Week of May 11, 2006

For an updated East End Report click here

In this week's report: [ click on any of the bold headers below ]

Hate Crime Wave?

Letter to Southampton Press Editor

Letter to Newsday: Know Nothing Revival

Counter Recruiting in Bellport: A Father's Account

LIPC's Huntington Chapter Scores Victory for Free Speech

Peace & Justice Calendar


Suffolk Peace Vigils

Alternative Media for Eastern LI - Starting April 1

Support Independent Media: WUSB and WPKN/WPKM need your support.
Go to wpkn(dot)org and wusb(dot)fm contribute on line.

Democracy Now! with Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez: Monday- Saturday on Riverhead/Southampton/Southold Channel 20.

Monday 10pm
Tuesday 9 pm
Wednesday 6am
Thursday 5pm
Friday 7pm
Saturday 8pm - this week Stephen Colbert confronts W and redefines 'Chutzpah'

See the North Fork People of Conscience web site

Also see the Suffolk Progressive Vision web site for links to more local events.

The East End Report is compiled by Tony Ernst.

Send comments, corrections and event listings to eastendreport@yahoo.com

Hate Crime Wave?

East Hampton:

Long Island Progressives Call for Hate Crimes Investigation

The April 29 attack on two Latino youths by their fellow student should be the subject of an investigation by the Suffolk County Police Hate Crimes Unit. That was the subject of a letter sent by the South Fork Chapter of the Long Island Progressive Coalition to the East Hampton Star on Wednesday, May 10.

At a meeting last week with parents at the East Hampton High School, East Hampton Town Police Chief Todd Sarris stated that the 15 year old boy arrested for reckless endangerment in the attack with a machete and a running chain saw while screaming racist epithets could not be charged with a hate crime because of his age.

When queried, the State Attorney General's Office said that the law does not prevent the charge of a hate crime because of the suspect's age.

The LIPC also is asking why the County Hate Crimes Unit has not been used in investigating this type of case in the east end towns. The Suffolk County Police unit has been successful in cases such as the attack on a family in their home in Farmingville.


Parents to meet Monday at EHHS at 4pm.

Concerned parents of students at East Hampton High School where the victims and the perpetrator of the racist attack are fellow students have met last week to voice their concerns. They plan a follow up meeting at the High School at 4 pm on Monday, May 15.

Southampton:

Attacked by Taxi and Driver.


Last Friday's attack on a day laborer in front of the Southampton 7-11(*) is just the type of incident proponents of a hiring center for workers have been fearing and one of the reasons for establishing such a center. The assailant used his taxi to hit the victim.

The victim actually is not an immigrant but a descendant of Native Americans and Mexicans. This was obviously a hate crime and is being treated as such by police.

The use of the specialized hate crimes unit maintained by the County would seem to be in order here as well.

(*) see Newsday, May 6
 

Letter to Southampton Press Editor

Dear Mr Shaw:

Your articles in recent weeks about day laborers and a proposed hiring site for Southampton have, in my opinion, been misleading in that they seem to say that the viewpoint of the Minutemen is shared widely by residents of the town.

Gavin Menu's article last week on Tim Bishop's meeting in Amagansett did not say that the
opposition voiced came from members of the Minutemen, former Sachem Quality of Life people who have been following Bishop from meeting to meeting over the last few years.

They are not Southampton.

The attached article shows the true nature of the Minutemen movement. I suggest you show this to all your reporters.

Tony Ernst

__________________________________________

Hate groups on the rise.
© Indian Country Today May 04, 2006. All Rights
Reserved
Posted: May 04, 2006

TUCSON, Ariz. - The Southern Poverty Law Center said the leader of the anti-immigration group Border Guardians has secretly urged the nation's largest neo-Nazi group of white supremacists to launch a campaign of violence against undocumented workers.

The Southern Poverty Law Center released the Intelligence Report on hate groups, which states that Laine Lawless of the Border Guardians has called for violence against undocumented workers.

Lawless sent an e-mail dated April 3, to Mark Martin, SS commander of the Western Ohio unit of the National Socialist Movement, according to Susy Buchanan and David Holthouse of the Intelligence Report.

Lawless' e-mail was titled, ''How to GET RID OF THEM!''

''Maybe some of your warriors for the race would be the kind of people willing to implement some of these ideas,'' Lawless said. ............

complete article is at:

http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/


_________________________________________

LIPC's Huntington Chapter Scores a Victory For Free Speech *

Faced with cancelling their forums on controversial topics or signing up for a million dollar liability policy at increased rates, the Long Island Progressive Coalition's Huntington Chapter, decided to sue the Huntington Public Library. The Library folded when faced with the suit prepared by lawyers from the Suffolk New York Civil Liberties Union. The victory of the Huntington chapter of the Long Island Progressive Coalition can be cloned according to Marc Klein of the Huntington LIPC. In a conversation with our reporter, Klein suggested that organizations across Long Island who are unable to use publicly funded facilities for their meetings could use the work of the lawyers who prepared to sue the Huntington Library. Contact the LIPC at 516-541-1006 ext 11 for more information.

* Excerpted from the Long Island Progressive Coalition newsletter "LI Action" for April, 2006:

by Marc Klein, Huntington Chapter, Long Island Progressive Coalition

It could be observed that after a 9 month conflict, the Suffolk NY Civil Liberties Union , on behalf of the Long Island Progressive Coalition, was days away from filing a lawsuit in Federal Court against the Huntington Public Library, when the library retracted its policy of banning groups wishing to meet in its facility unless the groups had a $1,000,000 liability policy; thus freedom of assembly and speech were restored.

