マウンテンビューアメリカ合衆国カリフォルニア州サンタクララ郡内にある都市についての記事である。
Hate crime, vandalism worry Mountain View leaders
By Jessie Mangaliman
Mercury News
Posted: 01/21/2009 03:33:28 PM PST
A spate of seemingly unrelated incidents in Mountain View — a vandalized school sign; middle school students chased down a street by BB gun wielding teens; a neighbor unhappy about Latino day laborers; and more recently, an e-mail peppered with racial insults directed at the new mayor — has rattled officials and leaders of a city that views itself as a model of
Days before she was sworn in to office, Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga, the city's first Asian-American female mayor, received e-mail through her public City Hall address. "I can't believe this city elected a stupid Asian-American like you," Abe-Koga quoted from the unsigned e-mail, which went on to blame undocumented immigrants for the country's economic woes.
"It didn't surprise me," said the Harvard University graduate Abe-Koga. "But I was angry."
The day she took office Jan. 6, Abe-Koga, 38, condemned the recent incidents that occurred weeks apart late last year, and referred to the e-mail she received.
"To remain silent was something I couldn't do," Abe-Koga said. "This is not what we're about. We need to come together."
Abe-Koga has joined a growing chorus of city leaders and community groups who say the incidents may be isolated, but a forceful, vocal response is the best defense against a worrisome trend that "something is brewing" in Mountain View.
"It's happening to middle school students. It's happening to the mayor," said Oscar
・・・・・
The first incident was reported the day after the November election. Garcia's wife was driving past an empty lot festooned with all sorts of candidate campaign signs. One sign stood out. "No More Aliens" was stenciled in red across a Spanish sign about school registration.
"To me it was a deliberate attempt to intimidate the Latino community," Garcia said. "To me, the message was, 'Anyone who speaks Spanish, you're not welcome here.' "
Also sometime in November, day laborers at the Mountain View Day Worker Center's old office on Escuela Avenue were confronted and reportedly intimidated by an apparently disgruntled neighbor unhappy about the immigrant workers.
"There's a lot fear," said Maria Marroquin, executive director the day worker center, which is now located near downtown Mountain View. "There's a lot of ignorance."
On Dec. 5, three white teens, ages 14 and 15, were arrested by police and charged with hate crimes, making criminal threats, brandishing a replica firearm and conspiracy to commit a felony. One of the 15-year-olds was also charged with possession of marijuana. The cases are pending in juvenile court and the identities of the teens were not released by police.
According to police, four 11-year-old Latino students were walking home from school. As they walked, the teens shouted racial comments from the open window of a house and threatened to kill the students. Then the teens chased the students down the street.
In an interview with the Mercury News, Abe-Koga, the daughter of Japanese immigrants, disclosed another incident in December. As she and her 7-year-old daughter were walking from Castro Elementary School, a group of Latino boys began talking. She said she realized later that the boys were doing a racial taunt, speaking mock Chinese.
"I just felt sadness," she said. "Maybe there's no connection between these incidents, but I want people to be aware of this problem."
mercurynews
安倍古賀さんという日系アメリカ人が市長になったのはいいが、「おめえみたいななあほだらなアジア人が市長に選ばれる信じられんぜ」というメールがきたり、No More Alien外国人はもうたくさん！！！という落書きがあったり、ラティーノの日雇い労働者に対する憎悪犯罪があったり、脅迫されたり、などなどの事件が相次いで、市の指導者たちは事態を懸念している、とのことです。
Martin Luther King Jr. monument defaced in Mansfield
MANSFIELD — Vandals defaced the Martin Luther King Jr. monument and statue in Central Park sometime during the night, painting a swastiska and the words “White Power” across the monument
http://www.newarkadvocate.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200990119020
http://s03.megalodon.jp/2009-0125-2258-25/www.newarkadvocate.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200990119020
でこっちは、マンスフィールドって、オハイオなんでしょうかね。あのI have a dreamのキング牧師の像にハーケンクロイツ・スワスティカなどのいたずら書きがされた、ということです。
で、これは、Video WTF Baker In N Y Selling Racist Cookies In Honor Of Barack Obama Drunken Negro Heads 酔っぱらいニグロクッキーというお菓子を作っているパン屋さん。オバマさんが大統領になって以降の話ですｌ。
で、こちらは、ABC放送の番組Confronting Racism
米国でのラティーノはよく食べ物屋などで、サービスを拒否される、という。
で、役者さんを使って、そういったサービス拒否された場合のそのお店に居合わせたお客さんの反応を隠し撮りしている番組。
おもしろいのは、この番組をみて、ラティーノと言われる人種が、こういう肌の色の感じなのか、というイメージがようやくわかった。もっとも、例えば、店員役を演じているひととあまり区別できないが・・・・
てめえ、英語しゃべれないんなら、金もってても駄目なんだよ、出て行け、この犯罪者野郎、といったような店員に同調する顧客もいれば、しかし、俄然とこうした理不尽な店員の対応に憤る顧客もいる。
（英語しゃべらなければぶっ殺すなどヘイトクライム参照）
これほど理不尽な店員に憤る顧客も多い、ということに米国の正義を感じるとともに、こうしたサービス拒否が普通のお店で日常に存在しながら、日本にきて、自国の横行する日常の人種差別は黙認し、欧米を美化し、日本・日本人を罵倒する一部欧米人の傲慢さ・欧米優越意識にはあきれるしかない。
