10/31/2008 The Denver Post: "Asian assault victim in Boulder 
forced to say 'I love America'"
by Howard Pankratz
    A 22-year-old Asian-American was repeatedly punched in the face early today in Boulder and forced to say "I love America," Boulder police reported.
    That attack led to condemnations from both university and city officials.
    The Asian-American victim told investigators that he was walking in the area of 10th and Marine streets with friends about 1 a.m., singing a song from the movie "Team America." He said they were confronted by four men.
    One of the men — described as being a blond white male about 19 or 20 — said, "Do you think you are an American?" called him a "Chinaman," punched him in the face "multiple times" and told him to say that he loved America, police said.
    CU-Boulder chancellor G.P. "Bud" Peterson said that the Asian-American victim was a recent CU graduate and that his three companions are current CU students.
    Peterson said that attack offend the sensibilities and values of our entire campus community.
    "Such violence, whether perpetrated against women or against people because of their ethnicity, has no place in any community but particularly damages a community of learning," said Peterson.
    After the confrontation with the Asian-American, the assailant ran off with three other members of his group.
    The suspect is about 5-foot-10 and was wearing a white tank top and black pants.
    One of the other men with the assailant in what officials said may be a hate crime was described as a white male with a long goatee and was wearing a long-sleeved gray sweatshirt.
    Sarah Huntley, spokeswoman for the Boulder Police Department, said that originally investigators believed a knife was held to the Asian-American's throat. But she said further interviews lead investigators to believe that the suspect may have referred to a knife but did not show one.
    CU vice chancellor for student affairs Julie Wong said any attack on a member of the "CU family or against any person in the community, whether affiliated with CU or not, is an attack against all of us collectively."
    "This hate crime underscores the importance of our message of inclusion, diversity and acceptance," said Wong.
    Boulder City Manager Jane Brautigam said that she, along with Boulder Police Chief Mark Beckner and his staff, are asking Boulder residents to "make safety a number one priority this Halloween weekend.
    "The city defends the rights of all residents and condemns all acts of violence and crime," said Brautigam. "As stewards of public safety, we will continue in our many efforts to prevent such offensive acts from occurring in our city."
    Anyone with information about the attack on the Asian-American is asked to contact Detective Kristi Peterson at 303-441-3330.
    Those with information about the case who wish to remain anonymous should contact Bounty County Crime Stoppers at 800-222-8477 or submit a tip via the Crime Stoppers website at crimeshurt.com.



3/20/08 MSNBC.com: Community alarmed as Beacon Hill attacks continue,
By Elisa Hahn and Jane McCarthy / King 5 News
    Seattle - He's getting bolder and police say his attacks are random and very hard to predict.  The so-called " Beacon Hill groper" typically accosts Asian women at bus stops.
    Seattle police are investigating a string of 24 attacks on Asian girls and women in the area over the past year and a half.  However, police say they may not all be the work of the same suspect.
    The latest attack happened last Thursday in the driveway of an apartment complex on 14th Avenue South near Beacon Avenue .  
    Police say they're making the case a priority.  "We have bicycle patrols, we also have plain clothes officers in the area," said Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske. Service Center . He believes there could be more victims.

12/12/2007 Sacramento Bee: Shevchenko to stand trial in fatal clash case,
by Crystal Carreon
    A Sacramento Superior Court judge ruled Wednesday that there is enough evidence to try Aleksandr Shevchenko in the suspected hate crime that led to the death of a Fijian man over the summer.
    Judge John A. Mendez made his decision before the lunch break on the second day of the preliminary hearing in the closely watched case.
    Shevchenko, who turned 22 today, is scheduled to return to court at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday in Department 61, where attorneys will set a trial date. 
    The Sacramento painter had earlier pleaded not guilty to a single felony count of intimidating and interfering with a person's rights -- a hate crime -- for his alleged role in the July 1 fracas with Satender Singh.
    Prosecutors allege Singh was singled out from his group of friends at a picnic at Lake Natoma because he was seen acting affectionately and dancing with men.
    Defense attorney Kathryn Druliner said in a recent court filing that Singh and his group were dancing in a way that simulated homosexual sex near a Slavic family that came to the park after church.
    A detective testified this week that several witnesses reported mounting tensions between Singh's "group of seven" and the "Russians."
    For more than six hours, both groups exchanged insults, Sacramento County Sheriff's Det. Elaine Stoops said, with the language becoming more explicitly homophobic and profane when the Russian group demanded an apology from Singh's group for its behavior.
    The confrontation culminated when one of Shevchenko's friends, Andrey Vusik punched Singh, witnesses said.
    The punch, according to one witness, lifted Singh off his feet. He fell backward and struck his head on the concrete below. Singh died four days later, on July 5.
    Shevchenko, the only stateside suspect charged in the crime, remains free on $25,000 bail, as authorities continue to search for Vusik, 29, the key suspect accused of punching Singh.
    Authorities told The Bee earlier that they believe the West Sacramento man fled to Russia shortly after Singh's death. His whereabouts were not immediately clear on Wednesday.  


11/21/07 Philippine News: Rising Harassment of Asian American Students,
     San Francisco -- Civil rights advocates representing broad sectors of communities gathered at the downtown offices of the Asian Law Caucus (ALC) recently to call attention to the rising incidence of bias-related harassment of Asian Pacific American youth in California s public schools.
    Race, ethnicity, religion, disability, and sexual orientation were cited as the most common factors that instigate harassment, ridicule, and threat of violence in the schools.
    Angela Chan, ALC staff attorney, said she continues to receive a steady stream of complaints from APA students regarding harassment and violence perpetrated against them by other students or even employees.
    Other minority groups are not spared either.
    Senior staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, Tamara Lange, reported that in the last six weeks alone prior to the San Francisco press conference, her group reached a settlement with an elementary school system in Bishop, where Native American children were being harassed and assaulted by a school resource officer.
    Chan said the alarming trend continues despite state laws to protect students that went into effect seven years ago.
    In 2000, the California Student Safety and Violence Prevention Act, AB 537, was implemented to prohibit discriminatory harassment and violence in schools.
    More recently, California Assembly member Lloyd Levine authored the Safe Place to Learn Act (AB 394) requiring the states education department to play an active role in ensuring full and proper implementation of existing anti-discrimination laws that apply to schools.
    This problem of school harassment will not go away without leadership by the Department of Education, Lange insisted. We look forward to the implementation of AB 394 and urge the Department to do more than the bare minimum required by this new law to ensure that all of our children know that they are entitled to be treated with dignity and respect.
    Chan told Philippine News during the open forum While California may seem ahead of other states in the institution of anti-harassment laws and policies, it lags behind in implementation and compliance.
    Nevertheless, she added, the findings from a recent study ALC conducted have shown that many school districts do not even have anti-harassment policies in place.
    The survey, conducted just last spring, found that 31 percent of the 75 California school districts surveyed did not have any anti-harassment and anti-violence policies in place.
    Another recent study done by the California Safe Schools Coalition indicated many students and parents are unaware of nondiscrimination policies, with 23 percent of students and 29 percent of parents not being informed of the policies.
    Civil rights organizations, therefore, are advocating the prompt and effective implementation of local and state initiatives, more so in the light of recent incidents of harassment in schools.
    Lance Chih, a recent graduate of Folsom High School, recounted his experience as the victim of hate crimes at his school. Three years ago, I experienced a series of hate crimes for being gay, starting with a death threat, moving on to a physical attack, and ending with sexual harassment in front of a teacher by two male students, he narrated.
    Reports of Muslim American students being harassed by both students and school employees are also becoming more frequent, according to Mahrukh Hasan, civil rights coordinator for the Bay Area chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).
    In one recent case handled by CAIR and the ALC, a school employee in Monterey repeatedly demanded that a 13-year-old girl remove her hijab, a headscarf she wore for religious reasons, in front of a cafeteria full of students, Hasan recalled.
    At the local level, Jen Gasang, coordinator for the Asian Pacific Islander Youth Advocacy Network announced the launch of a new system for reporting incidents anonymously in the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD).
    Gasang said, The Safe School Line aims to make our school community safer by providing three ways for students and parents to anonymously report to the District incidents of harassment, violence, and intimidation via e-mail at safeschool@sfusd.edu, telephone at (415) 241-2141, and online at www.sfusd.edu.
    Christina Wong, director of community initiatives at the Chinese for Affirmative Action, also discussed a project called the Culturally Responsive Initiative that will obtain funding and develop training for teachers in SFUSD to prevent bias-related harassment.

11/20/07 Los Angeles Times: Hate crimes decline in L.A. and state; The FBI reports a 6% reduction in the state and a 3.7% dip in the city in 2006. Nationwide, there was an 8% rise in such incidents.
by Tina Marie Macias and Richard Winton
    California and Los Angeles bucked a national trend last year by reporting a slight drop in hate crimes, while law enforcement agencies throughout the nation reported an 8% increase, according to data released Monday.
    According to an FBI national tally, there were 7,722 reported incidents of crime motivated by race, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity, national origin or physical or mental disability in 2006.
    That figure represents a 7.8% increase from the 7,163 cases reported in 2005.
    Conversely, police in California and Los Angeles reported 6% and 3.7% declines respectively: The state as a whole saw its hate crime figures fall from 1,379 to 1,297, while Los Angeles reported eight fewer hate crimes than the 219 it reported in 2005.
    However, there was one similarity between California and national figures -- at least half of all hate crime cases reported in 2006 were motivated by race.
    The 2006 report is available online at www/fbi.gov/ucr/hc2006/index.html.
    Statisticians and those who track hate crimes said it was difficult to draw any hard conclusions from the government's data because law enforcement agencies are not required to submit hate crime information to the FBI.
    Of the more than 17,000 police agencies across the country, 12,600 provided data on incidents.
    "The number of hate crime incidents increasing [nationally] may be due to a significant increase in the number of police agencies reporting numbers," said Robin Toma, executive director of the L.A. County Human Relations Commission, which tracks hate crimes in the county. Nationwide, Toma said, many agencies don't participate in the gathering of hate crime data.
    Most notable was the jurisdiction encompassing Jena , La. , where the appearance of nooses last year raised racial tensions and the beating of white students by black youths garnered heavy publicity. Despite these events, authorities there do not participate in the annual hate crime count. In California however, "hate crime reporting is a part of the fabric of law enforcement work," Toma said.
    According to the FBI's national figures, race was the motivating factor for 4,000 hate crimes last year, with 2,640 incidents specifically targeting blacks.
    The study found that 51.8% of all hate crimes in 2006 were motived by race, 18.9% by religion, 15.5% by sexual orientation, 12.7% by ethnicity or national origin and 1% by physical or mental disability.

