Saturday, February 14, 2015


News Clips For The Day


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/russia-asks-united-nations-security-council-to-take-action-on-ukraine/

Russia asks U.N. Security Council to take action on Ukraine
CBS/AP February 13, 2015

Photograph – Russian-backed separatists cover their ears as they fire a mortar toward Ukrainian troops outside the village of Sanzharivka, northeast of Debaltseve, eastern Ukraine, Feb. 11, 2015.
 AP PHOTO/MAXIMILIAN CLARKE

UNITED NATIONS -- Over the past year, the United States and other members of the U.N. Security Council have loudly accused Russia of backing separatists in Ukraine, but the threat of a Russian veto has blocked them from taking action in close to 30 meetings on the crisis. Now, Russia is asking for their support.

Russia circulated a surprise draft resolution, obtained Friday by The Associated Press, endorsing the new cease-fire agreement on Ukraine and calling on all parties involved to fully carry it out.

U.N. diplomats said the council is expected to meet Sunday to vote on the resolution, just hours after the cease-fire is to take effect at one minute after midnight.

Russia, as a permanent member of the 15-seat council, can veto any proposed resolution it dislikes. It has denied backing the separatists in eastern Ukraine, who made a late grab for territory Friday before the cease-fire takes effect.

Ukrainian military officials said at least 26 people were killed in fierce fighting as the rebels mounted a major, sustained offensive to capture the strategic government-held railway town of Debaltseve. The town was hit by dozens of artillery and rocket salvos within the first 24 hours after the agreement was reached.

CBS News correspondent Elizabeth Palmer reports that even with the cease-fire looming, Ukrainians are saying that more heavy armor has rolled across the border from Russia into Ukraine recently, including tanks and missile systems.

The brief U.N. draft resolution expresses "grave concern at the tragic events" in the region. It says a solution to the conflict is possible "exclusively" by peaceful means.

Russia last year offered a few resolutions calling for a cease-fire, but they were unpopular with council members who were angry over its annexation of Crimea early in the crisis. The United States quickly denounced one draft that called for establishing humanitarian aid corridors in the region as "hypocritical."

This time, Russia's draft includes a reference to the "sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine," something that Western diplomats have insisted that any U.N. resolution reaffirm.

The latest cease-fire agreement was reached Thursday after long overnight talks among the presidents of Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France. Its terms include the formation of a sizeable buffer zone between Ukrainian forces and the rebels, while Ukraine regains control of its border with Russia.

A previous cease-fire called in September never fully took hold.

When asked Friday whether he thought this new deal would fall apart, Ukraine's ambassador to the United Nations, Yuriy Sergeyev, said, "We are not naive, you know."

More than 5,300 people have been killed in the fighting in Ukraine since April, while the United Nations has warned of a "frozen" conflict that could linger for years or decades.




“U.N. diplomats said the council is expected to meet Sunday to vote on the resolution, just hours after the cease-fire is to take effect at one minute after midnight. Russia, as a permanent member of the 15-seat council, can veto any proposed resolution it dislikes. It has denied backing the separatists in eastern Ukraine, who made a late grab for territory Friday before the cease-fire takes effect. Ukrainian military officials said at least 26 people were killed in fierce fighting as the rebels mounted a major, sustained offensive to capture the strategic government-held railway town of Debaltseve. The town was hit by dozens of artillery and rocket salvos within the first 24 hours after the agreement was reached. CBS News correspondent Elizabeth Palmer reports that even with the cease-fire looming, Ukrainians are saying that more heavy armor has rolled across the border from Russia into Ukraine recently, including tanks and missile systems....This time, Russia's draft includes a reference to the "sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine," something that Western diplomats have insisted that any U.N. resolution reaffirm. The latest cease-fire agreement was reached Thursday after long overnight talks among the presidents of Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France. Its terms include the formation of a sizeable buffer zone between Ukrainian forces and the rebels, while Ukraine regains control of its border with Russia.”

I remain in doubt about the basic sincerity and honesty of Putin in this matter, even if he did initiate the call for UN intervention. His provision over the last two days of yet more heavy armaments across the border into Eastern Ukraine begs the question, what is his long range plan? Does he want to get an overwhelming force into the area so he can make a full and very rapid invasion? That's how it looks to me.





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/alleged-isis-supporter-arrested-in-london/

Alleged ISIS supporter arrested in London
CBS NEWS
February 14, 2015

British police arrested a man in London Saturday morning for allegedly supporting the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS.

