Washblog

No sense in hateful graffiti in Arlington

Published: Sunday, October 14, 2007
ARLINGTON -- "One word disrupted the peace.

One word, scrawled in black spray paint, was all it took to turn Tim Dehnhoff's dream home being built on a tree-lined country street into a crime scene, a place of hate.

The FBI and Arlington police are investigating the appearance of a racial slur and a swastika on the front of Dehnhoff's house three weeks ago. Arlington's assistant city administrator, Kristin Banfield, said all leads have been exhausted...."

Bothell man positive even after hateful graffiti

Published: Thursday, November 8, 2007
BOTHELL -- "Whoever spray-painted a racist message in big white letters across the brown fence of Charles Ray's home early Wednesday must not know the 73-year-old great-grandfather..."

While this type of anti-minority activity (unfortunately) occurs in far too many of our cities and counties, the thing that troubles me most is the apparent acceptance by a substantial portion of the population as indicated by voter turnout. By this I am referring to the vote totals for two of our candidates for office in the recent election. While both candidates were unsuccessful in their bids, the fact that there was even a contest should raise many red flags.

Some may make the case for Sheriff candidate, Tom Greene, that his education and years of experience in law enforcement might account for the closeness of his race with John Lovick, I would argue that, when taken in context with the vote totals for Everett City Council candidate, Shawna Forde, a different picture emerges. Ms Forde, a heretofore unknown in Everett politics managed to garner 35% of the vote against a relatively popular incumbent. Forde's entire "platform" consisted of "addressing the problem of illegal immigration." Forde not only didn't run a campaign of any kind, she was not even in town for the entire campaign season (she was on the Mexican border filming a "documentary" on the Minutemen.) In fact, the only thing that Shawna Forde did to put her name before the voters was to host the Minuteman Convention that took place in Everett in July. Another prominent candidate at that convention was our Mr. Greene. Considering Greene's embracing of noted anti-gay preacher Ken Hutcherson and his visibility at the Minuteman convention, it is hard to imagine he did not "benefit" from a certain level of support from the same folks who would have voted for Ms. Forde.

So where does that leave us as we move forward? Fortunately there is a growing community of concerned activists that are beginning to address this issue. Led by my good friend, Luis Moscoso and members of the Everett based Communities of Color Coalition, talks are beginning to take shape over forming a chapter of the Washington Human Rights Commission in Snohomish County. In addition, Washington CAN (Washington Community Action Network) has begun to work with Lynnwood city officials to combat recently exposed incidents of racial profiling and anti-immigrant discrimination in that city, as reported on by Noemie Maxwell on these pages.

While I often find myself deeply focused on the misadventures taking place on the national level, I hope to not lose sight of the important issues impacting where I live. I am concerned about the things that see but, at the same time, I am very fortunate to know so many good people who will stand up and do the right thing. I hope that those who read here will keep us in mind and offer up a word of encouragement or a helping hand as you watch the progress we make in the coming months.

Peace,
Chad (The Left) Shue