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You can contact the CAHC via. Dr. Randy Blazak at Portland State University (cfrb@pdx.edu)
May 10, 2004 - Red and blue swastikas were found painted on a Portland church this weekend, and police were investigating whether they represent a bias crime or gang graffiti. The swastikas were painted on three sides of the International Fellowship Family Church between Friday night and Saturday morning, police and church officials said. Officials said this was the sixth time in the past few weeks that vandals have hit the church. Last March, a new church moved into the building, switching it from a predominantly white community to mostly African American. A church volunteer discovered the images Saturday shortly before church members arrived for a mother-daughter lunch, said Charlene Mashia, business administrator for the church. "It's an eerie feeling," Mashia said. "I think we're just trying to figure this out -- what does this mean? Is this kids? Is it just the building? Are we being targeted? Is it because we're a church, or predominantly, 60 percent, African American?" It may be that competing groups have decided that the building's big blank walls were a good place to stage a turf war, said Sgt. Cheryl Robinson, police spokeswoman. But white-supremacist graffiti has been relatively uncommon in Portland in recent years, she said. About five swastikas were painted on three sides of the building, Mashia said. The largest is about 12 feet tall and the smallest about 12 inches, she said. The building has had problems with what police have described as gang graffiti, painted in blue, on one side of the building, Mashia said. But she thinks the swastikas might be the work of someone else. One already has been partly covered by new blue gang graffiti. Source: KGW.com. May 3, 2004 - They arrive under the cover of darkness, these photocopied messages of racism and hate. Tossed in Tigard neighborhood driveways. In plastic bags weighted by rocks, so they can be thrown from a distance and the messengers can avoid face-to-face encounters with the residents. The bag of rocks and paper that eventually wound up on my desk tallies only 2-1/2 ounces. But its real weight could threaten to drag down a whole community. Since January, residents in six Tigard neighborhoods have awakened to find leaflets that seem to be from the Aryan Nations, a Neo-Nazi organization that preaches white supremacy through its own much-twisted brand of Christianity. The leaflets use a mixture of direct jabs and backhanded slaps to attack African Americans, Jews, Latinos and gays. Full story at The Oregonian. I am sorry to tell you that an organized hate group from the Portland metro area plans to distribute racist flyers in several neighborhoods in Southwest Portland on January 8th, 2005. They plan to meet at a park, and then they will branch out into the surrounding neighborhoods, passing out flyers that denigrate many minority groups. This hate group's activity gives us a wonderful opportunity to reaffirm our shared values and show that hate is not welcome here. I hope that you will join us in our efforts to demonstrate that our community honors the dignity and worth of all people, regardless of the color of their skin, their religion, their sexual orientation, or their gender! Multiple community organizations are sponsoring a big Unity Rally on Saturday, January 8th, 2005, at 1:00pm. There will be speakers (including community and goverment leaders), music, a kids' activity room, and a display of signs & banners promoting justice and understanding. In addition, about a week before the Unity Rally, the Portland City Council will be considering a resolution titled, "Promote justice and denounce hate in the City of Portland." The Unity Rally will take place at the Multnomah Center, 7688 SW Capitol Hwy. The Multnomah Center is on bus lines #44 PPC Sylvania and #45 Garden Home. By car, take the Multnomah Blvd exit off of I-5 South, turn right on 34th, turn right on Capitol Hwy. For directions from other starting points, go to www.mapquest.com. Concerned community members are asked not to seek out and confront the hate group as they distribute their flyers. To do so would give them attention and publicity they do not deserve. The Unity Rally is a safer, more powerful, and more positive statement than a shouting match with members of the hate group. Unity, not hate, will be the story of the day on January 8th. Emily Georges Gottfried Executive Director American Jewish Committee, Oregon Chapter Downloadable Unity Flyer or CLICK HERE TOOLS April 2, 2004 - Three men from Government Camp are accused of attacking two Seattle men because of their sexual orientation. Detectives say Jonathan Barnes, Lance Miller, and Dyllon Snider punched and kicked the men in the parking lot of the Ratskeller Restaurant in February. Detectives believe the men also forced their way into an apartment and attacked two other men with baseball bats. Police are also looking for two persons of interest; they are Kristina Anderberg and Steven Raney. If you