tagged w/ Hate Crimes
-
i am telling the world now.. were this my house or my family, i would burn every house in the town to the ground until the police shot me dead in the street so that the next homophobe might think twice before doing shit like thisi am telling the world now.. were this my house or my family, i would burn every house... more
-
-
A Texas man pleaded guilty to a federal hate crime charge on Wednesday, admitting that he set fire to playground equipment at the Dar El-Eman Islamic Center in Arlington in July 2010.
Henry Clay Glaspell, 34, pleaded guilty in federal court in Fort Worth to violating federal hate crimes laws by damaging religious property, the Justice Department announced in a statement.
Glaspell, DOJ said, "admitted that he set fire to playground equipment at the mosque as part of a series of ethnically-motivated acts directed at individuals of Arab or Middle Eastern descent associated with the mosque.
"Glaspell further admitted that he stole and damaged mosque property, threw used cat litter at the front door of the mosque, and shouted racial or ethnic slurs at individuals of Arab or Middle Eastern descent at the mosque on multiple occasions," DOJ said in a statement.
A photo released by the Arlington Police Department shows the damage the playground equipment sustained. Jamal Qaddura, a spokesman for the Tarrant County Muslim community, told the Star Telegram that parents are still reluctant to take their children to the playground and that cameras caught Glaspell painting what the newspaper dubbed "sexually suggestive pictures that were labeled 'Uncle Sam' and 'Allah'."
The guilty plea came just a day after the charge was announced. It marked the 50th prosecution of post-Sept. 11th backlash against Arab and Muslim Americans, DOJ said.
When he's sentenced in July, Glaspell will face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for using fire to damage religious property.
During an interview with federal and local law enforcement officials in August, Glaspell admitted that he committed the acts because he hates people of Middle Eastern descent, but clarified that his animus at the individuals at the Mosque was not because they were Muslim, according to a court document. He also admitted to frequently using the term "towel head" to describe individuals at the Mosque.
"Arab-Americans are part of the American family, and the defendant today admitted that he targeted Arabs at a Mosque where people worship peacefully and children play," Assistant Attorney General for the Civil RIghts Division Thomas Perez said in a statement. "Hate-fueled incidents of this kind will not be tolerated in our country."A Texas man pleaded guilty to a federal hate crime charge on Wednesday, admitting that... more
-
-
A new study by the Southern Poverty Law Center describes a big rise in hate groups across the country.
By its count, there are now more than 1,000 active extremist groups in the U.S. Experts say the largest increase comes from militias that consider the federal government their enemy.
Mark Potok, director of the Intelligence Project at the law center, has been studying hate groups for a long time. But Potok says even he was surprised when he started counting extremists for his annual report.
"We have absolutely explosive growth of these groups in 2009," Potok says. "And what we have now found is that that growth continued through 2010. We have a higher hate group count than we've ever had."
The Southern Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit organization that tracks extremist movements, says there are three major reasons for the increase: the bad economy, the wide reach of the Internet and changing racial patterns in the country.
Experts say the most negative energy seems to be coming from people who think the federal government is conspiring to take away their freedom.
"It is not ... harmless in the sense that the patriot movement has produced a great deal of criminal violence," Potok says. "There were an enormous number of plots that came out of the patriot movement, particularly in the late 1990s, and we're beginning to see that again."
Jim Cavanaugh, a retired federal investigator at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, has built cases against a lot of extremists.
"You know, it's the challenge of American law enforcement to see through the smoke and try to get to the people who are really going to try to hurt somebody," Cavanaugh says.
In many cases, that means people at the fringes of organized groups who carry out plots on their own.
Take the police blotter in January, for instance.
That month, authorities arrested a neo-Nazi headed for the Southwest border. He was carrying a dozen homemade grenades. Police hauled in another man in Dearborn, Mich. They said he had a history of fighting with the federal government, long before he parked near a crowded mosque with explosives in his car.
The FBI and local authorities are still trying to find out who put a bomb on the parade route in Spokane, Wash., just in time for Martin Luther King Jr. day.
Cavanaugh says he thinks more people need to start talking about hate groups, because, he says, a movement gets stronger when it hides in the shadows.
The new SPLC report might help jump-start that discussion.A new study by the Southern Poverty Law Center describes a big rise in hate groups... more
-
-
In 1998, the small East Texas town of Jasper was shaken by the brutal, racially motivated killing of a forty-nine-year old African American named James Byrd Jr. The international coverage of that traumatic race-crime did not, for the most part, reveal the stark past and complicated social life of this historically segregated community. For example, little notice was paid to the photographs of Alonzo Jordan (1903-1984), a local photographer who had made Byrd’s high school graduation portrait, and who had worked for more than forty years to document African Americans in Jasper and in the surrounding rural areas. Jordan’s photographs are the subject of an exhibition, “Jasper, Texas: The Community Photographs of Alonzo Jordan,” presently on view at The International Center of Photography in New York City.
