Daily Archives: April 18, 2012

Canada: hate crimes spike in Hamilton, Ontario in 2011

Posted on April 18, 2012 by Kemetia M Afrika

HATE CRIME Racist graffiti was spray-painted on numerous homes on Woodllawn Court in Dundas in February. A year-end report presented to the police services board noted a 60 per cent rise in hate crimes in 2011 over 2010.

Sidebar

Crime Statistics in Hamilton for 2011

• Violent crimes increased 5 per cent compared to 2010

• Homicides fell to 5 from 11 in 2010 — a 55 per cent drop

• Attempted murders quadrupled to 8 from 2

• Assaults were on the rise by 6 per cent, climbing to 3,834

• Break and enters fell 12 per cent to 2,482

• Robberies fell 4 per cent to 512

• Sexual offences rose to 462, a 7 per cent increase

The number of hate crimes in Hamilton soared by almost 60 per cent last year.

A year-end report discussed at the Hamilton Police Services Board meeting Monday indicated there were 54 hate or bias-motivated crimes in 2011, up from 34 in the previous year.

The total number of reported hate- or bias-related complaints police received last year also grew, jumping 45 per cent to 180 from the 124 reported in 2010.

But Hamilton police attributed the rise in these offences to a rise in reporting from the community — thanks to increased police outreach programs and communication with diverse local groups in recent years.

“We are not discouraged by the increase. It just shows our partnership with the community and the message is out there to report, report, report,” said Sergeant Nancy Lantz of the Hate Crime Unit.

“Our bottom line is if it’s a hate crime, we’re going to follow it through the reports and demand the jail time for the hate crime.”

Over the past five years, the number of reported incidents of hate- or bias-based events has almost tripled.

Police have continued to sit on local boards, attend meetings and go into schools with the John Howard Society to create more awareness, Lantz said.

But the Hamilton Centre for Civic Inclusion’s executive director Evelyn Myrie wonders whether the increase in reporting was the only reason for the dramatic increase in hate crimes in recent years.

“It’s good to know that people are feeling more comfortable to report, but it surprised me that there are so many incidents happening in the community,” she said.

 

“The numbers are a bit concerning. The jump of 59 per cent (in hate crimes) in a year — is it only attributed to the increase of awareness? I don’t now.”

Myrie said she has noticed a “growing intolerance” toward immigration and immigrants over the past few years. There may be a connection between tough economic times and the tendency to use newcomers as scapegoats, she said.

“I really applaud police for their work. However, I wouldn’t think it (the growth in hate crime statistics) only relates to increased awareness.”

Hamilton police define hate- or bias-motivated crimes as offences against a person or property that is committed solely or in part because of a suspect’s bias or prejudice based on the victim’s race, national or ethnic origin, language, colour, religion, sex, age, mental or physical disability or sexual orientation.

Last year, the majority of calls in this category pertained to racial prejudice. The black community was the most targeted group, making up 30 per cent of the reported events.

Events related to sexual orientation were second highest, comprising 17 per cent of the calls, followed by the Jewish community being the victim of 14 per cent of reported incidents.

Chief Glenn De Caire said the rise in reports of hate events was a positive thing because it shows local groups have welcomed the police service into the community.

“Let’s encourage people to report, and if reporting goes up, that’s good and that gives us a better opportunity to find those who are responsible and hold them accountable,” he said.

Last August, police investigated a graffiti incident where a swastika was scrawled across the garage door of a Dundas residence.

And in December, two copies of a cartoon depicting a caveman dropping a Koran into a fire were taped to the women’s prayer entrance at the Downtown Mosque.

According to the year-end report, 62 charges stemmed from the 54 hate crimes police investigated in 2011. Graffiti was the most common offence in this category, followed by assault.

“(Graffiti) can be done where not a lot of people are around. There’s no face-to-face with the person,” Lantz said. “We take it very seriously and eradicate the graffiti as soon as possible so the other members of the community don’t have to see it.”

http://www.thespec.com/news/local/article/706621–hate-crimes-spike-in-2011

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black family forced to move after continuous harassment and attacks by whites in Buffalo, NY

Posted on April 18, 2012 by Kemetia M Afrika

Lovejoy mother moves family to West Side after early-morning attack with brick, raising new concerned about safety of her children. Mayor Byron W. Brown assured Ann Cooper that additional police patrols will be placed in the area for the time being.

An African-American family began moving out of its Lovejoy home sooner than expected after yet another brick crashed into a bedroom window at about 4:30 a.m. Friday.

Ann Cooper said she had planned to begin moving out today but felt it was necessary to immediately relocate her children to a relative’s West Side home rather than risk having one of them struck by a brick or rock.

Since the family moved to Benzinger Street Jan. 11, racial taunts against Cooper and her loved ones have become routine. Violence erupted earlier this week when members of her family were pelted with rocks and chunks of brick by a large group of white teens and men.

Three teenagers were arrested late Tuesday night on hate crime charges for allegedly shattering two windows in the house and shouting racial slurs.

But Friday’s early-morning attack has left the family angry and terrified.

“My niece came running into my bedroom at 4:30 a.m. and said they busted her window again. She was scared out of her mind,” Cooper said.

Others in Lovejoy expressed frustration Friday that the attacks have been labeled as racially motivated, saying that Cooper’s younger relatives initiated the trouble by attempting to take over the corner of East Lovejoy Street and Benzinger, displacing other teens who have congregated there for years.

The home being vacated by Cooper is beside the Lovejoy Discovery School’s parking lot at the intersection.

