NCLR: Take the HATE out of the Immigration Debate/Ayudenos a quitar el ODIO de el tema de Emigracion

Join the call for the resignation of a bigoted Sheriff in North Carolina

In a recent article in Raleigh's The News & Observer, Johnston County Sheriff Steve Bizzell was quoted accusing Latinos of "breeding like rabbits," calling Mexicans "trashy," and stating, "When people think about illegal Mexicans, you know the first thing they think of? Driving drunk and shooting."

These are just some of the inflammatory things that Steve Bizzell had to say about Latinos. As a result, a coalition of progressive groups in North Carolina has asked that the Johnston County commissioners push for Bizzell's resignation.

Not only is Sheriff Bizzell still on the job, he can even be seen featured in a campaign ad supporting Senator Elizabeth Dole: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n65xpI1H1jU.

Help us make the case that bigotry has no place in the sheriff's office or on the campaign trail. If you live in North Carolina, write to North Carolina's congressional delegation to ask them to support the call for Sherriff Bizzell's resignation. If you don't live in North Carolina, you can still write to your own state representatives. Stand up to hate by forwarding this message to five of your friends and encouraging them to sign up for We Can Stop The Hate alerts. Together, we can make a difference.

Sincerely,
The National Council of La Raza

INFORMACION EN ESPANOL:

http://www.wecanstopthehate.org/site/page/recursos_en_espanol

Somos Latinas 100 stand in front of the public entrance to the Schuylkill County Courthouse on Monday in Pottsville.

Demonstrators rally outside courthouse

Demonstrators with Somos Latinas 100 stand in front of the public entrance to the Schuylkill County Courthouse on Monday in Pottsville. Monday

BY STEPHEN J. PYTAK
AND STEPHANIE LASOTA
STAFF WRITERS
spytak@republicanherald.com
slasota@republicanherald.com

Published: Tuesday, August 19, 2008 10:14 AM EDT

Demonstrations at the Schuylkill County Courthouse on Monday morning briefly interrupted court proceedings, incited several verbal clashes and honored a Shenandoah murder victim's fiancee.

More than 40 activists, who arrived about 9 a.m., supporting immigration and civil rights chanted and carried banners outside while a preliminary hearing for three Shenandoah teens charged in the July 14 death of an illegal Mexican immigrant was under way within.Watch the demonstration

Brandon J. Piekarsky, 16; Colin J. Walsh, 17, and Derrick M. Donchak, 18, were facing a preliminary hearing for the beating death of Luis Eduardo Ramirez Zavala, 25, of Shenandoah. Ramirez died July 14 from injuries he suffered in a beating July 12.

As the demonstrators chanted in Spanish, Magisterial District Judge Anthony J. Kilker recessed the hearing at 9:50 a.m. because of the noise. He asked the sheriff's department to control the situation.

"So we asked them to keep it down so the hearing could continue," Schuylkill County interim Sheriff Harold J. Rowan said.

Emma Lozano, executive director of Centro Sin Fronteras, Chicago, Ill., said, "Our goal was not to stop the preliminary hearing, but to show support to Crystal (Dillman, Ramirez's fiancee) and to make a statement against hate crimes. So we did quiet down so they could continue."

The hearing resumed after about five minutes.

"There were a couple in-your-face arguments, but there were no altercations," said Schuylkill County Sheriff's Deputy Maj. Dennis Kane, who patrolled the parking lot during the demonstrations.

"They're peaceful. We anticipated something like this happening and we had no problems," Rowan said.

Members of Somos Latinas 100 and Centro Sin Fronteras, both of Chicago, Ill., the New York-based May 1 Coalition and Pittsburgh Friends of Immigrants said Ramirez's death sparked their visits.

Just after noon, Dillman met with the demonstrators. Somos Latinas 100 presented her with a monetary donation, one of their flags and a round of applause. The group would not release the amount of the donation.

"Thank you," Dillman said, after being applauded by the group.

"She's a white woman who had the courage to say (Ramirez) was a human being," Lozano said.

