HUMBOLDT HATE CRIME LOG

Although there is widespread denial that any sort of bias exists here it is evident in the schools and I have gotten myself into some trouble with the school authorities in the past for daring to suggest that it exists. It is very common to hear racial slurs and homophobic epitaphs fired off on and off the school campuses. The extent of the problem may be partially revealed in this article in the Times Standard, a Eureka daily newspaper. This hilly area has a history of ethnocentricity dating back to the California gold rush and I believe that it has endured to this day in some segments of the local community and you can read a flyer concerning this mentality as it is applied to the poor which I have posted around town in the past.

Get off the street

The rumor mill

Sweet threats

New- (Nov. 8th, 1999)- I have not updated for a while as I was afraid, but am now because my anger and sense of duty have become stronger than that fear as I see the job of "cleaning up the streets" has been taken over by the "police" who are beating and arresting people who are on the streets with little or no cause. The M.O. is the same as criminal attacks on the homeless and disabled mentioned elsewhere in this page; vilification, harassment and then beatings and now false imprisonment and a police record with lifelong harassment as well. One man I know, who works very hard for a local auto detailer, tells me he was arrested and held for 6 days in the cold Humboldt County jail 60 or 70 miles north of here. When he was arrested he said they told him they thought he was another man, also a native American, who was wanted on drunkenness related charges and that "all Indians look alike to us, ha ha ha" Banishment is also a punishment meted out to many of the poor here without even the semblance of due process just "or else..."; nobody has less respect for the judicial system than law enforcement here and apparently elsewhere ("revolving door justice" etc., etc.). While all this continues to go on, the murder rate here has certainly become amongst the highest in the country and maybe the planet, especially when you count the many murders that are uninvestigated, ("we don't investigate hippie murders"...there have been no "hippies" to speak of here in 20 years, since dope production became big business), and murders considered to be accidental or suicidal overdoses. In the past police have been implicated in the drug business here including one retired CHP officer busted for a large, commercial operation a few years ago, a Mr. Bell I think his name was, but mostly seem to be involved as sort of legal bribe takers; most of the "known" dope growers seem to sport "California Sheriffs Assc." bumper stickers on their work vehicles. Another telling example is the case of the Beebes and associates and the Phillipsville motocross track. This track existed next to a grove of protected, endangered, Redwoods and was shut down due to the activities of local "environmentalists", after which unknown arsonists set fire to buildings in the park, the redwood grove. In short order the people connected with the track were raided in their rural pot growing operation which included people involved in local politics and other "community leaders". The police seemed to know but left them alone until forced to take action, preferring to harass the weakest members of the area, generally the most honest instead.

One CHP officer has the worst reputation for blatant abuse, a Mr. Anderson, (who is reputed to have failed a drug test for meth but got off on a "technicality", and another officer with the Humboldt County Sheriff's department, a Sgt. Blood is fast gaining a reputation for hair-trigger brutality. I would like to point out that while these weaker members of our culture are being held accountable for every small detail of their life by the "authorities" the United Nations has stated that a major cause of the United States being one of the top human rights abusers on earth now is almost total lack of police accountability, and new laws enacted in California give a greater mandatory sentance for killing a police officer than for killing a child or your grandmother which puts police even further above the law. One reason sited by many for these priorities is the vulnerability of the dope growers and meth lab operators to theft; many of the bodies found are generally thought to be those of "rip-offs" and hence all poor people are feared and despised in this day and age of massive impoverishment and denial.

New- November 25th 1999-

Yesterday was Thanksgiving. Yesterday another body was discovered. This one was discovered about 300 yards from where I live, in the loading dock at the Redway post office. The body was that of a young homeless man nick-named Zach, Christopher Joseph Bainter, 34, who was beaten to death while in his sleeping bag, according to witnesses and evidence, by teen aged rat-packers, one of whom has been arrested. Although these kids have committed an atrocious crime I still feel the blame rests, ultimately with the culture of money and violence that has condemned the homeless and caused them to believe that these (materially) less fortunate people are fair game and that they can do anything they want to "clean up the streets"...You can read the first report in the Eureka Times Standard, the next from 11/29/99, the third from 11/30/99 and see the article in the Independent as a jpeg image which I scanned at 100 Kbytes.

As of a couple of days ago another teenager, 17, has turned himself in and is in custody. It has also been alleged that a Christmas tree stolen from in front of the grocery store next door was the final weapon used to bludgeon this man to death as he lay sleeping in his sleeping bag and that the beating lasted for a while as these kids went back and forth to the party to brag about the progress of the beating. I would like to note again my personal opinion here which is that these kids have been taught this behavior by the leaders of this community and are possibly the greatest victims of all. I do not want to see iron fist punishment for them, I want an extreme change of attitude in leadership here and everywhere.

Wed. Dec 22nd, 1999 an article from the Times Standard concerning a change in council for one of the boys mentions the support these boys have.
and this article, wherin the new defense attorney asks for more information from the investigation and how it was conducted. Recently another case of alleged police brutality was reported in the Independent and I have scanned it also and a color version of the reported victim's large bruise.See the scans of the article and injury here.

