Archive for the ‘Hate Crimes’ Category

28 May 2010

by Anai Rhoads

AnaiRhoads.org – A Minden, La., man was sentenced to prison Thursday for burning a cross near the home of a relative who was involved in an interracial relationship.

During the trial, prosecutors revealed evidence that Daniel Earl Danforth and two co-conspirators built, erected and burned a cross near the homes of a relative and her African-American boyfriend. According to court documents, the defendants concocted the crime 23-24 October of 2008.

Using two pine trees, an unidentifiable cord and a large nail, Danforth and a cousin built the cross, while another cousin set out to obtain the diesel fuel. The men then transported the cross to an area adjacent to the victims’ homes in Athens, La., and used chainsaw gas to set the cross ablaze. 

To ensure that the burning cross was noticed by the couple, Danforth telephoned a relative who was living with the victims and directed her to the location of the burned cross on 26 October 2008.

“The defendant’s burning cross was designed to send a terrifying message of racial intolerance and intimidation to a couple who desired nothing more than to live in their home in peace,” said William J. Flanagan, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Louisiana.

In the days following the crime, Danforth and his accomplices heard that the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) was investigating the incident as a potential civil rights violation. Danforth, the cousin who helped transport and burn the cross, and the cousin’s girlfriend, formed a plan to get rid of the burned cross to prevent the FBI from discovering it and using it as evidence.

A cousin drove the defendant to the woods behind the victims’ homes, where Danforth removed the cross, disassembled it and hid it in the woods in an effort to thwart the FBI’s investigation.

“Driven only by bigotry and hate, the defendant threatened members of his own family with violence because they associated with persons of another race. Incidents of this kind have no place in this country, and they are a reminder of the civil rights challenges we still face in 2010,” said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General of the Civil Rights Division.

The 31 year-old was convicted on 21 January 2010, following a jury trial. Thursday, a federal court in Shreveport, La., sentenced him to four years in prison and three years supervision upon his release for the hate crime and for obstruction of justice.

On 28 April 2010, a federal grand jury returned an indictment charging Danforth’s cousin, Joshua James Moro, for his participation in the civil rights conspiracy.

16 May 2010

Submitted by Melinda Tankard Reist, Contributing Writer for AnaiRhoads.org

More Reasons to Hate Lad’s Mags: Zoo advises spurned lover to slash ex girlfriend’s face

I’ve written before about lad’s magazines which thrive on the objectification of women and act as porn training wheels for boys.

Now Zoo has run an advice column by British hardman actor Danny Dyer urging a heartbroken reader to “cut his ex’s face, so no one will want her”. The advice was written by regular British columnist and actor Danny Dyer.

As well as the suggestion that he slash his ex girlfriend’s face, the reader was told: “You’ve got nothing to worry about, son. I’d suggest going out on a rampage with the boys, getting on the booze and smashing anything that moves.”

Zoo said it was a “production error”. Like really what they meant to say was “Time mends a broken heart son, give yourself space to heal and relax in a bubble bath”.

Fortunately the reader rejected the advice and said he couldn’t ever hurt the woman he was with for a year.

More here from The Sun.

Danny Dyer doesn’t only suggest slashing women’s faces. He proposes setting their public hair alight, if it isn’t to a man’s liking.

Kira Cochrane has written an excellent piece which asks, if Danny Dyers slasher comments were an error, what about the rest of Zoo?

I’m glad that people have picked up on this comment, but I hope the anger won’t flare up and die away as it usually does. This shouldn’t be an excuse simply to lambast an individual…but to take notice of a magazine, and a wider culture, that depicts women as meat. If anything positive was to come out of this stupid throwaway comment, it would be that.

14 May 2010

The Center for Immigration Studies has prepared a synopsis of the information that has been released on Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad’s immigration history, plus policy recommendations that would reduce the risks inherent in U.S. visa and immigration programs. The report, written by Jessica Vaughan, Director of Policy Studies for the Center for Immigration Studies, reveals a familiar pattern of a terrorist easily taking advantage of weak spots in America’s immigration system. Shahzad was admitted long before 9/11, but the openings he exploited are still in place today.

Contrary to what some news media have stated, it is not completely clear that Shahzad always maintained legal status. In addition, there are aspects of his immigration history that indicate his awareness of how to work our system and that he was planning to engage in terrorism for some time.  Moreover, Shahzad was born in Pakistan, traveled there often and received his terrorist training there.  Thus, it seems inaccurate to describe him a “home grown” terrorist as some reporters have done.  Nor does it seem accurate to describe his terrorism as simply a case of “a legal immigrant’s failed American Dream,” as suggested by CBS news.

