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[Back to index of July 2008 articles] CASA de Maryland calls for a return to civility By Lucy Chumbley A diverse group, including two local chapters of the NAACP, the American Jewish Committee and members of the Montgomery County Muslim community, joined CASA de Maryland on June 3 to call for a return to civility in the immigration debate. CASA, the state’s largest immigrant service and advocacy agency, called the press conference after three staff members received menacing phone calls on May 18. In a message left for the Rev. Simon Bautista, Latino Missioner for the Diocese of Washington and vice chair of CASA’s board, a caller threatened to “put a [expletive] bullet in the back of [his expletive] brain for being so [expletive] stupid and helping illegals.” In other messages, the caller(s) threatened to “blow up” CASA facilities. CASA is taking the threats seriously, and a police investigation is under way. “Our idea is to send a message that we are not going to keep quiet about these kinds of threats,” said CASA’s executive director Gustavo Torres of the decision to speak out. The calls are “proof of an increasing history of violence,” said CASA spokesman Mario E. Quiroz-Servellón, pointing out that the organization has been targeted before. In May 2007, a fire was set in CASA’s new day laborer center in Gaithersburg, he said, and a spate of hateful e-mails followed. To date, no one has been arrested for the arson. “Although we regularly receive a number of negative messages, including racist messages, by both telephone and e-mail, on one Sunday in May, three specific national-origin based threats were made,” Torres said in a June 3 letter to Maryland’s Attorney General, Doug Gansler. The letter called on Gansler to use the resources at his disposal to “stop those who threaten and harass Marylanders for their immigrant and Latino heritage and for their support of immigrants.” “We receive a lot of hate e-mails asking, ‘Why does the NAACP care about the Hispanic issues?’” said Guy Djoken, president of NAACP’s Frederick County chapter, explaining that his organization is committed to supporting “our brothers in CASA.” “I just want you to know that the NAACP is here and people come in all different colors,” he said. “The kind of e-mail threats that we are receiving … [are] not taking us away from what we are trying to do. It is making us work harder for civil rights. We’re going to keep on working to make sure that the next generation of people does not have these kinds of problems.” “This society is becoming more and more diverse, and I say, ‘People, get over it,’ because we’ve got to live together,” said Henry Hailstock, president of the NAACP Montgomery County chapter. “We have to really fight off the small mindedness we have in this country, really fight it, and we will. We’re going to move on. It’s not going to stop us, it’s going to make us stronger.” “We know what it means to be immigrants and we know what it means to be the target of hatred,” said Melanie Maron, executive director of the American Jewish Committee’s Washington chapter. “Our Jewish history has taught us to treat threats like these with extreme seriousness. Diversity can include difference of opinions; we do not have to resort to hatred and violence.” “We don’t tolerate discrimination, we don’t tolerate hate crime,” said Abdul Kamus, of the Muslim Community Center, explaining that he arrived in this country as a refugee from Ethiopia. “I want to make sure immigrants are protected. We should not allow hate to exist in our country.” “We are actively following leads and hope to bring this investigation to a very successful conclusion,” said Capt. David Gillespie, director of special investigations for the Montgomery County Police. At press time, the investigation was ongoing. Lucy Chumbley is the editor of Washington Window, the newspaper of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington. [Back to index of July 2008 articles]
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