McCain Defends Obama and gets Booed at Xenophobic Rally

From: HeartofdraknIsAlive



Hatred and Ignorance is burning into the McCain campaign. McCain rallies have become a mixture of Limbaugh, Hannity and O'Reilly ideals and values meaning that is has become racist, xenophobic and comprised only of lies and smears. They have become hate fests and are looking more and more like clan rallies.

Teen jailed after 'racial attack'

By KEVIN MARTIN, SUN MEDIA
The Calgary Sun

CALGARY -- The suspect in an allegedly race-motivated attack on a Japanese tourist was denied bail yesterday.

Youth court Judge Richard O'Gorman said surveillance video in which an apparent member of the white supremacist group Aryan Guard sprints after the woman was enough to convince him to detain the accused.

"To me the video was quite compelling," said O'Gorman of footage in which a male smashes a beer bottle on the ground before chasing after the victim in a downtown Calgary alley.

The 25-year-old victim was repeatedly kicked in the attack, which was not caught on tape.

Crown prosecutor Karuna Ramakrishnan had sought the teen's detention for what she says is a hate crime.

Ramakrishnan noted the accused's friend, who gave a statement to police, said members of the Aryan Guard target ethnic victims.

"He does indicate that members of the group ... go around beating up minorities and that is certainly the motivation the Crown is alleging," Ramakrishnan said of the friend, who was present during the assault.

Defence lawyer Jim Conway, who asked that his client be released on strict conditions, said the accused's beliefs should not be a factor in deciding bail.

"The young person's character is not at issue," Conway said of his 17-year-old client.

"There's some concern about the young person's beliefs ... but that is not a relevant factor," he said.

"The allegation of facts make no reference to any suggestion there was any motivation behind this incident."

The teen was arrested Sept. 3 in connection with a July 26 attack of a woman who had just left an 8 Ave. S.W. nightclub.

Her assailant had jump-kicked her in the head from behind and then kicked her some more while she was on the ground, leaving her bruised.

The accused is charged with assault causing bodily harm and assault with a weapon -- steel-toed combat boots were allegedly used in the attack.

At the commencement of the bail hearing last month, lead investigator Const. Ed Perkins testified he arrested the accused wearing steel-toed and soled heavy boots with red laces.

Perkins said Aryan Guard members wear white laces, but don red ones if they've drawn blood or shown a willingness to do so for the cause.

The case returns to court next week.

Source: cnews.canoe.ca

Man Shot 3 Times Claims He Was Gunned Down Over Pro-Obama Shirt

A British man who was shot three times on a London street claims the gunman was enraged over his Barack Obama T-shirt, the Daily Mail reported Tuesday.

Dube Egwuatu told the Mail he was purchasing a cell phone when a stranger started shouting racial slurs over his shirt featuring the presidential candidate’s face and the word “Believe.”

Egwuatu zipped up his jacket and headed for his car, but as he turned it on, the gunman opened the passenger side door and shot him three times, hitting him in the face, hand and shoulder.

Egwuatu managed to drive off while bleeding and call for help. A piece of metal was removed from his jaw from the attacker’s gas-powered ball-bearing pistol, the Mail reported.

“He was telling me that he was going to kill me,” Egwuatu told the Mail. “I couldn't believe it was happening — and just because I was wearing an Obama T-shirt. He was trying to make me walk somewhere quieter, saying: ‘I've got something for you,’ and ‘I'm going to kill you.’”

Local police are still looking for the gunman.

Source: foxnews.com

New City man charged with attacking 3 people, screaming racial slurs

NEW CITY - A 22-year-old man has been charged with attacking three younger males while screaming racial slurs at them on South Little Tor Road, Clarkstown police said yesterday.

Police said they weren't sure what precipitated the attack Tuesday afternoon. Sgt. Harry Baumann said Richard Giga, accused in the attack, had been drinking and just had an argument with his mother.
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Baumann said Giga also had fought with his former girlfriend, having burned her belongings in the family's outdoor fireplace.

Giga had left the house and was walking when he encountered the three males, police said.

"He didn't know them, as far as we know, and we don't know of any provocation," Baumann said. The attacker "just went off the wall," he said.

The three Nanuet residents - ages 15, 17 and 20 - were walking on South Little Tor Road near Pasta Cuccina at 3 p.m. when the attack occurred, Baumann said.

Giga is accused of first slamming his body into the 20-year-old, then punching the 15-year-old in the head while screaming anti-Hispanic slurs, Baumann said.

He is further accused of forcing all three against a rock wall and demanding their cell phones and personal belongings while still spewing slurs, Baumann said. As the incident escalated, the 17-year-old called police on his cell phone, Baumann said.

Giga is accused of then going after the teen, putting him in a headlock, grabbing the cell phone and breaking it into two pieces, Baumann said. Police found the broken phone in bushes nearby.

The 17-year-old was taken to Nyack Hospital for evaluation, police said. The left side of his head was swollen and discolored, Baumann said. His injuries were not considered serious.

Giga of Birch Lane, New City, was charged with one count of second-degree robbery, two counts of third-degree robbery and two counts of second-degree assault, all felonies; three counts of unlawful imprisonment and one count of third-degree criminal mischief, both misdemeanors; and second-degree harassment, a violation.

Giga was being held yesterday in the county jail with bail set at $25,000, pending a hearing Monday in Clarkstown Town Court.

The incident could go before a county grand jury.

Reach Steve Lieberman at slieberm@lohud.com or 845-578-2443.

Source: lohud.com

Report: Student Attack May Have Been Racial

ATTLEBORO (WBZ) ― A middle school student was the victim of what appears to be a racial attack while riding the school bus home Friday afternoon, according to a newspaper report.

The Sun Chronicle reported that a seventh grade boy from the Wamsutta Middle School in Attleboro was allegedly held down, kicked and punched by a group of students when he wouldn't move from the back of the bus. The attackers were also uttering racial slurs to the boy, according to the paper.

The father of the young boy sent an e-mail to the school, saying their son was attacked because of the color of his skin, the paper reports.

School Business Manager Marc Furtado told the paper that they are taking the incident seriously "This is something that's not OK under any circumstances," he said.

Furtado told the paper that the incident started when the group of students told the seventh grader to leave the back of the bus, and when he refused, the group sat on him.

Furtado also told the Chronicle that one of the attackers later admitted to using a racial slur.

According to a police report obtained by the paper, the student was the victim of another attack that did not involve a school bus.

The students involved in the bus fight have had their bus privileges taken away.

Source: wbztv.com

Oakland landlady to pay $31,000 in bias case

(10-02) 12:38 PDT OAKLAND -- An Oakland landlady who allegedly berated an African American tenant with racial slurs and told him that "you're not going to turn this place into a ghetto" must pay the man and his wife $31,000 in damages, a state civil rights agency has ruled.

The remarks - which the landlady has denied making - amounted to racial discrimination in housing, the Fair Employment and Housing Commission said in a ruling last week.

The tenant, Dante Lemons, said he was sitting on the front porch of the Maryland Apartments at 3301 Telegraph Ave. in the spring or early summer of 2005, listening to the radio, when apartment co-owner Marlene O'Neill told him no loitering was allowed. When Lemons pointed out that he lived there, he said, O'Neill, who is white, replied that he shouldn't be outside and was turning the place into a ghetto.

Lemons said he had brushed off the incident at his wife's suggestion. However, O'Neill said the same thing when she saw him on the front steps another time, swore at him and unplugged his radio, Lemons said.

When he saw the landlady arguing with another black tenant in November 2005 and refused her order to return to his apartment, Lemons said, O'Neill asked, "What's wrong with you people?" and used a racial slur.

Lemons and his wife, Chanel Williams, who also complained of abuse by O'Neill, moved out with their young son in December 2005, saying they felt harassed.

O'Neill, who represented herself before the state commission, testified that she had ordered Lemons off the porch but denied calling him names or mistreating him. The commission said, however, that two other tenants with no involvement in the dispute had confirmed Lemons' account.

The damages covered the couple's increased rent at their next apartment, $22,500 for emotional distress and a $5,000 penalty.

O'Neill, who now lives in Florida, repeated her denial of the allegations in an interview this week and said she may appeal the ruling in Superior Court.

"I'd been nothing but nice to this young couple," she said. "He (Lemons) called the race card."

E-mail Bob Egelko at begelko@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page B - 4 of the San Francisco Chronicle

Source: sfgate.com

Teacher Suspended For Racial Slur Directed At Obama

By TimALoftis

A Florida teacher was suspended after students said he used a racial epithet directed at presidential candidate Barack Obama.

Seventh-grade social studies teacher Greg Howard of Marianna Middle School was given a written reprimand on Wednesday for "racially inappropriate comments" he made in his classroom on Sept. 26, according to a Jackson County School Board news release.

Howard reportedly wrote the word CHANGE as an acronym on the board and wrote an expletive with the letter "N." The phrase he wrote has been reported as "Can You Help A (expletive) Get Elected" and "Come Help A (expletive) Get Elected." School district officials did not return calls seeking comment Thursday, and Howard could not be reached.

Source: propeller.com

Threats bring 45 days in jail

Raleigh man's e-mail targeted Washington rights groups

Kristin Collins, Staff Writer
RALEIGH - A Raleigh man who made graphic threats against national Hispanic and Islamic advocacy organizations will serve 45 days in federal prison.

Christopher Michael Szaz, 42, also must perform 100 hours of community service with an Islamic or Hispanic group, receive treatment for alcohol addiction and remain under supervision for a year, according to the sentence imposed Wednesday by U.S. Magistrate Judge James E. Gates.

