Marcus Epstein is facing sentencing for a hate crime he committed two years ago. Epstein, who is half-Jewish, half-Korean, is an employee of both Tom Tancredo’s anti-immigrant Team America PAC and of Pat and Bay Buchanan’s anti-immigrant group The American Cause. A spokesman for Team America PAC confirmed that Epstein is still at work until he leaves for law school in the fall. From the U.S. Attorney’s factual proffer:
On July 7, 2007, at approximately 7:15 p.m. at Jefferson and M Street, Northwest, in Washington, D.C., defendant was walking down the street making offensive remarks when he encountered the complainant, Ms. [REDACTED], who is African-American. The defendant uttered, “Nigger,” as he delivered a karate chop to Ms. [REDACTED]’s head.
At Talking Points Memo, Brian Beutler has a breakdown of Epstein’s racism-as-journalism writings. A sample:
"Diversity can be good in moderation — if what is being brought in is desirable. Most Americans don’t mind a little ethnic food, some Asian math whizzes, or a few Mariachi dancers — as long as these trends do not overwhelm the dominant culture."
Both Tancredo and Buchanan have been on the news shows a lot in the past week, calling Judge Sonia Sotomayor a racist in a variety of ways. Bay Buchanan has come to Epstein’s defense, saying he "has shown tremendous courage in addressing some serious personal problems and he has turned his life around." More info about this gem of a man at Indymedia. UPDATE: Hey, maybe forget the part about law school.