Thread: ALIPAC: Hispanic Activists Cite an Uptick in Threats of Viol

Hispanic Activists Cite an Uptick in Threats of Violence

By Darryl Fears
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, November 6, 2008; Page A02

Andrea Bazán said she has thick skin and is not easily frightened by death threats. But when the Hispanic activist arrived home one day to find her voice mail packed with profanity, and when she noticed a man watching her house in Durham, N.C., from a white commercial van with no license plates, her heart started to pound.

On a recent Monday night, she said, an unidentified man pounded on the front door of her house, frightening her. About a month earlier, on Labor Day, her house was broken into, and the smoke detectors were removed. "I am a mother. . . . I was scared," said Bazán, president of the Triangle Community Foundation in Durham and a board member for the National Council of La Raza. "I've been open with them about the fact that sometimes I have a bodyguard."

For some Hispanic activists such as Bazán, this is life on the front lines of the debate over illegal immigration. Leaders of the largest Hispanic civil rights groups -- the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), and La Raza -- have received anonymous threats of violence and death. Bazán's home address and the names of her daughters were posted on a Web site.

Last month, a Raleigh man was convicted and sentenced to 45 days in federal prison for e-mailing death threats to La Raza and a Muslim advocacy group, the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Christopher Michael Szaz, 42, pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor charges of sending e-mail threats, and the U.S. attorneys said his prosecution was a message to others that sending anonymous threats and racist e-mail is a federal crime. Szaz, who said he was drunk when he sent the e-mails, must also perform 100 hours of community service at a Hispanic or a Muslim organization.

There are no statistics that specifically track threats against Latino activists. But leaders of several groups cite anecdotal evidence of increasing attempts at intimidation. "We've seen a rise in threats directed at Hispanic groups," said Janet MurguÃ*a, president and chief executive of La Raza. "We've seen a rise in hate groups. This is not just a feeling."
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Some Latino leaders say the increased number of threats against Hispanic rights groups is part of a growth in attempts to intimidate Latino people. The FBI reported that hate crimes against Hispanics rose from 595 to 819 from 2003 to 2006, the year of the massive immigration demonstrations.

"I think people do feel afraid, and legitimately so," said John Trasviña, president and general counsel of MALDEF. "I'm really struck by how easily people can find me, how high their voices are, the frustration and anger, yet they're talking to a machine."

Brent Wilkes, executive director of LULAC, said: "Most of them don't threaten you individually. Most of them say there's going to be blood in the streets, or you're forcing us to take this kind of action, or you're creating a war. The part I haven't seen yet is an actual advocate like in the civil rights era being beaten."

That is because the intimidation cited by the Hispanic groups and the Southern Poverty Law Center is largely a fabrication, said William Gheen, president of Americans for Legal Immigration in Raleigh. They are "trying to use those statements for a political purpose," he said. "We haven't seen any documented manifestation of violence against" the staff of the N.C. nonprofit advocacy group El Pueblo or any Hispanics in the state, he added.

Conversely, Gheen said, Americans are threatened by illegal immigrants. "Legal immigrants are screened for a criminal background," he said. "Illegal immigrants are not screened. El Pueblo . . . tries to label anybody who speaks out against illegal immigrants as hateful or mean-spirited."

Immigration has been a difficult subject since the mid-1980s, when an amnesty was extended to illegal immigrants, but federal reforms to curtail the migration -- such as tough sanctions against businesses that hire illegal immigrants -- were never enforced. The issue exploded again in 2006 when millions of illegal immigrants, many wearing the colors of their native countries and enthusiastically waving their flags, and their supporters took to the streets to demonstrate for workers' rights, a path to legal citizenship and other reforms.

Many Americans watched in disbelief, saying they were upset that 12 million to 15 million immigrants, mostly from Latin America, were living in the country illegally, and that hundreds of thousands more were sneaking across the border with Mexico every year to take jobs, buy houses and attend schools, often with falsified documents.

North Carolina's Hispanic population started growing in 2002, spiking sharply in recent years as undocumented immigrants chased the state's numerous meat processing and farm worker jobs. "I think people here were not prepared for this fast-growing community to come," said Bazán, a U.S. citizen and a native of Argentina.

Bazán helped to start El Pueblo, which lobbied North Carolina's General Assembly in 2005 to allow immigrants -- legal and illegal -- to pay in-state tuition at universities and colleges. North Carolinians objected, and the legislation failed. "It hit a raw nerve," Bazán said.

Hate mail poured into the offices of El Pueblo, prompting state police to monitor the group's computers. El Pueblo mounted cameras in the offices and told its employees to take precautions. "It changed the way we operated," Bazán said. "We were in this whirlwind."