Szaz pleaded guilty Tuesday to two misdemeanor charges of sending threatening e-mail to the National Council of La Raza and the Council of American-Islamic Relations, both based in Washington.

Prosecutors said he sent two e-mail messages on June 8, 2007, threatening to bomb the CAIR office and an e-mail message to La Raza on July 27, 2007, threatening to kill employees.

Janet Murgu'a, president of La Raza, said the e-mail her group received included promises to "splay" their bodies and used derogatory terms to refer to Latinos.

Murgu'a said Wednesday that she hoped Szaz's prosecution would send a message to an increasingly hostile faction of people who oppose illegal immigration.

"I think they sit down at their keyboards and they think they can write anything to anyone," Murgu'a said. "The First Amendment does not protect death threats."

Szaz, a self-employed web designer, testified this week that he had a drinking problem and sent the messages while extremely intoxicated.

Szaz, who lives with his elderly mother, asked for house arrest so he could continue to care for her. The judge declined to forgo jail time, but gave him far less than the maximum one year and allowed him to report to prison on Oct. 20 so he could participate in early voting in the presidential election.

kristin.collins@newsobserver.com or 919-829-4881

Source: newsobserver.com

RI store owner apologizes for asking for ID cards

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - The owner of a plumbing supply store has signed an apology for asking Spanish-speaking customers for their Social Security numbers.

David Richardson allegedly asked to see Jose Genao's Social Security card in March after listening to Genoa and a friend speak Spanish inside Richardson's store. Genao said Richardson complained that the majority of people who speak Spanish in Rhode Island are illegal immigrants.

Both customers are U.S. citizens. Besides apologizing, Richardson paid $500 to several charities after the Rhode Island Commission for Human Rights and the Providence Human Relations Commission found probable cause that he broke city and state law.

Richardson said he apologized to get the case "over and done with" and doesn't agree with the legal findings.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Source: WPRI

Federal judge issues "Operation Stonegarden" immigration injunction in Otero

by Sito Negron

A federal judge has issued an injunction barring members of the Otero County Sheriff's Department from "unconstitutional stops, searches, seizures and discrimination" in enforcing immigration laws through the controversial Operation Stonegarden.

Posted on September 22, 2008

A federal judge has issued an injunction barring members of the Otero County Sheriff's Department from enforcing immigration laws through the controversial Operation Stonegarden.

The injunction specifically bars the department from "engaging in unlawful discriminatory activities and racial profiling for the purpose of identifying and apprehending undocumented and illegal immigrants pursuant to Operation Stonegarden."

In addition, the order bars the department from "unlawful retaliation, coercion, harassment, threats and intimidation," and tells the department not to conduct "unlawful community-wide raids targeted low-income Latino residents in Otero County."

In the summer of 2007, Otero County sheriffs deputies, using federal grant funds under the program name "Operation Stonegarden," began "a series of increasingly aggressive campaigns aimed at identifying and apprehending undocumented immigrants," claimed the Border Network for Human Rights in a lawsuit aimed at stopping the practice.

Among the allegations, although not specifically part of the lawsuit, were that the actions included stopping people at traffic checkpoints and asking for immigration status. (Click on links below the article to view the lawsuit and response from the government.)

In October, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Mexican-American Legal Defense Fund filed one lawsuit, and the Border Network for Human Rights, represented by the Paso del Norte Civil Rights Project filed another. Click here for background on the issue.

In May, the ACLU and MALDEF reached an agreement with the Otero sheriff's department regarding policies and procedures. Click here for background on that settlement.

Meanwhile, the other lawsuit resulated in the order signed by U.S. District Judge Martha Vazquez Friday.

In the order, Vazquez referred to claims that sheriff's deputies have been harassing residents of the community since the lawsuit's filing.

Representatives of both the Otero County Sheriff's Department and the Border Network for Human Rights were not immediately available for comment.

View the 11-page order via the link below.

Related Documents:

• Sept. 19, 2008 Injunction
• Nov. 13, 2007 BNHR Complaint
• Nov. 28, 2007 Government Response to BNHR Complaint

Source: Newspaper Tree

ACLU Applauds Senators Menendez and Kennedy for Bill to Protect U.S. Citizens from Unlawful Detention and Deportation

Long-awaited legislation establishes due process standards for immigration detention, raids and deportation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: (202) 675-2312 or media@dcaclu.org

WASHINGTON, DC – Last night, Senators Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Edward Kennedy (D-MA) introduced legislation to protect U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents from being unlawfully detained and deported by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). In the wake of sweeping immigration raids that have devastated communities across the country, the ACLU welcomes this bill, S.3594, The Protect Citizens and Residents from Unlawful Raids and Detention Act, as the first legislation to require DHS to follow due process standards in executing immigration raids.

“The Protect Citizens and Residents from Unlawful Raids and Detention Act is long overdue,” said Joanne Lin, ACLU Legislative Counsel. In recent years, immigration detention and deportation rates have grown exponentially: last year over 300,000 people were deported and over 30,000 people held in immigration detention daily. DHS’s immigration enforcement actions have been so sweeping and untargeted that they have ensnared U.S. citizens. Hundreds of U.S. citizens have been unlawfully detained by DHS, and at least one U.S. citizen was illegally deported to Mexico, a country he had never lived in. According to Lin, “These gross due process violations have occurred because there are no controls or regulations governing DHS’s conduct. This bill is a necessary antidote to DHS’s unchecked and unconstitutional immigration enforcement powers.”

The ACLU has sued DHS for illegal detaining and deporting people including U.S. citizens. One ACLU client, Pedro Guzman, a U.S. citizen born in California, was deported to Mexico in 2007. After he was deported, Mr. Guzman was forced to live on the streets, to bathe in rivers and to eat out of trash bins for several months before he was allowed to reenter his home country, the U.S. The ACLU of Southern California and the law firm of Morrison & Foerster have brought a damages action against DHS on behalf of Mr. Guzman and his mother.

"Local jail officials and federal immigration officers deported the undeportable, a United States citizen, based on appearance, prejudice and reckless failure to apply fair legal procedures," said ACLU of Southern California Legal Director Mark Rosenbaum, an attorney for Pedro Guzman and his mother. “Local law enforcement officials should do the jobs they're trained for, not enforce complicated federal immigration laws. We don't use local officials to audit IRS returns or conduct foreign wars; that's why we have a federal government. The same applies to enforcement of immigration laws.”

In another lawsuit, the ACLU, National Immigration Law Center and the National Lawyers’ Guild sued DHS for systematically denying access to counsel to workers swept up in an immigration raid. In February 2008, ICE agents descended on the premises of a printer supply company in Van Nuys, California, temporarily shutting down operations. The ACLU and other lawyers offered to represent all the arrested workers, but ICE refused to let the workers consult with immigration attorneys, both at the worksite and later at the local ICE field office in the days following the raid. Some of the workers who tried to assert their right to counsel were intimidated by ICE agents into making incriminating statements.

The ACLU, NILC and NLG had no choice but to sue DHS for violating the workers’ right to consult with immigration counsel. In March 2008, DHS settled the case and allowed immigration attorneys to sit in on the workers’ interviews with ICE officers. The workers were represented by Ahilan Arulanantham, director of immigrants’ rights and national security at the ACLU of Southern California. According to Mr. Arulanantham, “ICE enforcement actions repeatedly violated the Constitution and federal law in this case. U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents and others living in this country are entitled to a federal government that follows the law and due process.”

These ACLU lawsuits highlight the urgent need for Congress to pass legislation that curbs ICE’s unconstitutional raids, detention and deportation practices. To this end, this legislation would do the following:

* Create due process protections, such as notification of immigration charges and access to counsel and phones, during immigration enforcement efforts;

* Require DHS to implement regulations to ensure that immigration detainees are treated humanely;

* Promote “alternatives to detention” programs that are more humane and cost-effective than traditional penal-style detention;

* Establish an ICE ombudsman to investigate complaints and to create DHS accountability; and

* Provide labor protections to ensure that ICE worksite raids do not undermine labor or employment law investigations.

Source: ACLU

New Details About Plot To Kill Obama

Dencer, CO - Three men in Denver discussed assassinating U.S. Sen. Barack Obama during the Democratic National Convention in Denver by sneaking into one of his events and shooting him with a gun hidden inside of a camera.

Nathan Johnson's girlfriend, whom 9NEWS is not naming because she's a juvenile, said "it would have to be a suicide mission," according to federal court records.

The plot is similar to that in the 1992 movie "The Bodyguard" starring actors Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston. In the movie, Costner stops an assassination attempt against Houston by spotting a weapon hidden inside a gutted-out TV camera.

Johnson, Shawn Adolf and Tharin Gartrell all thought that Obama had a suite in the third floor of the Hyatt hotel, where they were staying. In fact, Obama was staying in another Denver hotel.

The men were doing methamphetamine inside the hotel with two women on Aug. 23 discussing the plot to kill Obama, according to federal records.

Adolf said, "It would not matter if he killed Senator Obama because police would simply add a murder charge to his pending charges," according to the records.

There were seven outstanding warrants for Adolf's arrest.

The underage woman told law enforcement that Adolf also talked about using "a high-powered rifle 22-250 from a high vantage point" to shoot Obama during his acceptance speech at INVESCO Field at Mile High.

One of the other women in the room, Kay Neb, told police she believes Adolf is affiliated with the Sons of Silence white supremacist group. Neb also told police that Adolf, Johnson and Gartrell are all racists because they made racially disparaging comments about Obama.

The Sons of Silence is a motorcycle group with chapters across the country.

"We don't know these people, we are not associated with them in any way and we don't want people like this in our group," said a spokesman for Sons of Silence.

