San Francisco is ahead of the game against Hate Speech

August 10, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Contact: Aurora Grajeda - 415.368.8406 aurora-grajeda@comcast.net

Contact: Miguel Perez - 415.240.1697 nahuelyitomx@yahoo.com.mx

San Francisco Board of Supervisors resolution urging the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to conduct a comprehensive investigation on hate speech in the media

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors and community groups are holding a press conference on Tuesday, August 11th, at 12 noon at City Hall, 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, in San Francisco, on the Polk Street side steps. They will present a resolution sponsored by Supervisor David Campos and co-sponsored by Supervisors John Avalos, David Chiu, Chris Daly, Bevan Duffy, Eric Mar, Sophie Maxwell and Ross Mirkarimi, "urging the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to conduct a comprehensive investigation on hate speech in the media, allowing public participation via public hearings, and asking the NTIA to update it's 1993 report on the Role of Telecommunications in Hate Crimes."

"An investigation on hate speech in the media has the potential of serving the highest interest of free speech, the First Amendment and the security of individuals and groups in their persons and in their living environments. A recent study from Leadership Conference on Civil Rights shows a correlation between hate radio and hate crimes - concerned organizations and individuals have seen how the volume and virulence in the rhetoric in the most virulent Shock Jocks, such as local host Michael Savage, continues to raise.

Full information on the resolution may be found at http://www.sfgov.org/site/uploadedfiles/bdsupvrs/bosagendas/materials/090995.pdf "

Meeting starts at 2 PM, the resolution will be discussed at the Board of Supervisors meeting in the Legislative Chamber, Room 250, the resolution is item # 39, public comment is invited.

The City and County of San Francisco prides itself in celebrating diversity in principle, values and practice; the Board of Supervisors of the City and County of San Francisco, reflects these principles, values and practices.

HATE SPEECH IS NOT RESPONSIBLE SPEECH

More on violence during San Francisco ICE Raid

reports on violence during ICE raids has not made it to the media.  Reports of ICE raids in an effort to arrest gang members has made it to the papers, but no one else has mentioned that ICE officers destroyed a family's home.

see dreamacttexas post

"San Francisco ICE Raids - please distribute," October 24, 2008

http://www.fogcityjournal.com/wordpress/2008/10/22/quezada-community-leaders-blast-ice-raids/

Quezada, Community Leaders, Blast ICE Raids

From the campaign to elect Eric Quezada to District 9 Supervisor

October 22, 2008

A San Francisco immigrant family, reportedly all U.S. citizens, was raided and harassed at gunpoint Wednesday by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE).

By day’s end, as many as 17 Bay Area residences had been raided. Several people have been detained.

At 4:30 a.m., ICE officials broke down doors, tossed around family belongings, pointed their pistol at Julio Cesar Hernandez from just a meter away, and handcuffed the adults. Hernandez’ two children, aged 4 years and 7 months old, were traumatized by the raid.

In response, District 9 Supervisorial candidate Eric Quezada is teaming up with immigrant community leaders to mobilize legal and social resources for families victimized by the raids.

“Everybody has rights, whether they’re documented or not,” said Quezada, who has helped immigrant families with housing, legal, and employment assistance for years. “This harassment of families is shameful and must be strongly condemned by local leaders.”

Quezada called for swift implementation of a Municipal ID program to protect immigrants from violence and harassment and greater funding for legal and education services to help stabilize families.

“We need to strengthen the sanctuary ordinance,” Quezada said, “and we need to see some political courage from the mayor in these moments, to stand up for what’s right.”

“We need leaders who aren’t afraid of political fallout, to stand up for immigrant communities. We need city leaders who have consistently stood by immigrant communities, which are a lifeblood of our city’s culture and economy,” Quezada added.

“I have trembling in my heart,” Hernandez told immigrant rights attorney Mark Silverman. “I told them that I am a U.S. citizen. There were about 20 law enforcement people in the house. When I talked about my civil rights, one of them laughed.”

San Francisco Raids, Please Distribute

DREAM Act Texas received this message today and we felt the great need to translate part of it and make a stand that we are not going to tolerate this anymore!

On October 22nd of 2008, ICE raided 17 cities of San Francisco; in Bay View city, Tenderloin, and Mission.

The same day, El Movimiento por Una Ammistía Incondicional (MUA) and
ALDI, launched a meeting for a Rally for the next day, Octber 23rd, @ 430 PM.

This is the recording of Mr. Miguel Pérez de MUA

According to the preliminary reports, ICE agents acted in a brutal manner destroying at least a home and taking electronics from the family that lived in this house. Several of these homeowners are US citizens.

There are many questions that need answers as Mr. Perez mentioned. Details at the moment are not clear.