Richard Fontana, who serves as the Common Council president and Lovejoy representative, says there is no room for racism in his district, but that the Cooper family has not helped itself by retaliating.

“The family was originally harassed, but when they called in other family members for protection, they turned the situation upside down, and they became the aggressors by sending two Lovejoy youths to the hospital and robbing fast food delivery people,” Fontana said. “After that, I got involved and told both sides to stop the aggression. It was calm until 4:30 this morning.”

Cooper took issue with Fontana’s assessment.

She said that white youths and adults threw rocks and bricks at one of her sons and a nephew, prompting family members to fight back, adding that it occurred after months of racial slurs. “It wears on you,” she said.

As for the allegations of fast food thefts, Cooper said no one at her home ordered the pizza or Chinese food and that no one on her porch attempted to take it.

But the delivery workers filed police reports late Tuesday night, with one claiming an order of pizza and chicken wings was snatched from him and the other reporting that he managed to flee with the Chinese food before it could be taken.

“Nobody got robbed here. The police recovered the pizza and the other delivery guy left with the Chinese food,” Cooper said. “We were being harassed. Someone ordered that food and had it delivered to us. The deliveries came back to back.

“What they’re trying to do is say that all black people do is rob and steal, and it is not true,” Cooper said.

She added that “a police officer told me on Tuesday that they had placed a corrections officer in the back of a patrol car who was with the people throwing rocks. The cops said they were going to arrest him.”

Police on Friday said the investigation was continuing and no additional arrests had been made.

Police spokesman Michael J. DeGeorge on Friday said, “Mayor [Byron W.] Brown is concerned about the situation, and he’s talked with both the Council president and Mrs. Cooper. He spoke with her for about a half hour this afternoon, and he has assured her that additional police patrols will be placed in the area for the time being.”

The youths who were injured and went to the hospital for treatment, Cooper said, should have known better.

“The kids who did these things did get whupped,” she said. “Their moms and fathers should have told them you don’t make racial slurs. You can end up making them to the wrong person.”

And of the latest vandalism, Bernardo Jimenez, Cooper’s 21-year-old son, said he was awake in the living room watching a movie when he heard glass shattering followed by screeching tires.

“I looked out the front window and could see the back of a car racing down the street,” Jimenez said.

Ebony Cooper, the 18-year-old niece who ended up sleeping on the living room floor, said seconds before the attack she could hear voices out in the parking lot coming in through the window, which had been partially broken on Tuesday.

“Someone asked a question and someone else said ‘I don’t know. Just do it,’” she said.

On Friday family members made a temporary move to the West Side home of Ann Cooper’s brother, where they will stay until the family can raise enough money for a security deposit on a new residence.

Gary Chappell, the brother, said it was hard to believe that this was happening at a time when the country is supposed to be more enlightened.

Jason A. Mueller of Lake Effect Rentals, a property management company that placed the Coopers on Benzinger, vowed to relocate the family to another apartment before the end of the weekend.

“I have a lot of properties in Lovejoy that we manage, and it is a great area with a lot of great people, and the Coopers are very good tenants,” Mueller said, adding that it is unfortunate some individuals turned to racist behavior. “We’re going to get the Coopers out of there as soon as possible,” he said.

Fontana said he is working to maintain racial harmony.

“I’m telling all the residents and every kid I can pull into my arms to stop the attacks, unless you’re attacked first. You do have the right to defend yourself, but don’t be the aggressor against anyone in the neighborhood,” he said.

Donna Riley, a longtime Lovejoy resident, said it has been painful to watch changes in that section of the city.

“In the last couple years, I’ve seen things I’ve never seen before in Lovejoy. Drugs being dealt right in the street in daylight. New people moving in trying to steal people’s cable TV lines. Twice now I’ve been awoken by neighbors fighting in the middle of the street in the middle of the night, and I have to work in the morning,” she said.

Riley, who is white, added that she is proud to have many friends and relatives in the black community.

“I don’t care what nationality you are, but I want my rights to be respected as much as you want your rights to be respected,” she said. “I, too, am very proud of where this country is today and very sad that a whole community, Lovejoy, is being described as racist instead of certain individuals.”

http://www.buffalonews.com/city/communities/buffalo/article809867.ece?order=F&page=1

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hate crime trial this week in Co. for white male who attacked black Nigerian student

Posted on April 18, 2012 by Kemetia M Afrika

A 23-year-old Lafayette man accused of assaulting a Nigerian University of Colorado student during a racially charged fight on University Hill in September testified Tuesday that he feels terrible that the student got hurt.

Joseph Coy denied using any racial slurs and instead said Zachrey Harris, a man he met through a mutual friend for the first time that night, was the only one throwing racial epithets before the assault in Boulder on Sept. 18.

Joseph Coy, right, describes how he was put into a “choke hold” by Ahmad Abdulkareem, as portrayed by Coy’s attorney, Larry Mertes, during Coy’s trial Tuesday.

“I wasn’t saying those things,” Coy testified in his trial. “I feel terrible that he had to put up with that, and that I stuck up for someone who was saying that.”

Coy faces charges of second-degree assault and bias-motivated crime, both felonies, in connection with the attack that left Nigerian CU student Oluyibi Ogundipe with facial fractures. If convicted, Coy could be sentenced to up to nine years in prison, and it would mark the first conviction of a felony hate crime in Boulder County.