Tony Asion, a Cuban American and former police officer who is executive director of El Pueblo, said he is concerned enough to take a different route home every day, check under his car, and order his staff members to never work or travel to events alone.

"My staff is scared to death," he said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... id=topnews

The writer did me right on the quotes although they were over abbreviated a bit and lost some of what I was saying.

Also, the editors have placed my quotes right in the part of the article people are least likely to read or remember.

Again.

W

I know they want....equality in reporting....is there any laws in place for stuff like this/


like out right lies?

This stuff is ridiculous. No one wants people frightened, but many of these claims are probably false, and what about the American people who have been terrorized and harmed by criminal illegal aliens. There is no way that these groups can compare numbers to the numbers of Americans killed and injured by the illegal aliens. More hyperbole.

2 Chronicles 7:14

A reporter writes the story, the editor chops and places it in the space available, which depends solely on ad space sold. Then there is the bias of the paper's hierarchy, liberal or conservative, and if the editor does not toe the line, that could be the end of his job.
It is very simple to twist a news article and it is a psychological game. Put the power slant points in the first few paragraphs, that most people read before they move on, and put the counter-quotes further down in the story, where few people bother to read.
Anyway, congrats on being quoted in the Wash Post.

MSM bias is well known it is what sells ad space and not pertinent news. That is why we get paris hiltons new BFF and the worlds largest man getting married and other stories likethat on the front page.They should carry news like police officers killed by illegal drivers and forein military (mexico)crossing our borders.Part of our fight other than the government should also include finding some way to slap down some of these bias msm.


STAND TALL PATRIOTS

It sounds like paranoia to me.

All those cameras, computer scans... and nothing to show for it.

The white van sounds like immigration enforcement.

Dixie

It seems to me that groups like LaRaza are the ones spewing out hate and violence. How many anti-illegal groups have gang members? Now, how many supporters in LaRaza and groups of the like have gang members? Oh! I forgot, ms-13 is harmless.........

I thought this article really made Andrea Bazán come off like a nut.

Well, to be more accurate... she made herself sound like a nut.

Mystery vans? Stolen smoke detectors? Sounds like an X-Files episode.

I actually left a message for Andrea Bazán after I got word of her ascention to the top ranks of La Raza. I was going to invite her to lunch to see if we could discuss this nasty tone in our debates. After all, the last time I saw her in person we were both very cordial to each other and I got her some coffee and tried to make her comfortable in Senator Webster's office. Sure, we all do not agree on the issues but in my line of work we all strive to remain respectful of each other.

That attempted lunch invite was BEFORE I saw this latest line of attack from Andrea Bazán and her buddy Janet.

Coming out and trying to use nasty emails and phone calls to label me, ALIPAC, and everyone that opposes their pro illegal alien legislation as being violent and hateful is a new low for them.

Oh, and just for the record. I would never steal her smoke detectors and I have an alibi and I don't drive vans usually. Even if I did drive a van, I have much better things to do that bother with Andrea Bazán. I don't even know or care to know where she lives.

She has the classic symptoms of having a very guilty conscience.

W

There are no statistics that specifically track threats against Latino activists. But leaders of several groups cite anecdotal evidence of increasing attempts at intimidation. "We've seen a rise in threats directed at Hispanic groups," said Janet MurguÃ*a, president and chief executive of La Raza. "We've seen a rise in hate groups. This is not just a feeling."

Right. No statistics. But there are tons of statistics on crimes committed by illegal aliens. William, if you get that conference with Ms. Bazan, suggest to her that La Raza, LULAC, the Southern Poverty League, ACLU, etc. should all get together and create a program to clean up the illegal alien act. Start with weeding out all the known thieves, murderers, drug pushers/smugglers, coyotes, child molesters, and alcoholics. Make them go back to their country of origin so the US doesn't have to, and let those countries know you expect them to incarcerate them in an appropriate facility. With those that are left, provide assistance for them to get in line legally. Conduct English classes for them so our public schools don't have to, and our municipal and state governments are spared the expense of printing basic stuff in multiple languages. Impress on them the necessity of good behavior, such as not taking advantage of USA's hospitality by applying for social services to which they have no right, voting in elections in which they do not have the right to vote, falsifying documents, stealing identities, and otherwise becoming a burden on a nation that is already in financial deep kimshee. (Please excuse my spelling of kimshee. Have no idea how it is spelled. Tasted it once, tho', and trust me---it's not good to be in it deeply).

I am certain that if Ms. Bazan can be persuaded to take this approach, it will be a giant step towards us all learning to just get along. And I will personally send her two new smoke alarms.