Death Threats Made to Staff and Board of CASA of Maryland

Originally at wecanstopthehate.org

This summer, several death threats were made to the staff and board of CASA of Maryland, an immigrant advocacy group and Affiliate of the National Council of La Raza (NCLR).

According to the police report, the first call made to CASA staff member Mario Quiroz's cell phone threatened, "You shouldn't be surprised if your places start blowing up in pieces."

The second call made to the organization's 1-800 number consisted of a threatening message in which six of the 19 words were obscenities. The caller said that it wouldn't be a surprise if one of their facilities were blown up.

The third call was made to the vice president of the CASA board of directors, Reverend Simón Bautista, to a number he uses for his work with the Episcopal Dioceses of Washington. "Don't be surprised when there's a [expletive] bullet in the back of your [expletive] brain," said the voice message.

Subsequent to an investigation of the calls-conducted by the Joint Terrorism Task Force of the FBI and the Montgomery County Police-Wesley J. Queen II was arrested. He is facing counts of threatening to use an incendiary device and for making phone threats. During a hearing, Queen denied making the calls.

The death threats that CASA received are alarming. However, even more disturbing is the stark reality that they are not isolated.

As I blogged earlier this month, a man was convicted just a few weeks ago for death threats he made to NCLR and the Council on American-Islamic Relations. These death threats are part of a larger crisis that we are facing as a country. We must stand up to the hate speech and hate crimes in this nation. We must remain steadfast and respond swiftly to hate speech to show that it will not be tolerated. NCLR is working to do its part through www.WeCanStopTheHate. Join our efforts. Sign up for our action alerts and help make a difference.

To read more about the threats to CASA:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/10/15/ST2008101500165.html

To read the story on the death threat made to NCLR:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kety-esquivel/nclr-death-threat-punishe_b_131057.html

Comments

[proreality]

This is a symptom of the disparity wrought by the past 8 years. This is a symptom of inequality of class. This will only continue to worsen as the fallout of the failed domestic, foreign and economic policies of the Republican party continue to come to fruition. It is the blame placed on others in society for the failure of the twisted belief system fostered by the right, their own misguided belief that allows a few to control many by giving power to those who prefer to be slaves with power over other slaves rather than fight for equality and freedom for all.

[wandering girl]

interesting that the Republican candidates for POTUS and VPOTUS not only have not discouraged their "fans" from using hate speech, but take great offense to being told their "fans" are using hate speech.

when people of influence do not admit their influence for evil, more evil is done.

[jeseyguy406]

This seems to be an alarming trend growing here in the United States. I do not understand for the life of me why we as a nation refuse to learn from our past! What is happening surrounding the issue of immigration is extremely similar to what happened here in the 1960's during the Civil Rights Movement. We must recognize all immigrants as fellow world citizens who have a fundamental right to be treated humanely.

We must not allow people like Wesley J Queen III to spread fear among the masses in hope of securing some kind of perverted control over us. We must stand up against this type of hateful rhetoric and recognize that this isn't only about the extremist like Mr. Queen. It's also about the moderate that stands idlely by and does nothing to stand up against these types of injustices. In action in many cases is by far the worst action of all!

Get involved, speak out! Do not allow the 'main stream media' to ignore this issue any longer!