Harris, 23, was tried two weeks ago on a misdemeanor charge of bias-motivated harassment because witnesses said he was the main person using racial slurs during the encounter. A jury found Harris guilty, and he’s scheduled to be sentenced June 3. Harris faces up to 18 months in jail.

According to police, Coy and Harris used racial slurs against Ogundipe and his friend from Saudi Arabia, Ahmad Abdulkareem, about 2:30 a.m. Sept. 18 near the Hookah House, 1325 Broadway. The foreign-born men left that initial confrontation, according to police, but Coy is accused of chasing them down and punching Ogundipe in the face.

Coy testified Tuesday afternoon that he didn’t chase down the men to assault Ogundipe but instead to get back at Abdulkareem, who had put him in a headlock moments earlier.

“I’m after Ahmad — he’s the one who took me down, and he’s the one who put his hands on me,” Coy testified. “I was so humiliated, I had to get him back.”

Coy said he caught up with Abdulkareem and Ogundipe and sort of “chest bumped” Abdulkareem to stop his sprint. That’s when Abdulkareem put him in a second headlock, according to Coy’s testimony. Coy said he tried to drop out of it but couldn’t, and then inadvertently hit Ogundipe as he was swinging to get free.

Coy said he never intended to harm Ogundipe.

He said the encounter started after his group heard “(expletive) you” from Abdulkareem’s direction. He said Harris and the foreign-born men were exchanging race-fueled insults, but he tried to diffuse the situation.

“I said, ‘Hey, we’re trying to have a good night in Boulder. Why are we doing this? Zach, let’s get out of here,’” Coy testified. “I was trying to make sure Zach wasn’t going to get beat up. As I turned around, I got thrown in a choke hold.”

Coy testified that his mother died three years ago and the woman who now acts as his mother figure is black. He also said his first girlfriend was black, and he doesn’t use racist insults out of “respect.”

“I don’t hear those words in my home, and I don’t use them,” he said.

But Christopher Choate, a former bouncer at the Goose bar on University Hill, told jurors that he heard the suspects use the “N-word” about 15 times and saw Coy “posturing” and moving back and forth as the heated exchange of words escalated.

Eventually, he said, Coy appeared to have “reached his breaking point and sprinted all the way down Pleasant Street” to catch up with the men. Choate testified that he saw Coy hit Abdulkareem first; and Jared Kaszuba, who also witnessed the attack, said he saw Coy hit Ogundipe and knock him to the ground.

Kaszuba told jurors that both Harris and Coy were using racial slurs and imitating monkeys. He testified that he heard both Coy and Harris use the phrase, “We bought your parents, and we’ll buy you, too” and throw dollar bills on the ground.

Ogundipe testified Tuesday that while Harris’ insults were louder, Coy was also responsible for saying racist and hateful things.

“Both of them said it,” Ogundipe said. “I saw and heard Mr. Coy say it multiple times.”

Ogundipe said his injuries and the hateful experience has hurt his academic performance.

“I felt humiliated,” he said. “I’m still victimized today. I wake up with depression. This is something that should not happen.”

Jared Kaszuba, a witness to the altercation between Joseph Coy and University of Colorado student Oluyibi Ogundipe, demonstrates the “monkey” gestures he testified that he saw Coy and Zachrey Harris make the night of the incident.

http://www.coloradodaily.com/ci_17879594#axzz1sRQAWNAp

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white male suspect wanted in hate crime attack against black female German exchange student

Posted on April 18, 2012 by Kemetia M Afrika

The hate crime attack suspect was last seen wearing a black t-shirt with a band of white flames around the chest, gray jeans and black boots. (credit: Berthoud Police Dept.)

Police investigating a hate crime attack on an exchange student from Germany have released a sketch of the suspect in hopes of tracking him down.

Police say the men confronted the 15-year-old girl last Thursday at Ellen Bunyan Bein Park next to Berthoud High School and slashed her with a knife.

The attackers are all white and believed to be in their 20s. Police believe they targeted the girl because she’s black. Police say they have good descriptions of the suspects and are confident they will catch them.

The suspect in the sketch also has a tattoo with an “SS 11. The SS bolts are a Nazi symbol signifying the Schutzstaffel (SS) Heinrich Himmler’s police forces whose members ranged from agents of the Gestapo to soldiers of the Waffen SS to the guards at concentration and death camps. The symbol is frequently seen in neo-Nazi tattoos and graffiti and characterizes the beliefs of neo-Nazis and racist skinheads which usually include violence, anti-Semitism, white supremacy and fascism.”

A sketch of a tattoo on the suspect wanted in a hate crime attack on a student near Berthoud High School. (credit: Berthoud Police Dept.)

“Obviously the tattoo that we’ve sent a picture of is a white supremacist type of thing, but I couldn’t tell you if they belong to an organization or not,” Berthoud Police Chief Glenn Johnson said.

The Anti-Defamation League has condemned the reported attack. The group issues flyers that describe extremist logos.

The girl is a junior at Berthoud High School and an exchange student from Germany. Last Thursday she was walking home through the park when she said she was accosted by four men.

Police say they have little doubt it was racially motivated because she said the men told her that they were looking for a minority — a Hispanic or gay, but a black would do. They then told her to bend down, and bow down. She was then slashed with a knife in the forehead.

Despite the wound, the teen managed to get home.

Residents of Berthoud are now calling for justice.

“I’m deeply saddened and I just can’t believe it,” Sheren Madden said. “I’m so sad that this happened to her … I know that it happens but I don’t expect that to happen in Berthoud.”