The group also says it has no ties to white supremacists.

When police searched the hotel rooms and cars the men were using, they confiscated meth, needles, laptops, cell phones, a black mask, books indicating check fraud and forgery, bags of new clothes, tactical pants and bar coupons.

Based on the evidence, FBI special agent Robert Sawyer first believed there was probable cause to believe the men were conspiring to kill Obama.

However, U.S. Attorney Troy Eid last week said that further investigation revealed insufficient evidence to indicate a "true threat," plot or conspiracy against the senator.

The men were charged with various weapons and/or drug charges.

Aurora Police found two rifles, ammunition, bulletproof vests, walkie-talkies, wigs and fake identifications in the pickup truck that Gartrell was driving when they pulled him over Aug. 24. One of the weapons was stolen from Kansas.

Police also found a Wizzinator inside the pickup truck, which is a device made of a prosthetic penis and synthetic urine to cheat on drug tests.
(Copyright KUSA*TV, All Right Reserved)

Source: DigTriad

The Tanton Files: FAIR Founder’s Racism Revealed

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The Bentley Historical Library at the University of Michigan is an unassuming place, more like a small-town library than a research institute. But hidden away in 17 cardboard boxes deep inside the simple facility are the papers of John Tanton, the retired Michigan opthamologist who has been the most important figure in the modern American anti-immigration movement for three decades. The papers, which include more than 20 years of letters from the founder of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) and a batch of other nativist groups, contain explosive material about Tanton’s beliefs. They also show that FAIR, where Tanton still serves as a member of the board, has been well aware of Tanton’s views and activities for years.

Tanton has long claimed that he is no racist — that, in fact, he came to his immigration restrictionism through progressive concerns for population control and the environment, not disdain for the foreign born. He characterizes himself as a “fair person,” and on his website he condemns the “unsavory characters whose views can easily be characterized as anti-American, anti-Semitic and outright racist.”

Fair enough. But what do Tanton’s letters have to say?

As it turns out, quite a lot. Although Tanton has been linked to racist ideas in the past — fretting about the “educability” of Latinos, warning of whites being out-bred by others, and publishing a number of white nationalist authors — the papers in the Bentley Library show that Tanton has for decades been at the heart of the white nationalist scene. He has corresponded with Holocaust deniers, former Klan lawyers and the leading white nationalist thinkers of the era. He introduced key FAIR leaders to the president of the Pioneer Fund, a white supremacist group set up to encourage “race betterment,” at a 1997 meeting at a private club. He wrote a major funder to encourage her to read the work of a radical anti-Semitic professor — to “give you a new understanding of the Jewish outlook on life” — and suggested that the entire FAIR board discuss the professor’s theories on the Jews. He practically worshipped a principal architect of the Immigration Act of 1924 (instituting a national origin quota system and barring Asian immigration), a rabid anti-Semite whose pro-Nazi American Coalition of Patriotic Societies was indicted for sedition in 1942.

As early as 1969, Tanton showed a sharp interest in eugenics, the “science” of breeding a better human race that was utterly discredited by the Nazis, trying to find out if Michigan had laws allowing forced sterilization. His interest stemmed, he wrote in a letter of inquiry that year, from “a local pair of sisters who have nine illegitimate children between them.” Some 30 years later, he was still worrying about “less intelligent” people being allowed children, saying that “modern medicine and social programs are eroding the human gene pool.”

Throughout, FAIR — which, along with Tanton, refused repeated requests for comment for this story — has stood by its man. Its 2004 annual report praised him for “visionary qualities that have not waned one bit.” Around the same time, Dan Stein, who has led FAIR since 1988 as executive director or president and who was copied on scores of Tanton’s letters, insisted FAIR’s founder had “never asserted the inferiority or superiority of any racial, ethnic, or religious group. Never.”

Read more here: Southern Poverty Law Center

Vandals damage, graffiti Chula Vista medical office

UNION-TRIBUNE

7:13 p.m. September 11, 2008

CHULA VISTA – Police say vandals caused more than $4,000 damage to a pediatrics medical office Wednesday night, smashing computers and scrawling Nazi swastikas and anti-Hispanic graffiti on the walls.

The vandalism was discovered about 8 a.m. Thursday by employees arriving for work at Heritage Park Pediatrics on East Palomar Street near Monarch Drive, said Pamela Fish, a pediatric nurse practitioner.

“They targeted an office that serves a huge Hispanic population, and we're very concerned,” Fish said. “We had to shut down in the morning to repair the damage.”

Officer Glenn Stark said the vandals forced open a rear door to the clinic, broke open file cabinets and stole two cash boxes with an undisclosed amount of money. They smashed three laptop computers and a computer keyboard and scrawled several 9-inch Nazi swastikas and obscenities on the clinic walls.

Chula Vista police said it was the fourth time in the last two months that vandals have defaced property in the city with racist messages.

Vandals painted swastikas and the number 666 on two Berean Baptist Church vans on July 7, and on a concrete sign in front of Mater Dei Catholic High School on Aug. 1, police said.

Also, swastikas were painted Aug. 5 on a wall in the 1200 block of Turtle Cay Place, and on Aug. 19 on a building at Heritage Park, police said.

Anyone with information is asked to call police at (619) 691-5151.

Source: SignOnSanDiego

Community unites for arson victim

Sheriff, others hope actions will defuse racial tensions in the Jefferson Twp. neighborhood.

By Kristin McAllister

Staff Writer

Sunday, September 14, 2008

JEFFERSON TWP., Montgomery County — Despite living in fear of hate crimes, residents of a Jefferson Twp. neighborhood banded together Saturday during a block party in front of a home destroyed by an act of arson.

The Montgomery County Sheriff's Office sponsored the Saturday, Sept. 13, block party in front of the charred, two-story home of Saundra Ballard at 322 Albers Ave.

"I'm just really overjoyed to see the community coming out and embracing not only this event, but embracing our family," said Ballard, a nurse at Friendship Village Nursing Home. "This is what this community needs — to get back on track to let people know they're not going to put up with the nonsense and no matter what color you are, you're going to stick together and make sure that this doesn't happen."

Sheriff's deputies on July 31 arrested Earl McLearran, 39, of 304 Albers Ave., on two charges of ethnic intimidation after he allegedly yelled a racial slur at Ballard's son and threatened to burn down her house. He is being held on a $50,000 bond.

"They all are living in fear," said Sheriff Phil Plummer. "They're terrorized and said, 'We're moving. We can't handle this anymore. We can't come out on our porches. We're afraid he's going to burn us out.' That's when I said, this is ridiculous. We need to do something."

Plummer said McLearran's 16-year-old stepson and two other juveniles also are being investigated in connection with the fire.

Ballard said community strength will give pause to anyone considering committing a hate crime.

"They'll think about how many others are not with them on it, and they will think twice about doing it now," she said.

Still, Ballard said she's deeply shaken by what's happened.

"As long as that family is at the end of the street, I don't think I'll ever be safe here," she said.

Derrick L. Foward, president of the NAACP Dayton unit, said the block party is "a good start, but I do not want this block party to overshadow the severity of this crime and this family being displaced."

Foward pointed to the fact that the arson was the eighth call of deputies to Ballard's home.

"So, while this block party is a step in the right direction, we don't want to see what's happened here to have been in vain," he said. "Those responsible need to be held accountable for their actions."

Pat Hicks-Smith of the Dayton Dialogue on Race Relations said her group is striving to get neighbors together in combatting discrimination and hate crimes.

"We are hopeful that by working with the sheriff's department, we're going to be able to engage residents in a dialogue with the hope that the outcome will be an action plan to look at how they can address issues, concerns and make a difference in their neighborhood," Hicks-Smith said.

Ballard's neighbor, Agustin Peres, said block parties should be routine.

"It would be good to have one every month," he said. "It would help a lot, because everybody is on the lookout for each other."

Donations to the Ballard family may be made through a link at www.stmarydevelopment.org. An account under Ballard's name also has been set up through the Wright-Patt Credit Union.

Source: Dayton Daily News

Beating Of Boy On School Bus Called Hate Crime

GARY, Ind. (Post-Tribune) ― A 14-year-old boy suffered a severe beating by fellow students while riding on his school bus on Wednesday in Gary, Indiana - in what is being investigated as a hate crime.

As Angel Garcia recovers from Wednesday's school bus beating, Gary school officials announced Friday they are investigating the attack.

"Our district in no way condones racial discrimination or any acts of negative behavior," Superintendent Mary Steele-Agee said in a written statement.

Garcia, 14, an eighth-grader at Tolleston Middle School, was attacked by a bus load of fellow students Wednesday afternoon, his mother said.

The victim told Cpl. Len Miller students "surrounded him ... said they would allow no whites at the school or bus," according to a police report.

The report, which classifies the beating as a hate crime, indicates there were about five assailants, while the school system describes the incident as "a fight with three neighborhood students who Angel called his friends."

Garcia suffered a broken nose, black eye and numerous bruises.

His mother, Maylee Garcia, said she moved her family to the west side of Gary from East Chicago, Ind. to get away from a bad neighborhood.

But shortly after school began, her son balked at riding the bus. On Wednesday morning, she went to Tolleston School and spoke with a vice principal and two security guards about the harassment her son has endured since the classes began.

He was attacked on the bus ride home that afternoon.

One teen was arrested Thursday. Juvenile division detectives hoped to view a security tape from the bus to identify other attackers.

Source: CBS2Chicago

Suspected white supremacist to serve five years in prison for MySpace threats

A man known to authorities as a white supremacist reached a plea agreement Monday with the county District Attorney’s Office for threatening a man from Templeton, according to spokesman Jarret Gran.

