wither when dandelions sneak into their greenhouse.

"It's intended to describe defense of home and defense of country, and the reasons for that defense," said Wilson, who self-published the book, listed on Amazon.com at $15.99.

The story tells of jealous weeds that hog all the water and soil in the greenhouse. The other flowers suffer, but don't do anything until it's almost too late - because they don't want to appear intolerant.

Judge is in immig groups' bad books, By Adam Lisberg, New York Daily News

The Daily News asked immigrant rights groups to comment on this children's book, and found them

"outraged by the book - and even more upset that its author sits on the bench

"It's a shame that someone would write a children's book that teaches intolerance and hatred of immigrants," said Norman Eng, spokesman for the New York Immigration Coalition.

Margaret Fung, [send her mail] executive director of the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, said Wilson was dehumanizing immigrants by talking about "weeds" and "invaders."

"I would hate to be an immigrant in his courtroom," Fung said.

Wilson handles night arraignments in Brooklyn, where he said he sometimes takes a defendant's immigration status into account when setting bail.

"While that's a factor, it's not the overriding factor," Wilson said. "It's got to be a factor - if a person's an illegal immigrant, how likely is it that he's going to come back to court?"

Here's a simple point: judges are supposed to be anti-crime. That doesn't mean that they are supposed to always believe the police and the prosecutor, but they're supposed to be for law and against crime. If these guys think that Wilson shouldn't be allowed to sit on the bench because he's opposed to illegal immigration, then that's just wrong. By the way, Christmas is coming—if you buy Hot House Flowers through VDARE.com we get a small cut.

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