Student Ryan Markham told CBS4 he’s never seen any white supremacists in Berthoud.

“There’s nothing like that in Berthoud. That’s crazy to even think of in this small town,” Markham said.

The girl was brought to the U.S. by an exchange program could Youth For Understanding. The program has notified the State Department and the FBI has also been called in to investigate. The German consulate has also been contacted.

http://denver.cbslocal.com/2012/04/18/police-release-sketch-of-suspect-wanted-in-hate-crime-attack/

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violent racist gang expands into Edmonton (Canada)

Posted on April 18, 2012 by Kemetia M Afrika

Calgary Police Service handout

Neo-Nazis Kyle McKee, left, and Nathan Touchette, right. Former National Post photographer Brett Gundlock says “violence is just politics” to McKee, who faces 15 weapons charges.

Members of a Calgary neo-Nazi group, which forged a reputation as a violent racist gang, have worked for a year to replicate itself in Edmonton, and criminal charges revealed Tuesday suggest its tactics, too, have been transplanted.

Kyle McKee, 26, a leadership figure with Calgary’s Blood and Honour who spearheaded its expansion into Edmonton, is among three men arrested after two Sikh men were attacked last month.

When police searched his Calgary home on April 12, they found two shotguns, two rifles, ammunition, and numerous knives and machetes, police said. It is unlikely the stockpile took officers completely by surprise, as Mr. McKee often posed for photographs holding guns as he stands in front of large Nazi flags.

“For a guy who weighs 130 pounds he carries a lot of weight,” said Constable Ken Smith of Edmonton police’s Hate Crimes Unit.

“People allow him to be the leader because, even though he is 130 pounds, everybody believes he has the potential, as we have seen in the past, to be violent.”

Mr. McKee is seen as a fanatic who often gives media interviews and seems happy to pose for pictures, modelling his skinhead chic and Nazi tattoos in front of a vast collection of Nazi regalia.

“He’s a true believer. He believes that what he is doing is right. It is all politics — violence is just politics to him,” said Brett Gundlock, a former National Post photographer who worked on a photographic documentary on neo-Nazi groups and spent months with Mr. McKee and his friends.

“He has always been the main voice and face of the movement in the area. He’s the leader, although he doesn’t officially take that title. He doesn’t like to say he’s the leader but his history shows he’s been the main, constant motivator out there.”

Mr. McKee has been travelling to Edmonton for more than a year bringing in new recruits. Four such acolytes were arrested in Edmonton a year ago after attacking people while out promoting a White Pride march held annually; three have since pleaded guilty.

The new arrests also coincided with the annual march.

On March 24, the rally was held in Edmonton instead of Calgary and, while waving banners and flags and most wearing face masks, members and associates of Blood and Honour marched through the city. They were confronted by anti-racist activists, who outnumbered them.

It was later that evening that two Sikh men originally from India were attacked outside of an east Edmonton liquor store.

“One of the victims, inside the store, had racial slurs directed at him. As he left the store he was confronted and assaulted. Then, during that assault, we allege one of the other accused came up and hit him in the back of the head with a full bottle of alcohol,” said Const. Smith.

The broken glass was then used to stab the victim, who was also bitten, police allege.

Mr. McKee faces 15 weapons charges and two assault-related charges.

Bernard “Bernie” Miller, 20, of Edmonton, is charged with assault with a weapon and assault causing bodily harm. He is described by police as a leading member of Blood and Honour in Edmonton.

Philip Badrock, 44, of St. Albert, an Edmonton suburb, is charged with criminal harassment and assault causing bodily harm. He is described as an associate of the group.

“They had their march in Edmonton this year and that is where they are focusing all their efforts. Kyle has been focusing his efforts on Edmonton; to try to build their chapter up there,” said Mr. Gundlock.

Mr. McKee has been involved in white pride or neo-Nazi groups for at least a decade and has often not been far from violence.

“He grew up in a pretty rough childhood in foster care,” said Mr. Gundlock. “He has been in and out of jails.”

Originally from Ontario, he moved to Calgary and established Aryan Guard, a white supremacist group that splintered amid infighting.

One of Mr. McKee’s old ideological comrades in the group, Tyler Sturrup, was the target of a bomb attack in 2009 for which Mr. McKee was charged with attempted murder. That charge was dropped when Mr. McKee pleaded guilty to making explosives.

Mr. Sturrup, in turn, was charged with second-degree murder last June, accused with another neo-Nazi in the beating death of Mark Mariani, 47, of Calgary, who suffered chronic health problems.

In December, Vancouver police arrested three B.C. men alleged to be Blood and Honour members, accused of have committed a string of physical attacks on non-whites.

http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/04/17/violent-racist-gang-expands-into-edmonton/

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3 white males convicted of hate crime in attack of black male at Houston bus stop

Posted on April 18, 2012 by Kemetia M Afrika

A midnight attack in which four shirtless white men – three with white supremacist tattoos – cornered and beat a black man at a downtown bus stop was deemed a federal hate crime Monday by a jury that returned the first conviction of its kind in Houston.

A federal jury convicted the trio – Charles Cannon, 26, Michael McLaughlin, 41, and Brian Kerstetter, 32 – for attacking Yondell Johnson simply because of his race.

Prosecutors dismissed charges last month against a fourth defendant, Joseph Staggs, 49, who testified against the other three.

The convictions carry a maximum penalty of up to 10 years in prison.