Like many small-town photographers, Alonzo Jordan fulfilled various roles in the community. A barber by trade, Alonzo Jordan was also a Prince Hall Mason, a deacon in his church, an educator and a local leader, who took up photography to fill a social need he recognized. Over the years, he documented the everyday world of black East Texas, especially the civic events and social rituals that were integral to the daily life of the people he served. In addition to revealing the African American culture of Jasper during the Civil Rights era, this exhibition challenges the existing formalistic approaches to the study of vernacular photography. It considers Jordan’s distinguished career as a “community photographer.”
In communities across the nation, photographs of this kind have been proudly displayed for decades in people’s homes, local churches, businesses, civic buildings and schools, because they document groups and individuals who are held in high esteem. Frequently, the photographer is not identified or credited, because the emphasis is upon the family, social and professional groups, and the recognition of the community infrastructure.
This piece includes a number of high-resolution black-and-white vintage photographs, a slide show and a documentary short film about the life of James Byrd Jr.
http://disembedded.wordpress.com/2011/02/12/jasper-texas-the-hidden-half-of-a-small-texas-town/In 1998, the small East Texas town of Jasper was shaken by the brutal, racially... more
-
-
by Catherine A. Traywick, Media Consortium blogger
This week, two high-profile trials involving the racially motivated murders of Latinos in Pennsylvania and Arizona are exposing the unsettling implications of growing anti-immigrant sentiment. But while antagonistic political discourse and incendiary policy are shown to provoke ethnic violence—correlating with a 52 percent increase in hate crimes—they also indirectly drive sexual violence against immigrant women. The combination of stricter enforcement and increased cultural animosity toward immigrants renders undocumented women workers more susceptible to workplace rape and sexual exploitation—violent crimes that don’t generally register as hate crimes but that nevertheless bespeak of racially charged motives.
Two murder cases highlight senseless violence against Latinos
The trial of Minuteman border vigilante Shawna Forde, and two other individuals charged with the 2009 murder of a nine-year-old Latina girl and her father, began this week in Arivaca, Arizona. Julianne Hing at ColorLines reports that Brisenia Flores was shot twice in the head by home invaders allegedly enlisted by Forde, who is accused of sanctioning racially motivated home invasions to finance (via robbery) her border patrol activities. Flores’ parents were also shot, but her mother, Gina Gonzales, survived.
As Hing notes, Forde had strong ties with both the Tea Party movement and prominent anti-immigrant groups, including the influential conservative think-tank Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR):
Forde had a habit of ending her emails with the sign off, “Lock and Load” and had close ties with tea party groups. She was involved with the Minutemen American Defense—her supporters claim she was once a Minuteman National Director—a loose affiliation of anti-immigration border activists who took to policing the border on their own with guns and surveillance equipment. Forde has also had ties with the anti-immigrant Federation for American Immigration Reform. These groups have all been labeled hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Immigrant rights groups and Latino community advocates alike have characterized the grisly crime as part of a growing anti-immigrant hate crime epidemic plaguing many divided communities across the country.
One such community, Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, recently saw the close of another hate crime case, in which three police officers were accused of covering up the racially motivated murder of 25-year-old immigrant Luis Ramirez. As New America Media reports, a Shenandoah jury issued a split verdict against the officers who were charged with obstruction of justice, falsifying records and conspiracy for their alleged attempt to protect Ramirez’s teenage murderers. Former police Chief Matthew Nestor was found guilty on the first two counts, but found not guilty of conspiracy. Former police Lt. William Moyer was similarly found guilty of making false statements, but acquitted of all other charges, as was former police Officer Jason R. Hayes. Latino advocacy groups have characterized the officers’ actions as a stark example of politicized community leaders privileging white criminals over their Latino victims.
Death of 17-year-old farmworker brings to light workplace exploitation
As antagonistic immigration discourse and prejudicial policies foster violence, immigrant workers are increasingly susceptible to workplace exploitation. In the case of 17-year-old Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez, that exploitation proved deadly.
Change.org’s Antonio Ramirez reports that Jimenez, who was two months pregnant, died of exposure while pruning grapes on a field owned by California’s Merced Farm Labor. The company had been fined previously for violating heat regulations, but still failed to ensure that its workers received legally mandated access shade, water and breaks. Now, Merced’s owner, Maria De Los Angeles Colung, as well as its former safety coordinator, Elias Armenta, are charged with involuntary manslaughter in Jimenez’s death but, as Ramirez notes, they’ve accepted a plea bargain which would only mandate community service.
Jimenez’s preventable death highlights rampant exploitation of immigrant workers in the U.S. food industry—particularly of women. As Alternet’s Jill Richardson reports, immigrant workers are increasingly the victims of wage theft and are routinely exposed to toxic pesticides and other hazardous conditions while women workers regularly contend with a variety of workplace sexual abuse and harassment. Richardson summarizes the phenomenon thusly:
In addition to the fondling and groping the women endured on the job, women also engaged in consensual relationships with supervisors to gain “a secure place in American society, a green card, a husband — or at the very least a transfer to an easier job at the plant.” […]
And then there’s the nonconsensual stuff: A 2008 piece in High Country News revealed that farmworkers refer to one company’s field as the “field of panties” because so many women workers are raped by supervisors. And as far back as 1993, the Southern Poverty Law Center found in its own study that 90 percent of female farm workers cite sexual harassment as a serious problem.