London's Metropolitan Police said the 32-year-old man was arrested in the London borough of Newham, which hosted the Summer Olympics in 2012.

The police said the unidentified man was arrested on suspicion of being a supporter or member of ISIS.

The police also said the man allegedly collected information that may be useful to terrorists.



http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/isis-follower-arrested-in-east-london-on-suspicion-of-collecting-information-for-terror-attack-10046192.html

Isis 'follower' arrested in east London on suspicion of collecting information 'useful' for planning terror attack
The Independent
 SATURDAY 14 FEBRUARY 2015

Photograph – Abu Mohammed al-Adnani has called for terror attacks around the world

A suspected Isis member has been arrested in east London on suspicion of collecting information in preparation for a terror attack.

The 32-year-old man, who has not been named, is also charged with being a member of a banned organisation, the so-called Islamic State, and “encouraging terrorism”.

A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police said he was arrested by the force’s Counter Terrorism Command (SO15) in Newham on Saturday morning.

“He has been taken into custody at a south London police station,” she added.

A statement listed charges including “collection of information which may be useful to somebody who commits or prepares acts of terrorism”.

In September, Isis spokesman Abu Mohammed al-Adnani issued a message urging supporters to carry out attacks abroad, specifically mentioning Europe in his call for bloodshed.

Last month, he issued another call to arms, saying any loyalist who has the opportunity to "shed a drop of blood" should do so.

His statements may have inspired gunmen in Australia, France and would-be terrorists who planned an attack in Belgium.

Isis was put on the UK's list of proscribed terror organisations in June last year as it waged its bloody campaign to establish a hard-line Islamic caliphate in Iraq and Syria.

An unknown number of British-born jihadists have travelled to join the group and authorities are attempting to stop anyone returning and planning attacks on home soil.

Britain has faced four major terror plots in the past year, with three in recent months, according to the head of MI5.


READ MORE:
ISIS CALLS FOR TERROR ATTACKS AROUND THE WORLD
UK PLANS TO COPE WITH TERRORIST ATTACK CHANGED AFTER PARIS
WOOLWICH-INSPIRED TEENAGER ARRESTED ON WAY TO BEHEAD SOLDIER




London has had more than its share of jihadi connections and incidents in the news recently. Hopefully more information will appear on this event in the next few days. Who the ISIS contact is and where he is from, plus what his role was to be in any plots. This article merely states “collection of information.” I'm glad to see the Brits are on their game in these matters, however, and making arrests earlier rather than later. Their quick action makes me feel safer as a potential victim of ISIS attackers.





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/trucker-who-helped-save-sex-captive-in-virginia-ive-got-daughters/

Trucker who helped save sex captive in Virginia: "I've got daughters"

CBS NEWS
February 13, 2015

Photograph – Kevin Kimmel  WTVR

When trucker Kevin Kimmel caught a glimpse of a distraught-looking young woman behind the curtain of a recreational vehicle in a truck stop outside Richmond, Va. on Jan. 6, he knew something was wrong.

"Saw what looked like a young girl looking out the window, the black drapes didn't make it look like a families' RV, you know," Kimmel told CBS affiliate WTVR. "I saw a guy come up and knock on the door then go inside the Pilot-then quickly came back and knocked again, all of the sudden the thing was rocking and rolling."

Kimmel was suspicious of what was happening and called the police.

"When I saw the young girl's face, I said that's not going to happen, I've got daughters and granddaughters," Kimmel told WTVR.

Thanks to Kimel's phone call, an Iowa couple are being charged with sex trafficking. Aldair Hodza, 36, and Laura Sorensen, 31, were arrested after police said a frightened and malnourished 20-year-old told officers the couple had physically and sexually abused her.

"I only learned the gruesome details through the news," Kimmel told the station. "I'm just happy I helped her."

The alleged victim said she had been forced into prostitution during the trip from Iowa to Virginia.

"He saved that girl's life and that's awesome," a fellow trucker told WTVR. "I have two kids at home man and if somebody messed with them I'd want someone to call the cops and tell me."




“When trucker Kevin Kimmel caught a glimpse of a distraught-looking young woman behind the curtain of a recreational vehicle in a truck stop outside Richmond, Va. on Jan. 6, he knew something was wrong. "Saw what looked like a young girl looking out the window, the black drapes didn't make it look like a families' RV, you know," Kimmel told CBS affiliate WTVR. "I saw a guy come up and knock on the door then go inside the Pilot-then quickly came back and knocked again, all of the sudden the thing was rocking and rolling." Kimmel was suspicious of what was happening and called the police.”