10/3/07 Tallahassee Democrat: Woman who survived church attack ready to forgive,
by Nic Corbett 
    The woman who was brutally attacked in a Tallahassee church is recovering and telling loved ones that she's ready to forgive her assailant. 
    "I hope the man repents and is born again," the woman's husband, Donsoo Jeon, said of the man who attacked her. "My wife said she is ready to forgive him." 
    Jeon's wife, who is four months pregnant, was kneeling in the front of the church sanctuary just before the attack. She was beaten and stabbed multiple times in the face, neck and hands. She's been released from the hospital and is recovering, and her unborn child is expected to be OK.
    Johnny James Byrd Jr., 25, was arrested shortly after the attack on charges of attempted first-degree murder, armed burglary, attempted sexual battery, grand-theft auto and armed robbery. He's being held without bail in the Leon County Jail.
    The woman, a devout Christian, prayed at Tallahassee Korean Baptist Church every day, her husband said. He worried about her going to the church alone early in the morning.
    "I warned her, 'It's dangerous. It's not a very good neighborhood,'" he said. "But she is based on faith. She said God protects her."
    A member of the church, B.J. Oh, said she was praying when she heard noises. She didn't open her eyes at first because she thought it was just the pastor arriving. Then she heard a knock, opened her eyes and saw a man behind her.
    She ran to a side room to escape, but the man caught up with her. He beat her and stabbed her. She tried to fend him off with her hands, hoping to keep the knife from hurting her baby. Investigators say Byrd was going to sexually assault her, but she convinced him to leave because other church members would be arriving.
    He threw blankets on top of her so she wouldn't be able to move, Oh said. But she managed to crawl 270 feet from the sanctuary to a kitchen, which had a phone that she used to call 911.
    Meanwhile, her attacker took her purse and drove away in her car. Byrd was arrested after a deputy spotted the car nearby. Investigators say he was burglarizing the church when the woman came in to pray.
    When the pastor arrived, he saw the deputies' cars and an ambulance. He couldn't recognize the woman's face because it was badly swollen from the attack.
    Oh said she thanked God that she was attacked and not one of her fellow church-goers.

9/9/07 Associated Press: "Asian-Americans protest drowning as a hate crime"
    Chicago (AP) - Members of various Chicago Asian-American groups held a vigil yesterday at Montrose Harbor on the city's lakefront for a Vietnamese immigrant who was pushed into Lake Michigan and drowned.
    Meanwhile, a private funeral service was held on the city's far Northwest Side for the 62-year-old victim, Du Doan.
    Chicago police have not yet classified the September First drowning as a hate crime, but many who attended yesterday's vigil say they were sure that's what it was.
    Thirty-one year old John Haley of Chicago was charged Wednesday with first-degree murder in Doan's drowning and aggravated battery for a similar incident on July 31st at Montrose Harbor. The man pushed into the lake in the earlier incident also appeared to be Asian.


9/10/07 Chicago Sun Times: "Murder not a hate crime? Well, it's still murder," 
by Laura Washington
    Was it a hate crime? The truth behind the murder of an Asian-American fisherman who plunged to his death in Lake Michigan last week is as murky as the lake's swirling, chilly waters.
    Yet one thing is searingly clear: Asians in America are worried. 
    Initially the Chicago Police Department suggested the attack on Vietnamese immigrant Du Doan on Sept. 1 was a hate crime. On July 31, another man who "appeared to be Asian" was also pushed into the water, but swam to safety, police said. 
    Then police made a mid-week shift and decided the attack was not a hate crime, but instead a heinous, random killing. On Wednesday John Haley, 31, was charged with first-degree murder of Doan and aggravated battery in the July 31 attack. 
    Unfortunately, it's not that simple. 
    Doan, 62, was a family man. Neighbors say the Northwest Sider lived quietly, tending a beloved vegetable garden and enjoying the fruits of his fishing expeditions. 
    Then on a Saturday at the edge of dawn, a bunch of hooligans on an all-night drinking binge invaded a popular fishing haunt at Montrose Harbor. One of them was Haley. He allegedly announced that "some of the fishermen look hot, and they need to go for a swim," police say. 
    Then he gave Doan a vicious shove into the lake.
    Witnesses could not save him and he drowned almost immediately. Haley has said he was "bumping into people" --that it was an accident. 
    Police say they can't peg it as a hate crime because Haley used no epithets during the event. 
    Tuyet Le, executive director of the Asian American Institute, an advocacy and research group, is gratified that the Cook County state's attorney moved swiftly to charge Haley. 
    Yet Asians are stymied, she says, by "a big perception problem." The initial media reports that Haley was targeting Asians "are what made everybody, well, freaked out." 
    The community feels vulnerable. On Saturday the institute held a vigil at Montrose Harbor to respond to the Doan tragedy. 
    I learned of the crime on Labor Day, when a white friend asked me, "Did you hear about the Chinese man who was drowned at Montrose Harbor?" 
    Then a reporter at a local TV station used the term "Oriental," a word that makes Asians cringe. It's a slur that keeps company with the likes of "chink" and "jap" -- and resurrects a bigotry that harkens back to the days when Asians in America were interned in camps and forced into hard labor. 
    Police and prosecutors now say the lakefront attacks were "senseless" and "out-of-control" -- not hateful. 
    Yet, Asian Americans know that political and economic upheaval can breed resentment. 
    After the Sept. 11 terror attacks, there was a steady uptick in attacks of Muslims, Pakistanis and other Asians throughout the nation.
    Today, Asian Americans are looking over their shoulders at headlines that warn of the hazards of defective toys and toxic food imported from China. 
    Last week Bloomberg.com reported that China's economy is enjoying its biggest expansion in 12 years: "The nation will overtake the U.S. this year as the largest contributor to global growth," Bloomberg said. 
    According to CNBC, the market capitalization of China's stock markets just surpassed the market in Japan.
    Look out for the Chinese fortune cookie that says: "Beware: Big success can cause jealous reaction."



8/23/07 Sacramento Bee: Suspect pleads not guilty in alleged hate-crime killing,
by Hudson Sangree
    One of two men charged in the alleged hate-crime killing of Satender Singh following a confrontation at Lake Natoma pleaded not guilty Wednesday at his arraignment in Sacramento Superior Court.
    Aleksandr Shevchenko, 21, faces a single felony count of intimidating and interfering with a person's rights, a charge that falls under the state's hate crimes statutes.
    Shevchenko, with close-cropped brown hair and wearing a white shirt and black pants, shook his head and said "not guilty" when Judge Jaime Rene Roman read the charge. 
    Defense attorney David Henderson said after court that neither he nor his client would discuss the case.
    "We'll just let the process work its way through," Henderson said, standing beside Shevchenko in a courthouse elevator.

8/22/07 Sacramento Bee: Couple enters not guilty pleas in alleged hate-crime case,
by David Richie
    Joseph Frank and Georgia Ruth Silva, a married couple accused of a hate crime in an assault in South Lake Tahoe on July 14, entered not guilty pleas Wednesday in El Dorado County Superior Court.
    Charges against the Silvas include two counts of the so-called "hate crime" misdemeanor charges, alleging that they violated the civil rights of three people of East Indian descent during a confrontation that day.
    Joseph Silvia also pleaded not guilty to a charge of felony assault by with force likely to produce great bodily injury and a "special allegation" that he that he inflicted bodily injury on one victim. 
    Both Silvas also entered not guilty pleas to the civil rights charges.
    A preliminary hearing was set for Sept. 6.
    The attack allegedly severely injured a man of East Indian heritage at El Dorado Beach .
    The male victim in the South Lake Tahoe case is described by his lawyer as a San Francisco executive in his mid-30s, an immigrant from India and an American citizen. The attorney, Edwin Prather of San Francisco , declined to name his client, saying the man feared retribution.
    Prather said the man was walking on the beach with his fiance and her cousin, who also are of East Indian heritage, when the Silvas shouted racial slurs at the women and Joseph Silva eventually attacked the man.
    He said the victim's injuries included serious facial fractures around the eye that may require surgery.
    The Silvas declined to be interviewed by The Bee.

7/6/07
For Immediate Release
Contact Information: Vicki Shu Smolin, President: 646-263-6044, 
Elizabeth R. OuYang, Executive Vice President: 718-596-0143

OCA-NY Commends NYPD for Arrest of Hate Crime Assailants; Urges District Attorneys Office to Vigorously Prosecute to The Fullest Extent of The Law
    July 6, 2007 - The Organization of Chinese Americans, New York Chapter (OCA-NY) commends the NYPD Fifth Precinct Hate Crimes Unit for seriously pursuing the July 2 hate crime in Chinatown with the arrest of Michael Ostrosky and Steven Sackaris, both age 22 on hate crimes charges of aggravated assault, assault in the 2nd degree and menacing in the 3rd degree. OCA-NY now urges New York County 's District Attorney's office to vigorously prosecute the individuals on all charges.
    On July 2, two Chinese American men, Mr. Cheng and Mr. Jia were beaten up by two white males, using racial slurs (f***ing c***), telling them to "Go back to your country" and "This is for the Korean War," according to reports in the World Journal and The New York Post. The racial incident resulted from a traffic dispute, although both Chinese men were walking and one victim was merely a bystander.
    Comments Elizabeth R. OuYang, OCA-NY Executive Vice President, and a practicing civil rights attorney, "This unfortunately is the most frequent type of hate crime - where the victims are assaulted and not hospitalized and the perpetrators flee. In these cases, victims often don't report the crime and the police regard these incidents as low priority. We therefore highly commend the diligence of the Fifth Precinct in pursuing this case."
    In a letter to New York County District Attorney Robert Morgenthau, Vicki Shu Smolin, OCA-NY President, stated that these individuals "had the audacity to commit these hate crimes against Mr. Cheng and Mr. Jia in the middle of Chinatown and then flee. Therefore, a strong signal must be sent that hate crimes against Chinese Americans will not be tolerated. They must be prosecuted to the fullest extent under the law."
    Over the past year, OCA-NY has worked on a number of issues dealing with hate crimes, including addressing the root causes of hate crimes. Earlier this year, OCA-NY helped ensure that the two assailants in the Douglaston, Queens hate crime incident were charged with hate crimes. The Douglaston case also resulted from a traffic dispute. OCA-NY has also been working with the media to fight the negative portrayal of Asian Americans that can lead to bigotry, and more seriously, hate crimes. In addition, in its efforts to prevent hate crimes at all levels, OCA-NY has launched a hate crimes prevention project that empowers youth to speak out against hate crimes, using art as an activism tool.