While the sexual abuse of (largely undocumented) women farmworkers doesn’t register as a hate crime in the same way that the racially motivated murders of Luiz Ramirez and the Flores family do, the nature of their exploitation is clearly gendered and racialized. As immigration enforcement tightens, effectively pushing undocumented workers further underground while discouraging undocumented victims of violent crimes from coming forward, farmworkers will continue to be targeted for exploitation based on their gender, race and nationality—the same criteria upon which Ramirez and the Flores family were targeted for deadly violence.
This post features links to the best independent, progressive reporting about immigration by members of The Media Consortium. It is free to reprint. Visit the Diaspora for a complete list of articles on immigration issues, or follow us on Twitter. And for the best progressive reporting on critical economy, environment, and health care issues, check out The Audit, The Mulch, and The Pulseby Catherine A. Traywick, Media Consortium blogger
This week, two high-profile... more
-
-
by Catherine A. Traywick, Media Consortium blogger
Arizona lawmakers are expected to introduce an “anchor baby” bill today that would deny birthright citizenship to the U.S.-born children of undocumented immigrants. Modeled after birthright citizenship legislation unveiled by the nativist coalition State Legislators for Legal Immigration (SLLI) earlier this month, the measure is, unabashedly, part of a larger effort on the part of SLLI to challenge existing citizenship law in the United States.
Lawmakers from Georgia, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and South Carolina have likewise committed to introducing citizenship bills at the state level, while legislators from Nebraska, Indiana, Colorado, Texas and others are determined to implement similarly controversial Arizona-style enforcement measures in their states.
In recent years, communities that implemented harsh anti-immigrant laws have experienced a number of economic and social repercussions which lawmakers continue to overlook in their determination to tighten enforcement. But as nativist policies bleed public coffers and anti-immigrant political speech incites new strains of ethnic violence, the stark consequences of such extremism are becoming harder and harder to ignore.
Devastating local economies
The legal costs of defending constitutionally questionable laws like SB 1070 ought to be obvious. Arizona, which has the rare luxury of drawing from a $3.6 million donor-endowed legal defense fund, spent upwards of $500,000 defending 1070 from legal challenges last year, and could, in the long-term, spend as much $10 million, according to New America Media’s Valeria Fernández.
Yet the think-tank Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR)—a major supporter of anti-immigrant laws like SB 1070 and birthright citizenship bills—obstinately underplays the financial fall-out of such measures. Ira Mehlman, a national spokesperson for FAIR, reportedly told New America Media that “the costs of litigations pale in comparison to the cost of communities providing healthcare, education and welfare for undocumented immigrants and their citizen children.”
Considerable evidence suggests otherwise. The Brookings Institution, the Udall Center for Public Policy and former President George W. Bush’s Council of Economic Advisors have all concluded that immigrants contribute much more to their local economies (through taxes and spending) than they take out through social services (about $800,000 more).
Now, a new report by Southern Poverty Law Center (which, incidentally, has listed FAIR as a hate group since 2007) argues that anti-immigrant laws—not immigrants—have a greater track record of depressing local economies. Gebe Martinez at Campus Progress sums up what happened to five communities “that threw anti-immigration statutes onto their books without fully considering their impact.” He writes:
* Hazleton, Pennsylvania, the leader of the court fights for local immigration enforcement, is in the tank for at least $2.8 million with some estimates totaling $5 million as it defends its ordinance all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
* Riverside, New Jersey suffered a local economic downturn before the city rescinded its anti-immigrant ordinance and welcomed the return of immigrants.
* Farmers Branch, Texas, has spent nearly $4 million in legal fees and is expected to spend at least $5 million to defend its anti-immigration statute with no end in sight.
* Prince William County, Virginia dramatically scaled back a tough immigration statute after realizing the original version would cost millions to enforce and defend in court.
* Fremont, Nebraska, increased the city’s property tax to help pay the legal fees for its anti-immigration ordinance which it intends to defend.A
A spate of state-level birthright citizenship bills stands to be similarly costly, as the admitted goal of their sponsors is to force numerous court cases that challenge the conventional applications of the 14th amendment—legislation through litigation. But there are other expenses as well. If such legislation were to pass, government agencies would bear the incredibly costly burden of making citizenship determinations for every child born in the United States—a logistical nightmare that neither federal nor state governments are prepared to undertake.
Fueling ethnic violence
As economically devastating as these divisive measures can be, their social impact on communities is often even greater. Politicians bent on enacting anti-immigrant legislation frequently rely on hateful speech and pejorative language to foment public discontent and, in so doing, build citizen support for their measures—with tragic consequences.