have any helpful information, please call the Clackamas County sheriff's office at (503) 655-8211 or through Clackamas County sheriff's webiste. Source: KATU.com The city of Tigard has been inundated with hate material over the past several weeks. This has included racist leaflets thrown in peopleıs yards, hate rock CDs placed on teens cars and hate literature distributed at Tigard High School The "Tigard Says No To Hate" rally on May 27th at 6:30 PM in Cook Park will attempt to solidify the community and offer steps that the community can take to minimize the infiltration of these polarization tactics that have begun to regularly take place. The rally will culminate with a 12 mile "march" from the park to Tigard High School where a unity proclamation can be signed. May 6, 2004 - Kurtis Monschke has a huge swastika tattooed on his chest, a German war eagle on his shoulder and several other hate symbols on his arms and legs. Before he went to jail to await trial for murder, the slight, blond teen kept his head shaved, owned a copy of Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf" and decorated his Tacoma apartment in Nazi symbols. He passed out hate literature in his South End apartment complex, tried to recruit neighbors to his cause and watched a violent racial killing in the 1998 movie "American History X" again and again, Pierce County prosecutors say. When jurors hear all that in his trial next month, they're going to hate him and unfairly convict him, Monschke's attorneys fear. "When we inflame the passion and prejudice of the jury with hate symbols, people stop feeling rational about the case," said attorney Jay Berneburg. Prosecutors say Monschke, now 20, was an integral part of a killing that happened because of his beliefs and how he thought the crime could raise his status in the white supremacist movement. Full story at Tribnet.com. Friday Evening, May 21 and Saturday, May 22 Conference Purpose Building on the Action Plan developed as a result of more than 500 individuals who attended last yearıs Seattle Race Conference, the intent of this yearıs conference is to mobilize individuals and community groups. From casting a vote in local and national elections to the grassroots work of countless anti-racism organizations in the Puget Sound region, action evolves from like-minded individuals working together with a single focus: the end of institutionalized racism. SRC 2004 provides a variety of options for individuals and groups to get involved. Workshops concentrate on seven key areas of interest: * Criminal Justice/Public Safety * Economic Equity * Education * Environmental Justice * Housing and Homelessness * Immigration * Healthcare This conference is free to those who register. Conference Information Here NO EASY ROAD: Unlearning Discrimination in Oregon The 10 panels which make up this exhibit depict the history of discrimination in our state, beginning with Native Americans and ending with the numerous anti-gay ballot measures from the 1990's. Sponsored by the American Jewish Committee Mittleman Jewish Community Center, 6651 SW Capitol Hwy. in Portland free admission FOR INFORMATION CALL (503) 295-6761 OR (503) 244-0111 Racist skinhead Bryce Ray Woods plead guilty on March 2, 2004, to a racist attack in downtown Portland last September. Along with a skinhead accomplice (who had already been sentenced), he threatened one black man and stabbed another in the back. Woods was convicted in the Multnomah County Court to spend 7 1/2 years in state prison. For more information, go to KATU.com. Former racist skinhead Brian Hauth was sentenced Dec. 8, 2003 at the Federal Courthouse in Portland. Brian was the ringleader of a group of teenage skinheads who committed several hate crimes in 2001 in the Brentwood-Darlington area of SE Portland, including the vandalism of the Shaarie Torah cemetery. Brain was convicted of conspiracy and sentenced in a federal hate crime case presented by Steven Pfeiffer. Judge King gave him the 33 months in prison requested by the prosecution, which will be served in Sheridan Federal Prison, with a 3 year probation upon completion. Brian was also ordered to pay $836.64 in restitution to the victims. Judge King commended Brian for turning his life around since his arrest and encouraged him to remain positive. November 13, 2003 - A man who served as a lookout and "muscle" in racially motivated attacks near downtown Portland this fall pleaded no contest Wednesday to two counts of first-degree intimidation. Dennis Lloyd Mothersbaugh, 23, an admitted skinhead, was immediately sentenced to slightly more than a year in prison and the maximum probation of five years. If he violates his probation, he could serve an additional 15 to 18 months in prison. Both of the victims in the Sept. 21 incidents in Northwest Portland and Old Town were black men. Mothersbaugh was convicted in Multnomah County Circuit Court of aiding another alleged attacker, Bryce Ray Woods, 20, as they intimidated one victim with racial slurs, profanity and threatened violence. That man thought he was about to be seriously