Jeffrey David Lodor, 27, of Porterville, pleaded no contest to committing an assault with a deadly weapon or using means likely to produce great bodily injury.

Lodor agreed to a five-year state prison term.

Lodor met the unidentified Templeton man while in jail and they became friends.

But after they were released and the local man made Jewish and Hispanic friends, Lodor threatened him on the social networking Web site MySpace.

Sheriff's Department investigators previously would not disclose the specifics of Lodor’s alleged threats, but said he was a known white supremacist.

— Nick Wilson

Source: San Luis Obispo

Man pleads not guilty to hate-crime charges

He and another alleged white supremacist are accused of knocking out a man.

By Joseph Serna and Michael Alexander

Updated: Wednesday, September 10, 2008 4:21 PM PDT

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A Huntington Beach man has pleaded not guilty to charges that he and a friend committed a hate crime by beating and robbing a man simply for his being Latino.

Ryan Joseph Swanson, 19, of Huntington Beach, and Nicholas Gibbs, 20, of Anaheim, are charged with aggravated assault, felony battery with committing serious bodily injury, second-degree robbery, stealing a car and committing a hate crime and causing great bodily injury after allegedly knocking out 24-year-old Ryan Honeycutt and stealing his car and phone.

Swanson pleaded not guilty to all charges at his arraignment Friday afternoon.

On May 26, prosecutors say Honeycutt was drinking with a female friend in Seal Beach.

When the two went to Honeycutt’s car to leave, Honeycutt discovered his car battery had died and the girl called her friends Swanson and Gibbs to give them a jump, prosecutors said.

All four went back to the girl’s house, and while they were talking, Honeycutt mentioned that he was half El Salvadoran, prosecutors said. Authorities say Swanson and Gibbs have white supremacist tattoos and told Honeycutt they were white supremacists before luring him outside as he prepared to leave because he was uncomfortable.

The men punched Honeycutt in the head, knocking him out, then stomped on him while he was unconscious, prosecutors said.

Honeycutt suffered a fractured clavicle, a concussion and cuts on his face, prosecutors said. Swanson and Gibbs went back into the girl’s house and grabbed Honeycutt’s keys, wallet and cellphone and left with his car, prosecutors said.

His car was found abandoned in a Long Beach parking lot three days later. Swanson was declared ineligible for bail, according to jail records. He is scheduled to appear for a preliminary hearing Tuesday.

JOSEPH SERNA may be reached at (714) 966-4619 or at joseph.serna@latimes.com.

Source: HBIndependent

Imprisoned racist leader launches new appeal

BY BILL DOLAN
bdolan@nwitimes.com
219.662.5328 | Thursday, September 11, 2008 | No comments posted.

CHICAGO | White supremacist Matthew Hale continues to file pleas in Hammond federal court to overturn his conviction and 40-year sentence for soliciting an FBI informant to murder a federal judge.

Hale, 37, who is being held at a federal prison in Florence, Colo., launched a new appeal this year alleging his 2004 trial was unjust because of mistakes by his defense lawyers.

Hale was the head of the World Church of the Creator, which preaches racial holy war against minorities. A jury convicted him of taking part in a plot to kill Illinois U.S. District Judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow. Lefkow had ordered Hale to stop using the name World Church of the Creator for his group because it was trademarked by an Oregon-based church group.

Hale faults his lawyers for allowing blacks and an assistant dean at Northwestern University with a black live-in boyfriend to serve on the jury.

One of Hale's racist associates, Benjamin Nathaniel Smith, went on a shooting spree in 1999 that killed two minorities, including Northwestern basketball coach Ricky Birdsong.

The Seventh Circuit Court denied an earlier appeal by Hale to win a new trial. U.S. District Court Judge James Moody, who presided over Hale's trial in Hammond, has yet to rule on the new appeal.

Source: NWITimes

Jury sees bat used to slay skinhead

By TRACY MCLAUGHLIN, SPECIAL TO SUN MEDIA


BARRIE -- Jury members squirmed and shuffled in their seats yesterday as they looked upon a murder weapon that was used to bash in the head of a white supremacist skinhead as he lay sleeping after a drunken party.

The weapon -- a wooden baseball bat which was fondly called a "nigger stick" by its skinhead owner, Vaughn Newman -- was engraved with symbols connected to Hitler's teachings and the words "Full out hate."

WHITE SUPREMACISTS

The trial is delving into the death of Stephen Long, 22, of Ottawa, who was beaten to death at a Collingwood house party on April 16, 2006. Court heard Long and his friends belonged to the Hammer Heads -- a white supremacist brotherhood of skinheads against blacks, Jews and gays.

On trial for first-degree murder is Christopher Broughton, 29, of Hamilton, who the jury heard was hoping to be accepted by the skinheads.

Brad Genno, 27, a Hammer Head from Toronto, testified he drove to the Collingwood party with Long and Broughton. He said he saw Broughton get into a fight with some of the partiers.

'SHOCKED, AFRAID'

The next morning he awoke on a couch to the sight of Broughton standing in front of him with the bat, so he fled.

"I bolted," said Genno. "I was, shocked ... afraid."

When he returned, police and paramedics were already there and Long was lying in a pool of blood on the floor.

Defence lawyer Michael Lacy suggested his client, Broughton, was involved in more than "just a fight" and that he was beaten, dragged by his feet, kicked in the head, stomped on, then made to kneel down and apologize for showing disrespect.

"I'm not sure about all of that," said Genno, who testified that he was drunk at the time.

"I've tried to black out the memory of that night for the past two years."

The trial continues Tuesday.

Source: CANOE

Overturning of Seale Verdict is Sad Reminder of Justice Denied in Civil Rights-Era Murders

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has overturned the conviction of James Ford Seale, citing a five-year statute of limitations on the charges. The Klansman was convicted in 2007 on kidnapping-related charges in connection with the 1964 murders of Charles Eddie Moore and Henry Hezekiah Dee.

"The ruling is disappointing, but not surprising," said SPLC President Richard Cohen, who testified before Congress last year in support of the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act. "It's a sad reminder that justice delayed is, too often, justice denied.

"Charles Moore and Henry Dee were killed during a time when there simply was no justice for African Americans in the South. The whole criminal justice system — from the police, to the prosecutors, to the juries and to the judges — was perverted by racial bigotry. Were it not for the callous indifference of white law enforcement officials, Seale would have been in jail long ago and the statute of limitations would not have mattered."

Moore and Dee are among the 40 martyrs whose names are inscribed on the Civil Rights Memorial adjacent to the SPLC's office in Montgomery, Ala.

Source: SPLCenter

Valley residents sue government after being denied passports

By A.J. Anderson
Rio Grande Valley resident David Hernandez fought back tears as he described the difficulties he had applying for a passport.



BROWNSVILLE, September 10 - Nine U.S. citizens from the Rio Grande Valley are suing the federal government, claiming they were discriminated against when applying for a passport.

Attorneys representing the nine plaintiffs say roadblocks were put up by the State Department because the citizens have a Hispanic surname and were born to a midwife.

On Tuesday, plaintiffs David Hernandez from San Benito and Juan Aranda from Weslaco spoke before a group of community members and media to share their story and explain the basis of the lawsuit.

They were joined by attorneys from the American Civil Liberties Union, Washington, D.C.-based Hogan & Hartson LLP, Refugio del Rio Grande, Inc., of San Benito, and the Rev. Mike Seifert of San Felipe de Jesus Catholic Church in Cameron Park.

The case involves Mexican American citizens who have applied for passports in advance of next year’s policy change, when passports will be required to travel to Mexico by land.

The State Department says it has tightened up security since 9/11 and vets the applications thoroughly because the Valley has a higher than average number of midwives who have been convicted of fraud.

Introducing the case, Robin Goldfaden, of the ACLU’s Immigration Rights Project, stated that “there was a clear pattern to the problem faced, and who was facing that problem: Mexican Americans delivered by a midwife in a Southwest border state, and Texas in particular.”

The state department lumped people in this category together, Goldfaden said, and subjected them to “unreasonable, burdensome and excessive demands for evidence of their birth in the United States, evidence which few people would actually possess” when they applied for a passport.

Attorney Lisa Brodyaga with Refugio del Valley explained that the types of documents requested by the government ranged from “easy to obtain, such as baptismal records, to difficult, to impossible.” Some institutions do not exist anymore, such as old schools or clinics, making some records impossible to acquire for elderly people.

Following the surge in passport applications for border residents who want to travel to Mexico, Refugio staff encountered a surge at their doorstep of those “who had received letters from the Department of State saying that their applications had been closed, or ‘filed without action’ because they either did not respond to the demand for these documents or they did not respond fully.”

Goldfaden said the applicants spent a great deal of time, effort, and money obtaining documents that were not being required of other applicants. She said the applicants were not specific with details of how to remedy the situation, thereby leaving the applicant with no passports and no hope of obtaining one.

“The constitution would not allow this,” Goldfaden said. “The state violated the law in three areas: it is a violation of due process – people should be judged by a fair, proper, non-arbitrary standard – a violation of equal protection, and it is arbitrary and capricious.” The government is clearly breaking the law, the attorney claimed.

“What the lawsuit seeks is a fair and legal process, in a way that is fair, non-discriminatory, individualized, and under the proper scrutiny that all other applicants are given,” Goldfaden said.

Seifert said he fully supports the legal proceedings of those filing suit. A few months back he held a community meeting on the subject and expected half a dozen people to show up. Instead, dozens filled the room to tell their “horror” about applying for passports. Seifert said the residents were angered at the way they were treated by the State Department.