Colorlines.com has repeatedly reported on the correlation between bigoted political speech, anti-immigrant legislation, and ethnic violence. Now, Mónica Novoa reports that a new study from the University of Maryland corroborates the connection. Charting the use of anti-immigrant slurs in newspapers and wire services over the last three decades, the study revealed that “a spike in usage of the dehumanizing slurs usually coincided with contentious immigration policy proposals.”
The correlation persists despite the fact that more than 15 years ago, four professional journalism associations—National Association of Hispanic Journalists, Asian American Journalists Association, Native American Journalists Association and National Association of Black Journalists—advised their members to stop using the phrase “illegal alien” on the grounds that is is “pejorative,” “grammatically incorrect and crosses the line by criminalizing the person, not the action they are purported to have committed.”
While incendiary rhetoric may be an effective way of garnering political support for controversial measures, it all too often fuels violence. Going back to New America Media, Fernández notes that this destructive cycle frequently makes for tragic consequences, as in the case of a 9-year-old girl who was allegedly murdered by members the Minuteman Project, an armed, volunteer border patrol organization. The Latino advocacy organization Cuentame, in partnership with Brave New Films, similarly emphasizes the link between hate speech and increasing incidents of hate crimes against Latinos:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2cFuYJwW1s[/youtube]
Anti-birthright citizenship bills would effectively create an underclass of mostly Hispanic non-citizens. It’s an almost certain catalyst for rampant and systemic anti-immigrant discrimination and ethnic violence. As the anti-immigrant lawmakers from Arizona and elsewhere make good on their promises to push a new, more fervent, onslaught of anti-immigrant legislation in 2011, expect the financial and social costs of such extremism to rise further still.
This post features links to the best independent, progressive reporting about immigration by members of The Media Consortium. It is free to reprint. Visit the Diaspora for a complete list of articles on immigration issues, or follow us on Twitter. And for the best progressive reporting on critical economy, environment, and health care issues, check out The Audit, The Mulch, and The Pulseby Catherine A. Traywick, Media Consortium blogger
Arizona lawmakers are expected... more
-
-
by Catherine A. Traywick, Media Consortium blogger
The federal trial of three Pennsylvania police officers accused of covering up the murder of an undocumented Mexican immigrant opened last week—reigniting critical discussion about the recent rise of anti-immigrant hate crimes. The officers—former Shenandoah Police Chief Matthew Nestor, Lt. William Moyer and Patrolman Jason Hayes—allegedly attempted to conceal the racially motivated nature of the 2008 murder of 25-year-old Luis Ramirez, who was brutally beaten to death in a park by a group of teenagers spouting racial slurs. At the time, Ramirez’s murder underscored a growing trend of anti-Hispanic violence in the U.S., which some attribute to increasingly anti-immigrant political rhetoric.
In recent years, hate crimes against Latinos have increased by 52 percent, a steep rise that Alternet’s Arun Gupta attributes to incessant “right-wing vituperation” and “caustic rhetoric.” In Arizona, where anti-immigrant sentiment has fomented into a bevy of retrogressive and prejudicial state policies, the number of reported hate crimes rose from 161 in 2007 to 219 in 2009. Tellingly, the recent rise in anti-Latino hate crimes runs counter to an overall decrease in reported hate crimes nationwide.
Prevalence of I-Word on television coincides with anti-immigrant hate crimes
At ColorLines, Mónica Novoa points out that a dramatic spike in the use of the word “illegals” in television programming last year coincided with both the passage of Arizona’s SB 1070 and a number of subsequent racially motivated murders:
* In June, Juan Varela—U.S. citizen and a third-genderation Mexican American—was shot to death in Phoenix by a man shouting “You fucking Mexican, go back to Mexico!”
* In July, Sergio Zapata-Zurita’s family was accosted at gunpoint in Washington by a man apparently obsessed with “illegal immigration.
* In August, Martin Reyes—a Honduran immigrant and father of six—was stabbed to death in Baltimore by a crazed man who told police that he “hated Mexicans.”
The irony here is that, while heated discourse surrounding the measure may have contributed to a rash of anti-immigrant hate crimes last year, its implementation in Arizona has inhibited the local victims of those crimes contacting the police—for fear that, under the new law, they will be arrested for being undocumented.
Hate crimes report censored to conceal role of official’s hate speech
Some localities have taken important steps to counter the rise of anti-Latino hate crimes, but at least one of those well-meaning efforts has been undermined by the anti-immigrant Right. Change.org’s Alex DiBranco reports that, in Suffolk County, New York, one ranking official’s affinity for anti-immigrant rhetoric may have compelled him to censor a potentially damning hate crimes report. Suffolk County’s problem with anti-immigrant violence has been in the news since 2008, when the racially motivated murder of an Ecuadoran immigrant highlighted Long Island’s epidemic of racial violence. Following the incident, Suffolk County formed a Hate Crimes Task Force responsible for monitoring hate crimes in the area, and issuing reports of its findings.
