From the New York Times:
The Explorers program, a coeducational affiliate of the Boy Scouts of America that began 60 years ago, is training thousands of young people in skills used to confront terrorism, illegal immigration and escalating border violence — an intense ratcheting up of one of the group’s longtime missions to prepare youths for more traditional jobs as police officers and firefighters.
Because there’s nothing we need more than more vigilantes. And what’s up with all the Latino names sprinkled throughout this article? Are we supposed to believe this isn’t racist? Or that Latinos are with the program too? And what brown parent in his or her right mind would allow a kid to participate?
Resist racism 
a quote from the article:
“In a competition in Arizona that he did not oversee, Deputy Lowenthal said, one role-player wore traditional Arab dress. “If we’re looking at 9/11 and what a Middle Eastern terrorist would be like,” he said, “then maybe your role-player would look like that. I don’t know, would you call that politically incorrect?”
that has got to be one of the most stupid things i have heard from an instructor, it is completely wrong to think that the way to identify a terrorist is by Middle Eastern traditional dress. i am almost on the floor laughing to think that an instructor would even say something that ridiculous. btw i have had classes on this stuff, and this aint one of the ways to identify.
and yeah, who in their right mind would send their kid to a place like that.
Oh yes, just the kind of extra-curricular activity I’d want my middle schooler involved in.
My take on the brown angle:
(1) See, even Latinos can be “true Americans,” not like those border-crossing types.
(2) Divide and conquer
Holy crap. That was awful! Yes, the article makes it seem like all these Latino/a kids are just having a grand ol’ time in this program. That doesn’t make a lot of sense. We have a program here (also called Explorers, but I don’t think it’s related to the article’s program) with the police dept, where young people can volunteer. I’m on my city’s Diversity Commission, and have heard many conversations around City Hall lamenting the fact that youth of color do not seem interested in this program, and how can we get them interested, yada yada. Of course this brings up lots of issues about trust between community and law enforcement, racial profiling, hiring staff/officers of color, etc.
My point is that families and young people of color are not going anywhere near this program in my community – and it’s not even close to what was described in this article. I can’t imagine families of color wanting their kids to be a part of that, to learn what that article was espousing, to be among people who see them that way.
Come on kids, let’s learn to use assault rifles while racially profiling! This article was really disturbing.
I’m going to check more into our own Explorer program …
I think those Latino kids are being used as tokens to “prove” this isn’t racially motivated. They are to to this program what Michael Steele is to the Republican party.
I’ve noticed alot of this sort of right-wing Machiavellian’ism springing up online in an akward attempt for conservatives to hide their racism. For instance, there is a video on YouTube about a Mexican-American veteran that has been harrassed by undocumented immigrants.
The crazy righties are parading the video in an attempt to hide their racism and, in my opinon, to bolster their own denial or self-delusion. These same people post comments about “wetbacks” or “piece of shi$” or others when videos depciting violence or humiliation against Latinos are posted.
All persons have a need to maintain a sense of self-worth. Some people do that by actually trying to imrprove themselves and by trying to behave ethically. Others, like conservatives, spend most of their time finding creepy and moronic ways to justify their tolerance for suffering and inequality.