“We put up with a lot, but we don’t put up with being humiliated. I think that’s been the sense of people who made these applications – they’re giving up on the process” because they’re being targeted for being born to midwives, meaning that family was too poor to afford to go to the hospital.

As the parish priest, Seifert hears a lot of anguish from his parish, such as families not being able to “see grandmother,” or “go to the doctor.” Seifert added: “It’s a blow to the heart of our community, not to mention the financial difficulties.”

Hernandez and Aranda told similar stories of how difficult it was to apply for a U.S. passport. Hernandez was born and baptized in San Benito, Texas, to a midwife, and has spent nearly his whole life in the U.S. He asserted that he is “a lawful abiding taxpayer,” who has “social security” and is “a registered voter.” He always thought he was an American citizen, and had no reason to ever question that until he applied for a passport in light of new laws requiring passports for travel between Mexico and Texas.


“I pledge allegiance to the flag, of the United States of American,” he said, holding back the tears. He said he has repeated that phrase all his life, and feels pride in his country. “I served my country in the Army and have worked ever since.” He feels he is a model citizen.

Along with many others this year, Hernandez applied for a passport to travel outside the country. He has family in Monterrey he would like to visit. He received a letter stating that he was not being granted a passport. “I rarely travel to Mexico but I would like to travel whenever I want. If they’re doing this to me then I’m sure they’re doing it to a lot of citizens,” Hernandez said.

Aranda, from Weslaco, has lived in the Valley his whole life. He said he is proud to be an American. “I support my troops and teach my kids to be proud to be American,” he said. Aranda applied for his passport because he does work in three states in Mexico and because “Mexico is part of our culture.” His family goes there regularly, especially on weekends.

After applying for a passport, Aranda said he received a letter requesting more information. He said he can’t believe the government refuses to believe his birth certificate. It has made him wonder about what his citizenship really is – he knows he’s an American, but his own country is denying him a passport. Aranda just wants to be treated fairly.

Lisa Graybill, legal director with ACLU Texas, believes this case is worthy of her group’s attention because of its clear injustice. “Although our office is based in Austin we’re very connected to this area and to doing more work here on the border, so we’re honored to be here and work with these folks.”

Adam Levin, of the law firm Hogan & Hartson, came to the Valley with colleague Melissa Henke. Levin said his firm has “a long tradition of service to the community and free legal service.” All six attorneys involved in the case said they are committed to winning this cause.

Anyone in a similar situation who would like to be part of the lawsuit should call 415-343-0784, or e-mail passport@aclu.org. More information can be obtained at www.aclu.org.

Source: Rio Grande Guardian

Census: Area’s Latino population growing rapidly

BY DAVID SINGLETON
STAFF WRITER
Published: Friday, August 8, 2008 4:29 AM EDT
Colombia-born Isabel Balsamo couldn’t decide whether to take it as a compliment or an insult.

The remark came at a meeting Balsamo attended in Wilkes-Barre in 2006 at the height of the divisive frenzy over Hazleton’s proposed anti-illegal immigration ordinance — a law aimed squarely at that city’s burgeoning Hispanic population.

“Somebody said to me, ‘Isabel, you don’t have to worry. No one would be able to tell you were Hispanic if you didn’t open your mouth,’” said Balsamo, the Hispanic outreach coordinator at King’s College. “I think it shows we still have a long way to go.”

A long way to go — and apparently not much time to get there.

New census estimates released Thursday show northeast Pennsylvania’s Hispanic population grew dramatically in 2007, spurred by a 20.5 percent surge in Luzerne County, the fastest rate in the state.

Of the other four counties in Pennsylvania that experienced double-digit growth in the number of people of Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, Lackawanna (12.5 percent), Schuylkill (10.5 percent) and Carbon (also 10.5 percent) border Luzerne. The other is Pike (10.4 percent).

Members of the region’s Hispanic community say the latest figures portend a demographic shift that is already sending ripples through the area’s social, cultural and economic fabric.

It’s also a trend that’s been accelerating throughout the decade. In Luzerne County, the Hispanic population has more than tripled since 2000, from 3,713 to an estimated 11,971 in July 2007; Lackawanna’s has more than doubled, from 2,958 to 6,002. Schuylkill County’s grew nearly 66 percent between 2000 and 2007, from 1,674 to 2,774 residents. All of these are greater than the statewide growth of 40 percent, from 397,257 to 556,132 Hispanic residents.

“It’s going to have a positive impact on the community, but people around here are going to see a lot of change,” said Alejandra Marroquin, a Catholic Social Services caseworker who is the Hispanic outreach coordinator for the Nativity of Our Lord parish in South Scranton. “They will have to be aware, they will have to be tolerant, and they will have to be understanding.”

Dr. Agapito Lopez, a retired Hazleton ophthalmologist who represents Luzerne and Lackawanna counties on the Governor’s Advisory Commission on Latino Affairs, said the growth is being driven by immigrants attracted by the availability of jobs and the region’s comparatively modest housing costs.

Most are not coming directly from their nation of origin but from other states, principally New Jersey and New York, he said. Contrary to popular belief, he said, few are here illegally.

“Most are documented or citizens who have just moved for the reasons that anybody moves,” Lopez said.

If northeast Pennsylvania is trying to turn itself around, it needs to welcome immigrants with open arms, said John Sumansky, Ph.D., chief planning officer at Misericordia University.

“Speaking as an economist, I couldn’t be happier. This region has been losing population, so it’s always good to see a population increasing rather than diminishing,” Sumansky said.

“We not only get more people, we get a more diverse population, and there is no one I know who would say that diversity is not good for the region.”

Pedro Gonzalez, executive director of the Scranton Latin Alliance, said the growth is not all migration. Some of it can be attributed to the birth of Hispanic children whose families have been here for one, two or even three generations.

“They are coming here. They are working here. They are staying here,” he said.

Another member of the governor’s advisory commission, Hazleton social worker Anna Arias, said the fatal beating of a Mexican immigrant last month in Shenandoah — a crime with alleged ethnic underpinnings — is tragic evidence of the cultural gulf between the Hispanic community and some of its neighbors.

It is something both groups have to work on, she said.

“In my heart, I believe for you to assimilate you have to feel totally, totally welcome in that culture,” Arias said. “Until we feel like we belong and until we are treated as equals, I don’t think it will happen.”

dsingleton@timesshamrock.com

Source: Standard Speaker

4th Pa. teen charged in killing of immigrant

Sat Sep 6, 12:15 PM ET

POTTSVILLE, Pa. - Authorities in Pennsylvania say a fourth teenager has been charged in the fatal beating of a Mexican immigrant.

Schuylkill County prosecutors charged the teen in juvenile court Friday with aggravated assault, ethnic intimidation and other offenses. His name and age are not being released.

Three others are charged as adults in the July attack in the town of Shenandoah on 25-year-old factory worker Luis Ramirez.

Homicide charges are filed against 16-year-old Brandon Piekarsky and 17-year-old Colin Walsh. Eighteen-year-old Derrick Donchak faces aggravated assault and other charges.

A local school district has agreed to provide Piekarsky and Walsh with 12 hours of in-home education per week while the case against them is pending.

Source: Yahoo

Alaskans Speak (In A Frightened Whisper): Palin Is “Racist, Sexist, Vindictive, And Mean”

September 5, 2008
by Charley James –



“So Sambo beat the bitch!”

This is how Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin described Barack Obama’s win over Hillary Clinton to political colleagues in a restaurant a few days after Obama locked up the Democratic Party presidential nomination.

According to Lucille, the waitress serving her table at the time and who asked that her last name not be used, Gov. Palin was eating lunch with five or six people when the subject of the Democrat’s primary battle came up. The governor, seemingly not caring that people at nearby tables would likely hear her, uttered the slur and then laughed loudly as her meal mates joined in appreciatively.

“It was kind of disgusting,” Lucille, who is part Aboriginal, said in a phone interview after admitting that she is frightened of being discovered telling folks in the “lower 48” about life near the North Pole.

Then, almost with a sigh, she added, “But that’s just Alaska.”
Racial and ethnic slurs may be “just Alaska” and, clearly, they are common, everyday chatter for Palin.

Besides insulting Obama with a Step-N’-Fetch-It, “darkie musical” swipe, people who know her say she refers regularly to Alaska’s Aboriginal people as “Arctic Arabs” – how efficient, lumping two apparently undesirable groups into one ugly description – as well as the more colourful “mukluks” along with the totally unimaginative “f**king Eskimo’s,” according to a number of Alaskans and Wasillians interviewed for this article.

But being openly racist is only the tip of the Palin iceberg. According to Alaskans interviewed for this article, she is also vindictive and mean. We’re talking Rove mean and Nixon vindictive.

No wonder the vast sea of white, cheering faces at the Republican Convention went wild for Sarah: They adore the type, it’s in their genetic code. So much for McCain’s pledge of a “high road” campaign; Palin is incapable of being part of one.

Tough Getting People Who Know Her to Talk

It’s not easy getting people in the 49th state to speak critically about Palin – especially people in Wasilla, where she was mayor. For one thing, with every journalist in the world calling, phone lines into Alaska have been mostly jammed since Friday; as often as not, a recording told me that “all circuits are busy” or numbers just wouldn’t ring. I should think a state that’s been made richer than God by oil could afford telephone lines and cell towers for everyone.

On a more practical level, many people in Alaska, and particularly Wasilla, are reluctant to speak or be quoted by name because they’re afraid of her as well as the state Republican Party machine. Apparently, the power elite are as mean as the winters.

“The GOP is kind of like organized crime up here,” an insurance agent in Anchorage who knows the Palin family, explained. “It’s corrupt and arrogant. They’re all rich because they do private sweetheart deals with the oil companies, and they can destroy anyone. And they will, if they have to.”