The demonstrations angered a few other visitors to the courthouse, including Ron Hannivig, Simpson, Lackawanna County, and Debby Rabold, Effort, Monroe County, who said they were concerned about illegal immigration.

"We are in support of the Shenandoah boys," Rabold said.

"What I'm seeing here, I wouldn't wish upon my worst enemy. If there's a standoff here, it's going to get ugly," Hannivig said.

Ceci Wheeler, a member of Pittsburgh Friends of Immigrants, represented her group Monday at the courthouse. She said she's shocked some people aren't recognizing Ramirez's beating as a crime.

"That's inhumane. That's intolerable and we hope the judges serve justice," she said.

"We're not here to judge the youth," said Lozano. "We're here to say that the real criminals that caused this situation are not even on trial: those who created this situation that manipulated young people and other people into thinking they have to fear the Latino community, that it's an invasion and all of this other stuff. And people are starting to believe that."

While members of the May 1 Coalition carried banners, Somos Latinas 100 was fronted by a contingent of 15 women, ages 14 to 27. They dressed in black, wore identical fuchsia-colored berets and marched in time.

Representatives of Somos Latinas 100 would not identify themselves by name, since the organization is about unity and members want to avoid having one individual stand out from the rest.

"They're at war against the hate crimes and racial profiling," Lozano said.

Four male representatives of Somos Latinas 100 carried the flags of Mexico, El Salvador and Puerto Rico.

When asked why they didn't fly an American flag as well, a 21-year-old Somos Latinas representative said: "It wasn't a matter of not being patriotic. It was about uniting people of Latino decent for the Latina campaign."

The May 1 Coalition was formed after millions of people marched on May 1, 2006, in Los Angeles and New York City for basic rights for all immigrants, according to member Arturo Perez, New York.

The group speaks out against Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids, calling the raids a violation of basic civil rights.

Members left New York at 3 a.m. Monday to drive to Pottsville.

Outside the courthouse, members carried signs reading, "Justicia para el Mexicano Luis Ramirez asesinado en Shenandoah" — "Justice for Mexican Immigrant Luis Ramirez killed in Shenandoah."

Heather Cottin, 65, of Long Island, is a white woman and a history teacher at a community college in Long Island. She's also a member of the May 1 Coalition.

"It's not as if this is the latest news — racism. Unfortunately it's in the history of this country," Cottin said. "If you can't potentially love all human beings, then what do you have here?"

She said the U.S. immigration and trade systems are broken and legalized government immigration raids are making it worse.

"It's really a government policy right now to stir up hatred against immigrants," she said.

Mike Gimbel, a delegate to the New York City Central Labor Council, called deportations "vicious bigoted attacks."

Gimbel, a Pennsylvania native living in the Poconos, said real change is needed in rural areas.

"The big efforts have to take place in a rural community like this..." Gimbel said. "The city is more sympathetic to the labor movement."

"We want to unify people of all nationalities, colors and genders. Without unity we can't fight for our rights," Gimbel said.

Wheeler said the Ramirez case prompted Pittsburgh Friends of Immigrants to attend and stand up for all immigrants who have experienced hardship.

"We are all advocates for immigrants' rights ... So anything that happens to members of our immigrant community, we're going to be there," Wheeler said.

Also standing outside were Mickey and Dottie Redmond, Ringtown. They said their 17-year-old son was a witness in the case, but they couldn't get into Courtroom 5 because it was overcrowded.

"I hope they send it to juvenile court, at least," Mickey Redmond said.

About 12:20 p.m., many demonstrators for the Latino community departed, marching clockwise from the courthouse entrance just off Sanderson Street, south on North 2nd Street to a charter bus, waiting on Laurel Boulevard.

Lozano said demonstrators from Somos Latinas 100 and Centro Sin Fronteras were heading to Philadelphia.

Hate speech in the media A threat to the internal security of the U.S.

By: Aurora Grajeda

Published in the Printed Edition of September 4-17, 2008 of the bilingual newspaper El Tecolote - (Versión en Español)

As hate speech spirals, a local group of community activists are organizing a demonstration in San Francisco against shock jock Michael Savage. The group, Hispanic / Latino Anti-Defamation Coalition SF, plans to rally in front of the building which houses radio station KNEW-AM where Savage transmits his nationally-syndicated program.