But County Executive Steve Levy, who is locally notorious for his anti-immigrant rhetoric, has been accused of editing more than 50 pages from the task force’s most recent report—many of which contained substantial criticism of his administration’s handling of immigrant issues, according to Mike Clifford at the Public News Service. Noting that Levy’s critics have long attributed the rise in anti-immigrant hate crimes to his extreme position on immigration, DiBranco speculates that Levy’s drastic censorship of the report is an attempt to conceal his own role in fostering violence.
Bigotry accusations divide the Republican Party
Following the recent Tucson shooting, the tragic potential of hateful political rhetoric has come to the foreground. The issue has become so heated that it threatens to fracture the Republican Party itself. In the aftermath of the tragedy, and in light of the party’s increasingly extremist positions on immigration, certain party leaders have defected from the GOP, accusing the party of fostering racism for political ends, John Tomasic at the American Independent reports. Most recently, former Colorado Republican Muhammad Ali Hasan and former Colorado Republican gubernatorial candidate Dan Maes have spoken out against party bigotry directed at Muslims and Latinos, prompting conservative Latino organization Somos Republicans to launch an anti-bigotry campaign against its own party.
It’s a step in the right direction. But even as a minority of Republicans takes it upon themselves to critically examine the role of the party’s extremist positions and rhetoric, the deadly impact of the party’s institutionalized bigotry nevertheless remains remarkably under-recognized—even as it continues to claim innocent lives.
This post features links to the best independent, progressive reporting about immigration by members of The Media Consortium. It is free to reprint. Visit the Diaspora for a complete list of articles on immigration issues, or follow us on Twitter. And for the best progressive reporting on critical economy, environment, and health care issues, check out The Audit, The Mulch, and The Pulseby Catherine A. Traywick, Media Consortium blogger
The federal trial of three... more
-
-
Morton Klein, ZOA’s director (pictured above), was downright giddy over what he terms a major victory in his six year fight to expand the US Civil Rights anti-bullying provision.
What prompted Klein’s giddiness was a statement issued last week by US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, who announced that Title VI of the Civil Rights Act now includes new guidelines that will bring increased protection for disabled and LGBT students from bullying and discrimination.
Just how will tougher provisions in the Civil Rights Act fit Klein’s prime mission to push his Zionist agenda?
In Secretary Arnie Duncan’s announcement, along with protection for LGBT and disabled students, there is now an added category of students who gain protection under Title VI: Members of any religious group that has “shared ethnic characteristics”.
Israel and its US Zionist allies have consistently maintained that criticism of the actions of the government of the state of Israel is, ipso facto, anti-semitism.
If US courts decide to interpret criticism of Israel’s actions as anti-semitism, then colleges and universities, for whom federal funding is the “holy grail” of education, will have been handed a coercive weapon beyond their wildest dreams.Morton Klein, ZOA’s director (pictured above), was downright giddy over what he... more
-
-
NBC/Los Angeles
Noose Found at Orange County (California) Gay-Rights Organization
By ERIN RICHARDS
Updated 3:50 PM PDT, Fri, Oct 29, 2010
Equality California
A black noose was found on the front door of the Santa Ana chapter of gay-rights organization Equality California on Thursday in what some are calling a hate crime against supporters of gay marriage.
Employee Mel Distel was on her way to work at around 6 p.m. when she found the noose.
According to the Orange County Register, Distel called the police and now plans to file a formal complaint on their response after she said police dismissed the noose, saying, "Sometimes, you just have to live with being the victim."
Distel said finding the noose "was shocking," Distel told the Orange County Register. "It struck me as something that could escalate, something that was definitely meant to be hurtful."
"The dismissive and deeply offensive conduct of the police officer who responded to this incident is nothing short of appalling and sends the message that LGBT community members cannot rely on the police for protection against the kind of hatred and prejudice that can lead to violence," said Equality California director Geoff Kors in a statement.
Santa Ana Police are denying any negligence, telling the Register that they are treating the case as a possible terrorist threat and it has been assigned to investigators.
Volunteers were working in the office Thursday evening to make calls for Assembly candidate Melissa Fox's campaign. Fox, a gay marriage supporter, said in a statement that the noose was a "despicable and hateful act, clearly intended to threaten and intimidate Equality California and other supporters of marriage equality."
The Orange County and Long Beach chapter of the Anti-Defamation League also condemned the noose and alleged police dismissal.
"Our community and its policing agencies must treat such incidents seriously, and send a strong message that such attempts to intimidate an entire community will not be tolerated," said ADL Regional Director Kevin O'Grady. "Law enforcement should make every effort to …send a clear message that they will protect the gay and lesbian community."
