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News & ArtsTuesday, April 21, 2009
Crime Police Investigating Possible Hate Crime Attacks Against Real Change Vendors
Posted by Jonah Spangenthal-Lee on Tue, Apr 21, 2009 at 4:41 PM
Real Change newspaper vendors are being warned to “watch their backs” by the paper’s management after two African-American vendors were apparently targeted in racist attacks in the last two months.
According to a police report, on March 31st, a 52-year-old Real Change vendor—who is black—was finishing his newspaper sales shift at 4th and Virginia when he was grabbed by two men wearing ski masks and pulled into an alley.
The report says the masked men began kicking and punching the vendor, knocking him into a concrete wall. The vendor told police that during the attack, one of the masked men told him "this is what you get for fucking with a white man." The report notes that the masked men made no attempt to rob the vendor.
The vendor punched one of his attackers and fled, flagging down a patrol officer, who sped off in search of the masked men. The vendor did not wait around for police to return and take a report and left the scene. The next day, the report says, the vendor awoke with "extreme pain" in his neck and sought medical treatment. Doctors found that the man had sustained a "chipped vertebrae" in his neck during the attack. The vendor had to be put in a neck brace and put on leave from work for several weeks. He later informed police of the attack.
Police interviewed Real Change staff, who told officers that a white employee had made statements that he was angry that the 52-year-old vendor had been promoted within Real Change and planned to “put a hit out on him.”
According to the police report, "it is common knowledge of Real Change members that the [white employee] is a member of the Aryan Brotherhood based in the Ballard area and has previously yelled racial slurs at the [52-year-old vendor].”
According to Real Change Executive Director Tim Harris, there’s been racial tension “within a small circle” of Real Change’s 350 vendors. About a month ago, Harris says, another African-American Real Change vendor was attacked in West Seattle. According to Harris, the vendor sustained laceration and a broken finger. “In both incidents,” Harris says, “no money was taken, no papers were taken [and] white pride was expressed. Two incidents don’t make a pattern but it’s very concerning.”
Real Change has fired the white vendor accused of using racial slurs and, Harris says, “We have had a couple of meetings with our vendors…of color to let them know this is going on. We’ve never seen anything like this before. We’ve never seen this level of violence.”
Sad, though if whites are so superior how the hell did a 52 year old black man with a broken neck get away from 2 masked men? What a pathetic attack, racism fail.
White pride? Yeah, sweet, as a RealChange "vendor" (or people acting on behalf of one) they're really adding to the illustrious contributions of our race. What the hell is it with 'White pride' folks that they're so devoid of any other form of pride that they finally take refuge in the color of their skin?
Perhaps it's not a question of race but, rather, a question of cowardice and hatred.
Speaking of cowardice and hatred... where's an anonymous white-pride pundit when you need a balanced view?
I work near a food bank, and a lot of street people hang out there, and I hear some of the old white men talking racist trash all the time. "They gave my house to the damn niggers" is the regular song of one of them.
If anything, they were just being effective, presuming that their goal was to a) beat the guy up and b) not get caught. Having two guys certainly hedges their bets on beating the guy up, and wearing masks certainly stops them from being identified.
And you have no proof that they're xenophobes. Racist? Yeah. But I doubt that they have a 'phobia'.
I know, it's fun to call people that you don't like 'cowards,' but really, It's doubtful.
I thought maybe I didn't understand the word so I looked it up.
"characteristic of or befitting a coward; despicably mean, covert, or unprincipled: a cowardly attack on a weak, defenseless man"
i am getting to the point where i barely even read them, and hardly ever comment at all any more.
slog used to be great but i kinda hate it now. i wish there were a way to take it back.
Who said the guy was weak and defenseless? If TWO men weren't able to stop a guy with a chipped vertebrae from running off, it sounds like he wasn't entirely weak and defenseless. Starting a fight isn't cowardice.
And really, who uses the term cowardice to refer to an unprincipled act? Is shitting on the sidewalk with a mask on a cowardly act? I mean, it's covert and unprincipled, but cowardly? Not really.
Coward:"a person who lacks courage in facing danger, difficulty, opposition, pain, etc.; a timid or easily intimidated person."
Now if they had run off after the guy stood up to them, they'd be cowards. If they were too afraid to do the task at hand, they'd be cowards.
@11, I didn't mistake the two. I never called the guys courageous. It's not a question of courage vs. cowardice. It's neither.
Just don't misuse the term coward. It simply doesn't apply to these guys. Dicks? Racists? Jerks? Pathetic? Shameless? Sure. Cowards? No.
Um... English speakers. See #10.
If you want to defend masked groups of white supremacists beating on the homeless, there is nothing more i can add.
And yes, Dr. oh yeah otherwise known as 'sheer brilliance,' two white men in hoods attacking another man without provocation is definitely cowardice.
They were cowards.
Let us review the facts:
1.) They didn't attack individually, they double teamed the guy.
2.) They didn't pick somebody their own age or in peak physical condition.
Very cowardly. Only pussies attack people they perceive as weak. Therefore along with being trailer-trash, inbred, knuckle-dragging cretinous fucktards, they are cowards, pussies, losers, and all around shit-stains on humanity.
'Coward' is a fun term to throw at something you dislike because it's such a serious condemnation. When you think of cowards, you think of people who have no will, are easily controlled by fear, and who can't confront danger of any sort.
These guys don't fit that description. That's it. Cowardice is not an accurate word to throw around. It gets overused in situations like this. Just admit it, the guys didn't do something cowardly. There are a million negative adjectives you can apply to it, but 'cowardly' isn't one of them.
If you'd accused the guys of being misogynistic, and I told you you're wrong, would you accuse me of 'defending them'? No, you'd just reread the facts of the story, and admit you were wrong and be done with it. Sorry, I just can't stand it when people lump these negative connotations on people that don't fit. I know it's fun and easy, but seriously, pick a new word, 'coward' is overused in these circumstances, and it doesn't apply.
Let us review the facts-
this was a beatdown
this was not World Wrestling Federation
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