The four men ran into each other on Houston streets and "bonded" over the white supremacist tattoos, prosecutors said. Removing their shirts, the four approached Johnson, a 29-year-old African-American, as he waited for a bus at Travis and McKinney late on Aug. 13. They asked him for the time before at least one of the men used a racial epithet.

Authorities later identified white supremacist tattoos on Cannon, McLaughlin and Kerstetter.

Racist claim denied

The four men surrounded Johnson and punched and kicked him, despite his efforts to fight them off. During the trial in Houston’s federal court, jurors saw part of the attack caught on city surveillance cameras.

After they were arrested, a Houston police officer heard McLaughlin and Cannon yell racial slurs at black officers who responded to the crime scene, according to court documents.

"We applaud the hard work of the FBI and Justice Department in investigating this hate crime and bringing the perpetrators to justice," said Martin B. Cominsky, southwest regional director of the Anti-Defamation League. "We are especially proud that federal officials were able to successfully use the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crime Prevention Act. ADL led the effort to get the strong federal hate crime law passed so it could be used in cases like this."

Cannon’s attorney, Gus Saper, denied his client is a racist and said he and other defense attorneys are considering appealing the convictions.

"I don’t consider him a white supremacist. The testimony showed he is married to a Hispanic lady. He has biracial children, and his sister is married to an African-American," Saper said of Cannon, who is a welder from Lufkin. "One of his friends, who is African-American, testified in his behalf and also dated one of his sisters."

‘Public message’

The federal hate crime law, passed in October 2009, gives the FBI authority to investigate violent crime, including violence directed at the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community, as well as crimes committed because of gender, race, color, religion or national origin.

When the federal charges were filed in January, they were only third time the hate crime law had been used nationwide. With the verdict on Monday, 15 defendants have been convicted in a total of nine cases nationwide in which 34 defendants were charged, according to the Justice Department.

"We hope today’s convictions send a powerful public message," said FBI Special Agent in Charge Stephen L. Morris, who heads the Houston office, adding the federal hate law "is a tool the FBI will use to aggressively investigate and prosecute hate crimes as felony offenses."

Johnson said that the four men came up to a bus stop shortly before midnight last August. He was waiting to catch the bus after spending the day visiting his 12-year-old daughter.

Pulled to ground

Johnson recalled one man asked him, "Hey, bro, you got the time?"

Johnson said he did not, and then heard a second man berate the first.

"Why are you calling a (N-word) a bro?" Johnson recalled.

Sensing he was going to be attacked, Johnson stood up and backed against a pole. The amateur boxer held off his assailants for about 10 minutes, but one of them grabbed him by the ankles and pulled him down. As one man held him, the other three stomped and kicked his face.

"I couldn’t believe this was happening. I thought I was on my way to dying, especially when they got me on the ground," Johnson said.

Until the hate crime case was brought by federal authorities, the four men were facing misdemeanor assault charges in state court. Prosecutors had notified their defense attorneys they intended to upgrade the charges to hate crimes during their trials. But those charges were dismissed after the federal charges were filed.

The three were found guilty after a three-day trial before U.S. District Judge Kenneth Hoyt, who set sentencing for July 16.

http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Three-white-men-convicted-of-hate-crime-in-attack-3486507.php

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Ohio State University campus hate crimes continue to spread

Posted on April 18, 2012 by Kemetia M Afrika

Four cases of vandalism on and near OSU’s campus has prompted a 2nd hate crime alert email this month to be sent from the university. The ‘N-word’ was written on a dumpster April 16.

 

Two acts of vandalism Ohio State Police labeled hate crimes were discovered Monday — one in a university dorm and the other across from the Ohio Union.

 The first incident involved racial and religious slurs, written on a door in Baker Hall East. The word “n—–s” and a swastika were written with permanent marker on a message board hanging on a dorm room door, said OSU Deputy Police Chief Richard Morman. Two females, one Caucasian and one African-American, live in said room, Morman said.

 The police report for the incident listed it as an “anti-Black” hate crime and the motive as “menace.”

The second occurred off-campus, when a dumpster across from the Ohio Union was covered in red spray paint that read, “hang n—–s.” The dumpster is located behind Formaggio Pizza, at 20 E. 13th Ave.

 Dilnavaz Cama, a department manager from OSU neighborhood services and collaboration, was dispatched to cover up the spray paint on the dumpster until it could be permanently removed.

 Cama said the dumpster is property of Republic Services, Inc., and she was told someone would be sent out to permanently remove the vandalism.

 Republic Services, Inc., had no immediate contact as of Monday afternoon. Sam Michael, manager of Formaggio Pizza, said he did not know anything about the vandalism on the dumpster outside of his restaurant.

 University Police sent out a public safety email Monday afternoon to alert OSU community members to take precautions and actions to increase safety and to aid in the prevention of similar crimes.

 In an official statement to The Lantern, Javaune Adams-Gaston, vice president of Student Life, said she is horrified by the incidents.

“I am appalled by these continued acts of hate. We are working with University Police, acting swiftly, diligently investigating, and will take the appropriate action,” Adams-Gaston said in the statement.

 The hate crimes occurred less than a week after a task force was formed in response to other recent acts of vandalism on campus that officials declared as hate crimes. Adams-Gaston and Valerie Lee, vice provost for Diversity and Inclusion, head the task force.

“Dr. Lee and I have repeatedly said, there is no place for hate at Ohio State, and that includes our off-campus community,” Adams-Gaston said in the statement. “We have temporarily covered the offensive graffiti and are working with property owners to permanently remove it.”

President E. Gordon Gee tweeted from his account about the incident on 13th Avenue.