The power of one – I wish more ordinary citizens would take action to solve crimes and prevent abuse. Most of the time all it takes is for the person to have enough courage to step out of the crowd and speak up. Thank goodness one victim has been saved from the terrible conditions that “white slavery” entails. It's a shame that a woman was involved in the crime. I used to think women didn't do such things, but I have seen enough news stories now to know better. Some women are as depraved as men in their sexual activities. Of course, the motive in this case was probably money. I hope the young woman will get the mental health care that she undoubtedly needs now.





http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2015/02/13/385802886/outmanned-and-outgunned-fighters-defend-yazidi-shrine-against-isis

Outmanned And Outgunned, Fighters Defend Yazidi Shrine Against ISIS
Ari Shapiro
February 13, 2015

Photograph – The temple of Sharfadin in Northern Iraq is 800 years old, and followers of the Yazidi religion consider it one of the most sacred sites in the world. Though ISIS tried to destroy it, a small group of Yazidi fighters kept the shrine standing.
Ari Shapiro/NPR

In Kurdistan today, every fighter knows the name Qasim Shesho. He's been fighting with the Kurdish peshmerga forces in northern Iraq since the 1970s.

Shesho is a Yazidi — an ethnic and religious minority in Iraq — and the protagonist in a tale that could have come from literature, or Hollywood, or the Bible. It is a universal story, about a vastly outnumbered group of men defending sacred ground against an onslaught.

On a recent day, he greets us in a large meeting hall where the walls are lined with couches, blankets, machine guns and rocket launchers. Young men in camouflage kiss his hand when they walk past.

A young fighter brings sweet black tea in small glasses. The wizened commander asks my interpreter and me a question in Kurdish. One word is understandable even to an English speaker.

"A whiskey? It's early in the day," I say, declining his offer.

These men are all Yazidis, and the hall we are sitting in is on the grounds of a sacred temple called Sharfadin. To Yazidis, this 800-year-old shrine is one of the holiest places on earth.

In the beginning of August, the group that calls itself the Islamic State, or ISIS, swept across this region, killing thousands. A handful of ill-equipped peshmerga fighters, led by Shesho, decided they would rather die than see this temple fall.

"We were alone here," says the commander. "We were just 18 peshmerga against ISIS."
In the beginning, they had so little food and so few weapons that four men would share one round of flatbread each day.

"Every time we had to shoot, we wanted to save the bullet," says Shesho, "because we wanted each one to kill a person."

Word eventually reached Kurdish leaders that the temple was standing, and that fighters were defending it from ISIS. And so helicopters began to drop food and ammunition for the men.

Shesho says the attacks were relentless. There were car bombs, rockets and snipers. One of his men was killed.

"There were times we had no hope, so we said, 'Let us die fighting. That way we won't have to see our temple fall,' " says Shesho.

Weeks turned into months, and still the temple stood. Kurdish reinforcements arrived; 200 men at first, then more. Four of the commander's adult sons came from Germany to fight alongside their father.

One of the sons takes us outside to see the evidence of the fight. He points to a hole in the ground where a mortar fell, then removes a stone from the hole. The mortar is still there — it never detonated.

This story of endurance by a group of men so vastly outnumbered sounds difficult to believe, but Kurdish government spokespeople confirmed that they dropped supplies to the men.

Perhaps the best testament to what happened here is the temple itself. While ISIS smashed many other sacred buildings across Iraq and Syria, Sharfadin temple still stands, with barely any damage.

The men lead us across a plaza to the 800-year-old shrine. It's made of pale yellow stone, with two elegant cones crowning the building. At the tip of each cone, three gold balls and a crescent reach skyward.

We take off our shoes before we enter. As men pass through the first gate, they kiss the entrance.

Inside a perimeter wall, there is a courtyard with a large tree, elevated graves and birds singing. It is peaceful, and it's difficult to believe that a war raged here less than two months ago.

At the center of the grounds, a small room is lined with brightly colored cloths. A stone pillar at the heart of this chamber is where Yazidi worshippers bring their prayers, asking for God's help.

"During the siege, we came here every day and asked God to save us," says a fighter named Shamwa Edo.