“Once Palin became mayor,” he continued, “She became part of that inner circle.”
Like most other people interviewed, he didn’t want his name used out of fear of retribution. Maybe it’s the long winter nights where you don’t see the sun for months that makes people feel as if they’re under constant danger from “the authorities.” As I interviewed residents it began sounding as if living in Alaska controlled by the state Republican Party is like living in the old Soviet Union: See nothing that’s happening, say nothing offensive, and the political commissars leave you alone. But speak out and you get disappeared into a gulag north of the Arctic Circle for who-knows-how-long.

Alright, that’s an exaggeration brought on by my getting too little sleep and building too much anger as I worked this article. But there’s ample evidence of Palin’s vindictive willingness to destroy people she sees as opponents. Just ask the Wasilla town administrator she hired before firing him because he rebelled against the way Palin demanded he do his job, or the town librarian who refused to hold the book burning Walpurgisnach Mayor Palin demanded.

Ironically, Palin was pushed into hiring the administrator by the party poobahs who helped get her elected after she got herself into trouble over a number of precipitous firings which gave rise to a recall campaign.

“People who fought her attempt to oust the librarian are on her enemies list to this day,” states Anne Kilkenny, a Wasilla resident and one of the few Alaskans willing to speak on-the-record, for attribution, about Palin. In fact, Kilkenny actually circulated an e-mail letter about Palin that was verified and printed by The Nation.
For good measure, Palin booted the Wasilla police chief from office because, she told a local newspaper, he “intimidated” her.

Running on Extreme Fringe Evangelical Views

Sarah Palin drew early attention from state GOP apparatchiks when, during her first mayoral campaign, she ran on an anti-abortion platform. Normally, political parties do not get involved in Alaskan municipal elections because they are nonpartisan. But once word of her extreme fringe evangelical views made its way to Juneau, the state capitol, state Republicans tossed some money behind her campaign.

Once in office, Palin set out to build a machine that chewed up anyone who got in her way. The good, Godly Christian turns out to be anything but.

“She’s doesn’t like different opinions and she refuses to compromise,” Kilkenny notes. “When she was mayor, she fought ideas that weren’t hers. Worse, ideas weren’t evaluated on their merits but on the basis of who proposed them.”
Sound familiar? Palin may well be Dick Cheney’s reincarnate.
Something else has a familiar Republican ring to it: Her tax policies, and a “refund surpluses but borrow for the future” attitude.

According to Kilkenny and others in Wasilla as well as Juneau, Palin reduced progressive property taxes for businesses while mayor and increased a regressive sales tax which even hits necessities such as food. The tax cuts she promoted in her St. Paul speech actually benefited large corporate property owners far more than they benefited residents. Indeed, Kilkenny insists that many Wasilla home owners actually saw their tax bill skyrocket to make up for the shortfall. Two other Wasillian’s with whom I spoke said property taxes on their modest, three bedroom homes rose during the Palin regime.

To an outsider, it would seem hard to do, but an oil-rich town with zero debt on the day she was inaugurated mayor was left saddled with $22 million of debt by the time she moved away to become governor – especially since nothing was spent on things such as improving the city’s infrastructure or building a much-needed sewage treatment plant. So what did Mayor Palin spend the taxpayer’s money on, if not fixing streets and scrubbing sewage?

For starters, she remodelled her office. Several times over, as a matter of fact.
Then Palin spent $1 million on an unnecessary, new park that no one other than the contractors and Palin seemed to want. Next, Sarah doled out more than $15 million of taxpayer money for a sports complex that she shoved through even though the city did not own clear title to the land; now, seven years later, the matter is still in litigation and lawyer fees are said to be close to at least half of the original estimated price of the facility.

She also worked hard to get voters approval of a $5.5 million bond proposal for roads that could have been built without borrowing. Anchorage may not be the center of the financial universe but, like good Republicans everywhere, Sarah Palin knows how to please Alaskan bankers and bond dealers.
For good measure, she turned Wasilla into a wasteland of big box stores and disconnected parking lots.

Sarah Barracuda

En route to the governor’s igloo, Palin managed to land what Anne Kilkenny says is the plumb political appointment in the state: Chair of Alaska’s Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (OGCC), a $122,400 per year patronage slot with no real authority to do anything other than hold meetings. She took the job despite having no background in energy issues and, as it turned out, not liking the work.

“She hated the job,” an OGCC staff member who is not authorized to speak with the news media told me. “She hated the hours and she hated what little work there was to do. But she couldn’t figure out a way to get out of the thing without offending Gov. Murkowski” and the state Republican Party regulars, some of whom were pissed off they didn’t get appointed.

But ever the opportunist, Palin quickly concocted a way. First, she waged a campaign with the local news media claiming that the position was overpaid and should be abolished – despite the fact that she lobbied Murkowski hard to get it. Then, mounting what she saw as a white horse, Palin raised a cloud of dust by resigning from the OGCC and riding away with an undeserved reputation as a “reformer.”
But when a local reporter dared to suggest that the reformer Empress has no clothes, Palin tried to get her fired.

“She came at me like I was trying to steal her kids,” said the targeted reporter, who now works for an oil company in Anchorage. “I heard she had a wild temper and vicious mean streak but it’s nothing like you can imagine until she turns it on you.”
Not surprising since some of her high school classmates still openly call her “Sarah Barracuda,” Kilkenny insists.

Still, as a Republican Party hack Palin managed to get herself elected running under the false flag of a “reformer.”

And what did she bring to the job? No legislative experience other than a city council of a village of 5,000 people, which is smaller than some high schools in Chicago. Little hands-on supervisory or managerial experience; after all, she needed to hire a city administrator to run Wasilla. No executive experience, except for almost being recalled as mayor. A philosophy of setting public policy based on one word: No.

And what has she done since winning the job?

According to Kilkenny, nothing. Well, nothing other than suggesting the state’s multi-multi-million dollar, oil-generated surplus be distributed to residents and finance future state needs by borrowing money. Gee, doesn’t that sound precisely what George Bush did with the surplus he inherited from Bill Clinton in 2001 and we all know in what great shape Bush’s economic policies left the nation.

It may explain why, when asked by reporters, including me, what she thought about Palin being picked to be McCain’s running mate, her mother-in-law replied with a sardonic, “What has Sarah done to qualify her to be vice president?” Of course, when the woman – said by many I spoke with to be well-respected in Wasilla – was running to succeed Palin as mayor, Sarah refused to endorse her, so that may explain the family tension.

As Governor, Palin gave the legislature no direction and budget guidelines, according to the chair of a legislative committee. But then she staged a huge grandstand play of line-item vetoing countless projects, calling them pork. “They were restored because of public outcry and legislative action,” the aide said. “She vetoed them mostly because she had no idea what they were or why they were important.”
But it was enough to get the McCain, who is mostly unobservant of the world around him anyway, to think Palin has a reputation as being “anti-pork”.

In fact, Juneau observers note that Palin kept her hand stuck out as far as anyone for pork ladled out by indicted Sen. Ted Stevens. She only opposed the “bridge to nowhere” after it became clear that it would be politically unwise to keep supporting it, these same insiders assert. Then, Palin fell back on her old habits and publicly humiliated him for pork-barrel politics.

As for being “ready on day one” to be commander in chief, despite the repeated public claims she’s made, the Alaska National Guard commander said that, “she has made no command decisions, other than sending some troops to help fight a few brush fires and march in parades at county fairs.”
“Sambo Beat the Bitch”

“Palin is a conniving, manipulative, a**hole,” someone who thinks these are positive traits in a governor told me, summing up Palin’s tenure in Alaska state and local politics.

“She’s a bigot, a racist, and a liar,” is the more blunt assessment of Arnold Gerstheimer who lived in Alaska until two years ago and is now a businessman in Idaho.

“Juneau is a small town; everybody knows everyone else,” he adds. “These stories about what she calls blacks and Eskimos, well, anyone not white and good looking actually, were around long before she became a glint in John McCain’s rheumy eyes. Why do I know they’re true? Because everyone who isn’t aboriginal or Indian in Alaska talks that way.”

“Sambo beat the bitch” may be everyday language up in the bush. Whether it – and the outlook, politics and worldview Palin reflects when she says such things in public – should be part of a presidential campaign is another thing altogether. The comment says as much about McCain as it does about Palin, and it says a lot of things about Americans who overlook such statements (as well as her record) and vote anyway for McCain.

Source: LA Progressive

ACLU sues to halt RI governor's immigration order

By RAY HENRY
Associated Press Writer

A civil rights group filed a lawsuit Wednesday seeking to block Gov. Don Carcieri from enforcing an executive order requiring private employers to electronically check the immigration status of new hires.

The lawsuit, filed by the state branch of the American Civil Liberties Union, challenges an executive order that Carcieri signed in March to clamp down on illegal immigration.

Carcieri's order requires state police and prison officials to identify illegal immigrants for possible deportation. It also forces state agencies and companies doing business with the state to use a federal database to check the immigration status of new employees. Companies that refuse to comply could lose their state contracts.

The ACLU argues that the database, E-Verify, disproportionately identifies foreign-born employees as ineligible to work and that the database could encourage employers to discriminate against workers who appear foreign.

A 2007 report commissioned by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security showed 96 percent of people claiming to be U.S. citizens were cleared by the database on the first try. But the report said 3 percent of foreign-born workers with the right to work in the U.S. were erroneously rejected by the E-Verify system, compared with .1 percent of U.S. citizens born here. The report cautioned that the error rates cannot be fixed quickly.