“Angered to learn of hate speech spray-painted across High Street from Union. This is not our University. #OSUStandYourGround #inclusion,” the tweet read.

 Columbus Police Sgt. Rich Weiner said they are investigating these incidents and had no further information as of Monday. Morman said the investigation of both incidents is ongoing.

 Joe Rowe, a manager at Subway a few doors down from Formaggio Pizza, related the act to the vandalism that occurred at Hale Hall on April 5.

“I know that thing (the Hale Hall vandalism) a few weeks ago pretty much was disgusting … I think my degree’s worth a little less,” said Rowe, who graduated from OSU in 2009 with a degree in strategic communication.

“Long Live Zimmerman” was spray-painted April 5 on the west walls of Hale Hall, which is home to the Frank W. Hale Jr. Black Cultural Center, part of the Office of Diversity and Inclusion.

 The reference, officials said, is most likely to George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch leader who allegedly killed Trayvon Martin in self-defense Feb. 26 in Florida.

 Barry Dean, an employee at The Import House next to Subway, said he thought the vandalism might be related to the case involving Zimmerman.

“I think it’s childish and it’s horrible and it needs to stop happening,” Dean said. “It’s not shocking.”

Valerie Henault, a first-year in pre-nursing, said she was upset to learn about another form of hate speech happening on campus.

“Ohio State is supposed to be open,” she said. “People should be accepted here, people shouldn’t be hated or discriminated against.”

http://www.thelantern.com/campus/campus-hate-crimes-continue-to-spread-1.2850251

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trial begins for white supremacist who decapitated black male

Posted on April 18, 2012 by Kemetia M Afrika

Daniel Evan Wacht

COOPERSTOWN, N.D. — When Kurt Johnson fell backward off his barstool, the bartender at the Oasis Bar decided it was time for the North Dakota State University researcher to go.

She suggested calling police to take him home. But the man who had slid over beside Johnson on Dec. 31, 2010 — known as “machine gun head” because of the tattoo of one above his right ear — had other ideas.

“We don’t need any (expletive) cops. We’ll take care of this,” Daniel Wacht said, according to Griggs County State’s Attorney Marina Spahr’s preview Tuesday of a murder trial in which Wacht stands accused of shooting and then beheading Johnson.

Spahr said Johnson had a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.54 percent, more than six times the legal driving limit of 0.08, and he needed help to get out of the Oasis and into Wacht’s van outside the bar. When the man helping Johnson couldn’t hoist him over a tall berm of snow between the street and sidewalk, Spahr said Wacht grabbed Johnson by the neck and waist and threw him into the open side door of the van.

“And that’s when the party ended,” she said. “There would be no new beginnings for Kurt Johnson.”

One minute after midnight, Johnson’s cellphone — which wasn’t recovered — powered down, Spahr said.

During opening arguments in the murder trial of Wacht, 31, of Cooperstown, N.D., Spahr told jurors that Johnson, 54, was celebrating New Year’s Eve when Wacht snuffed out his life “as suddenly and quickly as the cork popping off a champagne bottle.”

Spahr also alluded to a possible motive for the killing, telling jurors that 13 days before Johnson was last seen alive, Wacht told a man he met at a party that he was in an Aryan Nation-type gang, and that he wanted to start a local white supremacy gang and needed to “make a statement” by blowing up a place or killing someone.

Spahr said phone records show Wacht opened an account under the name of Rudolf Hess, a high-ranking Nazi Party official under Adolf Hitler.

Wacht’s defense attorney, Steven Mottinger, told jurors that the evidence — which includes Johnson’s severed head found in a crawl space in Wacht’s rented home but not his still-missing body — isn’t as clear cut as prosecutors would have them believe.

“Their evidence will show that there are other possibilities, that someone else could have been involved,” Mottinger told the jury of eight men and six women, which includes two alternates.

Wacht has admitted giving Johnson a ride that night but denies killing him.

Spahr said Johnson died of a close-range bullet to the forehead and was dead before he was decapitated. A 9-mm hollow-point bullet was found lodged in his brain, and a ballistics expert will testify it could have been fired from the 9-mm Glock pistol recovered from Wacht’s back pocket when he was arrested Jan. 5, 2011, Spahr said.

A single 9-mm casing found in Wacht’s bedroom had blood spots on it, and forensic testing at a Texas lab indicated it could have only come from Johnson, his father or his grandfather, she said.

Phone records also will show Wacht traveled to Crosby, Minn., on Jan. 4 and came straight back to Cooperstown, Spahr said. The route to Crosby was among the areas authorities combed in their unsuccessful search for Johnson’s body.

Spahr told jurors they won’t hear how Johnson’s head was severed, but they will hear about key pieces of DNA evidence alleged to link Wacht to the killing — including a loveseat cushion found in Wacht’s garbage that was soaked in Johnson’s blood, as well as Wacht’s boots and gloves that had Johnson’s blood on the outside and Wacht’s DNA on the inside.

Spahr said not recovering the researcher’s body is frustrating for everyone involved in the investigation and Johnson’s family, but “it’s not a required element of this crime.”

Mottinger told jurors it’s not their job to provide closure to the community or Johnson’s family, and he cautioned them against jumping to a hasty conclusion. “If you’ve already decided that he’s guilty, then you have already failed,” he said.

The prosecution called four witnesses, all law enforcement officials, to enter into evidence photos taking during the investigation. Testimony resumes at 9 a.m. today. The trial is scheduled for two weeks.