ISIS took this region in August; it was finally liberated with the help of U.S.-led airstrikes four months later, in late December.

I ask Shesho what it felt like when he realized the siege was over.

"We didn't celebrate," he says. "We just cried."



http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/09/28/obama-went-to-war-to-save-them-but-they-can-t-get-u-s-visas.html

Obama Went to War to Save Them, But They Can’t Get U.S. Visas
WORLD
09.28.14

Photograph – The U.S. started bombing ISIS to save the Yazidis, many of whom served the U.S. Army during the American occupation as interpreters. What happens to them now?

DOHUK, Iraq — The 28-yearold Yazidi from Sinjar, who used to be called Tommy by the American soldiers he worked with, was not in his hometown of Tel Kisib on August 3. That was the day the group that calls itself “Islamic State” attacked. His father, four brothers, eight uncles and dozens of nephews and cousins were there. They tried to escape, but ISIS caught up with them in the town of Qana, lined them up and shot them.

Tommy’s 24-year-old brother Mohsin, a university student studying English, survived the massacre, only grazed by bullets in the head and arm, and managed to get away. But ISIS abducted Moshin’s pregnant wife, along with Tommy’s five sisters, and dozens of aunts, cousins, nieces and male relatives under the age of 12.

Mohsin begged the militants to spare his 13-year-old brother, but was told all boys over 12 were to be killed because they were too old to be indoctrinated by their “Islamist” ideology. He remembers when his uncle, who could not stand, was “held up by two Da'esh members and shot by a third.” (Da'esh is the Arabic acronym for ISIS. The family names of the people in this story have been omitted because of their worries about security.)

Many, having lost everything, hope to begin their lives anew some place far from Iraq. But Tommy is not just seeking asylum anywhere. He’s looking to go to the United States, because the U.S. Congress said he could, if only the window open to him doesn’t close in the next few days.

But Tommy, like many others, has been unable to obtain the documentation required by the State Department for the visa.

Even before the ISIS onslaught, only about 20 percent, or 5,812, of the available 25,000 visas the legislation allocated had been issued when the SIV program first ended in December 2013. Over 1,000 Iraqis were backlogged – waiting for months or even years, stuck in various stages of the process. Last year the program was extended with the new deadline looming at the end of this month. In the past eight months 282 more visas have been issued.

The List Project to Resettle Iraqis is a nonprofit organization that enlisted top U.S. law firms to provide pro bono representation to Iraqis who were eligible for the SIV program. It was founded by Kirk Johnson who worked for USAID in Iraq and found that many Iraqis faced death threats, but the U.S. did not have anything in place to protect them.

Despite the heroic efforts of the List Project, the SIV program has moved too slowly, plagued by bureaucratic delays, and hence has failed to help many of those who were at imminent risk of being targeted for their U.S. affiliation before – and now more than ever.

Khanasor had a disproportionately high number of English speakers thanks to Jassim, an exceptional and revered local English teacher. Khanasor’s population is also more educated than other towns and villages in Sinjar, because it is larger at 35,000 and more urbanized. In smaller more rural towns children stay home from school to help tend the fields and raise animals. “We are the intellectual capital of Sinjar,” said Frank.

While Al Qaeda never threatened Khanasor, the town is now controlled by and is the main base of ISIS on the north side of the mountain.

The State Department recently indicated that it would consider other evidence such as letters from other military supervisors that corroborate employment by the U.S. government. But the main requirement of the HR letter – and the SIV program – is a statement that the applicant worked for one year for the U.S. Most Iraqis rotated and only worked for certain supervisors for several months necessitating letters from multiple officers, near to impossible to obtain. This has left Iraqis and their representatives scrambling to locate army bosses who they have not been in contact with them in months or, in many cases, for years. Then, as ISIS rushed into their towns, many Yazidis fled Sinjar with only the clothes on their back, leaving behind all of their belongings including legal and other documents.

The world still does not know the extent of the atrocities committed in Sinjar. What is known is that hundreds of men and children were executed, buried in mass graves, while thousands of women and girls have been abducted, raped, tortured, and sold into jihadist marriages to ISIS commanders and fighters. It is too late to help those who were killed by ISIS, but those who escaped and survived are living in deplorable conditions. The U.S. government should expedite their cases while showing some modicum of flexibility in reviewing their documentation. 

Today, Yazidis say they will never return home, because they do not feel they can stay safe and protected. Thousands will remain displaced for years to come, but those who worked for the U.S. government deserve, at least, access to the program that was created to protect them. 