7/6/07 Sacramento Bee: Man injured in attack at lake dies: Investigators seek details in assault, including reports of possible hate crime,
by David Richie 
    Family members gathered at Mercy San Juan Medical Center on Thursday and said goodbye to Satendar Singh.
    Singh's four-day struggle to recover from head trauma he suffered Sunday at Lake Natoma ended Thursday afternoon after family members and doctors agreed to end his life support.
    The 26-year-old was fatally injured in an assault after what witnesses said was an ugly verbal attack laced with racist and homophobic slurs. 
    On Thursday, family members took him off life support after the arrival of his aunt and uncle, Suvin and Camie Bhuie, and his grandmother, Chand Singh. They are the closest and most senior members of Singh's large extended family in the area.
    Singh died at 4:55 p.m., according to officials.
    Singh's father and other immediate family members remain in Fiji , where his body will be sent for burial, Bhuie said.
    On Sunday, Singh was picnicking with friends of Fijian and Indian descent at a picnic area near Lake Natoma . According to friends of Singh who were there, a group of Russian-speaking men and women hassled them throughout the day.
    That evening, about six men from the group picked a fight, Singh's friends said.. Singh was struck once, fell and hit his head.
    No one else was injured.
    Before the attack, the assailants had directed homophobic slurs at Singh and racial insults at his group, according to the friends.
    Friends said Singh is not gay, but they believe he was singled out because he did not have a date that afternoon.
    The Bee agreed not to identify the friends because they fear retribution.
    Sheriff's homicide investigators have taken the case from state park rangers and plan to reinterview witnesses, said spokesman Sgt. Tim Curran.
    Singh's death is the 23rd homicide within the Sheriff's Department's jurisdiction so far this year.
    Authorities have not yet been able to identify any members of the group involved in the assault. Curran urged anyone with information about the case to call (916) 874-5115.
    Meanwhile, the American River Parkway Safety Coalition is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the attackers.
    Reports that the assault may have been a hate crime have galvanized area leaders, said Dan Roth, president of the Gay and Lesbian Center board of directors.
    Roth said he is working with members of the region's gay and Pacific Islander communities to quell calls for retribution.
    "One group attacking another group never leads to anything positive," Roth said.
    Jerry Chong, a civil rights attorney who represents a coalition of Asian and Pacific Islander groups, is working with Roth and other leaders on a meeting to discuss the situation.
    "An individual committed this offense, not a group," he said. "We do not want to have any escalation of violence."
    While the leaders are calling on their people to remain calm, they also want to see the Sheriff's Department and the District Attorney's Office address the possible hate crime aspects of the assault on Singh.
    "It sounds like the slurs were racial as well as homophobic," Roth said. "Law enforcement needs to do its job."
    Curran stressed the investigation is ongoing and that authorities have not yet ruled out that a hate crime occurred.
    "The hate crime angle absolutely will be looked at," he said.

7/4/07 Sacramento Bee: Attack leaves man dying; Deputies cite reports by witnesses that racism, homophobia fueled lake melee,
by David Richie and Kim Minugh
    Satendar Singh was known within his family as "the lucky one."
    At age 19, he won a coveted spot in a visa lottery, enabling him to leave his native Fiji for the United States . He built a life for himself in Sacramento , living with his aunt and uncle and later his grandmother, and touched the lives of those around him.
    On Tuesday, Singh lay on life support in the intensive care unit of Mercy San Juan Medical Center , the victim of a Sunday night assault at Lake Natoma -- a possible hate crime that witnesses believe was fueled by homophobia and racism. 
    With his parents thousands of miles away -- in Fiji with no passports and no visas -- the heartbreaking decision to end Singh's life support fell upon his aunt and uncle.
    "The doctors have declared there are no hopes," said Camie Bhuie, Singh's uncle.
    Singh, who family and friends said is 26, was expected to be taken off life support late Tuesday night, pending a final test for brain activity.
    On Tuesday, Sacramento County sheriff's homicide detectives assumed control of an investigation into the assault, which apparently stemmed from a daylong verbal dispute between two groups.
    Sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Tim Curran said the incident was being investigated as an assault. If Singh dies, the charges likely will elevate to involuntary manslaughter rather than homicide because the crime did not appear to involve intent to kill, Curran said.
    Michael Gross, superintendent for the Folsom Lake State Recreation Area, which includes Lake Natoma , said early Tuesday that state parks officials were investigating the incident as a hate crime. After the case was turned over to the Sheriff's Department, Curran said his agency was not yet ready to apply that charge.
    "If, through the course of the investigation, it is determined that the motivation was race or sexual preference, obviously hate crime charges will be added," Curran said.
    He confirmed, however, that state parks investigators reported to sheriff's officials that racial and homophobic slurs had been used against Singh and his friends.
    Singh had been with six people -- all of Indian or Fijian descent -- at the picnic area near Lake Natoma on Sunday afternoon when trouble began brewing with another group partying nearby, said two friends who were there that day.
    The Bee is not identifying the friends because they fear retribution.
    The two friends said the other group -- identified by the witnesses and sheriff's officials as being of Russian descent -- called Singh and his friends racial and homophobic names.
    Friends said Singh is not gay, but they believe he was singled out because he did not have a date that afternoon.
    When Singh and his friends tried to leave at about 8 p.m., they were confronted by the Russian group and a fight ensued, the witnesses said. Singh reportedly was punched once in the face. He fell, hit his head, and began bleeding profusely, the witnesses said.
    Though initially knocked unconscious by the impact, Singh regained consciousness at the park but had difficulty breathing. His condition worsened, and he again lost consciousness that night. By Tuesday, he was not expected to survive.
    No one else was injured in the fight.
    Sheriff's investigators will reinterview witnesses to determine exactly what happened that day and hope further witnesses will come forward, Curran said.
    Anyone with information is asked to call investigators at (916) 874-5115.
    In addition, officials are looking for two cars seen leaving the park after the fight: a dark green four-door sedan and a red Mitsubishi with a red Department of Motor Vehicles registration sticker affixed to the rear window with the number "7."
    As Singh's loved ones mourned their impending loss Tuesday, a steady stream of visitors poured in and out of the intensive care waiting room at Mercy San Juan.
    At one point, the room swelled with 100 of Singh's friends and family, his uncle said. Many cried, others smiled while sharing stories about Singh.
    He worked at an AT&T call center in the Rosemont area, where many knew him as Simon. He had just earned a promotion.
    He was respectful and virtuous, never any trouble for his grandmother, Chand Singh, while living with her.
    "He had such an infectious personality," said his aunt, Suvin Bhuie. "He would walk in and the room would light up."

6/28/07 Houston Chronicle: Sentence leads to outburst in court; African American Teenager condemned to death in rape, robbery, slaying,
by Paige Hewitt
    A whirlwind of emotions took over a Harris County courtroom Wednesday after a young man condemned to death hurled his chair in anger, triggering police to subdue him and relatives to beg for mercy.
    Two of 19-year-old Dexter Johnson's relatives collapsed in the hall and were taken away on stretchers. The young mother of Johnson's toddler daughter lay on the floor moaning and almost breathless.
    Later, the presiding judge consoled some in the audience, including the parents of the woman Johnson was convicted of robbing, raping and killing, who watched the courtroom drama unfold.
    "Are you OK?" a calm state District Judge Denise Collins asked the parents of 23-year-old Maria Aparece. She gently hugged Christina Aparece and shook the hand of Protasio Aparece Jr.
    Moments earlier, the courtroom had watched Johnson's reaction to his punishment.
    He had sat stonefaced throughout the day, the third in the punishment phase of his trial, staring at the top of the defense table. After the decision was read, Johnson gazed up and pressed his lips together. His eyes filled with tears. Then he looked toward his family and lifted his hand as if to wave to them.
    Then he hurled the chair.
    In an instant, a few officers tackled him, while others scrambled to restore order.
    His relatives wailed, and a male voice begged, "Don't kill him." Some relatives buckled over and were sobbing as they left after the outburst. An ambulance was called for the two who collapsed.
    Moments later, Johnson's mother paced the hallway and spoke emotionally of how her son had been "misjudged."
    "My son is no murderer," Renee Johnson said. "He didn't have it in his blood. There was no evidence. .. God is gonna fix this."
    Seated inside a then-locked courtroom, a crying Protasio Aparece Jr. told a reporter, "Can you imagine how violent he was the night he killed my daughter."
    He also said the most difficult part of the case was sitting through trial, learning exactly how his daughter had been brutalized.
    Emotion has surfaced throughout the case. At a pretrial hearing last year, one of Aparece's uncles lunged at Johnson.
    When the jury found him guilty earlier this month, Johnson covered his face with his hands as the foreman read the verdict. He stormed out of the courtoom after jurors adjourned to the jury room.
    Johnson, who at one point during the punishment phase of his trial refused to come to court, was among five accused of carjacking Aparece and her boyfriend, Huy Ngo, on June 18, 2006. The pair were chatting in her Toyota in front of Ngo's home when Johnson and two others threatened them with a shotgun and a pistol, according to testimony.
    Johnson; his friend Keithron Fields, 18; and a third man who is not charged in the case, drove the couple around Houston while taking Aparece's cash and credit cards and trying to get her ATM access number, according to trial testimony. Timothy Randle, 20, and Ashley Ervin, 18, were following the stolen vehicle in Ervin's car.
    Prosecutors said Johnson raped Aparece in the backseat of her car after parking near a patch of thick woods.
    Her boyfriend was forced to listen to the assault while on his knees as the other four taunted him.
    Johnson and Fields then marched a naked Aparece and a shirtless Ngo 60 feet into the woods and shot both in the head.
    The two bodies were in the woods for five days before investigators pieced together what happened. Randle led them to the bodies.
    The five are suspected in a crime spree that authorities said also claimed the lives of Brady Davis and Jose Lopez in separate shootings. Fields, Randle and Ervin continue to face capital murder charges in the incident.

6/19/07 press release: Honda statement on hate crimes against Asians,
    Washington , DC Congressman Mike Honda (D-CA) issued the following statement on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the attack of Vincent Chin:
    "Madame Speaker, as Chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, I rise today in remembrance of Vincent Chin on the twenty-fifth anniversary of his attack.
    "On June 19, 1982, Vincent Chin, a Chinese American, was brutally and fatally attacked by two white men who had recently been laid-off by an American automaker. Blaming their lost jobs on the rise of Japanese car companies, Chin's attackers, mistaking him for Japanese, sought retribution.
    "Other than residing in Detroit , Michigan , Vincent Chin had no connection to the automobile industry. Vincent Chin, soon to have been married and celebrating his bachelor party, wasn't seeking trouble the night of his attack. Chin was attacked and killed simply for being of Asian descent. To add further insult, Chin's murderers charged with, and pleaded guilty to, a mere manslaughter charge. For murdering a man, each received a sentence of only three years probation and a $3,000 fine - a mere slap on the wrist. Neither killer ever served any jail time.
    "The attack on Vincent Chin, his untimely passing, and the insulting lack of justice and punishment for his murders galvanized a community that had not previously come together so broadly. For the first time, there emerged a self-defined Asian American and Pacific Islander racial identification that went beyond the progressive college-educated youth and into the working-class segments of the community. Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Filipino; waiters, lawyers, and grandmothers came together with a heightened awareness of the shared experience of racism and discrimination faced by Asian American and Pacific Islanders, regardless of ethnic and socioeconomic background. Twenty-five years after his fatal attack, Vincent Chin remains a contemporary martyr and rallying point for the Asian American and Pacific Islander Movement.
    "While today is indeed a day to remember and honor the life and death of Vincent Chin, it is also a reminder that hate crimes are not a memory in a regrettable past. Unfortunately, the past twenty-five years remain littered with physical and verbal assaults and murders based in hate. Listed here are a few such acts:
    Thien Minh Ly was shot and killed in Tustin , California on January 29, 1996.
    Kanu Patel and Mukesh Patek were shot and killed in Camp Springs , Maryland on October 15, 1998.
    Joseph Ileto was shot and killed in Chatsworth , California on August 10, 1999.
    Balbir Singh Sohdi was shot and killed in Mesa , Arizona on September 15, 2001.
    Waqar Hasan and Vasudev Patel were shot and killed near Dallas , Texas on September 15, 2001.
    Iqbal Singh was stabbed in Santa Clara , California on July 30, 2006
    Robert Stanford, Song Sun Lee and Kam Yan Li were shot and killed in San Francisco on October 21, 2006.
    Marie Martinez was beaten on an MTA bus in New York City on March 16, 2007.
    "Madame Speaker, this small sampling from across this nation shows us that hate crimes remains an issue to be heard and combated by all Members of Congress and all Americans. I applaud my colleagues in the House of Representatives for recently passing the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2007, H.R. 1592; recognizing the pervasive and contemporary nature of hate crimes in this nation. The death of Vincent Chin and the injuries and death suffered by the countless others victims of hate crimes serve as a heavy reminder for this nation to combat hate and continue in its quest for freedom and justice for all Americans."

