Racism isn't the province of only one group
Gregory Kane
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Gregory Kane
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AND SOME DARE not call it a hate crime.
Jennifer Souliyadeth sat in the living room of her neighbor's home Friday morning, thinking about the "hate crime" that had occurred less than a week earlier. Her brother-in-law, Somanh Thamavong, had left his house to visit a friend the previous Saturday morning when two black youths chased and then beat him so severely that he is still hospitalized in serious condition, his brain swollen and bleeding. The broomstick-wielding attackers robbed Thamavong -- who was carrying about $9 -- after beating him unconscious.
Police said one 14-year-old with no prior record is now in custody at the Charles Hickey School. A second suspect, 16, was still at large Friday afternoon. The boy in custody has been charged with attempted first-degree murder and first-degree assault.
Souliyadeth was in Shirley Nash's living room, recounting the incident that happened in the 3200 block of E. Baltimore St. to Nash and another neighbor, Pat Younce. Thamavong's wife, Kham, and son, Suvan, also were present. Nash said police were able to finger the suspects because the youths went to a block on nearby Noble Street, where the two assailants and their cronies are known to hang out. They laughed and bragged to friends about "what they did to the Asian man."
Souliyadeth, a 29-year-old American via the Southeast Asian country of Laos, who's lived in the United States some 20 years, was struggling, visibly, to keep from blaming all blacks and condemning every African-American as a criminal and thug. But she was having a hard time of it.
"I have not felt this way since I've been here," she said. "I always give people a chance. I can't go around and hate every black person here."
But she's more leery of blacks now. Since her brother-in-law -- also Laotian-American -- was attacked, family members don't walk alone, venturing out either in a pair or a group. A few days after the incident, Souliyadeth saw a black guy approaching her car. She locked the driver's side door, and the man went around to the pas- senger side and tried to open the door, which, fortunately, was locked.
But even her mixed feelings about African-Americans have not caused her to lose her reasoning. The day after Thamavong was beaten, about 25 Asian youths gathered in front of his home for a protest rally and vigil. Some threatened retaliatory violence.
"They were about to do things and take things into their own hands," Souliyadeth recalled. "One of them told me, 'They got gang. I got my own gang.' I told them to let police handle it and not fight hate with hate."
And hate is what's involved here. Baltimore police have said there is no evidence that Thamavong's pummeling was a hate crime. But it's obvious from the viciousness of the attack that his assailants certainly didn't love the guy. Souliyadeth and Nash said Thamavong's beating was way too severe to be motivated by robbery alone.
"They robbed him almost as an afterthought," Souliyadeth said with a trace of bitterness. She may have been thinking back to her own experience of racial harassment from blacks. While a student at the University of Baltimore, she remembers the racial slurs some African-Americans hurled at her as she walked across the campus. Suvan Thamavong, a 23-year-old student at the University of Maryland, College Park, recalled when he was a student at Patterson High School and eight black guys robbed him of his jacket.
Asian business owners have complained of harassment from blacks so often that their protests are almost a mantra.
Blacks can't be racists, clueless liberal and nationalist black leaders have long told African-Americans. To be a racist, you have to have power, and blacks have no power.
Some of us are sheepish enough, stupid enough, to repeat such nonsense. But in what sense did Somanh Thamavong's attackers not have power over their 5-foot-6-inch, 135-pound victim as they beat and clubbed him senseless? It's a power they used with almost deadly efficiency, and that has had disastrous consequences.
The 49-year-old Thamavong was supposed to start a job tomorrow at a Boston Street shipyard. His family has no health insurance. His injuries will require that someone stay at home with him. Souliyadeth wonders how her 48-year-old sister, Kham, will pay the bills and the mortgage.
Such was the devastating power of the hatred directed at Somanh Thamavong early one Saturday morning in August. Souliyadeth said she is "150 percent convinced, and more" that her brother-in-law was attacked simply because he's Asian. That might be why you may not have heard of this incident. Souliyadeth said she contacted the four local television stations to cover the protest rally and vigil the Asian youth held. She said two covered it well and the other two ignored it. One station representative frankly told her the incident wasn't important enough.
"If there were black people out here, you'd be out here," Souliyadeth shot back. "Even your boss would be out here. You're not going to cover the story, but you would if it involved blacks or whites. I guess I'm not the right color."
She -- and Suvan and Kham and the slowly recovering Somanh Thamavong -- are certainly not the right color for today's black leadership, who would be howling for hate-crime charges to be placed against the two suspects if the victim were black and his assailants non-black. The Rev. Jesse Jackson couldn't wait to get to Mississippi last month to rail against a lynching that had never happened.
Revvum, the Thamavong family -- now financially strapped because of a hate crime -- could really use your motor-mouth along about now.
Originally published on Aug 20 2000
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Talk about it - Discuss this story | E-mail it - Send this story to a friend
http://www.sunspot.net/content/cover/story?section=cover&pagename=story&storyid=1150420208587
www.jbs.org www.gunowners.org
Hey Jim where's the legislation to protect this group
the unarmed....