“In Kurdistan today, every fighter knows the name Qasim Shesho. He's been fighting with the Kurdish peshmerga forces in northern Iraq since the 1970s. Shesho is a Yazidi — an ethnic and religious minority in Iraq — and the protagonist in a tale that could have come from literature, or Hollywood, or the Bible. It is a universal story, about a vastly outnumbered group of men defending sacred ground against an onslaught. On a recent day, he greets us in a large meeting hall where the walls are lined with couches, blankets, machine guns and rocket launchers. Young men in camouflage kiss his hand when they walk past. A young fighter brings sweet black tea in small glasses. The wizened commander asks my interpreter and me a question in Kurdish. One word is understandable even to an English speaker. "A whiskey? It's early in the day," I say, declining his offer. ... In the beginning of August, the group that calls itself the Islamic State, or ISIS, swept across this region, killing thousands. A handful of ill-equipped peshmerga fighters, led by Shesho, decided they would rather die than see this temple fall. "We were alone here," says the commander. "We were just 18 peshmerga against ISIS." In the beginning, they had so little food and so few weapons that four men would share one round of flatbread each day. "Every time we had to shoot, we wanted to save the bullet," says Shesho, "because we wanted each one to kill a person." Word eventually reached Kurdish leaders that the temple was standing, and that fighters were defending it from ISIS. And so helicopters began to drop food and ammunition for the men.... Weeks turned into months, and still the temple stood. Kurdish reinforcements arrived; 200 men at first, then more. Four of the commander's adult sons came from Germany to fight alongside their father.... Perhaps the best testament to what happened here is the temple itself. While ISIS smashed many other sacred buildings across Iraq and Syria, Sharfadin temple still stands, with barely any damage. The men lead us across a plaza to the 800-year-old shrine. It's made of pale yellow stone, with two elegant cones crowning the building. At the tip of each cone, three gold balls and a crescent reach skyward. We take off our shoes before we enter. As men pass through the first gate, they kiss the entrance. Inside a perimeter wall, there is a courtyard with a large tree, elevated graves and birds singing. It is peaceful, and it's difficult to believe that a war raged here less than two months ago. At the center of the grounds, a small room is lined with brightly colored cloths. A stone pillar at the heart of this chamber is where Yazidi worshippers bring their prayers, asking for God's help.... ISIS took this region in August; it was finally liberated with the help of U.S.-led airstrikes four months later, in late December. I ask Shesho what it felt like when he realized the siege was over. "We didn't celebrate," he says. "We just cried."

Go to Google and look up Yazidis – Wikipedia. There is a long article on their religion which sounds like a combination of Islam and something much more individualistic and ancient. They pray to an angel whose name resembles “Satan”, and partly for that reason, they are under pressure from ISIS and al-Qaeda. The local Islamic people think they “worship the devil,” but that particular “Satan” is not considered by scholars to be the same entity.

I tried to find an article on this shrine called Sharfadin, but I didn't, finding just a Facebook page on Sharfadin as the name of a separate religion. That Facebook page had links to others, each of which is dedicated to a world religion, and covering what must have been fifty or more different religions. I did find Yazidi, Unitarianism, Jainism, and many others. You might enjoy going to that Facebook page and looking at some different religions.

This particular article is a story of great heroism, as a group of outnumbered but determined men protected their religious site from the rampaging ranks of ISIS. This is the third article I've seen on the Yazidis this last year. I'm very much interested in them. They have been besieged by ISIS since they came on the scene in the last year, along with Christians and others of non-Islamic religions – or just the wrong type of Islamic faith. The Yazidis are relatively well educated and peaceful people with an unusual history. They are not jihadists or in any other way terrorists, so they should be admitted to the US as citizens, in my opinion. Hopefully they will be soon.





http://www.npr.org/2015/02/13/385495327/a-community-takes-on-racial-tensions-once-hidden-under-the-surface

A Community Takes On Racial Tensions Once Hidden Under The Surface
John Burnett
February 13, 2015

Photograph – Kathy Van Sluyters (left), Barbara Carr and Colleen Dickinson chat on a recently finished sidewalk across from Wildflower Terrace, a mixed-income apartment building in the Mueller development for people 55 and over.
Julia Robinson for NPR

This is the second story in a two-part report on the Mueller neighborhood for the NPR Cities Project. You can find part one here. (Go to website and click.)