injured. Mothersbaugh, considered to have played the less-serious role in the attacks, also was involved in pointing a firearm at a second man. Woods faces a charge of second-degree assault for allegedly stabbing one of the victims in the back, which carries a mandatory sentence of almost six years upon conviction. He also faces a charge of felon in possession of a firearm From The Oregonian. Sheriff's deputies now say ball-bat fight involved 'white-power' teens and Hispanic victims By ANITA BURKE Mail Tribune November 1, 2003 - A riot-like fight last weekend in White City likely resulted from racial tension between groups of teens, a Jackson County sheriff's detective investigating the incident said Friday. "We have reason to believe it was racially motivated, or at least that was part of it," Detective Colin Fagan said. The victims in last Saturday's attack by about 15 bat-wielding young people were Hispanic, he said. Several of the suspected attackers arrested so far are related, and the family members sport shaved heads and "white power" and swastika tattoos, he said. Still, Fagan characterized the clash as "not a large-scale incident, just a few thugs and bullies," adding that most people in White City live peacefully with neighbors of diverse backgrounds. You can read the entire story at Mail Tribune . September 22, 2003 - The following is a press release from Sergeant Brian Schmautz of the Portland Police Bureau: TWO SELF-PROCLAIMED SKINHEADS ARRESTED IN RACIALLY MOTIVATED ASSAULT On Sunday, September 21, 2003, Portland Police arrested 20-year-old Bryce Ray Woods and 23-year-old Dennis Lloyd Mothersbaugh on assault, weapons and intimidation charges after the two self-described Skinheads attacked an African American male and threatened another. The investigation began on Sunday, September 21, 2003, at about 1:20 a.m., after a security guard saw Woods and Mothersbaugh arguing with the first African American victim near Northwest Broadway Boulevard and Northwest Couch Street. The security guard broke up the argument and a short time later the African American was stabbed in the back. The suspects, who fled the area, contacted the second victim, and threatened him with a handgun. September 6, 2003 - The Pacific Northwest is known as a destination for skinheads and other racism-promoting groups. And it appears someone wants to instill that ideology in North Bend. While most residents might not realize it, the community is being advertised as the state headquarters for the Aryan Nations Church of Jesus Christ Christian on the group's U.S. Web site. Over the past week, the group's point of view became more apparent as someone papered cars and newspaper boxes in North Bend, Coos Bay and the rural Bandon area with flyers advertising the Aryan Nations. Read the full story at the worldlink.com . August 9, 2003 - A man who organized a gang of teenage skinheads to burn crosses at a Portland park and spray-paint racist graffiti at a Korean church and a Jewish cemetery in late 2000 and early 2001 pleaded guilty Friday to a federal hate crime. Brian Raymond Hauth, 26, was charged last October with two counts: conspiracy to deny civil rights through intimidation and using fire to commit a felony. For the complete story, see The Oregonian . The City of Portland Bureau of Human Resources is sponsoring a Human Rights Day Brown Bag Forum for city employees. Amnesty International USA Group 48 is going to be our guest on December 10, 2003, from 12:00 - 1:00 p.m. in Room B on the second floor of the Portland Building at 1120 SW Fifth Avenue. Members of the CAHC are welcome to join us. The "No Easy Road: Unlearning Discrimination in Oregon" exhibit will be on display in City Hall, in the light court, from January 12-23, 2004. PSU professor Joe Uris recently published and enlightening piece in the Portland Tribune entitled A racist legacy taints this state. The CAHC is interested in learning about the other side of that history. If you were a part of the struggle for the rights of women, minorities, workers or sexual minorities (or know people who were, or good sources), please email the CAHC. We are interested in collecting stories, anecdotes and people that can provide a testament to the long struggle for social justice in Oregon. The American Jewish Committee, the Coalition Against Hate Crimes and the Mittleman Jewish Community Center present: Alan Siporin, Author of Fire's Edge THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 2O 7:00 PM Mittleman Jewish Community Center, 6651 SW Capitol Hwy. in Portland free admission There was a public forum, sponsored by the Oregon Council for the Humanities, on Portland author Elinor Langer's A Hundred Little Hitlers, a study of the events leading up to and following the murder of Mulugeta Seraw 15 years ago. The forum took place on Tuesday, November 11, at 7:30 PM, at the First Congregational Church in downtown Portland. The First Congregational Church is located at 1137 SW Broadway. A Hundred Little Hitler, which was published in September by Metropolitan Books, examines the cultural and political context of