Ithacans vent outrage (over alleged hate crime), seek justice at meeting

Ithaca Journal ^ | Saturday, July 13, 2002 | By KANDEA MOSLEY

[Behind Liberal Lines]

ITHACA -- Outrage, frustration and a desire for justice united those at an emergency meeting held Friday, to discuss a racially charged assault reported earlier this week.

About 75 local residents gathered at the Southside Community Center to learn how they could support the victim and get their questions about the handling of the case addressed. Several city and county officials were in attendance.

[Behind Liberal Lines]

Both the Ithaca Journal editorial staff and uber liberal Assemblyman Martin Luster chime in on issue today, argue against scape-goating and plead for calm in the community.

Of course, this being Ithaca, they don't, however, defend the manager of the grocery store who is being unfairly targeted even though he called the police in the first place. Instead they defend the Democrat Judge who let the attackers go without bail as in essence a "good liberal."

Ithaca is the City of Evil.

[NativeNewYorker]

Ithaca is at/near/through the tipping point where its primary employer, Cornell, will not be able to attract/retain star faculty for want of a decent quality-of-life community.

As it is, the stars concentrate in/near urban areas: NY/Boston/SF and their satellites of Princeton, New Haven, San Jose.

With Ithaca two hours from...Roscoe...what promising academic will want to live in bucolic isolation in the City of Evil?

[nicmarlo]

I will be moving to NY next week, and not too far from there. I have, long ago decided, I will not look for a job in Ithaca.....not for a million dollars.

[Behind Liberal Lines]

At the latest meeting about this case:

One (white) person blamed this attack on the fact that "There is no way to grow up white, and not be racist";
The director of the Finger Lakes Independence Center, said he was "deeply upset that individuals charged with violent crimes could be released from jail before trial (so much for innocent until proven guilty).
The Police Chief indicated that hiring more "Officers of Color" will prevent hate crimes
Others said they thought if the attackers had been black, the defendants would have been lynched.(barf)

Meanwhile, on the editorial page, a member of the City Council, has a self-rightous letter, full of references to Pontius Pilate, Adolph Hitler and Martin Luther King on this topic, essentially excoriating some of her fellow liberals for not being liberal enough.

Ithaca is the City of Evil.

[mafree]

Bump- thanks for the report.

[Behind Liberal Lines]

Some friends and family deny the attackers were racist in today's paper

It appears that one of them even has a bi-racial daughter with an African American father.

Things are never as simple as they first appear are they?

Despite this news, the police chief responds:"We're not charging them with being racists, we're charging them with a hate crime...We're charging them with something that's measureable, quantifiable and provable"

Really?

Ithaca is the City of Evil.

[Khepera]

We're charging them with something that's measureable, quantifiable and provable"

Because we said so, so there!

[nicmarlo]

Morris called the women "poor, white-trash ho's," Swansbrough said.

In her statement to police and in a previous interview with The Journal, Morris denied using racially charged language against her alleged attackers.

Let's see if I got this right. A white woman says "nigger," and that's a racil/hate crime. But the black woman said "poor, white-trash ho's," and that's not. Both women deny saying these things but only the black woman is believed.

Incredible.

[general_re]

We're charging them with something that's measureable, quantifiable and provable

They can measure, quantify and prove thoughtcrime in the City of Evil? How...Orwellian.

Remember, citizen - the City of Evil is at war with Eastasia. The City of Evil has always been at war with Eastasia...

[mafree]

This whole thing could be more than what it appears to be but being in an interracial relationship does not grant one automatic immunity from prejudice. That goes for all races.

[Behind Liberal Lines]

This whole thing could be more than what it appears to be but being in an interracial relationship does not grant one automatic immunity from prejudice. That goes for all races.

That's true.

But it does give the case more "shades" than the media (and the police) seemed to want to give it.

It also makes me wonder: was the woman in question doing that "thing" where she thinks she is "street" now and so she used "the N word" in the way that, for instance, rappers do?

I don't know. It's just something to ponder.

The scary thing is, as noted before, not that you and I can ponder on this, but that the police chief feels so confident that she knows what was in the woman's mind.

[mafree]

It also makes me wonder: was the woman in question doing that "thing" where she thinks she is "street" now and so she used "the N word" in the way that, for instance, rappers do?

A reason why I question the validity of using hate crime laws over what people say to each other in the course of an incident.

[Behind Liberal Lines]

exactly.

[Behind Liberal Lines]

Two letters to editor in today's paper about this.

The first letter assumes the attackers are guilty, and opines that this shows that whites in Ithaca are "complacent" about racial hate.

The second letter questions previous assertions that "people of color routinely get held on bail even for minor offenses" and takes the paper for task for printing this allegation without researching whether it is true. The second letter also questions the logic in boycotting a grocery store simply because its video equipment was not working.

The second letter is from an out of towner. The first is, of course, from an Ithacite.

Ithaca is the City of Evil.

(To order "Ithaca is the City of Evil" merchandise, courtesy of FREEPER "the," Click Here).

(And to order "Ithaca is the City of Evil" bumper stickers [and support Free Republic],Click Here and enter "Evil" as a your keyword.)

[Clara Lou]

Thanks for the update on this. I read both letters. I'd like to shake David Betsy's hand, just because he has common sense and the courage to express it.
I'd love to purchasse one of your bumper stickers, but people would be asking me where Ithaca, Texas, is. ;-)

[Behind Liberal Lines]

I'd love to purchasse one of your bumper stickers, but people would be asking me where Ithaca, Texas, is. ;-)

There are enough Cornell alums in Texas (and everywhere else) that you'd be okay. Trust me.

[NativeNewYorker]

Has it gone so far that GROTON is now considered "out of town"?

[Behind Liberal Lines]

Has it gone so far that GROTON is now considered "out of town"?

Ithacites consider pretty much anything in the area not in the Town of Ithaca and certain parts of Lansing to be "unenlightened."

My point is that Groton still has a semblance of small town sanity left.

[NativeNewYorker]

I guess I've been away so long....

Groton was a typewriter factory enclave. And nearby Peruville was a little slice of rural West Virgnia.

Sounds like Tompkins County now resembles Greater Washington DC:

One large institutional employer, a seedy downtown, a "young peoples'" neighborhood, patches of suburbia, and some remaining rural hinterlands.

[Behind Liberal Lines]

Sounds like Tompkins County now resembles Greater Washington DC: One large institutional employer, a seedy downtown, a "young peoples'" neighborhood, patches of suburbia, and some remaining rural hinterlands.

And both are out of touch with mainstream America.