[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 51 (Wednesday, April 14, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E644-E645]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            EXPOSING RACISM

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. BENNIE G. THOMPSON

                             of mississippi

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, April 14, 1999

  Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, In my continuing efforts to 
document and expose racism in America, I submit the following articles 
into the Congressional Record.

                [From the New York Times, Feb. 24, 1999]

           Man Sentenced to 20 Years in Louisiana Hate Crime

       Gretna, La.--A white man convicted of a hate crime for 
     trying to torch two cars belonging to black motorists has 
     been sentenced to the maximum of 20 years in prison.
       Prosecutors said it was the first trial involving 
     Louisiana's hate crime law.
       Frank Palermo, 32, was convicted in December of two counts 
     of a hate crime and of dousing the vehicles with gasoline. He 
     was sentenced Monday by State District Judge Walter 
     Rothschild, who told Palermo, ``You were out to get these 
     people because of their race.''
       One of the cars had a small child in it. The cars didn't 
     burn because it was raining at the time of the incident last 
     September.
       Authorities said, Palermo and his younger brother, Patrick, 
     encountered the blacks working on a stalled car along an 
     expressway in Harvey, a New Orleans suburb. Witnesses 
     testified the Palermos became involved in a shouting match 
     with one driver, and then fistfights broke out. Racial slurs 
     were used, authorities said.
       Frank Palermo got a baseball bat and broke windows in one 
     car, then grabbed a gas can and poured fuel on it and another 
     car that had a crying child strapped inside, witnesses said. 
     They said the brothers tried to ignite the gas but the rain 
     kept it from burning, and the brothers then fled.
       The younger brother received the minimum sentence of three 
     years in prison. He had been acquitted of the hate crime 
     count but convicted of helping put gasoline on the cars.
       The hate crime law, passed in 1997, allows a judge to add 
     up to five extra years to a felony sentence if it is found 
     that the actions stemmed from hatred because of race, age, 
     gender, sexual orientation, national origin or membership in 
     an organization.


     
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              [From the New York times, February 24, 1999]

    Jury Convicts Man of Cross-Burning at Home of Interracial Couple

       Virginia Beach, Va.--A teen-ager was convicted today of 
     attempting to burn a cross on the lawn of an interracial 
     couple but was acquitted of a conspiracy charge.
       The Circuit Court jury deliberated about three hours over 
     two days on the case against Richard J. Elliott, 19, who 
     lives next door to the couple in a rural neighborhood near 
     the North Carolina state line.
       Elliott stood quietly as the verdict was read. He faces up 
     to five years in prison and a $2,500 fine on the charge of 
     attempting to burn a cross with the intent to intimidate.
       Elliott was one of three white teen-agers arrested in the 
     burning of a cross last May on the law of James and Susan 
     Jubilee.
       Jonathan S. O'Mara, 19, of Virginia Beach, pleaded guilty 
     Monday to felony charges of conspiracy and attempting to burn 
     a cross with the intent to intimidate. Under a plea 
     agreement, O'Mara has the right to appeal.
       A 17-year-old boy has agreed to plead guilty to the same 
     charges in juvenile court and testified against Elliott. In 
     exchange, he will not be sentenced as an adult.
       Jubilee, who is black, said he moved from Los Angeles back 
     to Virginia to get away from big-city crime and raise his 
     sons in a more peaceful environment.
       About four months after moving into his new house, Jubilee 
     awoke to find a wooden cross in his front yard with a burned 
     spot in the middle.
       Jubilee testified that as he pulled out of his driveway the 
     morning of May 3, he saw a cross about 20 feet from his home.
       ``I took a double take, because I couldn't believe what I 
     really saw,'' Jubilee said.
       Enraged, he broke the 4-by-2-foot cross over his knee. He 
     said his anger then turned to fear that the cross might be a 
     warning of violence to come.
       The 17-year-old testified that O'Mara and Elliott attended 
     a party at his home the night of May 2 and that all three 
     drank a lot of beer. There, Elliott allegedly expressed anger 
     at Jubilee for complaining about a shooting range that 
     Elliott and his father had in their back yard.
       ``He wanted to get back at them,'' the boy said:
       Elliott suggested they burn a cross, so the three of them 
     built a cross in the boy's garage, the boy said.
       O'Mara is to be sentenced April 26. He faces up to 10 years 
     in prison and a $5,000 fine.
       Kevin Martingayle, O'Mara's attorney, said outside the 
     courtroom that his client is not a racist.
       ``He's ignorant and he was drunk but he's not a racist,'' 
     he said.