The idea behind "new urbanism" is that a planned environment, designed with pedestrians and social interaction in mind, can create a meaningful community.

The celebrated Mueller project in Austin, Texas, is one such place. This master-planned development seems to have it all: electric cars, solar panels, green buildings, walkability and native landscaping.

But what happens when one of Austin's most progressive, welcoming neighborhoods experiences racial incidents involving some of its own African-American residents who don't feel so welcome?

In Mueller, where construction began in 2007, the incidents quietly accumulated to the point where the community realized it had a problem — and needed to be confronted.

'Obviously, People Are Afraid Of Black Males'

Lucky Berry, a black Baptist minister, remembers the time four years ago when he and his wife were building their house at Mueller. He was driving around, checking out at all the other new homes under construction.

"Yeah, I was photographed and followed," Berry says. "And no one ever said anything to me directly or asked me anything, but I did notice people taking out their phones and taking pictures of my car."

On another occasion, "we had a neighbor who's an African-American come to our house," he recalls. "And as he walked up our stairs, someone asked if they could help him, suggesting that he might be lost or in the wrong neighborhood."

There have been other incidents, as well, but the one that prompted Mueller to begin its conversation about race happened last November. A resident posted a notice on the neighborhood's private Facebook page about a free office chair she had set out in the alley.

A neighbor, Yasmin Diallo Turk, saw the post and told her husband, a Senegalese named Papa Diallo, to drive over and pick it up. But she didn't like it, so he drove back and left the chair where he got it.

The homeowner saw him, got scared, and then posted this message on the Facebook page: "African-American, suspicious, came to my back alley. I called the police," Papa recalls.

Yasmin was still online when she saw that the neighbor had called the cops, so she quickly posted her own message.

"Well, that's my husband! I don't know what he did to make you think he was suspicious but he was just getting the chair that you posted about," she recalls writing.

The neighbor called off the police and apologized profusely. But Papa, an Internet fraud analyst, was angry.

"Obviously, people are afraid of black males. I am not happy this happened to me, but I am happy this incident triggered that conversation to happen," he says.

Doing What They Can 'To Make This Right'

Taken together, the incidents convinced some Mueller residents they needed to open a frank dialogue about race in their community. Two neighborhood meetings have followed. NPR was invited to the latest one, in early December. And while the neighborhood asked that it not be recorded, several participants participated in interviews afterwards.

"By and large, there was a collective sense of both outrage, shock and honest, sincere sadness," says James Nortey, 28, a black attorney in Austin and president of the Mueller Neighborhood Association. "I think there was also a collective sense of ownership, that this is our community, that we're not going to tolerate this, and we're going to do what we can to make this right."

Several residents pointed out that there has been a rash of car burglaries and home property thefts in Mueller, and people are skittish.

"Watching peoples' response to those incidents, saying things on Facebook like, 'Oh, I saw a suspicious-looking person,' ... seeing how people used social media to safeguard themselves — I think in a situation like that, it's not surprising to me that race would become a suspicious feature for people who are security conscious," says Stacy Vlasits, who is white and a computer programmer at the University of Texas.

"Maybe this isn't about 'capital-R' racism, but this is something we don't want to happen and we want to figure out ways to prevent it and to change ourselves."

What's notable is that these racially-charged episodes happened at Mueller — Austin's 700-acre showplace of new urbanism and enlightened living. This is the place where the Friends of the Mueller Prairie walk around and spray-paint invasive plants bright orange so the landscape crew can pull them out.

"It did surprise me [that it happened at Mueller], and sort of made me think, 'Wow, this is under the surface for people where you wouldn't expect it,' " says Geni Simon, who is white and a legal office manager who moved to Mueller with her family last April.

"I think of [Mueller] as being fairly well-educated people who are worried about current issues, and politically involved and environmentally involved," she says. "And you hear about the Harvard professor [Henry Louis Gates Jr., who is black] — who somebody called the cops when he was trying to get into his own house. You hear those stories, but I guess to have it happen in your own neighborhood is surprising."

At the neighborhood meeting, the one thing people agreed on is that, in general, white people need to get to know more African-Americans in Austin.

"Everyone always hypes this, 'Oh, you moved to Austin, you didn't really move to Texas. Austin is ... the center of liberalism in Texas.' What I'm finding is that people here haven't had the opportunity or the experience of interacting with people that aren't like them," says Daniel Colimon, a first-generation Haitian-American and real estate investor who lives in Mueller.