Wacht faces up to life in prison without parole if convicted of the killing.

Security was extremely tight at the courthouse, with extra guards from neighboring counties and the North Dakota Highway Patrol stationed inside and outside the courtroom.

A sheriff’s deputy was ink-stamping the hands of visitors after they passed through the metal detector set up at the only working entrance to the 129-year-old Griggs County Courthouse, which county officials said hasn’t hosted a murder trial since 1929.

http://www.grandforksherald.com/event/article/id/234632/group/homepage/

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Soccer Legend Lilian Thuram Tackles Racism and Human Zoos

Posted on April 18, 2012 by Kemetia M Afrika

photo by Dominique Godreche

Lilian Thuram next to a poster for “Exhibitions: The Invention of the Savage

Lilian Thuram is primarily known around the world as an elite soccer player. Now 40 years old and retired, he played for the French National Team and professionally for Barcelona and Juventus, two of the most powerful clubs in Europe. His two goals in the semifinal of the 1998 World Cup gave Les Bleus a win over Croatia and a spot in the final match (which they won, defeating Brazil 3-0). Thuram played defense; those two goals were the only he scored in 142 appearances for the French National Team.

Thuram is a sports hero for the French—and now, with his Education Contre le Racisme (Education Against Racism) foundation, he could become a cultural hero for victims of racism and the legacy of colonialism. His aim is to fight racism by helping young people understand how it comes to exist; Thuram’s foundation reaches out to children from nine to 18 years old, and seeks through various activities to analyze the construction of racism, in order to avoid repeating harmful mistakes from the past.

“Who doubted the humanity of Native Americans?” Thuram said, during a recent conversation in Paris. “Who decided the norms? Who gave the racist speeches? Racism has always been a political construction, originated by the political and religious power.”

The foundation is currently curating an exhibition at the Musee du Quai Branly in Paris, “Exhibitions: The Invention of the Savage” (on display through June 3). It presents historical photos, artifacts, and publicity materials associated with the once-common phenomenon of “human zoos,” where native populations from all over the world were displayed as exotic and inferior; humiliated; ridiculed; and treated as animals or curiosities.

Click here to see a gallery of images from Exhibitions: The Invention of the Savage.

Poster for Exhibitions: The Invention of the Savage

Thuram is general curator of the show with curators Pascal Blanchard and Nanette Jacomin Snoep.

In what way does this exhibition relate to your foundation ?
My foundation, Education Against Racism, teaches that one is not born racist, but becomes racist: racism is an intellectual construction and we have the power to deconstruct it by explaining its mechanisms. The exhibition shows how prejudices were established in society, and the way scientific racism of the 18th and 19th century was spread through the exhibitions of human zoos.

How were you inspired to create the foundation?
By my own life story. I was born in the Antilles, in the West Indies, and I arrived in Paris at nine years old. At the time, there was a cartoon, “La Noiraude” (The Blacky). The story was about a black cow, who was stupid, and a white one, who was intelligent. I was always called “Blacky,” and I and wondered why. I asked my mother, but she was unable to answer me. Growing up, and later in life meeting with anthropologists and historians, I learned about the process of racism. And in 2008, when I was playing for Barcelona in Spain, a man named Juan Campmany inspired me to create the foundation. I remember, when I was young, we used to hear, “No to racism! We are all equals!” But I think that is not enough. Awakening the awareness of racism goes beyond slogans. It is necessary to acquire a historical, scientific knowledge of social beliefs. That is why we want to deconstruct racism, by explaining it through books and exhibitions. We want to demonstrate how it was built, and became a cultural racism.

What specific activities does your foundation do?
Our scientific committee produces tools to deconstruct racism. When I visit schools, kids tell me what they know about different races and different skin colors. We give them tools, so that they understand that we’ve come to believe things that aren’t true because of the way history is taught. It is my first project for an exhibition; but we published a book Les Etoiles Noires, (“black stars”), and a manifesto. Then I have some TV programs planned, and so forth. Because it is important that this message is delivered in the culture.

A portrait of an American Indian by the prolific artist and showman George Catlin.

Is this exhibition strategic, given the coming elections in France, and certain political issues?
No, I had been thinking about it for two years. But I hope that this exhibition will stimulate reflection. Because in today’s political situation it is important to alter our mentalities, so that we all participate in the changing society, and we all recognize ourselves as French. Those issues should be addressed in every place of the world where multiple cultures are present, and notions of superiority of one over another are questioned. Our goal is to challenge today’s society, by interrogating our past, to project ourselves into a better future.

What is your knowledge of Native Americans?
Well, as a native of the West Indies, the land of slavery, I was aware, very early, of Native populations. The slaves replaced the Natives, who were destroyed by 80 percent after Christopher Columbus‘s arrival. Why so many deaths? What did Christopher Columbus want from those lands? Colonization is a way of exploiting the people and stealing their wealth. So, indeed, I have been thinking about Native Americans. And I know that there are many tribes—during my visit to Canada, I went to the very interesting Canadian Museum of Civilization, where a guide gave us a speech on Native Americans. But I have no specific knowledge of all those tribes.

Lilian Thuram trading card. He is pictured in his French National Team uniform.

Did you ever experience racism as a professional athlete?
Yes, in Italy. I was playing football, and when black players would touch the ball, some of the supporters would imitate a monkey’s sound. I experienced it, but, luckily, I did not suffer from it. I was able to understand that this is a psychological mechanism that is triggered. I tried to understand why they would do that: It is because our culture transmits those messages. So I did not stigmatize the people who were expressing themselves in that manner.