 ABA Poll Says 47 Percent of Americans Doubt Racial Fairness of Courts

                          (By Richard Carelli)

       Washington (AP).--Too many Americans believe the nation's 
     courts do not provide equal justice for racial minorities, 
     the American Bar Association's president said, as the group 
     released a poll showing nearly half of Americans feel that 
     way.
       ``This is a very serious problem we . . . cannot afford to 
     ignore,'' Little Rock, Ark., lawyer Philip Anderson said 
     Tuesday. ``We are concerned that the current perception of 
     bias will eventually erode confidence in our system of 
     justice.''
       Of 1,000 people surveyed by telephone in August, 47 percent 
     said they strongly disagreed with a statement that ``the 
     courts treat all ethnic and racial groups the same.'' Only 39 
     percent agreed with the statement, and 14 percent voiced no 
     view.
       Asked whether courts treat men and women alike, 55 percent 
     said yes, 30 percent said no, and 15 percent expressed no 
     view.
       Anderson noted that another recent ABA poll indicated great 
     disagreement between white and black lawyers over the justice 
     system's racial fairness.
       ``This raises the obvious question that if people believe 
     the justice system is tainted with bias, how long can they 
     expect the courts to remedy bias elsewhere in our society?'' 
     Anderson said, ``Right now, the high degree of confidence in 
     the courts exists side by side with the perception of bias in 
     the courts. As the minority populations increase in America, 
     will the perception of bias increase?''
       He said the 350,000-member ABA ``will intensify our efforts 
     to eradicate gender and racial bias in our courts.''
       The poll released Tuesday contains some seemingly 
     inconsistent findings. For example, most people--51 percent--
     believe the justice system ``needs a complete overhaul,''

[[Page E645]]

     but 80 percent also believe America's system is the world's 
     best.
       A large majority of Americans, 78 percent, also voiced 
     confidence in the jury system.
       ``Those numbers are high, and we can feel good about 
     them,'' Anderson said.
       Among the poll's other findings: 90 percent believe wealthy 
     people and companies often wear down their opponents by 
     dragging out legal proceedings; 77 percent say it costs too 
     much to go to court; 27 percent believe the best lawyers are 
     selected to serve as judges.
       Anderson said the poll indicates most Americans need and 
     want to know more about the justice system. One tool, he 
     said, could be increasing public access to the nation's 
     courtrooms by televising more proceedings.
       ``I cannot think of a better civics lesson than . . . to be 
     able to see and hear every argument before the Supreme Court 
     of the United States,'' Anderson said. ``One television 
     camera in the Supreme Court will educate more people more 
     effectively in one morning than the traditional methods can 
     reach in one year.''
       All federal court proceedings currently are closed to radio 
     and television coverage.
       The poll has margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage 
     points.


     
                                  ____
                     [From the Dallas Morning News]

  Program Helps Young People Shed Tattoos and the Life They Represent

                          (By Veronica Alaniz)