[webmaster: Thank God Texas has the death penalty!]
6/13/07 Houston Chronicle: 19-year-old African American convicted in rape-murder of  couple: Judge delays sentencing phase of Dexter Johnson's capital trial until Monday,
by Brian Rogers
    The jurors who convicted Dexter Johnson of capital murder in two hours will have a long weekend before they begin hearing testimony in the punishment phase, a judge ruled Wednesday.
    The 19-year-old faces the death penalty after being convicted in last summer's carjacking, robbery, rape and murder of Maria Aparece, 23.
    As the foreman read the verdict, Johnson covered his face with his hands.
    As soon as they adjourned to the jury room, Johnson stormed out of the courtroom through a side door leading to his holding cell.
    After a brief conference with the attorneys in the case on the scheduling of experts, state District Judge Denise Collins asked the six men and six women of the jury to return Monday for a week of testimony.
    'Horrible, awful things'
    During her closing, prosecutor Lisa Andrews said Johnson had "fun" in the slaying of Aparece and her boyfriend.
    "He's cold, he's calculating, he's a killer," She said. "He wasn't just getting money, he was doing horrible, awful things."
    Johnson was one of five people, the evidence showed, who carjacked Aparece and her boyfriend, Huy Ngo, on June 18, 2005, as the couple talked in her blue Toyota Matrix outside Ngo's home near midnight.
    Johnson, his close friend Keithron Fields,18, and an uncharged juvenile threatened Aparece and Ngo with a shotgun and a pistol, threw the couple in the backseat and drove them around Houston demanding money, credit cards and     ATM access numbers, Andrews said.
    The three found the parked car as they rode with Timothy Randle, 20, and Ashley Ervin, 18, in Ervin's car.
    The five are suspected in a crime spree authorities said also claimed the lives of Brady Davis and Jose Lopez in separate shootings.
    Prosecutors said Johnson raped Aparece in the backseat of her car after parking near a patch of thick woods. Ngo was forced to listen to the assault on his knees as the other four taunted him.
    Screams, then shots
    Johnson and Fields then marched Aparece and Ngo 60 feet into the woods and shot both in the head.
    Andrews said Johnson shot Ngo in the side of the head, execution-style. Aparece then screamed, "No!" and covered her face. Johnson then shot her in the top of the head, Andrews said.
    Johnson's defense team maintained that Fields and someone else walked the couple into the woods and shot them.
    Attorneys Jim Leitner and Anthony Osso worked through the trial to show that witnesses "got their stories straight" blaming Johnson after he was arrested.
    Fields, Randle and Ervin continue to face capital murder charges in the incident.

6/9/07 The Record of New Jersey: 3 'bored' Wanaque girls charged in bias incident,
by Richard Cowen
    Wanaque -- Three borough girls who told police they were just plain "bored" have been charged with scrawling a racial slur on the driveway of an Asian-American and smearing his house with ketchup, eggs and white rice. 
    The resident came home from work around 5:30 p.m. to find the nasty message scrawled in dish detergent on the driveway of his house, on Sixth Avenue near Burnside Place . The message said "[Expletive] You Chinese"; a cardboard food carton commonly used in Chinese take-outs was placed nearby, police said. 
    The front steps and garage door were smeared with ketchup, eggs and white rice, with food also scattered around the property, police said. 
    The resident called police, who began looking for witnesses. By Thursday night, police had gathered enough evidence to charge three girls who had been hanging out at a nearby house.
    They were charged with bias intimidation, criminal mischief and harassment. Two of the girls are 15 and one is 16.
    All were charged as juveniles and released into the custody of their parents. As juveniles, it was uncertain what penalties they could face.

4/6/07 pacificcitizen.org: AA Community Rallies Around 17-Year-Old Teen Beaten on New York MTA Bus,
By Caroline Aoyagi-Stom, Executive Editor
    Members of the New York Asian American community are rallying behind a Filipino American teen who was attacked by a group of youths for looking "Chinese" while riding an MTA bus on her way home from school, all while the bus driver allegedly stood by doing nothing.
    Local AA groups are demanding that the New York Police Department look into the beating of Marie Stefanie Martinez, 17, on March 16 as a possible hate crime and are seeking accountability from the MTA, especially since the victim claims the driver did not come to her aid.
    "Ms. Martinez could be your mother, your daughter, your sister, your cousin. If Asians or Asian Americans are being assaulted on the basis of someone's perception that we 'look Chinese' then racism and hatred isn't making the distinction between whether or not someone is Filipino American, Hmong American, Chinese American, Vietnamese American," said Jun Zuniga, a Filipino American, who has started an online petition condemning the recent assault on Martinez.
    "Our political leaders need to be held accountable when hate crimes against our community occur. We have to help steer public policy."
    On March 20 two teens - a 14-year-old girl and a 17-year-old boy - were arrested for the beating of Martinez by the NYPD's hate crime task force and taken into custody. The girl is currently being detained in juvenile detention while the investigation continues. The 17-year-old boy allegedly hit Martinez in the face.
    Martinez was riding the MTA B82 bus after finishing school and was heading to her Brooklyn home on March 16 when the beating occurred. According to local media reports, Martinez was confronted by a group of about nine to ten hostile teens who taunted her for looking "Chinese" even though she is of Filipino descent.
    Suffering cuts and bruises from the assault, Martinez was finally rescued by a good Samaritan. As she got off the bus, Martinez says the driver told her to "go talk to a priest" likely because she was wearing her Catholic school uniform at the time.
    Martinez has now filed a civil lawsuit against the MTA seeking monetary damages and changes to the current MTA policies.
    Charles Seaton, a spokesperson for the MTA, said he could not comment on any pending lawsuits but said the incident is "under investigation."
    "Marie is devastated. She is afraid to ride the bus and she wants to go back to the Philippines," said Martinez' attorney Rosemarie Arnold, who noted that volunteers are driving the teen to and from school since she no longer feels safe riding the MTA bus.
    Arnold says she has received a letter from the MTA admitting fault in the incident and promising to "investigate the incident." She also noted the police have been "helpful" in investigating the attack on her client.
    The beating of Martinez has rallied members of the New York AA community  and they are demanding accountability from the MTA and that the NYPD look into the incident as a hate crime. 
    "We want to let [Marie Martinez] know she's not alone," said Jian Feng Xu, board member of the United Chinese Association of Brooklyn, who noted the group is currently working on a press conference with the student and her attorney. "We want to publicize this to motivate the MTA and the police to do the right thing. We want to let other people out there know that we won't tolerate this." 
    So far the "Condemn anti-Asian hate crimes and hold MTA accountable!" petition started by Zuniga has already garnered more than 2,400 signatures of support.
    "I want to encourage Asian Americans to report when these bias crimes occur so that American society at large starts to realize that Asians or Asian Americans will not sit idly by and tolerate hate crimes committed against us on the basis of our race and or ethnicity," said Zuniga.

3/30/07 AsianWeek: Johnny Whiteboy Charged with Hate Crimes, Murders,
    San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris charged suspect Joseph James Melcher, 25, a white male, with hate crimes along with the murders of three Asian Americans and attempted murder of another APA. 
    "After carefully evaluating all the evidence and the law in the case, [Harris] has decided to add hate crime allegations to the charges," said DA spokesperson Bilen Mesfin. 'The DA has always been greatly concerned that hate was a possible motivation for the crimes." 
    Assistant district attorney Eric Fleming in court argued that the three dead victims shared Asian Pacific American ethnicity and race. Witnesses claimed that Melcher shouted that no one should tangle with 'Johnny Boy, whitey San Francisco coke dealer." Allegedly, Melcher said to police: "Nobody f- with Johnny Whiteboy." 
    Melcher is accused of killing Song Sun Lee, 34, of San Bruno , and Stephen Kam Yan Li, 22, of San Francisco in or outside Japantowns Flow Bar on Oct. 21. A bartender was also wounded. 
    On Aug. 27, Melcher was linked to the slaying of Robert Stanford, 21, a hapa male, on San Bruno Avenue in San Francisco . He also attempted to kill Stanfords friend, an Asian American male. 
    Deputy public defender Gabriel Hassan representing Melcher denied the charges. 
    "Im glad [S.F. Police Department] went back and looked at all the evidence and then made the right decision," said David Garrison, Stanfords stepfather. "The case seemed to be a hate crime all along. However, I was afraid the SFPD wouldnt pursue it since they already had him on a special circumstances charge." 
    If convicted, Melcher could be sentenced to life in prison. His next court date is Apr. 20.

3/18/07 New York Post: Girls Bloody Beating.  Driver Does Nothing As Teens Attack Her On Bus,
By Dan Mangan and Leela de Kretser
    Nightmare: Marie Martinez, in her bloodstained coat yesterday, was attacked on a B82 bus.
    March 18, 2007 -- A Catholic-high-school student said she was brutally punched, kicked and teased for looking "Chinese" by a pack of kids as she rode a city bus home from school - and claims the bus driver did nothing except tell her to "go to a priest."
    Marie Stefanie Martinez, 17 - still bruised and battered after her ordeal - says she was wearing her uniform when she was attacked by a group of 10 black teenagers shortly after step ping on to the B82 bus at 3:30 p.m. Friday.
    "I'm just so glad the kids didn't have a weapon. If they did, I could have died if they stabbed me with a pen or something," said Martinez , from the Philippines.
    The brazen beating began as the bus pulled away from Ocean Avenue and Kings Highway , where Martinez boarded with her pal, Sherell.
    "When we got on they were al ready whispering and making noises and everything," Martinez said. "They were like 'I'm not letting you past' and everything. They were laughing."
    The scared schoolgirl said she was laughed at when she tried to defend herself, with the bullies mocking her accent.
    "They were pulling my hair, pulling my hair, opening my book bag!" she said. "I said, 'Leave me alone. I'm not doing anything to you.'
    "That's when they started to crowd around me. The boy punched me twice in my face and my mouth."
    Martinez said she was ultimately saved by a man in his 30s, who pulled her from the group.
    The honors student then told the driver what happened, and he shockingly said to go to talk to a priest.
    She instead opted to file a report at the 63rd Precinct.
    Lourdes Maduindam, Martinez 's aunt and legal guardian, said when she saw her niece, "She was bleeding like crazy from her noise and mouth. She had a headache and was dizzy.
    "Thank God there's no fracture."
    Martinez said she is so afraid that she doesn't know how she'll get to school tomorrow.
    "I am terrified. I'm scared to take the bus," she said. "I can't sleep. I've tried to sleep, but I can't. I'm too afraid to."
    Martinez 's lawyer, Rosemarie Arnold, said the family will sue the MTA.
    "How did the bus driver let this happen?" Arnold said. "You have 13 kids making a commotion. This guy just turned a blind eye to it.
    "He shirked his responsibility to this child."
    The MTA could not immediately comment.
    Additional reporting by Eric Lenkowitz