The lawsuit accuses Carcieri of violating the state constitution by interfering with existing contracts and by enforcing an executive order that conflicts with purchasing laws adopted by the General Assembly. It also accuses Carcieri of failing to hold a public hearing about the new rules as required by law.

Carcieri spokeswoman Amy Kempe said the governor was within his legal authority to require state contractors to use the database. She said the ACLU's lawsuit lacked merit and called it an attempt to meddle with Carcieri's ability to enforce federal law.

The governor has said the estimated 20,000 to 40,000 illegal immigrants in Rhode Island are a financial drain on schools, hospitals and state government. His order sparked a raucous debate over illegal immigration in Rhode Island.

Clergy, civil rights advocates and Hispanic leaders have urged Carcieri to rescind the order, saying it could lead to racial profiling and discourage illegal immigrants from contacting police if they are victimized or witness a crime.

Source: KansasCity

Justice for the family of Luis Eduardo Ramirez

First report - July 14, 2008

Man injured in Shenandoah fight dies (Republican Herald)

Shenandoah police are conducting interviews this afternoon in an effort to uncover the details of a brawl Saturday night in the borough that left one man dead from his injuries.

Luis Ramirez, 25, of Shenandoah, died Monday morning at Geisinger Medical Center, Danville, of injuries he sustained Saturday night in a fight near Vine and Lloyd streets, a hospital representative confirmed Monday afternoon.

Police have not yet filed charges against anyone for the fight.


More details, and beginning signs of a cover-up - July 15, 2008

SHENANDOAH — A 25-year-old father of three with roots in Mexico died Monday morning from injuries he suffered in an altercation near Vine Street Park on Saturday night, an incident some say was racially motivated.

Luis Ramirez of 15 N. Main St., in the United States illegally, died at 6:30 a.m. at Geisinger Medical Center, Danville, where he was taken for treatment after suffering severe head injuries near Vine and Lloyd streets, Shenandoah police Lt. William Moyer said.Eileen Burke, a retired Philadelphia police officer who lives near the scene, said about the time of the beating she heard someone shouting “You tell all your Mexican friends to get out of town.”

“We saw a bunch of kids walking away and screaming things like ... ‘Go back to Mexico.’ We called the police,” said Arielle Garcia, 17, a friend of Ramirez who was at the scene.

Police said they are not commenting on the assailants’ motivation until interviews are complete.

Six Shenandoah juveniles, five of whom are Shenandoah Valley High School students, were being interviewed, along with neighbors in the area and friends of the victim, according to Moyer.

“We talked to a lot of people (Sunday) and we’re doing more interviews now,” he said Monday afternoon.

When the autopsy results are obtained, Moyer said police will discuss the case with Schuylkill County District Attorney James P. Goodman to determine what, if any, charges will be filed against those involved.

Moyer said an autopsy will be conducted today at Lehigh Valley Hospital, Allentown, to determine the cause and manner of Ramirez’s death. Moyer said until then, the incident is being treated as an assault, but it could be upgraded to a homicide or manslaughter.

Garcia said she and her husband, Victor Garcia-Cruz, 21, dropped Ramirez off near Vine Street Park just before the incident.

“He was with us all day,” Garcia said. “He told us to drop him off there and he would walk the rest of the way home. He didn’t want us to waste gas.”

Garcia said the two were on their way home when Ramirez called her on his cell phone.“He told us to come back that a group of kids were yelling things at him and following him,” Garcia said.

Burke said she heard screaming about 11:30 p.m. Saturday.

“With the park across the street, I hear screaming all the time, but I turned down the air conditioning so I could hear what was going on and I could see kids going back and forth and a girl was screaming ‘Please stop hitting him,’ ” Burke said. “I called 911 to get an ambulance. There seemed to be too many kids around and I thought I’d better be safe than sorry. When I got out the front door, there was one kid running down the pavement. I heard a thud and the kid ran past again.”

Garcia said when she arrived at the scene, a boy and Ramirez were fighting.“They were close together like they were wrestling,” Garcia said. “They started pounding him by my truck. The next thing I knew, Caballo (Ramirez’s nickname) was on the ground. Someone stepped on his chest, we went down on the ground to him and just I saw a foot kick him in the head.”

Ramirez’s fiance, Crystal Dillman, 24, said Ramirez was wearing a medallion on his chest and when the person stepped on his chest, the medallion pressed into his flesh.

“You could see the imprint of the medallion in his chest at the hospital,” she said.

Dillman said she believes the beating was racially motivated.

“I know they did this because they don’t like the color of his skin,” Dillman said. “Now his children are going to grow up angry, knowing their father was killed because of his race, or nationality, or color, or whatever it was that bothered these people about him.”

“He was a good guy, a terrific father,” Dillman said. “Everyone who knew him loved him.”

Ramirez and Dillman have three children, Anjelina, 3, Kiara, 2, and Eduardo, 11 months.

Dillman said Ramirez worked to provide for his family.“He worked two jobs to give his children the life he never had,” she said.

She said Ramirez had been in the country for six years.

“It’s heartbreaking and sad,” Moyer said. “It’s a tragedy.”

Mary Gualtier, who lives on Penn Street near the scene, said she woke up to see one or two of the suspects getting into a car.

“I don’t know why no one stopped it,” she said.

Michael Burke, who has lived near the park for about 20 years, said illegal activities are becoming more common.

“It is horrible in this town anymore,” he said. “I know the cops are doing the best they can, but there is so much going on they can’t keep control of it.”

Debra Navarrete said she believes violence is on the rise again in Shenandoah.

“I was raised in the ’70s when things like fighting and trouble happened all the time. I thought that reputation has died out,” she said.

Borough Councilman Leo Pietkiewicz said the incident affects many people.

“One life is lost and other lives are ruined,” he said.

The last homicide in Shenandoah was June 20, 2004, on White Street. Police charged Kelly Hernandez with killing her husband, Jose Hernandez, 27, by stabbing him in the chest while their three children slept upstairs.


Still no arrests, the DA takes over the case - July 25, 2008

DA, state police will investigate Shenandoah beating death (Standard Speaker)

The homicide investigation into the beating death of a Shenandoah man will be conducted by the district attorney’s office and Pennsylvania State Police, Schuylkill County District Attorney James P. Goodman said Tuesday.

“The sooner they get involved, the better it is,” Shenandoah Mayor Thomas F. O’Neill Jr. said, hoping racial tensions in Shenandoah will diffuse when charges are filed.

No charges have yet been filed in relation to the death of Luis Eduardo Ramirez Zavala, 25, of 15 N. Main St., who died the morning of July 14 from injuries he suffered in an altercation near the Vine Street Park on July 12. Juveniles have been interviewed in relation to the case, including Shenandoah Valley High School football players.

At a Shenandoah Borough Council meeting Monday night, resident Jahaad Baker, 24, said there is racial tension in the town, and asked why no charges had been pressed.

“I’m sure there’s some uneasiness, people want something to be done,” Goodman said Tuesday. “I just assure the public that it’s being fully investigated and the appropriate charges will be filed.”

Goodman said interviews had been conducted “all around the clock” on Monday and Tuesday, but he could not comment more until the investigation had been completed.

O’Neill said he believes the sooner charges are filed the better it would be to ease tension in the community, but urged residents to remember the circumstances of the case make it difficult.

“The public perception, as far as certain individuals being concerned, they feel that as far as nothing is being said and nothing being done is there’s a cover-up, and that’s not the case,” O’Neill said. “The juveniles and their families must be protected until everything is resolved.”

O’Neill said that unfounded concerns about racial tension have been hurtful to the community. Rumors of a retaliation attack during two festivals last weekend meant Our Lady of Mount Carmel’s 94th bazaar, for which O’Neill is treasurer, had the lowest attendance it’s ever had, O’Neill said.

“It’s just that perception is out there, and perception becomes reality,” O’Neill said of the effect of town gossip. O’Neill said friends of his grandchildren were supposed to help with the festival, but their parents were afraid something would happen and would not allow them to go out.

There were no reports of violence at the festival.

O’Neill said he hopes these kinds of anxieties will disappear when charges are filed.

Although O’Neill said he does not believe the crime was racially motivated, he did say he would like to see the Hispanic community become more involved with the town instead of remaining insulated, particularly in this difficult time.

For example, O’Neill said he’s spoken to the town chamber of commerce and Downtown Shenandoah Inc. about getting Hispanic business owners more involved.

O’Neill said he would like to see more people in Shenandoah look at the town’s diversity in a positive light, rather than an inflammatory one.

“I got a nasty phone call left on my answering machine: ‘Shenandoah, they’re a bunch of bigots.’ We’re the only community I’m aware of that has a Heritage Day,” O’Neill said. “That’s hurtful.”


Suspects arrested - Today, July 25, 2008


3 Pa. teens charged in fatal attack on immigrant (The Evening Sun)

PORT CARBON, Pa.—Three white teens were charged Friday in what officials said was an epithet-filled fatal beating of a Mexican immigrant in a small Northeastern Pennsylvania coal town.

Brandon J. Piekarsky, 16, and Colin J. Walsh, 17, were charged as adults with homicide and ethnic intimidation in the death of Luis Ramirez. Derrick M. Donchak, 18, was charged with aggravated assault and ethnic intimidation.

Additional charges are expected in the case that has roiled Shenandoah, the small, economically depressed town where the attack occurred and police have reported friction between whites and a growing Hispanic population.

"As a result of this crime, a young man has lost his life, many other lives have been devastated, and the borough of Shenandoah has been filled with tensions between many ethnic groups," Schuylkill County District Attorney James Goodman said.