How do you relate to this exhibition on human zoos?
I’ve always investigated the issues of slavery, colonization, and the beliefs in the superiority of the white race—the damages those beliefs do in excluding certain populations. I read Pascal Blanchard’s books, met him, and became curator of this exhibition. I think that it is important to avoid victimization, in order to understand prejudices, and the way in which they were inculcated in the society. And it is necessary to understand the visitors of that time, discovering those populations: What was the effect on them of seeing those thousands of people inside cages? And what was going on inside the cages—jails, really—with the “savages”? That was how feelings of “superiority” were built.

Did your celebrity help you in your activism ?
It made it easier, of course; as I am known, and there is an issue of trust. But what really matters is serious work. For years I have been educating myself on these issues, meeting with various people and experts. I went to Monaco at age seventeen, and finished high school by correspondence, and then became a football player at nineteen, which I did until 2008, and I won the World Cup—so yes, I wish to transmit messages through my personal success; because I feel concerned by those issues. Speaking about racism used to be taboo, but I consider it to be necessary. That is why today I dedicate my time to the foundation: because the worst thing is to be a victim of racism. And with knowledge, it is possible to acquire the right position on that matter.

What does an exhibition about human zoos, at a museum in Paris, have to do with American Indians living today in the United States ?
In 2012, the people want to know the history of the world. And that is what is told here: the story of the dominant and the dominated, and the prejudices associated to the status of submitted. When I visit the schools, I often get into a debate on the “red race” with young French children, who know little about the existence of such a race. And that is probably because there are fewer cowboy movies these days.

What sort of exhibition would you like to see about Native American history?
The first time I saw an exhibition about Native Americans was in Ottawa, and I came to understand that there are many tribes. Thus, it would be difficult to speak about “Native Americans,” as it would be of the “Africans,” who also have various customs, languages, and tribes. But that being said, my feeling is that there should be, in the United States, a museum dedicated to the Native American massacres. I do not have the impression that many Americans are aware they’re living on a land from which 80% of the original population disappeared! When a society can confront its history, then it starts to grow up. That is why, to me, it would be important that people know how America was built on a genocide. I say this, even though I am not Indian. But I imagine it would be beneficial for all, and humanity would grow, with an egalitarian vision. Because we have been misled by political speeches, speeches that made us believe in a hierarchy that is just made up in order to exploit the native populations. When you have a museum showing the real history, that is a sign that we have all grown up. Together.

http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2012/04/13/soccer-legend-lilian-thuram-tackles-racism-and-human-zoos-101634

Images from ‘Exhibitions: The Invention of the Savage’: http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/photogallery/images-from-exhibitions-the-invention-of-the-savage

Categories: racism | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Acura apologizes for seeking ‘not too dark’ actor

Posted on April 18, 2012 by Kemetia M Afrika

Acura said it was taking appropriate measures to ensure that such language is not used again in work performed on its behalf

Acura apologized Wednesday for a casting document that called for an African-American actor who was “not too dark” in the car company’s Super Bowl ad.

The controversial casting call document, published Wednesday by the celebrity gossip site TMZ, “pulls back the curtain” on the widely known practice of casting based on skin tone in Hollywood, a longtime manager said.

TMZ reported that it got the audition posting from “an African-American actor who didn’t fit the profile, and who’s pissed.”

The role was for an “African-American Car Dealer” who would appear in a car showroom scene with Jerry Seinfeld. Jay Leno also appeared in the ad.

The sheet’s “role details” read: “Nice Looking, friendly. Not too dark. Will work with a MAJOR COMEDIAN.”

Acura spokesman Gary Robinson told CNN that the company did not know about the casting description until the TMZ story was published.

“Any of the creative directions didn’t come from Acura,” Robins said. “They would’ve come from the casting agency.”

Cathi Carlton Casting, the agency hired by Acura to choose actors, declined comment. An employee who answered the phone at the agency’s Santa Monica, California, office said they would defer to Acura’s apology.

“We apologize to anyone offended by the language on the casting sheet used in the selection of actors for one of our commercials,” Acura said in a statement to CNN. “We sought to cast an African-American in a prominent role in the commercial, and we made our selection based on the fact that he was the most talented actor.”

Acura said it was “taking appropriate measures to ensure that such language is not used again in association with any work performed on behalf of our brand.”

Longtime Hollywood manager Roger Neal said he was not shocked that a casting director would choose based on skin tone.

“People in the business a long time deal with this every day,” he said.

But Neal, who has looked at daily casting breakdowns for 31 years, said he was surprised the description was written on a casting document.

“I’ve never seen it in writing before,” Neal said. “No one has been bold enough to put it in writing.”

The publication of the casting sheet “pulls back the curtain” on the casting practice, he said.

Neal said he suspects it was an inexperienced casting assistant who wrote the description.

Casting agents have told him in the past that his clients were too dark, or “not black enough,” Neal said.

A euphemism in Hollywood is to tell a rejected actor that the casting director “went a different direction” when their race cost them an acting job, Neal said.

SAG-AFTRA, the actors union, “immediately reached out to the casting office when the notice was brought to our attention so we could discuss the specific language used,” it said in a statement sent to CNN Wednesday.

“Despite the intention behind it, the notice was clearly not as well stated as it could have been and this is an area in which SAG-AFTRA’s equal employment opportunities and diversity staff can help,” the union said.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/18/showbiz/acura-ad-controversy/index.html

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