3/16/07 AsianWeek.com: Club Beater Gets 3 Yrs,
by Heather Harlan
    One of two white men who attacked a group of Chinese American teens while hurling racial epithets was sentenced to three and a half years in prison.
    Kevin Brown, 19, of Flushing , had faced a possible 15-year prison term after pleading guilty to assault and hate crime charges for his role in the August 12th, 2006, attack. 
    The incident unfolded on a residential street in Douglaston in Queens , New York . The victims, who were driving a white Lexus, had stopped for a red light. Brown and Paul Heavey, 21, pulled up alongside and started yelling racial slurs, prosecutors said. 
    Reynold Liang, 19, who was driving the Lexus, tried to drive away. But Brown and Heavey pursued and rammed the car from behind. After Liang thought he had lost them, he pulled over. His two friends, John Lu, 19, and David Wu, 19, got out to inspect the car for damage. The two white men suddenly appeared again and punched them in the face, according to police and witnesses. Liang attempted to defend his friends with The Club, a steering wheel-locking device, only to have it wrestled away by the attackers, who used it to beat him in the head while calling him a "gook." 
    Lu lost several teeth and suffered a gash to the forehead that required stitches. Both Lu and Liang were hospitalized. 
    "This incident was one of the darkest times in our community," said Lu in a statement read in court. "It is sad that Mr. Brown must go to jail, but a strong signal must be sent that discrimination will not be tolerated in our home. Im grateful to be born and to grow up in this country. As Asian Americans, we want to be respected as real Americans, too." 
    Asian American, black and Jewish community leaders hailed the jail term. 
    "A hate crime against one is a hate crime against all and perpetrated by the most cowardly as evidenced by the fact that todays defendant was not even man enough to say sorry as he was hauled away to prison," said City Councilman John Liu. 
    "Our community wont tolerate racial bias or hate crimes," said Ken Cohen, president of the NAACP Northeast Queens Branch. 
    "Its disturbing that these perpetrators have built up such a stockpile of ignorant hatred at such a young age," said State Assembly representative Ellen Young. 
    "We hope this strong sentence will deter future hate crimes," stated Vicki Shu Smolin, president of the Organization of Chinese Americans N.Y. Chapter. 
    "Not only did I grow up in Douglaston, but as a Jew, I abhor any such bias crimes anywhere," said Jan Fenster, president of the Queens Jewish Community Council.

11/26/02 http://www.modelminority.com/article225.html
"Actor Mark Wahlberg Assaulted Vietnamese Americans in Hate Crime,"
Criminal Complaint, In the Suffolk County Superior Court, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 1988
    At approximately 9:00 p.m. on April 8, 1988 Thanh Lam, a Vietnamese adult male who resides in Dorchester , traveled by car to 998 Dorchester Avenue, Dorchester , Massachusetts.  At 998 Dorchester Avenue, Thanh Lam left his car carrying two cases of beer.  As he crossed the sidewalk, Mark Wahlberg attacked Thanh Lam.  Wahlberg was carrying a large wooden stick, approximately five feet long and two to three inches in diameter.  Wahlberg approached Thanh Lam calling him a "Vietnam fucking shit," then hit him over the head with the stick.  Thanh Lam was knocked to the ground unconscious.  Th[e] stick broke in two and was later recovered from the scene.  Thanh Lam was treated overnight at Boston City Hospital.
    After police arrested Wahlberg later on the night of April 8, 1988, Wahlberg was informed of his rights and returned to the scene of 998 Dorchester Avenue.  In the presence of two police officers, he stated: "You don't have to let him identify me, I'll tell you now that's the mother-fucker who's head I split open," or words to that effect.
    As a police officer arrived at the scene of 998 Dorchester Avenue, Wahlberg and two other youths who were with him fled up Dorchester Avenue toward Pearl Street .
    Shortly after 9:00 p.m. on April 8, 1988, Hoa Trinh, an adult Vietnamese male who resides in Dorchester , was standing several blocks away from 998 Dorchester Avenue , near the corner of Dorchester Avenue and Pearl Street.  Hoa Trinh was not aware of the altercation outside of 998 Dorchester Avenue.
    Wahlberg ran up to Hoa Trinh, put his arm around Hoa Trinh's shoulder, and said: "Police coming, police coming, let me hide."  After a police cruiser passed, Wahlberg punched Trinh in the eye, causing him to fall to the ground.
    Police arrived and Hoa Trinh identified Wahlberg as the person who punched him.  Wahlberg was placed under arrest and read his rights.  Thereafter he made numerous unsolicited racial statements about "gooks" and "slant-eyed gooks."  After being returned to 998 Dorchester Avenue, Wahlberg identified Thanh Lam as the person he hit over the head with a stick.
    Trinh lost one of his "slanted" eyes due to the attack.  Wahlberg plead guilty to two counts of criminal contempt, was sentenced to two years imprisonment, and was released after 45 days. 
    Although Wahlberg describes his incarceration as a "turning point" in his life, to this day he continues to deny that race played a role in either attack.

1/18/07 New York Daily News: 
Cop's son pleads guilty to hate attack on Queens men 
by Scott Shifrel
    A police officer's son who beat up two Chinese-American men in a racist attack that outraged community leaders pleaded guilty to assault as a hate crime yesterday.
    "There's still justice in America ," victim John Lu of Douglaston, Queens , said afterward outside Queens Supreme Court. "It was so strange to be called these names and to be told to 'get out of the neighborhood' where I had lived for so many years. I don't want this to happen to anyone else."
    Kevin Brown, 19, of Flushing, Queens, rolled his eyes while taking the plea for the assault on Aug.12 last year on Northern Blvd. at the Cross Island Parkway in Queens .
    Lu and others were gratified Brown admitted the hate crime even though he will serve just 3-1/2years in jail for that incident and an unrelated assault. Brown had been facing up to 25 years.
    "The first step toward curing this racist hate is admitting it," said 
Councilman John Liu (D-Flushing).
    Brown was driving with pal Paul Heavey, 20, of Little Neck, Queens , at 2:30a.m. when they spotted a white Lexus with Lu, driver Reynold Liang, 19, and two other Asian-American men.
    Brown and Heavey pulled alongside, hurled racial slurs, rammed the car and then attacked the occupants, prosecutors said.

8/15/06 New York Times: Accusations of a Hate Crime Expose Tensions,
By Michelle ODonnell
    An attack on four Asian-American men in Douglaston, Queens, that prosecutors 
are calling a hate crime has opened a breach in the unsteady truce between the neighborhoods mostly white population and the prospering Chinese and Korean immigrants who have moved to the area in recent years, residents said yesterday.
    Theres an undercurrent of suspicion of the new immigrant what are they doing, what are they building, what are they putting in that store? said Susan Seinfeld, the district manager of Community Board 11, which includes Douglaston, Bayside and Little Neck, neighborhoods where the number of Asian residents has increased in the past 10 years. Still, Ms. Seinfeld said, its not been brought to that level ever before.
    Early Saturday, four New Yorkers of Chinese descent were attacked on Douglaston Parkway by two white men shouting racial slurs, according to the authorities. Two of the Chinese-Americans Reynold Liang and John C. Lu, both 19 were beaten, Mr. Liang with a steering wheel locking device. Two white men, Kevin M. Brown, 19, of Auburndale, and Paul A. Heavey, 20, of Little Neck, have been charged with assault and hate crimes. 
    Some residents of Douglaston and Bayside said the attack was an isolated event; others spoke of an undercurrent of animosity toward the Korean and Chinese residents.
    Jennifer Kim, a teacher from Douglaston Manor, said she suspected that white residents talked about Asians behind their backs. But James Giogaia, ducking into a Bayside Starbucks where the menu was printed in Korean, said he had lived in the neighborhood for 24 years and had never seen a problem. 
    In the last five years, the commercial corridor along Northern Boulevard from Flushing to Douglaston has undergone a major transformation, with an influx of Korean restaurants, salons and markets.
    Korean entrepreneurs ready to expand out of an increasingly crowded downtown Flushing found themselves unable to build west on Northern Boulevard because Chinese businesses had already staked out that ground, according to Pyong-Gap Min, a professor of sociology at Queens College. Instead, they went east, about as far as Bell Boulevard , razing and retrofitting older buildings along the way.
    Members of earlier immigrant groups have taken notice. The entire strip of Northern Boulevard in the past four or five years went from German and Italian to Korean, said a 24-year-old Italian-American man working at Ceriello Italian Fine Foods on Douglaston Parkway . He did not want to give his name.
    It definitely doesnt shock me, he said of the attack. 
    For years, the signs in Korean and Chinese that adorn new businesses have been a major irritant to white residents, with many complaining that they make them feel like outsiders. City Councilman Tony Avella, who represents the area, has introduced legislation to require store owners to include English translations on signs.
    Still, many businesses have voluntarily added the translation, Dr. Min said, an indication that most immigrant business owners want to get along in their new neighborhoods.
    Dr. Min, who is Korean, recalled instances of bias when he moved to Bayside two decades ago, including the placing of nails in the tires of an Asian friends car. Now its much better, he said. All of my neighbors are Chinese. I am surrounded by Chinese. I feel very comfortable there.
    Indeed, the population of Douglaston, Little Neck and Bayside is now estimated to be about one-third Asian, Dr. Min said.
    The other two Chinese-Americans who were with Mr. Lu and Mr. Liang, David Wu, 19, and Wing Chung Poon, escaped injury.
    Mr. Heavey was released on $10,000 bail, while Mr. Brown remained in custody, a spokeswoman for the Correction Department said yesterday. According to the Queens district attorneys office, Mr. Browns bail was set at $30,000 bond or $20,000 cash.
    To Mr. Liang, a student from Douglaston, there was little question that racism was at play. 
    They did it because I was Asian, Mr. Liang told reporters at a news conference at the Flushing office of City Councilman John C. Liu. On the advice of their lawyers, neither he, Mr. Wu nor Mr. Lu would discuss details of the events leading up to the attack.
    I definitely dont want this to happen to anybody else, Mr. Liang said. Queens is a nice area. Its my home.
    Sarah Garland contributed reporting for this article.

8/15/06 WCBS TV NY wcbstv.com: Alleged Hate Crime Victim: I Was So Defenseless; Reynold Liang Recounts Vicious Attack He Suffered Through,
    (AP) Queens.  An Asian man injured in what authorities are calling a hate crime said he was more infuriated than scared by the attack despite the numerous times he was hit.
    "The more I got hurt, the more I got angry," Reynold Liang said at a news conference Monday. "At the same time, I was so defenseless."
    Liang, 19, was driving with three Asian friends in the Douglaston section of Queens early Saturday when they were rammed by a car carrying two white men shouting racial slurs and cursing, police and prosecutors said.
    Liang said he drove away but was attacked by the men when he pulled over to check his car for damage.
    In the fight that followed, Liang said, he was hit 30 to 40 times and bashed with a heavy steering wheel lock he had grabbed in self-defense.
    "I was getting stomped on and hit on the head," said Liang, who had puffy black eyes and other bruises.
    The two whites, Kevin Brown, 19, of Flushing , and Paul Heavey, 20, of Little Neck, have been charged with assault as a hate crime in the attack on the four Chinese Americans.
    Brown and Heavey were arraigned Sunday. They also face charges of reckless endangerment and criminal mischief as hate crimes. Brown also is charged with resisting arrest.
    Brown's lawyer, Brian Kennedy, described the altercation as a traffic incident that escalated into a fist fight. He said one of the Asians went back to his car, retrieved a club and started to bash Heavey with it.
    "Brown jumped in to save his friend, who was being beaten," Kennedy said.
    Heavey was being represented by the Legal Aid Society, which didn't immediately return a telephone message seeking comment Monday.
    The news conference was held in the office of City Councilman John Liu, a Queens Democrat and the first Asian Pacific American to be elected in the city. Liu denounced the attack.
    Accompanying Liang at the conference were friends John Lu, who had a bandage over his right eye, and David Wu. The lifetime residents of New York said they were upset by the attack and had never seen anything like it before.
    When asked if the assault changed how they felt about their borough, Liang said, "Definitely not. I love Queens ."
    The ethnically diverse borough, however, is the site of two of the city's most infamous bias attacks.
    Last summer, a young black man was beaten about the head by a white teenager with a baseball bat in the Howard Beach section.
    That attack was a reminder of another notorious incident in the same neighborhood that inflamed racial tensions in the city about 20 earlier. In the earlier case, a black man whose car had broken down was fatally struck by another car while trying to escape a group of white attackers.