Austin's Shrinking Black Population

One reason is perhaps because there are fewer African-Americans in Austin. A University of Texas report on U.S. Census data reveals that Austin is the only large, fast-growing city in America with a declining black population.

From 2000 to 2010, Austin's general population jumped 20 percent, but the number of African-Americans shrank by 5 percent. Among the reasons given in the study: high property taxes, bad relations with police and disparities in public schools.

"Because race is such a barrier still in the 21st century, I think we need to be affirmative and intentional at overcoming that barrier — push ourselves to get to know one another," says the neighborhood association's James Nortey. "And I think when we do that we'll find we have vastly more in common than we have apart."

In some cities around the country there have been protests in the streets over police treatment of African-Americans and calls for a national dialogue on race.
In Austin, in the new urbanist enclave of Mueller, that conversation is already quietly taking place.




“The idea behind "new urbanism" is that a planned environment, designed with pedestrians and social interaction in mind, can create a meaningful community. The celebrated Mueller project in Austin, Texas, is one such place. This master-planned development seems to have it all: electric cars, solar panels, green buildings, walkability and native landscaping. But what happens when one of Austin's most progressive, welcoming neighborhoods experiences racial incidents involving some of its own African-American residents who don't feel so welcome?.... 'Obviously, People Are Afraid Of Black Males' – Lucky Berry, a black Baptist minister, remembers the time four years ago when he and his wife were building their house at Mueller. He was driving around, checking out at all the other new homes under construction. "Yeah, I was photographed and followed," Berry says. "And no one ever said anything to me directly or asked me anything, but I did notice people taking out their phones and taking pictures of my car.".... But she didn't like it, so he drove back and left the chair where he got it. The homeowner saw him, got scared, and then posted this message on the Facebook page: "African-American, suspicious, came to my back alley. I called the police," Papa recalls.... Taken together, the incidents convinced some Mueller residents they needed to open a frank dialogue about race in their community. Two neighborhood meetings have followed. NPR was invited to the latest one, in early December. And while the neighborhood asked that it not be recorded, several participants participated in interviews afterwards. "By and large, there was a collective sense of both outrage, shock and honest, sincere sadness," says James Nortey, 28, a black attorney in Austin and president of the Mueller Neighborhood Association. "I think there was also a collective sense of ownership, that this is our community, that we're not going to tolerate this, and we're going to do what we can to make this right.".... "Maybe this isn't about 'capital-R' racism, but this is something we don't want to happen and we want to figure out ways to prevent it and to change ourselves.".... "I think of [Mueller] as being fairly well-educated people who are worried about current issues, and politically involved and environmentally involved," she says. "And you hear about the Harvard professor [Henry Louis Gates Jr., who is black] — who somebody called the cops when he was trying to get into his own house. You hear those stories, but I guess to have it happen in your own neighborhood is surprising." At the neighborhood meeting, the one thing people agreed on is that, in general, white people need to get to know more African-Americans in Austin. …. One reason is perhaps because there are fewer African-Americans in Austin. A University of Texas report on U.S. Census data reveals that Austin is the only large, fast-growing city in America with a declining black population. From 2000 to 2010, Austin's general population jumped 20 percent, but the number of African-Americans shrank by 5 percent. Among the reasons given in the study: high property taxes, bad relations with police and disparities in public schools. "Because race is such a barrier still in the 21st century, I think we need to be affirmative and intentional at overcoming that barrier — push ourselves to get to know one another," says the neighborhood association's James Nortey. "And I think when we do that we'll find we have vastly more in common than we have apart."

Most white people who do make a habit of talking to black people find that “to their surprise” they are better educated, more moral and simply “nicer” than they had thought. Most of us are forming our group opinion of blacks from neighborhood hearsay, crude jokes, hip hop music, political talk show hosts like Rush Limbaugh, sometimes negative things that are said in the pulpit at church, and other impersonal ways. They're not making one to one relationships with blacks. Most people don't go to NPR or the black news sources for their information about blacks – I stumbled across SSN last night by scrolling up the TV channels, for instance. I noticed immediately that is was exclusively about black people. When I looked on the Net I found some half a dozen other website offering black news.

I am impressed by the steps that this community in Texas are taking, and I wish that would happen all across the USA, because there is no part of our country that is exempt from racism. Racism is as violent as a KKK attack, or as subtle as local citizens following the black person's car around and taking pictures of it. I am encouraged by this article, but Austin TX and the rest of the country have a long way to go. I hope to find more stories of progress to clip, and have faith that little by little we are becoming a “welcoming socitey.”