Resources concerning the American War on the Poor

American Civil Liberties Union (Northern California) Rights of the poor and their 1997 report

Read the first chapter of the book The War Against the Poor by Herbert J. Gans on line or buy this book from Amazon.com

The National Coalition for the Homeless

National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty

International HOMELESS Discussion List and Archives HOME PAGE

Global Homeless Network Great list of links to sites of both large and small organizations world wide.

South of here in San Francisco attacks on the homeless also include attacks on those trying to aid the homeless. The imprisonment of FNB (Food not Bombs) workers attracted the attention of Amnesty International who's 1997 report on the U.S. contains the following:

"In June, Amnesty International wrote to the Governor of California and to the San Francisco authorities expressing concern that Robert Norse Kahn and other fnb members may have been targeted for their beliefs and activities on behalf of the homeless, and seeking further clarification on aspects of the case. No reply had been received by the end of the year."

ACLU activities in Berkley on behalf of beggars.... Update

ACLU vs. City of San Francisco on behalf of homeless

Concerning begging in San Francisco

Massive, warrentless police raids on whole neighborhoods of welfare recipients

Update: "Settlement in Class Action Suit Vindicates Constitutional Rights of Vallejo Welfare Recipients Subjected to Dawn Raid" ACLU news release more

Real Video presentation on criminalization of poverty. or Real Audio audio only feed

A flyer I have posted around town

Want an honest deal? Shop where you see homeless people!! Do it yourself and download my 4" X 6" index card size poster to post on bulletin boards in your area.

There are numerous other cases of such abuses here and I will endeavor to document them further.

New-UPDATE 3/28/00- A few days ago Pat was found hanged in his cell at the Humboldt County jail. He is not the first to be found like that in the Humboldt County jail. I will update this more as I get more information from the county and from other, more reliable sources meanwhile here is the Times-Standard article on this event.

9/98- Recently another, more brutal case was actually put in the local paper and the victim given sympathy (by many of the same people who scorned Pat, Dennis and numerous others), and medical treatment. The Southern Humboldt Life & Times, so derisive of these other people has suddenly turned about face now, in September of 1998, and printed this article about the severe beating of Ron Main, a passive developmentally disabled man here in Redway.

3/17/99 Update: The editorialization against the disadvantaged in the Life and Times has diminished greatly since this incident and now arrests and police harassment have replaced it, apparently using the attack on Ron Main, in some very convoluted reasoning, to institutionalize this abuse of the weakest members of our society. Also Pat has been back on the street and surviving, (but in and out of court), with assistance from more benevolent members of this community.

As of a couple of weeks ago (I am writing this portion on June 6th, 1999) Pat has been incarcerated in the Humboldt County Jail, serving a 6 month sentence and is then banished from the area.

I have an excerpt from a local radio talk show (in realmedia format) concerning disabled homeless which not only speaks of criminalization of the homeless disabled but raises questions about the lack of any health care options for many and the quality of health care for those who can afford it or have medi-cal, government coverage as it is called here in California.

Abuse of the disabled in California is beginning to make the news elsewhere in California, not only on the streets and in the home but institutional exploitation and abuse of even the severely disabled. I will try and link to some of these articles when I get time to (re)locate them. The very conservative (former)-governor of California, Pete Wilson was recently shamed into channeling a little money towards the sleazy and downright crooked institutions. I know of a case a little south of here wherein it is alleged that an employee of the school system, working in a school for disabled children dropped a child, injuring him, and concealed the event and the injury to protect himself thus causing the death of the child due to lack of medical treatment. More on this later. This is also becoming a publicly known issue on a nationwide scale as President Clinton highlights it, and articles, such as this one in the San Francisco Chronicle, are beginning to appear in the media addressing this problem, though do not go far enough yet.

Report at Amnesty International

ACLU news release on lawsuit resulting from this incident

another ACLU news release on lawsuit resulting from this incident

Here is a lot of information from environmentalist point of view. Although it is from one side of these controversial issues I feel that it is closer to an objective point of view than "the other side's" point of view.

Pacifica radio's Democracy now Real Audio feed

Since I placed the above link to KPFA's Democracy Now on this page they have experienced a hostile takeover and are now protesting in the street in front of the radio station. They have a website you can visit for further information and an abundant supply of audio on demand.

California Prison Moratorium Project

Prison Activist Resource Center including info on the criminalization of poverty.

Real Video presentation on criminalization of poverty. or Real Audio audio only feed and the web site it's from, which includes more Real Audio/Video among other things, from JUST SOLUTIONS HUMAN RIGHTS ADVOCACY KIT.

United Nations on human rights in the United States of America

What is genocide?

California news release on 3-Strikes law results. Or download the full report. California reviews first 5 years of 3 strikes law. (This is an Adobe Acrobat document and you need the Adobe Acrobat Reader...I will link to it soon, I am out of time now).

Some assorted posters you can print.If you want to make large, I mean really large posters try the Poster-Printery.

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