7/31/06 San Jose Mercury News: Santa Clara Sikh stabbed in apparent hate crime,
by Leslie Griffy
    South Bay Sikhs are reeling after a member of their community was stabbed in the neck in an apparent hate crime Sunday morning.
    Iqbal Singh, 40, was preparing to attend religious services around 10:50 a.m. Sunday when a man approached him and stabbed him in the neck, according to Santa Clara police Sgt. Kurt Clarke.
    Singh, his brother-in-law Gurmeet Singh said, was standing near the family car. He and his granddaughter were waiting for the rest of the family to come down from their upstairs apartment on Agate Drive so they could head to worship services at San Jose Gurdwara Sahib.
    The girl, who is about 2 years old, was unhurt. Iqbal Singh was still in the hospital Monday with serious injuries.
    Santa Clara police arrested Everett Thompson, 20, of Santa Clara , later Sunday, Clarke said. He was booked in Santa Clara County Jail on suspicion of attempted murder and a hate crime, according to Clarke.
    Different cultures use turbans to signify different things; for some it is a sign of religious learning, for others it is part of cultural dress.  
    For Sikh's, he said, the turban is not as much religious as it is cultural.  
    The religion, like others, promotes peace and understanding.
    ``We are simply trying to peacefully live, earn a living and practice our religion,'' Gurmeet Singh said. ``This hate is driven by ignorance.''

2/9/06 asianweek.com: Death Climbs to 8 in Postal Rampage,
    Goleta, CA Although Santa Barbara sheriffs continue to emphasize that they do not believe the worst postal rampage in 20 years was racially motivated, former co-workers say Jennifer Sanmarco was particularly hostile against Asians.
    Sanmarco shot six postal employees to death and committed suicide in what was believed to be the nations deadliest workplace shooting by a woman. She also shot another woman at a Santa Barbara condominium complex where she lived up until a few years ago.
    Former plant worker Jeff Tabala recalled that Sanmarco frequently spewed racist comments. He said all of the slain postal workers were minorities: Three were black, one was Chinese American, one was Hispanic and one was Filipino.
    After being placed on leave for erratic behavior, Sanmarco moved to New Mexico where she started a newsletter called The Racist Press. The Los Angeles Times reported that Sanmarco had wanted to run a classified ad looking for subscribers.
    The proposed ad read: Been a member of a Cult? Did that fad go out in the 70s to 80s? Any unexplained suicides? Please read The Racist Press, PO Box 3393 , Milan , NM 87020 . The ad never ran.
    The Santa Barbara News-Press reported that Sanmarcos newsletter covered topics including religion, karma, the Ku Klux Klan and Son of Sam killer David Berkowitzs ability to channel a dogs commands to murder seven teenagers.
    Investigators are sifting through evidence found after searching her home in New Mexico. They said she wrote about frustrations with the Goleta Distribution Center , the Santa Barbara Sheriffs Department and with a California medical facility.
    Authorities also said Sanmarco alluded to a conspiracy to plot against her and say she may have left a will.
    Former co-worker Tabala said Sanmarco had problems at work. On one occasion, he watched deputies pull her out from under a mail-sorting machine and wheel her away in handcuffs on a mail cart.
    She returned to the plant several months later, but "people started saying, Shes acting erratically," Tabala said. "She was screaming. She was saying a lot of racist comments. It was pretty ugly."
    In 2003, Sanmarco was put on medical leave for psychological reasons.
    "She seemed to be having conversations and there wasnt anyone around her. Shed be just jabbering away," Tabala said.
    Oscar Villanueva, U.S. postal inspector in charge of the Los Angeles division, said the Goleta facility passed a safety review within the last two months.
    "It was a model facility before. It continues to be a model facility today," he said. "There was no reasonable need to have security there."
    Ze Fairchild, 37
    Ze Fairchild was mourned last weekend at the Calvary Baptist Church, the same place she was married a little over a decade ago.
    Born as Ze Vang in 1968, in Laos, she had six sisters and two brothers.
    The family spent a year in a refugee camp before coming to the United States in 1981, settling in Long Beach.
    After graduating high school, she passed a postal service exam and came to Santa Barbara in March 1989 for a job at the Goleta plant.
    There she met Joe Fairchild, who she married in 1994. Their son, Nicholas, was born in 1998.
    Fairchild was a music fan, loved listening to books on tape and was known for her homemade eggrolls.
    Friends recalled how she took her younger cousins to the movies, lent her favorite dress to a new acquaintance and planned holiday parties at the postal plant.
    She had no idea how beautiful she was, but she was so beautiful, her husband said.
    Chue Vang, a mail carrier in Sacramento, said he thought of Fairchild as a sister.
    They went to the same high school, took their postal tests at the same time and later trained together at the Goleta mail facility. Only Fairchild ended up working there. "If I would have worked there, maybe I could have protected her," Vang said.
    Charlotte Colton, 44
    The 1,200 mourners gathered at a morning service to give final farewells to Charlotte Colton.
    She was born at U.S. Naval Hospital in Taipei , Taiwan , the youngest of three children. In 1970, her family settled in Goleta , Calif. , where she graduated from Dos Pueblos High School in 1979. She worked at the Goleta Postal Distribution Center for 23 years and met her husband there. They married in 1990.
    Her dedication to one son in particular, Kyle, who has cerebral palsy, was widely noted.
    Kyle, you can do anything you want, Deacon Wayne Rascati remembered Colton telling her son. You might have to try harder, but you can do it.
    Her organs were donated to help others. If there was anything she did, it was love boldly and fearlessly, recalled Colton s niece, Katrina Baggao de la Cruz.
    Her sister, Beverly Baggao de la Cruz, told of joyous Filipino parties they shared on the South Coast .
    Coltons volunteerism included the Boy Scouts, Cub Scout Pack 105, St. Raphaels Church, Filipino Community Association of Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara Junior Golf and UCSBs Junior Wheelchair Camp.
    She is survived by husband, James; sons, Kyle Christopher, 12; Connor James, 11; and Keane Patrick, 9; her parents, Paulina and Ambrose Baggao; and her brother, Arville; and sister, Beverlyn; and their families. Friends of Colton may also send checks to the Community West address for the Charlotte Colton Memorial Scholarship Fund, set up on behalf of her three sons.  

12/12/05 Los Angeles Times: Hate-Crime Levels in L.A. County at 15-Year Low,
    Hate crimes in Los Angeles County dropped to the lowest level in 15 years, the county's Human Relations Commission reported today.
    The crimes declined for the third consecutive year to 502 in 2004, down from 691 in the prior year. African-Americans, gays, and Jews were the groups targeted most heavily, but hate crimes against Latinos jumped 15% and 7% against Asians, according to the report.
    "Hate crime motivated by prejudice against the victim's race, national origin or ethnicity continue to be the most common hate crime, followed by sexual orientation and religion-based hate crime," according to the report..
    But the report recorded greater levels of conflict between African Americans, who were suspects in 78% of the anti-Latino crimes, and Latinos, who were suspects in 73% of the anti-black hate crimes.
    "This is one of the most important challenges we face, " said Robin S. Toma, Executive Director of the Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission. "That gangs continue to persist despite strong police actions speaks to the fact that gangs 
fill a vacuum left by our failure to invest adequately in youth programs that can 
succeed in gang prevention and intervention."
    According to the report, one in 10 hate crimes were committed by gang members, and 80% of the victims were African-American.
    Juveniles accused of hate crimes jumped by 20%.
    African Americans were targeted in 55% of all racial hate crimes, "a rate much higher than any other group," according to the report.
    Second in frequency were gay and transgender victims. The next largest group 
were Jewish people and Latinos.
    More than half of all hate crimes were violent, 53%, according to the report.

11/14/05 Fort Wayne Journal Gazzette (AP): Slurs, beatings against Asian students on the rise,
By Erin Texeira
Associated Press
    New York Eighteen-year-old Chen Tsu was waiting on a Brooklyn subway platform after school when four high school classmates approached him and demanded cash. He showed them his empty pockets, but they attacked him anyway, taking turns pummeling his face.
    He was scared and injured bruised and swollen for several days but hardly surprised.
    At his school, Lafayette High in Brooklyn , Chinese immigrant students like him are harassed and bullied so routinely that school officials in June agreed to a Department of Justice consent decree to curb alleged severe and pervasive harassment directed at Asian-American students by their classmates. Since then, the Justice Department credits Lafayette officials with addressing the problem but the case is far from isolated.
    Nationwide, Asian students say theyre often beaten, threatened and called ethnic slurs by other young people, and school safety data suggest that the problem may be worsening. Youth advocates say these Asian teens, stereotyped as high-achieving students who rarely fight back, have for years borne the brunt of ethnic tension as Asian communities expand and neighborhoods become more racially diverse.
    We suspect that in areas that have rapidly growing populations of Asian-Americans, there often times is a sort of culture clashing, said Aimee Baldillo of the National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium. Youth harassment is something we see everywhere in different pockets of the U.S. where theres a large influx of (Asian) people.
    In the last five years, census data show, Asians mostly Chinese have grown from 5 percent to nearly 10 percent of Brooklyn residents. In the Bensonhurst neighborhood, historically home to Italian and Jewish families, more than 20 percent of residents now are Asian. Those changes have escalated ethnic tension on campuses such as Lafayette High, according to Khin Mai Aung, staff attorney at the Asian-American Legal Defense and Education Fund, which is advocating for Lafayette students.
    The schools are the one place where everyone is forced to come together, Aung said.
    Brooklyn s changes mirror Asian growth nationally. Between 1980 and 2000, the number of Asians and Pacific Islanders grew from 3.7 million to nearly 12 million. After Hispanics, Asians are the nations fastest-growing ethnic group.
    Stories of Asian youths being bullied and worse are common. In recent years:
    A Chinese middle schooler in San Francisco was mercilessly taunted until his teacher hid him in her classroom at lunchtime.
    Three Korean-American students were beaten so badly near their Queens high school that they skipped school for weeks and begged to be transferred.
    A 16-year-old from Vietnam was killed last year in a massive brawl in Boston .
    Some lawmakers have responded. The New York City Council, after hearing hours of testimony from Asian youths, last year passed a bill to track bullying and train educators on prevention. Also last year, California Assemblywoman Judy Chu won passage of a new law to allow hate crimes victims more time up to three years to file civil suits; the bill was inspired by a 2003 San Francisco incident in which five Asian teens were attacked by a mob of youths.

