san diego minutemen leader loses defamation lawsuit

Saw this on the Southern Poverty Law Center blog... Last week, Jeff Schwilk, leader of the San Diego Minutemen, was ordered to pay $135,000 to Joanne Yoon, a Korean American civil rights activist who filed a defamation lawsuit against Schwilk and fellow Minutemen member Ray Carney in 2007: S.D. Minutemen leader loses defamation lawsuit.

Yoon, working as an independent contractor for the American Civil Liberties Union in 2006, monitored the activities of the Minutemen at day-labor sites, where members and their supporters frequently protest. According to the lawsuit, the two defendants referred repeatedly to Yoon in e-mails and on the web in vulgar terms, referring to her as "the Korean anorexic ACLU slut."

They also apparently posted images of Yoon on a Yahoo group called "Korean Kommie Kunt." Later, when female San Diego Minutemen activists objected (thanks, ladies), Schwilk changed the name of the group to "Joanne Yoon ACLU Goon." Clever. And sensitive.

In addition, mass emails to Minutemen members suggested that Yoon was interested in protecting the civil rights of Mexican immigrants because of her fondness for "Brown Schlong." I sense that this guy harbors a great deal of hostility towards immigrants. And anybody who "looks" like an immigrant. Unfortunately for him, that hostility is going to cost a court-ordered $135,000.