Santa Ana police are now treating the incident as a hate crime.NBC/Los Angeles
Noose Found at Orange County (California) Gay-Rights Organization... more
-
-
New York gubernatorial candidate slams gays
http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/10/10/new.york.paladino.gays/index.html?hpt=T1
New York gubernatorial candidate criticizes gays
From Cheryl Robinson, CNN
October 10, 2010 11:44 p.m. EDT
Paladino: Homosexuality not valid
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
* Republican Carl Paladino says homosexuality isn't "equally valid" with heterosexuality
* "There is nothing to be proud of in being a dysfunctional homosexual," his prepared remarks say
* A spokesman for Paladino's opponent says comments reveal "stunning homophobia"
* Remarks come as New York police respond to anti-gay hate crimes against 4 men
.
New York (CNN) -- New York Republican gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino criticized gays Sunday, saying he didn't want children "to be brainwashed into thinking that homosexuality is an equally valid or successful option," compared to heterosexuality.
"It isn't," Paladino said at a stop in Brooklyn, New York.
A prepared version of his remarks obtained by CNN from New York affiliate NY1 said that "There is nothing to be proud of in being a dysfunctional homosexual," though Paladino did not wind up delivering that line.
"That's not how (God) created us," the prepared remarks continued, though Paladino did not say those words.
Paladino distributed copies of his prepared remarks to reporters at the event, an address to a group of Orthodox Jews in Brooklyn's Williamsburg neighborhood.
The candidate's remarks came a day after New York police announced the arrest of an eighth suspect in a series of brutal, anti-gay hate crimes against four men.
The incident last weekend involved three victims being held against their will by as many as nine assailants who beat them in a vacant apartment and sodomized two of them, police said. A fourth victim was beaten and robbed in connection with the attacks.
"Don't misquote me as wanting to hurt homosexual people in any way," Paladino said Sunday. "That would be a dastardly lie -- my approach is live and let live."
"I just think my children and your children would be much better off and much more successful getting married and raising a family," he said.
Paladino also slammed his Democratic opponent, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, for marching in New York's gay pride parade in June.
"That's not the example that we should be showing the children and certainly not in our schools," he said.
Cuomo spokesman Josh Vlasto responded to Paladino's comments Sunday.
"Mr. Paladino's statement displays a stunning homophobia and a glaring disregard for basic equality," Vlasto said in a statement. "These comments along with other views he has espoused make it clear that he is way out of the mainstream and is unfit to represent New York."
Paladino's remarks also drew fire from gay rights groups.
"Carl Paladino's comments would matter if they were coming from a serious political figure, however they are not," said Christopher Barron, chairman of the gay conservative group GOProud, in an email to CNN. "They are instead coming from the imploding campaign of a man with the personal baggage of John Edwards and all the electability of Alan Keyes."
But Paladino's campaign manager, Michael Caputo, stood by the gubernatorial candidate's comments on homosexuality.
"Carl Paladino's position on this is exactly equivalent to the Catholic Church," Caputo told CNN. "And if Andrew Cuomo has a problem with the Catholic Church's position on abortion and homosexuality, he needs to take it up with his parish priest."
CNN's Mark Preston contributed to this report.New York gubernatorial candidate slams gays... more
-
-
(CBS) In New York City, there is outrage over an alleged hate crime. Police have eight suspects in custody and are looking for one more in the brutal torture and sexual assaults of three men, two of them teenagers.
"The assailants also hit the man with their firsts and a chain, and sodomized him," said New York police commissioner Ray Kelly.
It was the latest tragic incident involving teens singled out because they were gay. Just last month, Rutgers freshman Tyler Clementi took his life after a roommate streamed video over the internet of him having sex with another male, reports CBS News correspondent Sean Hennessy.
"No more hate gay crimes," people chanted at a recent rally.
In the wake of the violence and tragedy, the gay community is taking to the streets.
"I sat there paralyzed and then of course you cry," said gay advocate Eddie Sanchez. "You cry because you think you're going to be the next victim."
In 2008, crimes related to sexual orientation rose 11 percent suggesting the problem is getting worse.
"There are things that happen to me every day," said Joey Kemmerling.
Kemmerling, a gay 16-year-old from Philadelphia, has been bullied and even received death threats.
"It's almost become common place," said Kemmerling. "And school has become from a place of education to a place that's survival in a society that hates me."
"Kids are out there living with that thought that there is something wrong with them and that suicide is the only option," said Ty Cobb of the Human Rights Campaign. "There are individuals that think it's okay to abuse them just because they are gay."(CBS) In New York City, there is outrage over an alleged hate crime. Police have... more
-
-
Police have been ordered to stop anyone taking in part in illegal outdoor sex being abused or verbally taunted as it can cause them to suffer post traumatic stress.
An extraordinary new Hate Crime Guidance Manual has been handed to officers telling them to arrest anyone suspected of committing a hate crime against those engaged in ‘dogging’.
Although it notes that outdoor sex can have an ‘impact on the quality of life of people using these locations for leisure pursuits’ - for example dog walkers and tourists - the rights of those cottaging, cruising or dogging must be taken into account by officers.
