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Posted on 05/04/2006 6:09:04 PM PDT by sionnsar
Is this a Seattle that looks familiar to you, or does it feel foreign?
In the University District, two white men yell, "Look at the chinks!" from a balcony and spit at two young Asian Americans.
In Fremont, a white man in a pickup truck drives by an African American cab driver, yells out an obscenity and then comes back flashing a gun.
In Belltown, near the Space Needle, a Hispanic man rams his vehicle into a car containing two young South Asian men, referring to them as "Arabs."
In Pioneer Square, a man approaches another man standing at a bus stop and hits him after saying, "This is a gay bashing day!"
These and other incidents like them show up more than 400 times over a five-year period in reports obtained from the Seattle Police Department by Ken Molsberry, a computer systems and data analyst for the Seattle City Attorney's Office. Today, in partnership with the Seattle LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) Community Center, Molsberry is releasing the information in a report, "Bias Crimes and Incidents in Seattle: 2000 to 2005: An analysis by type of bias and neighborhood."
The purpose of the study, Molsberry wrote, is to "dispel the misconception that there is any neighborhood in Seattle in which bias attacks are not a problem."
Although he is an employee of the city, he made public disclosure requests and analyzed the findings as a private citizen. Along the way, he partnered with Kristina Armenakis, coordinator of the Hate Crime Awareness Project -- a partnership of the Seattle LGBT Community Center & Safe Schools Coalition. She edited the report and copied and distributed it.
"Knowing about a problem is the first step in solving it," Molsberry wrote in the study. "And while local law enforcement is well aware of the problem -- and the pattern -- of bias attacks in Seattle, citizens generally are not."
Molsberry found 403 bias-motivated attacks throughout the city -- including verbal and physical threats or harm based on protected classifications such as race, religion, sexual orientation and national origin. Such incidents included graffiti, threatening phone calls and racial slurs -- anything that rose to the level prompting a call to the police. His report does not break down which races were targeted the most.
"Unfortunately, as a society we are still dealing with bias-based incidents. Every major city in the country grapples with it, and Seattle's no different," said Marty McOmber, spokesman for Mayor Greg Nickels. "The city and the police take it very seriously. There's no excuse for hate crimes in this city."
The two biggest motivators for attacks, according to the report, were race (142 incidents) and sexual orientation (119 incidents). Other biases, in decreasing order, included religion, national origin, political ideology and gender identity.
Sgt. Deanna Nollette of the Seattle Police Department's media relations department verified the accuracy of the raw data obtained by Molsberry, but cautioned that the numbers may skew "artificially high due to the reporting system."
That system, she said, accounts for all reports of bias-motivated attacks that may or may not lead to actual criminal charges. The police data include a field that elaborates on the incident and makes it clear that at least the perception of bias was present.
Rob Jacobs, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, said even if something doesn't rise to the level of a bias crime, it still can have a detrimental effect. He said, "Getting a phone call from somebody you don't know who says something incredibly racist ... all of a sudden that sense of security completely disappears."
Jacobs said his office received 212 calls last year complaining of some kind of discrimination in Seattle.
If anything, Molsberry said, the numbers of calls to the police could be on the low side because of underreporting, a problem echoed by community leaders. Fear of retribution, language barriers and mistrust of authority were all factors they mentioned that could prevent victims from coming forward.
The raw police data categorized the incidents by precinct, but Molsberry broke down the incidents by neighborhoods based on maps used by Seattle's Department of Neighborhoods, the City Neighborhood Council and the Police Department. He found the area with the highest number of attacks to be the First Hill/Capitol Hill and Eastlake area, with 76 over that five-year period. That area had the highest number of attacks based on race and sexual orientation, but no neighborhood was immune from incidents.
Such an obvious (not to mention easy) thing to do --along with which races did the targeting-- you know the answer will be very unpolitically-correct.
But I thought that people in blue states were tolerant and enlightened? Certainly moreso than troglodyte red-staters such as m'self?</p>
The fruit loops have used our white on black guilt to disarm us and push for their selfish and sickening goals.
"ATHIMA CHANSANCHAI"
Now there's a monicker. Why don't we just call this joker "Commissar Crap" for short. I really liked the throw in about hispanics harassing Muslims. Otherwise it's back to white guys as the chief enemy of this parallel universe the commies inhabit.
Politically correct BS articles like this. I can only read about half way through before I stop before I barf.
These articles always have the same agenda:
Race card pulling
overexagerating levels of racism in this country
creating evidence to pander for more hate crime legislation
Blaming the majority of it on white people
Its all part of the liberal agenda to push a affirmative action agenda to keep people thinking democrats are looking out for their best interests.
These liberal idiots want to experience real racism? Try spending some time in Europe.
I love when they call them selves the "Reality Based Community". What community that is escapes me because as far as I can tell, they are about as close to reality as the Twilight Zone is to reality TV.
And they talk about us rednecks.
Liberals are the BIGGEST RACISTS! And Seattle is a LIBERAL town.
This report is such a piece of BS.
So, there is a wave of crime in seattle cause by white males? No crime by African-Americans, hispanics or asians?
Bias Crime? Is that like a misdemeanor version of a hate crime? I liked the good old days when crime was just crime.
The author probably meant 'brandishing a weapon', something that isn't done where I live. Any decent, normal person knows that others should only become aware that you armed when you begin shooting them.
400 times in 5 years!!! Break out the riot guns, Martha, the natives have gone nuts!
This is so stupid. What they are saying is about 80 times a year something happens (in an area of 2 million people) that offends someone. Whoopie.
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