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/eric-parker-alabama-police-officer-charged-with-assaulting-indian-man/

Alabama police officer charged with assaulting Indian man
By CRIMESIDER STAFF AP 
February 13, 2015

Photographs – Sureshbhai Patel is seen at Huntsville Hospital in Huntsville, Alabama, in this undated family handout picture.
 PATEL FAMILY HANDOUT VIA REUTERS

Eric Parker
 CBS AFFILIATE WHNT

MADISON, Ala. - An Alabama police officer has been charged with assault and will be fired after authorities say he badly injured an Indian man whom he stopped to question as the victim was walking through his son's neighborhood. The man has filed a lawsuit, and the FBI has opened an investigation.

The lawsuit filed by Sureshbhai Patel on Thursday claims that his injuries include partial paralysis. His son said Patel had to undergo surgery to fuse two vertebrae in his spine. Hours after the suit was filed, Madison Police Chief Larry Muncey announced that Officer Eric Parker would be fired.

Last Friday, Parker responded to the northern Alabama neighborhood in response to a call about a suspicious person walking onto driveways and looking into garages, department officials said in a statement.

Parker and other officers stopped Patel, 57, and tried talking to him but he spoke little English, authorities said.

Officers tried patting Patel down but he put his hands in his pockets and pulled away, police said. A video released by police shows an officer throwing Patel to the ground. Later, after Patel was in cuffs, the video shows officers trying to lift him to his feet but Patel's knees buckle and the officers help him back off the ground. Officers then try to clean him up, picking things off of his clothing. Patel was taken to a local hospital, police said.

When Patel was stopped, he told police "no English," and repeated his son's house number, family attorney Hank Sherrod told Al.com. Sherrod claims Patel was accosted because of his brown skin.

Chirag Patel has told local news media that his father has only been to America once before and is visiting to help care for his grandson while Chirag pursues a graduate degree.

"He was just walking on the sidewalk as he does all the time," Patel told Al.com. "This is a good neighborhood. I didn't expect anything to happen." Patel said his father had to undergo surgery to fuse two vertebrae in his spine after being taken to the ground. Patel said his father is still unable to move his left leg.

The Madison police chief said Patel committed no crime and that the department is asking for the community's patience while it investigates.




An Alabama police officer has been charged with assault and will be fired after authorities say he badly injured an Indian man whom he stopped to question as the victim was walking through his son's neighborhood. The man has filed a lawsuit, and the FBI has opened an investigation. The lawsuit filed by Sureshbhai Patel on Thursday claims that his injuries include partial paralysis. His son said Patel had to undergo surgery to fuse two vertebrae in his spine. Hours after the suit was filed, Madison Police Chief Larry Muncey announced that Officer Eric Parker would be fired. Last Friday, Parker responded to the northern Alabama neighborhood in response to a call about a suspicious person walking onto driveways and looking into garages, department officials said in a statement.... Later, after Patel was in cuffs, the video shows officers trying to lift him to his feet but Patel's knees buckle and the officers help him back off the ground. Officers then try to clean him up, picking things off of his clothing. Patel was taken to a local hospital, police said. When Patel was stopped, he told police "no English," and repeated his son's house number, family attorney Hank Sherrod told Al.com. Sherrod claims Patel was accosted because of his brown skin.”

When a suspect indicates that he is deaf or doesn't know English the police officers should become patient and gentle rather than rougher and more violent. Likewise when they are mentally disturbed and distraught. Police need to be prepared at all times to use their best judgment, not a knee-jerk reaction. If they would do that in black communities the neighborhood would soon trust them and cooperate much more readily.

Good community relations is not just a matter of police “educating the public to obey police demands,” as one officer said in the comments to an article I read. They want it to be a one-way street, but it just isn't. Blacks are humans too, and can resist in fear or in anger when they encounter a loudly spoken, rough command rather than a courteous approach from police, especially when they are out of uniform. Also, as in this story, just because somebody saw “a suspicious person” doesn't mean the officers should immediately look for “brown skin.” It's the same old problem, new face – Indians rather than blacks. I really want to see more police officers around the country be polite and courteous much more of the time. Good human relations would result if that were to happen – a miracle in this day of hostile interactions between “conservatives” and their fellows citizens.