Avoid the beach

There have not been any updates in the case of Satendar Singh, but a new, similar case has come to light. A San Francisco businessman, who happened to be an East Indian immigrant, was beaten at Lake Tahoe, also on a beach. Fortunately, this case had a slightly better ending: The couple who allegedly beat the unnamed man have been arrested, and the man survived the attack.

Joseph Frank Silva, 53, and his wife, 49-year-old Georgia Ruth Silva, were charged this week in El Dorado County Superior Court with misdemeanor hate crime charges after the July 14 attack left a man with broken bones in his face.

Joseph Silva also pleaded not guilty to a charge of felony assault.

“I don’t remember any case like this, and I have been in this office for over 20 years,” said Peter O’Hara, the El Dorado County deputy district attorney handling the case. “We are taking it very seriously up here.”

The victim is described as a San Francisco executive in his mid-30s, a U.S. citizen who immigrated from India, his attorney, Edwin Prather said. Prather and authorities have not released his name.

The fight broke out at a beach when the Silvas shouted racial slurs at the man’s fiancee and her cousin, who also are of East Indian heritage, Prather said. When the man confronted them, the Silvas knocked him down and kicked him the face, O’Hara said. [Full story]

While racism, homophobia, and anti-Semitism are more common than many would believe in this area of California, it’s seems like it’s been several years since it was so blatant, so frequent and so ignored. These cases are almost becoming commonplace. So little has been said about Satendar’s death outside of anti-racist and gay rights circles, and it’s been nearly a month since the Tahoe beating and we’re just now hearing about it.

I remember how upset and horrified people were when three synagogues in Sacramento were firebombed in 1999. The Sacramento newspaper even printed placards people could hang in windows to show support, and several community groups worked together to raise money to rebuild them. I wonder if people would care now.

Modern-day sundown town?

What’s the proper response when a black family moves into your upscale white neighborhood?

If you just answered, “Break into and vandalize their home, steal their car and spray paint racial slurs on their siding,” then the Brentwood police department is looking for you.

An African American family’s Brentwood home was broken into and sprayed-painted with racial epithets in what police are investigating as a possible hate crime, authorities said Thursday.

At least one person went through the home on the 500 block of Douglas Drive where Izear and Sikwayi Golden live, cutting open sofas, scratching electronic devices and using black spray paint to write messages such as “get out,” “eat s-” and a racial epithet on the furniture and walls, police said. A picture of the couple was also defaced with spray paint.

The intruders took $5,000 in cash, rings and the family’s charcoal gray 2007 Nissan Armada sport utility vehicle during the incident Wednesday, authorities said. [Full story]

There is good news, though. The chief of police and the mayor have spoken out publically about the crime, calling it a hate crime. Hopefully they are investigating the case as diligently in private as they claim to be in public.

The first rule of [Political Party] club is don’t talk about [Political Party] club

Why is it assumed that anyone who supports anti-sexist or anti-racist work is a liberal/Democrat (and no, I don’t consider the two terms interchangeable)?

I’m seeing a lot of “liberals tear down their own” sentiments over in the Trainwreck Thread Which Shall Not Be Named,* but the discussion is about racism. I’m not seeing how calling something racist makes someone either a liberal or traitor to liberalism; is there some rule that conservatives can’t speak out against racism?

And on another note, keeping silent because someone is “on your side” is more hypocritical than speaking up. It’s not about taking sides. The whole “don’t snitch” policy certain people (liberal, conservative, neo-con, Democrat or Republican) seem to have is such bullshit. You should hold your allies to higher standards than your enemies.

You know the whole “a real friend tells you when you have something in your teeth” thing? I’d much rather my friends and allies called me out when I said something asinine than let me look like a fool. I expect them to, and when they do, I try to take a step back and consider what they say instead of getting defensive, because I know they’re doing it because they care.

So I really just don’t get the accusations that people are trying to tear someone down or kill their joy by pointing out a problem. Wouldn’t you rather your friends caught it first and gave you a heads up then let it get out to the people who would use it against you?

* I’m not trying to be coy. I just don’t have the time or energy right now to get into a “No, you’re a stupidhead!” argument when I’m not really interested in discussing the event or person in question. I’m just curious as to why someone is always assumed to be a liberal or Democrat if they are anti-racist or anti-sexist, and I’m curious about how people feel about the whole “Fight Club” phenomenon.