10/28/05 press release from OCA
Anh Phan - Director of Communications, 202-223-5500, aphan@ocanatl.org
"OCA Denounces Hate Letters and Threats Targeting Philadelphia Asian Business Owners,"
      Washington , DC OCA vehemently denounces the rash of hate letters that were sent to Philadelphia Asian business owners last week. According to Philadelphia police, at least three businesses received letters, and three or four other Asian businesses have received similar letters since then. Police further stated that members of the white supremacist hate group Aryan Nation were claiming responsibility and were specifically targeting Asians because of their ethnicity. The letters, which threatened to bomb Asian businesses and rape Asian women, were also accompanied by graphic pictures.
    "We are outraged and abhorred by the alleged actions of the Aryan Nation against our community," said OCA National President Ginny Gong. "Such actions cannot and will not be tolerated. We are here to support the Philadelphia APA community and join them in standing up and speaking out against such unacceptable and racist behavior. No American should ever have to be singled out as a target for attack."
    "The APA community in Philadelphia is united and coming together to work with the elected and law enforcement officials to put a stop to these letters and threats," said Jean Chang, OCA National Interim Executive Director. "The safety and well-being of the residents and business owners in the APA community is our first and foremost priority and we will do what we must to ensure their protection and rights as Americans."
    OCA will continue to monitor the situation and collaborate with its colleagues in the civil rights community and the APA community in Philadelphia to find a resolution to this unacceptable situation.

9/21/05 The Michigan Daily: Students may face charges for racially motivated felony: Police say there is a good chance victims will file a lawsuit,
by Rachel Kruer
    The Ann Arbor Police Department has issued warrants for two University students for allegedly yelling obscenities and urinating on two students in a racially motivated act.
    The incident began when one of the suspects, a 21-year-old, allegedly urinated from a second-floor balcony on two Asian students walking down the 600 block of South Forest Avenue Thursday night.
    After the couple asked why they were being urinated on, the suspect and another student reportedly began to use racial slurs disparaging the couples Asian heritage.
    The situation escalated, according to a police report, when at least one student began throwing items, which the couple suspected were eggs, at the couple.
    One of the students was immediately taken into custody. The other student who urinated on the couple, barricaded himself in the apartment, which the police could not enter without a warrant.
    However, the AAPD knows the identity of the student, who could face jail time if prosecuted.
    AAPD Lt. Michael Logghe classified the crime as ethnic intimidation, or verbal or physical attack against a person of another race or gender. Logghe said ethnic intimidation is a felony and carries a maximum penalty of four years in jail. The suspects could also be charged with assault, and one of the suspects could face a charge of indecent exposure, which would require him to register as a sex offender.
    Keith Elkin, director of the Office of Student Conflict Resolution, said he could not comment on whether OSCR was handling the case.
    However, he said crimes involving ethnic intimidation do not only break city law, but also violate the Universitys code of conduct.
    We protect student rights and have the responsibility to talk to students, Elkin said. Also, we have the ability to consider if the violation was motivated by bias, in which (case) we could consider sanctioning a student.
    If OSCR were asked to intervene, Elkin said there were a range of consequences a perpetrator of ethnic intimidation could face, from a formal reprimand to expulsion from the University.
    Sgt. Angela Abrams of the AAPD said the victims will likely prosecute.
    The police report also included a statement from an independent witness an employee at a parking structure on South Forest who said she saw the men assault the couple.
    The incident has galvanized members of the Asian community some of whom have also faced the humiliation of ethnic intimidation first-hand.
    Cindy Chuang, LSA senior and president of the Taiwanese American Student Association, said she was appalled and shocked that a fellow University student could be demeaned in public.
    But she herself said she has experienced racial bias from fellow students, who she said were drunk when the incident occurred.
    While walking down South University Avenue , Chuang said a group of students yelled, Wow, you speak really good English and You talk with a white accent.
    LSA senior and former Korean Student Association President Paul Yun said he was disgusted by the incident but not surprised that it happened.
    Yun said that he has also faced discrimination in Ann Arbor .
    While using a public restroom at Good Time Charleys, Yun said he was referred to as Bruce Lee and Ching Chong.
    He also said that many of his friends have experienced similar incidents.
    Yun said that the issue needs to be addressed immediately. He said he expected the United Asian American Organizations an umbrella group for the Asian student groups on campus would be the first to respond to the matter.
    At the very least, Yun said this incident will call attention to a problem on campus and could potentially empower the Asian community to improve the climate for minority students at the University.

8/10/05 Washington Post
Howard Hate Crimes Traced to 2 Teenagers: Asian-Owned 
Businesses Attacked,
By Ylan Q. Mui
    Two Howard County teenagers have been arrested in what county police are calling a string of hate crimes over the past several weeks that targeted two Asian-owned businesses in Elkridge.
    The teenagers are 15-year-old boys, one from Columbia , the other from Elkridge. Each was charged with several counts of arson, destruction of property and harassment of a person for ethnic reasons. Their names were not released because they are juveniles.
    Police spokeswoman Sherry Llewellyn said she did not know the boys' races. A source familiar with the case said one is white and the other appears to be of mixed race. The source asked not to be identified because the case is open.
    The initial target of the attacks was the Great Wall, a single-room takeout Chinese restaurant in a Route 1 strip mall.
    Police said that fireworks went off just outside the Great Wall on July 3 and 4. Then on July 16 and 18, fires were set on the roof.
    The second time, a note was left telling the owners to move their business or expect more fires.
    The harassers kept their word: On Thursday, a blaze was lit in the restaurant's dumpster, police said. Also that day, a rock was thrown through the window of the Dollar Shop, in a strip mall across the street from the Great Wall and owned by a Korean woman.
    Another fire was set on the restaurant's roof Friday, and another rock shattered a window of the Dollar Shop, police said.
    "Once we had two unrelated victims, and the only similarity between the two was that the business owners at each location are Asian, then the investigation went from the fire unit to the hate crime" team, Llewellyn said.
    Finally, the restaurant received two more phone calls "of a threatening nature" about a half-hour apart Saturday, she said. Great Wall employee Xiu Yan Chen, 25, said she had received at least one other threat when she picked up the phone to take orders at the restaurant. She recorded the words on a scrap of paper:
    "Do you know what happen about your store?" she wrote of one conversation. "It will be happen again."
    Chen said the fires began shortly after a man asked to use the restaurant bathroom just before the business's 10 p.m. closing time. She told him the restaurant had no bathrooms and now suspects the incident was connected to the fires.
    Police said patrol officers spotted two teenagers throwing rocks at houses Saturday. The officers identified the teenagers as the boys in a photo that the Great Wall's owner, who is Chinese, took after eggs were thrown at him soon after the restaurant opened May 1.
    Police then determined that the teenagers' cell phone numbers matched those on the restaurant's caller ID during the threatening calls and arrested them, Llewellyn said.
    Dollar Shop owner Eun Il Oh said the damage to her store cost about $1,000 to fix. Yesterday afternoon, a man stood on ladder inside the store installing security cameras that Oh said cost $3,000.
    "I was very upset," she said. "I cannot sleep."
    Her brother-in-law, Kevin Yi, said that Oh took over the store less than a month ago.  "She thought she was coming to a good neighborhood," he said. "She was surprised by the vandalism and the boldness of it."
    Howard County has increasingly become a destination for the Washington area's Asian community, drawn mainly by its high-performing school system.
    Asians are the fastest-growing minority group in the county: According to an estimate by the Census Bureau, their population jumped by 23 percent, to 25,482, from 2000 to 2003.
    Llewellyn said that none of the 12 previous hate crimes reported in the county this year targeted Asians. She said that 10 of those crimes were vandalism, mainly graffiti, and two were phone harassment.
    Half of the crimes were directed at blacks, four targeted Jews and one was aimed at Muslims.
    The final incident was an anti-God message spray-painted on a church, she said.

7/24/05 Los Angeles Times: Hate Crimes in State Decline: But attorney general's report says incidents against blacks, Latinos and Asians rose in '04.
    Sacramento (AP) A new state study found that the overall number of hate crimes in California dropped 5.5% last year to the lowest number in a decade, but crimes against blacks, Latinos and Asians increased.
    Hate crimes fell from 1,491 in 2003 to 1,409 in 2004, the third consecutive year the numbers have dropped, according to a report released Friday by Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer.
    "The numbers are coming down from the peak in 2001 after the terrorist attacks," said Robin Schwanke of the Department of Justice, adding that the numbers mirror the general decline in violent crime. "I don't know exactly why, but it's good they're decreasing."
    The study found that anti-white hate crimes decreased 28% from 85 to 61; anti-gay crimes fell 22% from 337 to 263; and religion-motivated hate crimes dropped 7% from 220 to 205.
    Crimes against people of Middle Eastern descent showed the greatest decline, dropping 35% from 161 to 105, according to the report. That number had risen dramatically after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
    The study reported 500 anti-black hate crimes, up 8% from 2003. Crimes against Asian/Pacific Islanders rose 4.6% to 69. Anti-Latino crimes jumped 34% to 138.
    Anti-black hate crimes make up 35% of the total.
    The study, called "Hate Crime in California 2004," includes reported crimes based on race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin or physical or mental disability. The study provides statistics on reported incidents, victims, prosecutions and convictions.
    At least 60% of the incidents are crimes based on race, ethnicity and national origin.
    Los Angeles County reported the highest number of hate crimes with 501, followed by San Francisco with 144.
    State prosecutors filed 277 hate crime cases last year. Of those, 139 resulted in a hate crime conviction and 103 resulted in other convictions.

7/20/05 New York Newsday: Arraignment and guilty plea in murder of Chinese food deliveryman,
by Herbert Lowe 
    A Queens teenager pleaded guilty Tuesday to murder and robbery charges in the savage death of a Chinese food deliveryman, while a long-suspected accomplice was arraigned on murder charges in the same case.
    "Today, it's two down, one to go," City Councilman John Liu said outside State Supreme Court in Kew Gardens, where Nayquan Miller, 18, signed a plea deal that will send him to prison for 20 years to life.
    Standing with the family of the victim, Huang Chen, 18, Liu (D-Flushing) added, "The bottom line: This is part two of the trilogy of pain and suffering that the Chen family has gone through."
    The alleged accomplice, William Capehart, also 18, of Corona , was arraigned on murder and robbery charges before Justice Robert Hanophy and ordered held without bail. Capehart was arrested on Monday after appearing at the courthouse for an unrelated robbery and assault case.
    Both Miller's and Capehart's names were repeatedly mentioned at the trial of Charles Bryant, 17, of Rosedale, who was convicted of the same charges on March 16 and sentenced to 511/3 years to life in prison.
    Prosecutors contend the three teens, after placing an order for Chinese food, robbed Chen, 18, of $49 in Miller's apartment, then stabbed him with a knife after repeatedly beating him with a hammer and baseball bat. The killers stuffed Chen's body in a garbage bag, then into a laundry cart, then into the Mazda used to make the food delivery, and finally into a pond in Brookville Park before burning much of the physical evidence in an area school yard, prosecutors said.
    Both Miller and Bryant confessed soon after the crime, and said they feared that Capehart would hurt their families if they implicated him. Prosecutors would not say Tuesday what led them to finally arrest him.
    "Our family is very happy the third guy is finally arrested," Chen's sister, Yvonne Chen, said while standing with Liu and her father, Xing Shou Chen; mother, Shui Ying Lin, and sister, Summer. "We hope that he will stay behind bars forever."