It states that even though ‘outdoor sex is unlawful’, people who take part in it still have rights which protect them from becoming victims of hate crime.Police have been ordered to stop anyone taking in part in illegal outdoor sex being... more
-
-
The controversial trial of one of Europe’s most controversial politicians, the anti-Islamist populist Geert Wilders, is due to start in Amsterdam tomorrow.
Wilders, who is facing three charges of incitement to hatred, discrimination against Muslims, and insulting Moroccan immigrants, yesterday emerged triumphant as the linchpin of a new rightwing minority government after his Freedom Party became the country’s third biggest party in the summer’s election.
The charges are based on statements that he has made in public, articles he has written, and his film Fitna (which roughly translates from Arabic as "strife"), which juxtaposes the Koran with 9/11 and other atrocities.
Wilder has described Islam as “evil", a “violent religion” and an “intolerant and fascist ideology” and has also called for an outright ban on the Qur'an, calling it the “Islamic Mein Kampf”. He has campaigned for the introduction of a “head-rag tax” on women who wear a Muslim headscarf and has gone as far as to refer to the prophet Muhammad a “sick paedophile” that behaved “like a pig”.
The popular politician may be controversial, but so are the charges that have been brought against him. According to the Dutch press, the public prosecutor's office in Amsterdam only filed charges against Wilders after it was ordered to do so by a judge, having previously refused to do so on numerous occasions on the grounds that as a public figure Wilders should be allowed a great deal of leeway in expressing his views.
The trial itself splits the Dutch society down the middle, posing the ever nagging question: which is more important - freedom of speech or freedom of religion?
The trial is set to continue all month, with a verdict currently scheduled for 4 November. If convicted, Wilders faces a maximum sentence of two years in prison.
Sources: http://www.rnw.nl/africa/article/wilders-power-and-trial
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11459404The controversial trial of one of Europe’s most controversial politicians, the... more
-
-
VONORE (WATE) - The home of Carol and Laura Stutte on County Road 320 in Vonore was destroyed by fire last Saturday.
The word "queers" was also spray painted in large letters on their garage.
The couple feels they're victims of a hate crime, and were targeted because they're gay. They've been together for more than 15 years.
Carol Stutte has an adult daughter from a previous relationship who also lived with them.
At the time of the fire, they were in Nashville celebrating their fifth anniversary in Tennessee.
"My daughter was supposed to be here. She was sick," Carol Stutte said. "I was grateful my baby girl didn't get killed in this fire. She would have been trapped in the basement."
The couple moved to Vonore from Oklahoma.
Carol Stutte says her partner is too afraid to come back to the property since the fire. She says they've been harassed all five years they've lived there by one neighbor.
She also says recently the neighbor threatened to kill them and burn down their house. "I knew we had been threatened, but we never thought anything would be followed through."
Lora Black, the Stutte's neighbor and friend, was with the couple in Nashville when they learned their home was on fire.
"Right now, they are just terrified that our county is feeling like this about homosexual couples. Most homosexual couples are no different than any other couples," Black said.
The Stuttes are staying in a safe house until investigators can determine what happened the night of the fire.
"I would really like to see them get help," Carol Stutte said. "I don't want anyone else to go through what we've gone through and live through the fear we've gone through."
The couple says they have no plans to return to the property.
The Monroe County Sheriff's Office is still investigating the fire, trying to determine if it was a hate crime. Investigators have called in the state Bomb and Arson Squad to help.
The sheriff's office received one complaint of harassment from the couple in August.
The neighbor the Stuttes say made the threat declined to go on camera.VONORE (WATE) - The home of Carol and Laura Stutte on County Road 320 in Vonore was... more
-
-
Lance Corporal Christopher Stanzel and Corporal Keil Cronauer, the two Marines accused of gay bashing Kieran Daly outside a pizza joint in Savannah in June, won't be facing any felony counts. Which means no hate crime charges for these two.
The pair will face only misdemeanor charges for punching Daly, says the Chatham County District Attorney's office. How come? Because according to DA spokeswoman Alicia Johnson, "for a crime to be considered a felony [which a hate crime is considered to be] there has to be proof of a sustained injury. It’s my understanding Daly suffered only a punch. Based on his medical records we could not upgrade the charge from a misdemeanor to a felony."
On what earth bruising to the brain and causing Daly seizures is considered "only a punch" I will never know. And how the DA can ignore the lead up to the attack — the Marines blasting Daly after finding out he's gay — only they can tell you. It's also unclear how involved the FBI became in using the federal Matthew Shepard Act to bring charges, but their hands might be tied: Without felony charges, there's no way to include the upgrade.
If convicted of the lesser offense, Stanzel and Cronauer face less than a year in jail and bruising fines of up to $1,200.Lance Corporal Christopher Stanzel and Corporal Keil Cronauer, the two Marines accused... more
-
-
PORTLAND, Ore. — Bethany Storro had just bought a pair of sunglasses and was celebrating a new job when a black woman walked up to her with a cup and said: "Hey pretty girl, do you want to drink this?"