On his program, people hear Savage call for troops on the street "to protect us from the scourge of illegal immigrants who are running rampant across America, killing our police for sport, raping, murdering like a scythe across America while the liberal psychos are telling us they come here to work." Or that autism is a "fraud, a racket, that in 99 percent of cases is a brat who hasn’t been told to cut their act out" and to stop being ‘morons‘, a way where minority children get welfare and extra help in school, and who also tells fasting immigrant students "to starve to death, then we won’t have a problem."

These kind of statements act as fuel for people who are already angry, resentful and violent. Take, for instance, Jim David Adkisson, who entered the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church in Knoxville, opened fire with a 12-gauge shotgun, killed two people and wounded six others during the presentation of a children's musical. In his car, police found a four-page letter in which he expressed his hatred of the "liberal movement’, and wrote he targeted the church "because of its liberal teachings" and his belief that "all liberals should be killed" because they were "ruining the country."

Inside Adkisson’s home, officers found "Liberalism is a Mental Health Disorder" by radio talk show host Michael Savage; "Let Freedom Ring" by talk show host Sean Hannity; and the book, "The O'Reilly Factor," by television talk show host Bill O'Reilly. These three continuously demonize liberals, immigrants and others.

On Glenn Beck’s nationally syndicated radio show, The Glenn Beck Program, he read an "ad" produced and posted by subscribers to his website, for a refinery that turns Mexicans into fuel (Mexinol).

Neil Boortz suggests giving nuclear waste to illegal Mexican immigrants to take back to Mexico and tell them "it’ll warm tortillas", plus they will be easy to spot because of the "glow" if they try to return.

Savage warns politicians about illegal immigrant "vermin."

Shock jocks insist their rants are not hurting anyone and that they are not inciting hate attacks. Meanwhile disenfranchised groups continue to be targeted. Take, for instance, the savage beating of Luis Eduardo Ramirez Zavala by a group of four young white males in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania on July 12.

An eyewitness to the beating who happens to be a retired police officer, heard the youths telling Ramirez’s friends to "get out of Shenandoah or the same thing would happen" to them.
"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; Luis Eduardo died about 30 hours later.

Legislation and programs designed to provide basic human rights and services regardless of legal status are being curtailed or dismantled, while punitive anti-immigrant legislation is being enacted in localities in all the states and a number of hate groups and the violence leveled against minorities is on the rise. Human rights organizations are under attack, demonized for allegedly helping ‘criminals’

All of the above, plus immensely more, is made possible by the poisoning of the minds of millions of Americans, who are bombarded daily with outrageously false and inflammatory claims, designed to prejudice public opinion against groups and entire communities without allowing the opportunity to present opposing views and facts, which would refute the propaganda full of lies, misinformation and disinformation.

Aurora Grajeda is a community activist, member of the ‘Hispanic / Latino Anti-Defamation Coalition SF" currently organizing a demonstration in front the broadcasting booth of KNEW on Sept. 23, 4 to 6 pm, at 340 Townsend ST in San Francisco, whence Michael Savage transmits his program, to focus on the consequences of Hate Speech. and to demand that a more balanced view on the issues is presented in the Media so a much needed comprehensive debate in the public opinion arena takes place.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
First they came for the Communists,
and I didn’t speak up,
because I wasn’t a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn’t speak up,
because I wasn’t a Jew.
Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn’t speak up,
because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me,
and by that time there was no one
left to speak up for me.

By Reverend Martin Niemüller. For his opposition to the Nazis, Niemüller was arrested in 1937, convicted of treason, and spent eight years in Sachsenhausen and Dachau concentration camps.

Anti-Hate Speech Demonstration Flyer "Hispanic Dignity Train" SJ to SF
Demonstracion contra El Lenguage de Odio Volante "Tren de La Dignidad Hispana" SJ to SF
Anti-Hate Speech Demonstration Flyer, San Francisco

Hate speech in the media A threat to the internal security of the U.S. (Post with Audio Clips of HateMongers)