the neo-Nazi movement in Portland, the circumstances leading to the murder of an Ethiopian immigrant here, and the response of the community to these events. Following discussions with Ms. Langer, OCH organized a public forum to focus comment and discussion on some of the questions raised in A Hundred Little Hitlers. Two men charged with a series of racially motivated shootings in Northeast Portland the day before the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday were sentenced Wednesday to five years in prison. The complete story is the 7/10/03 Oregonian and on line at Oregonlive.com. Mayor's Office Announces Forum on Kendra James Shooting TUESDAY, July 1st 2003. The mayor's office has announced a public forum concerning the shooting of Kendra James. It will be held Tuesday, July 1st at the Mount Olive Baptist Church Family Center, 8425 N. Chautauqua Blvd, fpm 5 to 10 pm. Represtentatives of the CAHC will be present. June 5, 2003 - In the last days of his murder trial less than two weeks ago, Kurtis Monschke testified that he was confused about white supremacy, that maybe he'd been misled. But Friday, when he walked into Pierce County Superior Court to be sentenced for killing Randall Townsend, the 20-year-old Tacoma man was clear in his commitment to the movement he calls "racialism" or "white pride." Monschke's hair - which he'd grown out for his trial - was shaved off again. As he apologized to Townsend's sister for her brother's death, Monschke held his arms out in a symbol of the "crucified skinhead" - one treated unfairly because of a commitment to racial segregation and the preservation of a pure white race. "I'm sorry for what happened to your brother," Monschke said, raising his arms and keeping them up. "I wasn't raised to call the cops. Even if I would have, he would have died anyway. He was fatally wounded by the time I got there. The persons who were responsible, they got a release date. I don't." Monschke and three friends - David Pillatos, 20; Scotty Butters, 21; and Tristain Frye, 23 - came across Townsend on March 23, 2003, under Tacoma's East 26th Street bridge and beat him to death, prosecutors say. They attacked Townsend - who they thought was a drug addict and a "parasite" - so they could advance or maintain their status as white supremacists, prosecutors said. The four were charged with aggravated first-degree murder. Pillatos, Butters and Frye pleaded guilty to lesser charges and await sentencing. Monschke, who said he hadn't taken part in the beating, was convicted by a jury Tuesday. Full story at Trib.net . On May 22, 2003, the CAHC agreed to request training materials from the Portland Police Department to review the adequacy of training on cross-cultural conflict resolution. The CAHC hope to make constructive recommendations to reduce tensions between police and minority communities and prevent unnecessary police violence. The KGW story on the meeting can be viewed at: Anti-hate group to review police training The letter to Chief Kroeker, mailed on May 28th, can be read by clicking CAHC LETTER. 09/23/03 - Police cite race in two attacks From The Oregonian Portland police said Monday that two weekend attacks, including a stabbing, were racially motivated and that the two men arrested in both crimes claimed to be skinheads. Shortly after a stabbing early Sunday, the men allegedly threatened another man with a gun. Both victims were black, and the men arrested were white, said Sgt. Brian Schmautz, a spokesman for the Portland Police Bureau. Bryce Ray Woods, 20, and Dennis Lloyd Mothersbaugh, 23, were arrested Sunday morning and arraigned Monday. The Oregonian) 5/27/03 (KATU 2 News) Vandals strike Jewish cemetery in southeast Portland PORTLAND - For the second time in two and a half years, vandals have struck a Jewish cemetery in southeast Portland. It's what you can't see at the Shaarie Torah cemetery that might disturb you. Fresh white paint hides words like "Die Jew" and swastikas that were scrawled on the century old cemetery's gates over the Memorial Day weekend. ( www.katu.com) 5/16/03 (The Oregonian): Guardsman admits roles in assaults An Oregon National Guard member from Medford pleaded guilty Thursday to assault and intimidation in racially motivated attacks on an Indian-born motel clerk and a homeless man. Aaron A. St. James, 26, also agreed to testify against his co-defendant. He won't be sentenced, and three other charges will not be dropped, until he testifies against his co-defendant, Andrew L. Patterson, 23, of Eagle Point, said Beth Heckert, Jackson County assistant district attorney. St. James admitted beating Francis J. Zimny, 51, near Medford's Gospel Rescue Mission on Jan. 29 and later intimidating Nayur Patel, 24, a clerk at the Sis-Q-Motel a few blocks away. Please send news of hate crimes in Oregon and community responses to hate in Oregon to the CAHC at cfrb@pdx.edu. Thank you.
c/o Dr. Randy Blazak, Portland State University Website Design © 2002 by T.L. Kelly
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The Coalition Against Hate Crimes (CAHC) was started by the 