       Fort Worth, Texas.--Robert Barton's hands and arms are 
     covered with marks of hatred, each painfully etched into his 
     skin when he was in his early teens.
       Tattoos that he once wore with pride are now shameful 
     reminders of a life that Barton, 19, says he has left behind. 
     But with the help of a nonprofit program the emblems of 
     racism are beginning to fade from his body.
       When they are finally gone, thanks to laser surgery 
     provided at no cost by a Fort Worth doctor, Barton said, he 
     will know that his new life has really begun.
       ``At the time, I thought it was the right thing to do,'' 
     Barton said of the designs traced across his forearms, wrists 
     and knuckles. ``Now, it just doesn't make any sense. I want 
     them gone. They don't mean anything to me now.''
       Getting rid of the unwanted tattoos and the shame that 
     comes with them is Michael Bumagin's mission.
       Since returning to Fort Worth a little more than a year 
     ago, Bumagin, 57, has volunteered his time and expertise to 
     help those with little means remove ugly reminders of their 
     past.
       ``These kids have been in bad situations--gangs, broken 
     homes. Some of them have been on the street. They've had a 
     hard life,'' said the doctor, who has his own plastic surgery 
     practice. ``These tattoos are going to keep them from 
     succeeding in life. They make it hard for them to get jobs, 
     even in the most entry-level positions.''
       That is one of the reasons Jessica Cross, 21, wants the 
     Tasmanian devil cartoon character above her right breast 
     removed.
       ``If you have a tattoo, I think a lot of people think 
     you're a bad person,'' said Cross. ``Everybody looks at you, 
     and I can see what they're thinking.''
       Barton said that feeling is all too familiar to him, and 
     he'll be glad when he doesn't have to hide his hands in his 
     pants pockets in shame.
       ``People see this stuff on me and slap a label on me and 
     write me off,'' Barton said. ``But this (tattoo removal) is 
     going to open up a lot of doors for me and give me a lot of 
     opportunity.''
       Every other month, young people such as Cross and Barton 
     come by the dozens to wait for their turn with Bumagin.
       Some hear about the service, administered by the Boys & 
     Girls Club of Greater Fort Worth, by word-of-mouth. Others 
     are referred by their local police departments, school 
     counselors or probation officers.
       In return for what many recipients call a life-changing 
     service, the patients perform four hours of community service 
     for each treatment. They call it a more than fair trade.
       Gary Grossman, an Arlington Independent School District 
     counselor, works with students in alternative programs and 
     refers some to the tattoo removal program. He call Bumagin's 
     work a godsend.
       ``Erasing those marks off their bodies is symbolic,'' 
     Grossman said. ``It's a way of leaving their past behind, a 
     way to start a fresh, new, clean life. But for many, it's 
     beyond their financial ability.''
       Bumagin said hearing his patients' stories is why he keeps 
     doing the work.
       ``The kids benefit, the community benefits, and I get the 
     feel-goods,'' he said.
       But the program couldn't exist with Bumagin alone. 
     Donations pay for rental of the laser machine and other 
     supplies.
       Cross, who paid $50 for her tattoo while she was in high 
     school, said that when she first looked into having it 
     removed, the $2,500 estimates she was given were prohibitive.
       ``I thought I was going to have to live with it forever,'' 
     she said.
       Danielle Lessard said she, too, was floored by the cost of 
     losing her tattoo--a 2-inch-high tribute to her ex-
     boyfriend's gang name etched on her right hip.
       When Lessard found out about Bumagin's work from the Fort 
     Worth Police Department's gang unit, she jumped at the 
     opportunity. She said that though her tattoo is not readily 
     noticeable, its presence haunts her.
       ``Stupid. That's all I can say. I was 15, and it was a home 
     job,'' said Lessard, now 18 and a Tarrant County Junior 
     College student. ``Since I'm not in that stuff anymore and 
     I'm not in that environment, I don't want that stuff on my 
     body.''
       Israel Villareal, 23, who got the first of several gang 
     tattoos when he was 13, said he wants them gone so they won't 
     influence his three children.
       ``I don't want my little kids growing up seeing them and 
     thinking it's OK,'' he said.
       Removing the tattoos takes far more time--and often hurts 
     more--than getting them.
       After her first treatment in January, Lessard said she 
     wasn't expecting it to be so painful.
       ``Oh my gosh, this is stinging real bad,'' she said as she 
     squirmed in her seat.
       Bumagin said the pain comes from the particles of pigment 
     that, when touched by the laser, explode through the skin.
       The treatments cause redness, swelling and sometimes 
     bleeding, but the symptoms disappear in a few hours. He said 
     the pain decreases with each treatment as the tattoo fades, 
     and the number of treatments varies by tattoo.
       When Angela Acua showed up for her treatment last month, 
     she was very apprehensive.
       ``I'm scared. What if it hurts?'' she asked the doctor. 
     After whimpering through the few minutes that it took to zap 
     her tattoos, Acua turned to her boyfriend and gave him some 
     advice.
       ``It hurt,'' she said. ``Don't ever put anything on you.''

       

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