5/20/05 New York Daily News: Teary judge gives teenage killer 51 years,
By Warren Woodberry Jr.
    Yesterday, Judge Robert Hanophy of Queens Supreme Court sentenced teenage killer Charles Bryant to prison for 51 years for beating and stabbing to death on Feb. 13, 2004.18-year-old Huang Chen, a Chinese food delivery man.         "Huang Chen was so beaten up it was almost impossible to recognize him," said Hanophy, choking up and pausing several times after emotional statements from the dead teen's father and sister. "[Bryant] deserves every day of the time that I am going to give him."
   Bryant was sentenced to 51-1/3 years to life in prison for the senseless murder of Chen, who was making a delivery for his dad's takeout restaurant to the Rochdale Village housing complex.
    Prosecutors said Bryant and his pal Nayquan Miller, both 16 at the time, had called in a food order to lure Chen and rob him to get money to buy sneakers. They pocketed $49 and killed him so he could not identify them.
    The thugs used a baseball bat, hammer and knives to beat Cheng as he pleaded for his life. They later drove to Brookville Pond and dumped the body in the water.
    "The crime was callous and vicious and the punishment imposed by the court ... is more than warranted," Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said. "I hope [Cheng's loved ones] find solace in the knowledge that justice has been done."
    Speaking through an interpreter, the victim's father, Xing Shou Cheng, said: "My son Huang for no reason at all was killed by a couple of monsters."
    Prosecutor Brad Leventhal read a scathing statement from Cheng's sister Yvonne, 22, then reminded the judge: "This defendant never once demonstrated one ounce of remorse."
    Handcuffed and wearing a green bomber jacket, Bryant never looked back at his weeping mother or Cheng's family.
    City Councilman John Liu (D-Flushing), who had counseled the Cheng family since the tragic nightmare began, said Bryant's sentence sends a message to anyone who would think of harming a food deliverer.
    "Charles Bryant has been determined to be a cold-blooded killer," said Liu. "Today's verdict is the maximum verdict possible and the community is grateful for the verdict."
   Miller is still awaiting trial.

5/2/05 Rutland ( Vermont ) Herald: Teen charged in hate crimes,
by Alan Keays
A 19-year-old Rutland man has been charged with hate crimes for allegedly firing a BB gun and striking two Asian members of a high school track team running through the city.
    Daniel Streeter pleaded innocent Friday in Rutland District Court to two counts of attempted aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in connection with the incident Monday afternoon. He was released on conditions that he not contact the alleged victims.
    Prosecutors also charged both offenses as hate crimes, which provides for enhanced penalties if convicted.
    Deputy State 's Attorney Marc Brierre said in court Friday that the hate crime provision was added because Streeter fired his BB gun as the Mount St. Joseph Academy track team was running on Meadow Street and hit the two non-Caucasian members of the team, even though they were not next to each other.
    Mount St. Joseph Academy is a private religious high school in Rutland.
    Public defender Patricia Lancaster said in court that her client strongly denied that any of his actions were motivated by race.
    "His wife and mother assured me that he does not have a racist bone in his body," Lancaster said of Streeter.
    Rutland City Police said Timothy Jones, Mount St. Joseph Academy track team's coach, called Monday afternoon reporting that two of his team members were running on nearby Meadow Street when they were struck from behind with BBs.
    Jones told police that the alleged assailant was wearing a blue-hooded sweatshirt with white stripes down the arms, city Officer Steven Schutt wrote in an affidavit.
    Police said they searched the area but could not find the suspected shooter. Police then interviewed the two students hit from behind by the BBs, Joseph Park, 18, and Janet Oh, 15.
    Park told police he had welts after being shot twice in the buttocks, Schutt wrote. Oh said she had a small welt on the small of her back, the affidavit stated. Both refused medical treatment.
    Both Park and Oh told police they believed they were targeted because they are Korean. Park said there was about 150 meters between him and Oh when they were running, and other runners were between them.
    "The offense of hate-motivated crimes is based on the fact that Streeter had shot a female jogger (Janet Oh) of Korean decent and then shot a male jogger (Joseph Park) of Korean decent minutes later," Schutt wrote. "It was found that Streeter singled these two Korean victims out of the group of 20 joggers varying in multiple nationalities."
    Police said as they continued their investigation they talked to residents of the area and eventually questioned Streeter, who lives on Meadow Street.
    He told police that on Monday he had been shooting cans in his backyard when he saw people running down the road and he shot toward them, not thinking he would hit them, adding that he did not shoot at them because of their race, the affidavit stated.
    "Streeter stated that he is sorry to the students and the instructor for his wrongful behavior," Schutt wrote.

4/5/05  Eyewitness News, ABC-7, 7online.com: Local Student Charged With Despicable Crime.
http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/news/wabc_040505_campusscandal.html
By Nina Pineda
    ( Princeton , N.J. -WABC, April 5, 2005) A 28-year-old grad student at  Princeton is under arrest tonight, accused of of acting out against Asian students by filling bottles with his bodily fluids and then spraying it on his victims 
    For the last three years women were victimized and didn't even know it.  Police are calling it a sex crime.
    Police say Michael Lohman, a 28-year-old Princeton grad student admitted to them that he would fill small, plastic bottles with his own urine or semen and then spray it on unsuspecting women or pour the bodily fluids into their beverages when they weren't looking.
    Det. Sgt. Ernie Silagy, Princeton Township Police: "He would walk up, he'd put the bodily fluids into the drink and then he would walk away and observe then drinking it. He put the bodily fluids in the drinks at Fine Hall Library."
    Police caught up with Lohman after he was caught in the act cutting the hair off an Asian student while riding the campus shuttle.
    During a search of Lohman's home police found containers filled with urine, as well as stolen underwear and gloves that were stuffed with human hair - all being used for sexual self-gratification.
    Police say Lohman told them he targeted only Asian females. His wife - also of Asian descent - hid her face when leaving their apartment with his parents this afternoon. They didn't want to say anything, but Princeton University administrators tell us Michael Lohman is being evaluated by a mental institution, and students should feel safe that he's been arrested.
    Laura Robinson-Brown, Princeton University: "It was only recently that the scope of the investigation was widened because the perpetrator confessed to a number of incidents, which are now being investigated.
    Police are investigating exactly what motivated this bizarre behavior. 
Princeton University is hoping that any women who may feel that they were targeted by Lohman will come forward. Police think that so far Lohman is responsible for victimizing about 50 women in this vile fashion.

3/6/05 New York Daily News: Asian community unites at trial: Rip attacks on deliverymen,
by Scott Shifrel
    The attack left Huang Chen's face nearly unrecognizable.
    The 18-year-old was viciously pummeled and then stabbed to death as he delivered a $10 order of Chinese food - allegedly so the assailants could get enough money for a pair of Nikes, cops said.
    As the trial of one of Chen's accused murderers continues in Queens this week, the verdict will be closely watched by the city's Asian community.
    "People worry about a perception that we are not real people, that we really aren't Americans," said City Councilman John Liu (D-Queens).
    "It's like killing a dog. The notion that an Asian person is not human is what permits two or three 16-year-olds to commit a crime of such brutality."
    Defendant Charles Bryant, 17, faces 25 years to life if found guilty of the Feb. 13, 2004, slaying. Co-defendant Nayquan Miller, also 17, is awaiting trial.
    As the bloody details spilled out of the Kew Gardens courtroom last week, reporters from three Chinese newspapers and two cable stations covered the trial for the New York , Taiwan and Hong Kong markets.
    Asian leaders from as far as Chicago have showed up to support the Chens and to protest a series of attacks in recent years on Asian food workers. Rallies outside the courthouse didn't stop even after Queens Supreme Court Justice Robert Hanophy warned against them.
    "The community is very concerned because we feel like Asians are being targeted," said York Chan, who heads the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association, a Manhattan-based coalition of 60 groups.
    "These workers mind their own business and work hard and try to make a living, and they get murdered for such nonsense. We want to see a heavy sentence to send a message."
    Chen's killing in a Rochdale Village apartment in southeast Queens was the sixth high-profile assault of a Chinese food worker in the past five years.
    "It's just another in a long series of attacks," Liu said. "In the past there has been a perception, rightly or wrongly, that the criminal justice system has not pursued the attackers enough. That's why we came out so quickly after this happened."
    But many also are shocked at the sheer brutality of the crime. Chen was pounded in the head with a hammer and a baseball bat, stabbed in the chest with a knife and then tossed into a nearby pond.
    "He was tortured to death," his sister, Summer Chen, 21, said before the start of the trial. "I don't know how could they do this to my brother."
    The worst for Summer, her sister Yvonne and their parents - who all have attended each day of the trial - will come Tuesday as the prosecution closes its case with testimony from the medical examiner's office, including gruesome autopsy photos.
    Even seasoned newspaper reporters with the Chinese press have been moved by the case.
    "A reporter is not supposed to get too involved, but this is such a tragedy," said Yu-Kwong Chan, who has covered the investigation, the trial and more than a dozen hearings for the Sing Tao Daily, the largest circulation Chinese daily in the United States. "It makes me angry."
   Assaults vicious and deadly
   July 18, 2003: Li Zhen Lin, 25, a worker at the Beautiful Garden restaurant in Far Rockaway, Queens , was shot and killed during a robbery.
   Oct. 15, 2002: Jian Chun Lin, 36, delivering for Happy House restaurant, was shot and killed in the lobby of a Brownsville building.
   March 20, 2001: Wu-Ching Wang, 51, who worked at the New Cheung Hing Restaurant near Chinatown , was beaten with a baseball bat. He survived.
   Sept. 1, 2000: Jin-Sheng Liu, 44, owner of Golden Wok Chinese Restaurant in St. Albans, Queens , was pummeled to death with bricks by five teens as he delivered food to a deserted house.  

2/15/05 Sunfire Group:
    On February 9, 2005, the Asian Pacific American Legal Center (APALC) received a large manila envelope addressed to Chinese Murderers and APALCs downtown building that contained four Xerox-copied pages of anti-Chinese, anti-Korean and anti-Muslim statements and pictures.  The statements and pictures, pieced together in collage format, depicted Koreans, Chinese and Muslims as murderers, spies, an axis of evil, and proliferators of weapons of mass destruction.  Handwritten statements on the envelope also 
threatened in red ink, KPFK SEZ: KILL CHINESE!! and CHINESE POISON + CANCER IN YOUR BODY N-O-W!  A week prior, similar envelopes were sent to downtown Los Angeles and Monterey Park offices of the Chinatown Service   Center ,  another non-profit organization serving the Asian Pacific Islander and other diverse communities of Los Angeles .  Both APALC and the Chinatown  
Service   Center have contacted local law enforcement regarding these packages.
    If you have any information regarding these packages or have previously received a similar package, please contact Daniel Hu ang, APALC Hate Crime Project Coordinator at 213-977-7500 ext. 237 or dhuang@apalc.org.