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CONTACT: Estuardo Rodriguez: 202-631-2892, Laura Rodriguez: 310-956-2425
CIVIL RIGHTS LEADERS DEMAND JUSTICE FOR LUIS RAMIREZ AND CALL FOR ACTION ON INCREASE OF HATE CRIMES
Civil rights community stunned by defendants’ acquittal despite swell of evidence and testimony to the contrary; calls for swift passage of Hate Crimes bill in Senate
WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Wednesday, May 13, 2009, a broad coalition of civil rights leaders and elected officials will host a news conference in Russell Park in front of the Russell Senate Office Building at 10:00 a.m. EST to discuss the severe injustice suffered by a hate crime victim who was murdered in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania. The coalition will call on the United States Department of Justice to pursue a broad and comprehensive investigation of the beating and brutal murder of 25 year old, father of two, Luis Ramirez. The Department of Justice should consider bringing federal hate crimes charges against those responsible for Ramirez’s death. Ramirez lost his life in July 2008, after he was knocked unconscious and kicked in the head by a group of Shenandoah teenagers who yelled racial epithets before and during the brutal beating. A Schuylkill County Court jury acquitted Brandon Piekarsky, 17, of third-degree murder and ethnic intimidation and Derrick Donchak, 19, of aggravated assault and ethnic intimidation a few weeks ago. Both were convicted of simple assault.
The coalition will also urge the Senate for swift passage of the “Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009,” following a successful vote by the U.S. House of Representatives recently. The bill strengthens existing federal hate crime laws by authorizing the Department of Justice to assist local authorities in investigating and prosecuting certain bias-motivated crimes. The bill would also provide authority for the federal government to prosecute some violent bias-motivated crimes directed against individuals on the basis of their sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or disability.
WHAT: News Conference on Hate Crimes
WHO: John Amaya, Legislative Staff Attorney, MALDEF
Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ)
Hilary O. Shelton, Vice President for Advocacy/Director of Washington
Bureau, NAACP
Michael Lieberman, Washington Counsel, Anti-Defamation League
Janet Murguía, President & CEO, NCLR
Congressman Mike Honda (D-CA)
WHEN: Wednesday, May 13, 2009 at 10:00 a.m. EST
WHERE: Russell Park, in front of the Russell Senate Office Building, on the corner
of Constitution Ave. & Delaware Ave. NE in Washington, D.C.
Dee,
ReplyDeleteHopefully the news conference will result in the DOJ pursuit of a comprehensive investigation to the death of Luis Ramirez and the ensuing cover-up that involved Shenandoah police.
I urge your readers to call their Senators and tell them that they support S.B. 909, the Local Law Enforcement Hate Prevention Act of 2009. It was passed in the House a few weeks ago.
Opponents, many from the religious right, are wrongly calling it the Pedophile Act because of the protections it gives to victims who were targeted because of their sexual orientation.
Again, it is the demonizing of those who they are against.
I cut and pasted the following:
The federal government must have jurisdiction to address bias-motivated crimes in states in which current law is inadequate.
Currently, only thirty one states and the District of Columbia include sexual orientation-based crimes in their hate crimes statutes; only twenty-six states and the District of Columbia, include coverage of gender-based crimes; only eleven states and the District of Columbia include coverage of gender-identity based crimes, and only thirty states and the District of Columbia include coverage for disability-based crimes.
All Americans must be protected from hate crimes.
Dee, this is slightly off topic but the writer did a great job of looking at the economic ramifications when there are immigration raids.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-postville-iowa_olivomay12,0,6033291.story
Dee :
ReplyDeleteI agree 100% with your fight and that of our friend "Indigenous Xicano" for Sound and Reasonable Justice.
Hate Crime Legislation - Unsound, Absurd and Illogical Court decisions should be reviewed and appealed. Everywhere in the World -The Right to live and stay alive.
I have observed that Racists and furious antiObamists are enemies of the "Hate Crime" Concept and of all Federal Powers.
They dislike any Federal Intervention and defend "State Rights" in the extreme, so that they can commit whatever action and manipulate only the Local Authorities.
They say that any crime involves "Hate", and they do not see the danger for Society of the True Real Hate Crimes.
"Hate Crime" is a juridical concept not only for the USA but for all the World. This is necessary in all and every country on planet Earth, and there are already stricter legislations and constitutions in advanced or backward countries against Hate Crimes.
The First Duty of any Republic is to guarantee the right to live, the rigth to stay alive, of the Citizens, Residents, Visitors, or any Human Being inside their borders, with no excuses or exceptions.
Otherwise we would return to Sparta in Ancient Greece and the right to kill the Helots, for fun, sport and entertainment.
Human Life is an asset, even Sparta recognized that it needed Workers and Warriors and in extreme times of crisis had to employ the Helots as Mercenaries. Eventually the System of Oppression brought the downfall of Sparta
By the way, the military situation is grave and delicate :
Prophesizing.com
Vicente Duque
Racism and xenophobia with regard to Mexican immigrants is so sad.
ReplyDeleteThe age-old pesky U.S.-Mexico border problem has taxed the resources of both countries, led to long lists of injustices, and appears to be heading only for worse troubles in the future. Guess what? The border problem can never be solved. Why? Because the border IS the problem! It's time for a paradigm change.
Never fear, a satisfying, comprehensive solution is within reach: Megamerge: the Dissolution Solution. Simply dissolve the border along with the failed Mexican government, and megamerge the two countries under U.S. law, with mass free 2-way migration eventually equalizing the development and opportunities permanently, with justice and without racism.
For details, Google "Megamerge Dissolution Solution" or click
http://tlwinslow.weebly.com/megamerge-the-dissolution-solution.html