Ramirez, 25, who was in the country illegally, was beaten July 12 during a confrontation with a group of youths in a park. Authorities said the suspects used ethnic slurs during the fight, but declined to say whether Ramirez's ethnicity was the motive.

The suspects, all Shenandoah residents, played football at Shenandoah Valley High School; Donchak, now enrolled at Bloomsburg University, was the quarterback last season. He declined comment after the arraignment, but lawyers for Piekarsky and Walsh said there was no evidence to support the homicide charges.

According to a police affidavit, the defendants and three 17-year-olds were drinking alcohol in a wooded area of Shenandoah, then went to a block party sponsored by the borough's Polish American Fire Co. After leaving the party around 11 p.m., the group walked toward a park, where they encountered Ramirez and a teenage girl.

The youths goaded Ramirez and the girl, saying, "You should get out of this neighborhood" and "Get your Mexican boyfriend out of here," documents said.

After Ramirez and the girl began walking away, someone yelled an ethnic slur at him, court documents said. He responded, "What's your problem?"

A fight ensued, during which police said Walsh punched Ramirez in the face. The victim fell and hit his head on the street, leaving him unconscious, after which Piekarsky kicked him in the head, police said.

The suspects fled the scene; Ramirez underwent surgery but died about 30 hours later.

Crystal Dillman, the victim's 24-year-old fiancee, who is white and grew up in Shenandoah, said Friday that Ramirez was walking her sister to a friend's house that night.

"He was just trying to be a good person, making sure she got (there) safe," said Dillman, adding she was relieved the charges include ethnic intimidation.

She says Ramirez was often called derogatory names, including "dirty Mexican," and told to return to his homeland. Similar insults have been hurled at their children, ages 2 and 11 months, she said.

"I plan on moving out of this town as fast as I can. Not because I'm scared. I just don't want to see my children have to deal with what their father dealt with," Dillman said.

Following the arraignment, lawyers for Piekarsky and Walsh said their clients are not guilty and that they would try to have the case removed to juvenile court.

Roger Laguna, Walsh's lawyer, said the police affidavit "pretty much describes chaos, and what you have then after the fact is somebody trying to sort through that and attribute certain acts to certain individuals."

He said that although slurs might have been used, the fight was not motivated by ethnicity.

"I think any time there's a fight and any time you have one ethnic group fighting another, there's going to be racial slurs," he said. "I've seen that since I was a kid on a playground 20 years ago, but they never called it ethnic intimidation until very recently."

Frederick Fanelli, Piekarsky's lawyer, said he is "surprised and disappointed" that his client faces a homicide charge, attributing Ramirez's death to a "street fight that ended tragically."

Goodman said a fourth teen will be charged as a juvenile with aggravated assault and ethnic intimidation and that charges also will be filed against a man who provided alcohol to the defendants hours before the attack.

Piekarsky and Walsh were detained without bail. Donchak was held in lieu of $75,000 bond.

Source: RaidReport

ADL Decries Killing of Undocumented Immigrant in Shenandoah; Urges Town to Implement Changes

Philadelphia, PA, July 29, 2008 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) joined the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) and other minority groups at a vigil expressing condolences for the killing of Luis Eduardo Ramirez Zavala, an undocumented Mexican immigrant of Shenandoah, PA who was fatally beaten at the hands of up to five white teenagers.

ADL also reached out to Shenandoah Mayor Thomas O'Neill, urging him to bring together key community leaders to address growing tensions in the community in the aftermath of this brutal incident. The League offered concrete steps and recommendations to ease tensions and encourage the implementation of a No Place for Hate® program at the meeting convened by the Mayor, which included the Borough Manager, the Superintendent of Schools, City Council President, representatives from the District Attorney and Sheriff's offices, religious and business leaders, members of the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission and local Latino representatives.

At the vigil, ADL Eastern Pennsylvania/Delaware Regional Board Chair Arnold Delin made the following statement:

"We are here to encourage Shenandoah to use this horrible incident as an occasion to become stronger and to come together as a community… There is much to learn from this event, and Shenandoah can transform this experience into one that is strengthening and unifying… This is a chance for Shenandoah to define itself as a place where all people, of all backgrounds, are welcomed, and a place where each resident is treated with the utmost dignity and respect.

"To that end, ADL urges Shenandoah to take the following steps:

* Form an advisory committee comprised of elected officials, school administrators, law enforcement, and community, corporate, and religious leaders which can foster communication within the community and provide a voice for all people, particularly minorities.
*
Introduce regular community forums in which all residents can express their needs and concerns, as well as celebrate their accomplishments.
* Implement ongoing activities and programs, such as ADL's No Place for Hate® program, particularly in schools, which are perhaps in the strongest position to influence our youth.

"ADL offers its continued support and assistance to Shenandoah in taking these steps and in charting a course that ensures this community is not only a source of pride for residents, but an example for communities across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

"The best way to respect and honor the memory of Luis Eduardo Ramirez Zavala is by seeing to it that Shenandoah takes an aggressive, sustained approach to meeting the challenges of prejudice and the opportunities represented by diversity.

"...We express our deepest condolences to the family and loved ones of Mr. Ramirez and our sorrow at the loss of an innocent life. We appreciate and applaud those of you who are here today and are committed to take constructive action. We pledge to help guide and support you in any way that we can to make Shenandoah a welcoming and inclusive environment for all."

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.

Source: ADL

The Senseless Beating of Luis Ramirez of Shenandoah Did Not Happen In a Vacuum

By Barry Morrison
Director, ADL Eastern Pennsylvania/Delaware Region
This article originally appeared in Hazleton Standard-Speaker on August 7, 2008 RULE

The senseless beating of Luis Ramirez of Shenandoah did not happen in a vacuum.

Although many would like to view it as an isolated incident or a simple street fight gone wrong, this tragedy seems to reflect an intolerance and hatred that has infiltrated the immigration debate; and has increasingly set the stage for the kind of violent rhetoric and physical brutality that reared its head this July in Shenandoah.

A 2006 Anti-Defamation League (ADL) report revealed that the immigration issue has revived and emboldened right wing extremist groups. Racists ranging from neo-Nazis to Klansmen to racist skinheads have co-opted the anti-immigrant movement, turning immigrants, primarily Hispanics, into the prime target of their venomous speech and behavior. Examples include:

* "Slowly but surely we are headed toward the solution that I have been advocating for years: KILL ILLEGAL ALIENS AS THEY CROSS INTO THE U.S. When the stench of rotting corpses gets bad enough, the rest will stay away." – New Jersey Racist radio talk show host Hal Turner, October 31, 2005.
* "They (Hispanics) are barbarians, they are our enemies, they want to destroy our civilization and we have to fight them. We need to organize better and be more open activists; otherwise, I only see race war in the future". – post by "AllisioRex"on the neo-Nazi Web forum, Stormfront, July 2005.
* White supremacist Steve Boggs received the death sentence for murdering three fast-food workers in Mesa, Arizona during a robbery in 2002. Boggs wrote to a Mesa police detective that he wanted to "rid the world of a few needless illegals". – May 2005, Arizona

Perhaps more disturbing is the adoption of dangerous, extremist rhetoric by the mainstream. A closer look at the immigration debate by the ADL in 2008 reveals anti-immigration advocacy groups, politicians, and media figures spreading fear and propaganda and using vitriolic language once limited to White supremacists. Examples include:

* Describing immigrants as "third world invaders," who come to America to destroy our heritage, "colonize" the country and attack our "way of life."
* Using terminology that describes immigrants as part of "hordes" that "swarm" over the border. This dehumanizing language has become common.
* Portraying immigrants as carriers of diseases like leprosy, tuberculosis, Chagas disease (a potentially fatal parasitic disease), dengue fever, polio, malaria.
* Depicting immigrants as criminals, murderers, rapists, terrorists, and a danger to children and families
* Propagating conspiracy theories about an alleged secret "reconquista" plot by Mexican immigrants to create a "greater Mexico" by seizing seven states in the American Southwest that once belonged to Mexico.

Such poisonous attitudes and mythical beliefs have pervaded towns and cities across the nation, and unless countered with concerted attention and action, will continue to fuel prejudice, discrimination, and hatred towards Latinos and other minorities, and lead to weakened, fractured communities. Some of the most important and concrete steps were outlined by ADL for key Shenandoah leaders last week, namely:

Strong leadership is paramount and must set a clear and courageous tone; consistently and vigorously denouncing expressions of hate. Leaders must serve as models of correct attitudes, as well as prompt people to take proper action on their own.

Communication is at the root of any constructive effort, and ample opportunities, through forums and advisory committees, must be provided so that grievances can be aired and accomplishments can be celebrated. Communications which allow access to authorities and cross boundaries of race, ethnicity, national origin, and religion provide comfort, support and relief, particularly for those who have historically been denied a voice.

Education is essential, particularly for our youth, but also for teachers, parents, clergy people, law enforcement, elected officials and business leaders. Education must underscore the evils of prejudice and illustrate the value of differences and the opportunities presented by diversity.

Finally, it is imperative that the criminal justice system is held to account, operates transparently and conveys the grave consequences for acts of hatred and prejudice. Law enforcement and those in the business of preserving community safety must demonstrate unequivocally that misconduct will be dealt with seriously and expeditiously.

Bias and hatred infect the entire community, not just the intended target. If anything good is to come out of Mr. Ramirez's heartbreaking death, it would be the commitment of Shenandoah to make comprehensive and sustained efforts to transform their community. This is a chance to send a message to the entire nation that diversity is a beauty and strength of communities and if handled appropriately, adversity can be a positive turning point. Hopefully, Shenandoah will not let this once in a lifetime opportunity pass it by.

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.

Source: ADL