Miguel también habla de como esta clase de operativos, dan paso a
cobertura en los medios, especialmente las personas que tienen una
agenda preconcebida y que parece que se les pegó la aguja, como es
Jaxon Van Derbeken, Chronicle Staff Writer, este 'señor', parece que
se quiere especializar en cubrir noticias que de una forma ú otra
tienen que ver con imigrantes y los encabezados de sus reportes
siempre tienden a ser políticamente inflamatorios, como este ultimo
"MS-13 gang suspects arrested in Bay Area raids", en el mismo
artículo, reporta que también hubo redadas en Richmond y South San
Francisco, además de que Oficiales de la Policía de Richmond
asistieron a los agentes de ICE, la policía de South San Francisco
confirmaron que también hicieron lo mismo y de acuerdo con el vocero
del Alcalde Gavin Newson de SF, Nate Ballard, dijo que el SFPD a
trabajado con las autoridades Federales por años en el caso y que
"Están orgullosos del trabajo investigativo en el que nuestro
departamento de policía ha estado envuelto" (Mi única fuente sobre las
redadas en Richmond y SSF es este artículo - Espero confirmación)

Cabe mencionar, que este 'señor', no hace mencion alguna de los
métodos abusivos usados por Agentes de ICE, que se han descrito como
brutales.

Estaremos pendientes de los pormenores de este caso, reportandolos en
cuanto sean de nuestro conocimiento, es de nuestra incumbencia y
responsabilidad, el reportar 'el otro lado de la moneda'

For more information please visit our friend at El Rinconcito de Aurora

Confronting Michael Savage in San Francisco

---

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - PLEASE DISTRIBUTE / CIRCULATE!



CLEAR CHANNEL REVISITED AFTER A YEAR OF REFUSING TO MEET WITH THE COMMUNITY- UNREPENTANT MICHAEL SAVAGE CONTINUES TO SPEW HATE!

2nd ANNUAL PROTEST
- ANTI-HATE SPEECH & DISINFORMATION DEMONSTRATION!

WHEN: Tuesday September 23, 2008

TIME: 4PM-6PM

PLACE: CLEAR CHANNE, 340 TOWNSEND

SAN FRANCISCO CA.(between 4th&5th St. next to Caltrain Station)

As hate speech spirals, a local group of community activists are organizing a demonstration in San Francisco against shock jock Michael Savage. The group, Hispanic / Latino Anti-Defamation Coalition SF and allied Community Organizations, plan to rally in front of the building which houses radio station KNEW-AM where Savage transmits his nationally-syndicated program.

On his program, Savage call for troops on the street "to protect us from the scourge of illegal immigrants who are running rampant across America, killing our police for sport, raping, murdering like a scythe across America while the liberal psychos are telling us they come here to work." Or that autism is a "fraud, a racket, that in 99 percent of cases is a brat who hasn’t been told to cut their act out" and to stop being ‘morons‘, he also tells fasting immigrant students "to starve to death, then we won’t have a problem."

These kind of statements incite people who are already angry and resentful, as when Jim David Adkisson entered the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church in Knoxville, opened fire with a 12-gauge shotgun, killed two people and wounded six during the presentation of a children's musical. In his car, police found a four-page letter where he expressed his hatred of the "liberal movement’, and wrote he targeted the church "because of its liberal teachings" and his belief that "all liberals should be killed" because they were "ruining the country." Inside Adkisson’s home, officers found "Liberalism is a Mental Disorder" by radio talk show host Michael Savage.

Shock jocks insist their rants are not hurting anyone and that they are not inciting hate attacks. Meanwhile disenfranchised groups continue to be targeted. Another instance was the senseless savage beating that resulted in the death of Luis Eduardo Ramirez Zavala by a group of four young white males in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania on July 12, 2008. Luis E. Ramirez was a hard-working father of small children and a decent member of the community. His killers ranted racial comments against Mexicans while cowardly beating him; as reported by eyewitnesses.

For too long the Hispanic/Latino, and other minority communities in the Bay Area have suffered Clear Channel/the Savage Nation/Michael Savage and his attacks. His insulting, degrading, sophomoric tirades are racist and divisive to a dangerous level. His rhetoric, has resulted in erroneous definitions of whom we are as Hispanic/ Latinos and he contributes to stereotypes which we have for a long time tried to defuse.

We, the Hispanic/Latino community in the Bay Area hold CLEAR CHANNEL/The Savage Nation/Michael Savage and other shock-jocks like him and their Media Channel Broadcasters directly responsible for the increase in crimes against Hispanic US Citizens, Latinos, Immigrants, other groups and individuals; and for destroying and terrorizing our communities through their hateful ON-AIR XENOPHOBIC, HENCE, UN-AMERICAN PROPAGANDA! " .

As in Last year's Protest, the Peninsula Contingent will be boarding CalTrain’s “Hispanic Dignity Train” From San Jose to San Francisco as it stops in each local station to join us in front of 340 Townsend St.

Contacts info:

San Francisco: (650)-740-1910 -- (415)-368-8406

SF Peninsula: (650)-324-4082 -- (650)-992-1680

Hispanic / Latinos Anti-Defamation Coalition SF
"http://hladc-sf.blogspot.com/"

San Francisco Approves a City ID Card

San Francisco Board of Supervisors approved a "municipal identification" card to city residents.