Unfortunately, it's not that simple. The battle for access to taxpayer supported facilities is just beginning and the public's understanding and help are essential if arbitrary policies barring free speech are to be successfully exposed and challenged.

What happened in Huntington? In September of 2002, the Huntington Chapter of LIPC applied for use of the library to conduct a debate concerning the Israel-Palestinian conflict. The Huntington Library's director rejected the application, labeling the LIPC a 'partisan organization' and thus not entitled to access. The chapter ... notified the Presdent of the library's Board of Trustees that the director was erroneously maintaining that the right of free speech is dependent on the source of the speech .... and in violation of the .. spirit and letter of the first ammendment. ... members of the chapter and a Suffolk NY Civil Liberties Union attorney met with the director, who reversed her decision and permitted the debate to go forward.

Thereby began a two and one half yar monthly series of forums entitled "Patriot Games", dealing with the war on terrorism ... causes and consequences and issues of democracy and social justice.

[ the forums continued but the Library required that the Chapter have $1,000,000 in liability insurance. The Chapter, although they had the insurance, protested and the forums continued until the insurance policy ran out. Renewal would have been at an increased premium.]

The Library denied the request [to continue without the insurance] and thereby put and end to the monthly series of "Patriot Games".

The chapter staged a number of protests, maintaining that usage of public building, built for the public, with public funds, and with public meeting rooms, was protected by the first amendment and that the library could not vitiate the chapter's civil liberties and that freedom of speech could not be predicated on the ability to purchase insurance and that usage must be made available to the public equitably on a first-come first-serve basis and not be dependent on the wealth of a group or its connections. In short, neither the library nor its insurance carrier could erase first amendment protections or crate a usage-charge reminiscent of a voting "poll tax".

The library board remained unmoved by public protestations till the Suffolk NY Civil Liberties Union informed it that the LIPC was about to file a compaint in Federal Court. ... shortly after the .. Board of Trustees...officially rescinded it liability policy.

... Yet the problem is not over. Other Nassau and Suffolk public venues are denying or making it difficult for groups to assemble and speak. If you have had a problem obtaining public space, notify the LIPC. ... "

The Patriot Games Forums are scheduled monthly. They are at the Library at 338 Main St. (Route 25A) in Huntington Village.

Contact Marc Klein at playfair6@aol.com

Letter to Newsday: Know Nothing Revival

To the editor:

To hear Peter King lard on Irishness as if he were a hot buttered bun, saying he will outlaw singing the National Anthem in anything but English is richly ironic.

England outlawed the speaking of Irish. The British tune of our anthem became a drinking song in Ireland. So while Irish lads, the brave and the free, speaking only English, were being bombarded at Ft. McHenry, Francis Scott Key, ardent opponent to the War of 1812, set his patriotic words to a bowdlerized English tune desecrated by Irishmen. No doubt Peter King would have bellowed for a law against an anti-war opponent writing our national anthem.

It really didn't become a popular song until the Civil War, when The Order of the Star Spangled Banner brought it some notoriety. The OSSB was an oath-bound secret society in NYC. It was created in 1848 by Charles Allen to protest the rise of Irish Catholic and German immigration to the United States . In order to join the Order, a man had to be a Protestant, a believer in God, and willing to obey the Order's dictates without question. Members responded to questions about the OSSB by claiming that they "knew nothing." So Horace Greeley labeled them "Know-Nothings." The OSSB would eventually form the nucleus of the nativist American Party.

Peter King might be proud reviving Know-Nothingism, but nobody tell King he can hear the National Anthem sung in Irish on the internet, the silly will become apoplectic.

Michael O'Neill

----------------------------
Michael O'Neill is the chair of the East Hampton Town Anti-Bias Task Force. He can be reached at leoneill@optonline.net

Counter Recruiting in Bellport: A Father's Account

My name is Richard Morgan. Last Wednesday May 3rd my son John
who is 15, an A-student, a track runner, a Star Boy Scout, and a person
on the autistic spectrum who thankfully over the years has made
tremendous progress gave a talk to the South Country School District
Board of Education at Brookhaven Elementary school.

... There were about 100 parents students and faculty and administrators in attendance.
What I thought was neat was that John wrote the speech in a couple of days,
and that after he gave it you could see the jaws drop on the school board members-
as John was on target on the various issues re: recruiting in schools- he said of things he's
seen- like the his high school running short of mouse pads- so the computer stations
get mouse pads saying "go Navy", teachers having calendars distributed to them that
glamorize military service, the Guidance Office having military brochures all around,
ditto the library, military recruiters last fall parading in Bellport with the football
team throwing footballs saying "Go Army" and the administrators think this is ok etc.

After the speech 1/2 of the audience applauded and 1/2 didnt mirroring the red/blue
divisions in our elections and nation.

..... as John and I were leaving, the President of the local ambulance company confronted me
as we left and told me, up against the wall in the school hallway, away from witnesses and out
of earshot of John that what John said was a disgrace and I was a disgrace for driving him
there to say it. This same individual is running for the school board in next week's election.
I thanked this person for his input and John and I left. I of course forwarded my version
of this incident to the District Superintendent and all the South Country School Board
members for their review.


Also (Monday night, May 8) there were about 30 activists including John on the grounds
of Old South Haven Presbyterian Church- we got their church council's ok to use their
property for the demonstration simultaneously with "College Night" at Bellport High School
where 100 colleges and numerous military recruiters are present.

In spite of the intervention of the NYCLU, who were most helpful the school district was
adamant prohibiting us access to the school to distribute military opt out forms, pictures
of returning wounded vets etc.

John is revered very much by local "peacesters". All of us are very proud of him.

Sincerely, Richard Morgan