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Alex Cabrero Reporting Emotions over the immigration debate became apparent in an e-mail the Utah Minutemen sent to Utah's Attorney General. The Minutemen wanted Mark Shurtleff to speak during a rally next week. He declined because of a previous commitment. And that drew an angry response.
How bad the e-mail was depends on which side you talk to. The rally is this coming Monday. For the past week, Utah Minuteman director Alex Segura was e-mailing Shurtleff; his last e-mail definitely got some attention.
Alex Segura: "There's a lot of patriots now that are stepping
It seems Alex Segura is everywhere these days. And as Utah's leader of the Minuteman Project, that's exactly how he wants it. He's planning a rally in Salt Lake this coming Monday. Since Mark Shurtleff spoke at the Latino rally a few weeks ago, he was hoping to get Shurtleff to his rally.
Alex Segura, Utah Minuteman Project: "We thought we'd give Mark Shurtleff the opportunity to speak to the people who put him in office."
So, Segura sent him an e-mail, inviting him to speak at the Utah Minuteman Project's wake-up America rally on May 1st.
Shurtleff wrote back, saying, ‘I've checked my calendar, and I'm making a presentation to a Supreme Court subcommittee, so I won't be able to join you.'
Segura fired back, ‘No surprise that you declined, it's just what we expected from you. You're La Raza (which is a hispanic american civil rights organization) in your black heart, and not an American in my opinion.'
Mark SHurtleff: "It shocked me."
Shurtleff couldn't believe that response, saying it shouldn't be a racist issue.
Mark Shurtleff, Utah Attorney General: "You can't talk about the Hispanic Americans right to be heard, and if you do, then you're not an American? If you do, then you have a black heart? I mean, that's a terrible thing to say."
Segura says he didn't intend for his e-mail to be taken as a racist remark. All along, the Minuteman Project said its mission with immigration wasn't about race, but Shurtleff says after this e-mail, that's hard to believe.