• June 30, 1979 – Born in Pakistan.
• December 22, 1998 – Issued student visa in Islamabad. It is difficult to justify the issuance of this student visa. Shahzad certainly failed to demonstrate that he had “sufficient academic preparation to pursue the intended course of study” at the University of Bridgeport, as the regulations required.  He was applying as a transfer student, and his transcript from his correspondence course with Southeastern University, a now defunct fourth-rate academic program, showed a GPA of 2.78, including several D’s and an F (in statistics). Moreover, during the 1990s, the University of Bridgeport was financially and academically troubled, with its accreditation and reputation in serious jeopardy, and actively seeking foreign students to compensate for plummeting U.S. enrollment. Not only was the visa a mistake, but the visa officer appears to have erred in giving Shahzad a four-year visa when two would have sufficed to complete the program that Shahzad reportedly told officials he wanted to complete. Many news accounts have asserted that Shahzad underwent a “criminal background check” in order to qualify for the visa. Not exactly – in 1998 this would have been a check of CLASS, the consular database with information on prior refusals, ineligibilities, and derogatory information such as federal arrest warrants, and TIPOFF, which was a watchlist of known and suspected terrorists.  Today’s watchlists and databases are far more comprehensive, but would not have provided grounds for refusal, as Shahzad apparently had no serious criminal history. But under the law the mere absence of a criminal or terrorist history is not enough by itself to qualify for a U.S. visa. For more on temporary visas, see Center for Immigration Studies Backgrounders “Shortcuts to Immigration” and “No Coyote Needed,” online at www.cis.org.
• Fall 2000 – Graduates from University of Bridgeport, Conn. Several media reports have noted that Shahzad was flagged by border officials for carrying large sums of cash into the United States and for his repeated visits home to Pakistan. Even though foreign students are supposed to pay their own way, private papers uncovered by an intrepid local newspaper reporter revealed that Shahzad had been awarded a grant of $6,700 from the University of Bridgeport to help cover his tuition.
• 2001 – Begins working for a temporary staffing agency. Shahzad entered on a student visa, which does not include permission to work.  It has been reported that he was granted Optional Practical Training status, which allows foreign students to stay and work after graduating (the “training” label is really a work permit). If so, there would be an application and a work permit on file with the school and with USCIS. The details are a little sketchy; it is not clear from the timing of his employment that this was feasible.  The fact that any foreign student can get approval to remain here after graduating to work at a temporary staffing agency under the guise of “practical training” is an illustration of just how absurd our immigration system has become.
• 2002 – Issued H-1B visa. Shahzad was sponsored by Elizabeth Arden to work in a low level accounting job under the H-1B visa program.  This would seem to support the argument that the visa program brings in primarily ordinary workers, not the best and the brightest as its defenders claim.
• 2004 – Obtains mortgage with Huma Anif Mian (U.S. citizen and future spouse).
• 2004 – Comes under scrutiny of the local Joint Terrorism Task Force. The JTTFs are local, multi-agency units that investigate cases related to national security. No information has been released as to why the JTTF was interested in Shahzad. Some media have reported suspicions that he had ties to Anwar al-Awlaki, the radical Muslim cleric who inspired several of the 9/11 hijackers, the Ft. Hood murderer, and the Christmas Day underwear bomber.
• February 2005 – U.S. citizen wife files green card petition. Neighbors of Shahzad’s bride have told reporters that he had visited her in Colorado just once before she left to marry him.
• January 2006 – Green card approved. USCIS was apparently unconcerned about either the suddenness of the marriage or the JTTF investigation. Immigration benefits adjudicators have little time or incentive to review cases closely. This case demonstrates the basic reality that the green card application process is firmly rigged in the alien’s favor, with few applications refused or challenged, especially those involving marriage to a U.S. citizen. Marriage to a U.S. citizen is one of the easiest and most popular ways for illegal aliens (and terrorists) to obtain a green card. See the Center for Immigration Studies Backgrounder “Hello, I Love You, Won’t You Tell Me Your Name: Inside the Green Card Marriage Phenomenon.”
• October 2008 – Applies for citizenship. Shahzad wasted no time applying for U.S. citizenship, which can happen after three years of marriage to a U.S. citizen, compared with five years of residency for other legal immigrants.  Shahzad’s alacrity in submitting his citizenship application is very unusual. The average immigrant waits six to ten years before applying, according to DHS statistics. For one thing, the process is expensive ($675) and includes a lot of paperwork and passing a test.  His U.S. citizenship makes travel abroad much easier as U.S. citizens face less scrutiny than foreign nationals when coming and going from the country and, unlike green card-holders, citizens can stay overseas indefinitely without losing status.  Becoming a U.S. citizen did not require Shahzad to give up his Pakistani passport; this can be useful in concealing long periods of travel to countries like Pakistan without drawing the attention of immigration inspectors at U.S. ports of entry upon return.
• April 17, 2009 – Sworn in as a U.S. citizen. Again, it appears that USCIS was untroubled by or unaware of the previous JTTF investigation.
• June 2, 2009 – Departs for Pakistan.
• February 3, 2010 – Returns to the United States.
• May 1, 2010 – Attempts to set off bomb in Times Square.

SOURCE Center for Immigration Studies