It is not for driving, but for bank accounts, and maybe later for library use and metro card use. The card was promoted with the idea that people would not be as afraid to call the police should they need to. The questions remains- who will get the card? If only undocumented people do so, then it won't help them stay anonymous. Why would a U.S. resident or citizen want one of these if a driver's license of state ID is available?

_____
S.F. supervisors approve ID cards for residents
Wyatt Buchanan, San Francisco Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 14, 2007

(11-13) 15:56 PST San Francisco - -- The Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to issue municipal identification cards to city residents - regardless of whether they are in the country legally - and to double the amount of public money available to candidates running for supervisor.

Supervisor Tom Ammiano, who authored the ID card legislation, said the program is a smart public safety measure because it would make residents living on the social margins of San Francisco more likely to seek the help of police and could give them more access to banking services.

"People are afraid to report crimes," Ammiano said, referring to illegal immigrants who avoid local law enforcement authorities over fear of being arrested or deported by federal immigration officials.

The legislation would require companies holding city contracts to accept the municipal card as a legitimate form of identification - except in cases where other state and federal laws require other forms of proof of age, name and residence.

Under San Francisco's sanctuary ordinance, it is city policy that no municipal government personnel or resources be used to assist federal immigration officials in the arrest and deportation of illegal immigrants.

Ammiano said banking institutions in San Francisco have signaled their willingness to accept the municipal ID card for the purpose of setting up accounts. He noted that people without bank accounts are frequently more vulnerable to theft and robbery.

Officials with the city's Bank on San Francisco program, which helps people obtain bank accounts, said institutions such as Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Washington Mutual and US Bank had expressed interest in accepting the ID cards.

Bank on San Francisco is a city partnership with the Federal Reserve Bank. Although criteria for opening bank accounts are set in part through the USA Patriot Act, "to our knowledge that law is not a bar to a municipal ID," said David Augustine, spokesman for the city treasurer's office, which oversees the program.

The ID legislation, which was approved 10-1 on the first of two readings, has the support of Mayor Gavin Newsom and would make San Francisco the largest city in the country to issue municipal identification. The city of New Haven, Conn., began issuing cards earlier this year.

Ammiano said he hopes the card could eventually be used at city libraries and become compatible with the regional TransLink transit card system.

Supervisor Sean Elsbernd voted against the measure, saying his opposition was primarily financial because the city doesn't know how much implementing the program will cost. "Next year's budget is not going to be pretty," Elsbernd said. "With all the services included, this could shortchange our budget discussion."

The San Francisco County Clerk has estimated the cost of the program could range between $1.07 million and $2.86 million in the first three years, much of that for staff to process the cards.

Supporters of tougher enforcement of U.S. immigration laws argue that local identification card programs have the effect of legitimizing the decisions of people who entered or have remained in the country illegally and making it more difficult for the federal government to enforce those laws...

E-mail Wyatt Buchanan at wbuchanan@sfchronicle.com.

for complete article: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/11/14/BAB9TBP5H.DTL

thanks to Juli for informing me about this article

Helping Juan Cruz Stay Home

http://www.rte.ie/news/2003/0508/Deportation.jpg
















Immigration Prof Blog posted information on a press conference scheduled for Thursday August 9, 2007 in behalf of Juan and Tanya Cruz. Tanya is a U.S. citizen. Juan is undocumented, but has been in the U.S. since he was 4. They are about to have their first child and Juan is to be deported this week.

Will Juan Cruz get as much help as did Juan Sebastian Gomez? Does a person need to have a near perfect SAT to attract media attention?

_____
Removal of Spouse of a U.S. Citizen

PREGNANT U.S. CITIZEN WIFE TORN APART FROM HUSBAND

Broken immigration laws force young husband to leave the country weeks before his wife gives birth to their child

What: Press Conference
When: Thursday, August 9, 2007 at 12:00 PM
Where: Immigrant Legal Resource Center
1663 Mission Street, Ste. 602
San Francisco, CA 94103

San Francisco, CA – August 7, 2007 – This should be a joyful and exciting time for U.S. citizen Tanya Cruz’ young family. Tanya and her husband, Juan, will be having a baby in less than five weeks. Unfortunately, instead of spending this last month shopping for baby clothes and decorating their baby’s nursery, Tanya and Juan will spend it separated, each in a different country, divided by a broken immigration system that allows families like this one to be torn apart.

...Juan...was brought to the United States from Mexico by his parents when he was four years old. The couple is applying to obtain permission for Juan to immigrate legally as the spouse of a U.S. citizen. However, Juan’s parents had previously filed an application for themselves and Juan based on bad legal advice from an attorney who has since withdrawn from the Bar. When this application failed, Juan and his parents were given until August 13 to voluntarily leave the country. Juan will leave the United States on August 9, exactly one month before his wife’s September 9 due date, in order to have time to drive to Mexico. During his baby’s first months of life, Juan will be in Ciudad Juarez waiting to get an interview at the U.S. Consulate so that he can return to the U.S. The family has been told that the process can take longer than six months.


For complete post:

http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/immigration/2007/08/removal-of-spou.html