The woman then splashed acid in the cup on Storro, who stumbled in pain and fell to the ground screaming. She felt agonizing pain as the skin on her face bubbled and sizzled and portions of her blouse disintegrated.
"It was the most painful thing ever," Storro, 28, said Thursday. "My heart stopped. It ripped through my clothing the instant it touched my shirt; I could feel it burning through my second layer of skin."
But she insisted that she would not let the attack in Vancouver wreck her life, and laughingly marveled how her eyesight was spared just minutes after she bought those sunglasses.Storro said she had spinal meningitis twice as a child, which robbed her of most of her hearing.
"Oh my gosh, to be hard of hearing and blind? That would drive them nuts," she said, laughing and pointing at her parents, Joe and Nancy Neuwelt. "They have to be in the same room for me to hear them. I'm just so glad it's a miracle."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38981535/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/?gt1=43001PORTLAND, Ore. — Bethany Storro had just bought a pair of sunglasses and was... more
-
-
Islamophobia is becoming a rampant disease in the US - This is just another one of a string of recent HATE crimes against law abiding American Muslim citizens...lets see what the Glen Becks and the Sarah Palins have to say about these incidentsIslamophobia is becoming a rampant disease in the US - This is just another one of a... more
-
-
A 35-year-old Seattle man is facing assault and hate crime charges following allegations that he accosted a clerk at a Queen Anne convenience store.
According to police, Brock Stainbrook derided the man as being a terrorist during the Tuesday morning incident.
Writing the court, a Seattle detective said Stainbrook entered the 7-11 store in at 362 Denny Way. The clerk was standing near a coffee machine when Stainbrook accosted him.
"For unknown reasons a person threw change on the floor near the victim's feet then punched the victim on the left side of the head," the detective said.
"After the suspect struck (the clerk) with his fist he said, 'You're not even American, you're Al-Qaeda. Go back to your country.'"
Another employee then stepped in, forcing Stainbrook to leave the store. As he did so, police allege the man tried to kick the second employee and damaged a barcode scanner.
Police arrested Stainbrook walking nearby minutes later. Confronted by police, he allegedly admitted that he "struck a person on his turban" because he disliked him. While the alleged victim's ethnic background is not noted in court documents, his surname is common within the Sikh community.
Stainbrook has been charged with fourth-degree assault and malicious harassment, Washington state's hate crime statute.A 35-year-old Seattle man is facing assault and hate crime charges following... more
-
-
A 35-year-old Seattle man has been charged with a hate crime for allegedly punching a 7-11 clerk in the head.
Police say Brock Stainbrook walked into the 7-11 just after midnight Aug. 24, approached a clerk wearing a turban, threw change on the floor and then punched the clerk in the side of the head.
"You're not even American, you're Al-Qaeda. Go back to your country," he then said, according to police.
Another clerk then forced the man, kicking and screaming, to leave the store. Police picked him up a few blocks away after witnesses described a man in a white shirt, black pants and carrying one shoe.
According to a police affidavit, Stainbrook admitted "that he struck a person on his turban because he was a prick."
The Post-Intelligencer notes that the victim's last name "is common within the Sikh community." (Sikhs are, notably, not Muslim.)
Stainbrook was charged Thursday with malicious harassment, Washington State's term for a hate crime, as well as fourth-degree assault. He is being held in King County jail on $150,000 bond. Malicious harassment is a felony and carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
According to court records, Stainbrook has two prior convictions in Hawaii for making "terrorist threats" in 2002 and 2004. He also has prior convictions for fourth-degree assault and criminal trespassing in Washington and public intoxication and drunken driving in Indiana.
His last known address is that of a Seattle homeless shelter.A 35-year-old Seattle man has been charged with a hate crime for allegedly punching a... more
-
-
Incidents, Offenses, Victims, and Known Offenders
by Bias Motivation, 2008
* Data Declaration
* Download Excel
Bias motivation Incidents Offenses Victims1 Known offenders2
Total 7,783 9,168 9,691 6,927
Single-Bias Incidents 7,780 9,160 9,683 6,921
Race: 3,992 4,704 4,934 3,723
Anti-White 716 812 829 811
Anti-Black 2,876 3,413 3,596 2,596
Anti-American Indian/Alaskan Native 54 59 63 61
Anti-Asian/Pacific Islander 137 162 170 140
Anti-Multiple Races, Group 209 258 276 115
Religion: 1,519 1,606 1,732 632
Anti-Jewish 1,013 1,055 1,145 353
Anti-Catholic 75 75 89 35
Anti-Protestant 56 60 62 34
Anti-Islamic 105 123 130 85
Anti-Other Religion 191 212 222 90
Anti-Multiple Religions, Group 65 67 70 33
Anti-Atheism/Agnosticism/etc. 14 14 14 2 http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/hc2008/index.htmlIncidents, Offenses, Victims, and Known Offenders
by Bias Motivation, 2008
*... more
-