------------------
"those who sacrifice
liberty for security deserve neither"
Gregory Kane
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gregory Kane
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AND SOME DARE not call it a hate crime.
Jennifer Souliyadeth sat in the living room of her neighbor's home Friday morning, thinking about the "hate crime" that had occurred less than a week earlier. Her brother-in-law, Somanh Thamavong, had left his house to visit a friend the previous Saturday morning when two black youths chased and then beat him so severely that he is still hospitalized in serious condition, his brain swollen and bleeding. The broomstick-wielding attackers robbed Thamavong -- who was carrying about $9 -- after beating him unconscious.
Police said one 14-year-old with no prior record is now in custody at the Charles Hickey School. A second suspect, 16, was still at large Friday afternoon. The boy in custody has been charged with attempted first-degree murder and first-degree assault.
Souliyadeth was in Shirley Nash's living room, recounting the incident that happened in the 3200 block of E. Baltimore St. to Nash and another neighbor, Pat Younce. Thamavong's wife, Kham, and son, Suvan, also were present. Nash said police were able to finger the suspects because the youths went to a block on nearby Noble Street, where the two assailants and their cronies are known to hang out. They laughed and bragged to friends about "what they did to the Asian man."
Souliyadeth, a 29-year-old American via the Southeast Asian country of Laos, who's lived in the United States some 20 years, was struggling, visibly, to keep from blaming all blacks and condemning every African-American as a criminal and thug. But she was having a hard time of it.
"I have not felt this way since I've been here," she said. "I always give people a chance. I can't go around and hate every black person here."
But she's more leery of blacks now. Since her brother-in-law -- also Laotian-American -- was attacked, family members don't walk alone, venturing out either in a pair or a group. A few days after the incident, Souliyadeth saw a black guy approaching her car. She locked the driver's side door, and the man went around to the pas- senger side and tried to open the door, which, fortunately, was locked.
But even her mixed feelings about African-Americans have not caused her to lose her reasoning. The day after Thamavong was beaten, about 25 Asian youths gathered in front of his home for a protest rally and vigil. Some threatened retaliatory violence.
"They were about to do things and take things into their own hands," Souliyadeth recalled. "One of them told me, 'They got gang. I got my own gang.' I told them to let police handle it and not fight hate with hate."
And hate is what's involved here. Baltimore police have said there is no evidence that Thamavong's pummeling was a hate crime. But it's obvious from the viciousness of the attack that his assailants certainly didn't love the guy. Souliyadeth and Nash said Thamavong's beating was way too severe to be motivated by robbery alone.
"They robbed him almost as an afterthought," Souliyadeth said with a trace of bitterness. She may have been thinking back to her own experience of racial harassment from blacks. While a student at the University of Baltimore, she remembers the racial slurs some African-Americans hurled at her as she walked across the campus. Suvan Thamavong, a 23-year-old student at the University of Maryland, College Park, recalled when he was a student at Patterson High School and eight black guys robbed him of his jacket.
Asian business owners have complained of harassment from blacks so often that their protests are almost a mantra.
Blacks can't be racists, clueless liberal and nationalist black leaders have long told African-Americans. To be a racist, you have to have power, and blacks have no power.
Some of us are sheepish enough, stupid enough, to repeat such nonsense. But in what sense did Somanh Thamavong's attackers not have power over their 5-foot-6-inch, 135-pound victim as they beat and clubbed him senseless? It's a power they used with almost deadly efficiency, and that has had disastrous consequences.
The 49-year-old Thamavong was supposed to start a job tomorrow at a Boston Street shipyard. His family has no health insurance. His injuries will require that someone stay at home with him. Souliyadeth wonders how her 48-year-old sister, Kham, will pay the bills and the mortgage.
Such was the devastating power of the hatred directed at Somanh Thamavong early one Saturday morning in August. Souliyadeth said she is "150 percent convinced, and more" that her brother-in-law was attacked simply because he's Asian. That might be why you may not have heard of this incident. Souliyadeth said she contacted the four local television stations to cover the protest rally and vigil the Asian youth held. She said two covered it well and the other two ignored it. One station representative frankly told her the incident wasn't important enough.
"If there were black people out here, you'd be out here," Souliyadeth shot back. "Even your boss would be out here. You're not going to cover the story, but you would if it involved blacks or whites. I guess I'm not the right color."
She -- and Suvan and Kham and the slowly recovering Somanh Thamavong -- are certainly not the right color for today's black leadership, who would be howling for hate-crime charges to be placed against the two suspects if the victim were black and his assailants non-black. The Rev. Jesse Jackson couldn't wait to get to Mississippi last month to rail against a lynching that had never happened.
Revvum, the Thamavong family -- now financially strapped because of a hate crime -- could really use your motor-mouth along about now.
Originally published on Aug 20 2000
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Talk about it - Discuss this story | E-mail it - Send this story to a friend
http://www.sunspot.net/content/cover/story?section=cover&pagename=story&storyid=1150420208587
www.jbs.org www.gunowners.org
Hey Jim where's the legislation to protect this group
the unarmed....
------------------
"those who sacrifice
liberty for security deserve neither"