Whassup, East Haven, CT?!1 Exodus of Latinos underway. Voluntary, of course.

[UTUSN]

Who knew that as AZ goes, so goes CT?!1 The TeaBaggers will inevitably ask, "WAS a child unsupervised or not?!1 WAS a man disputing with his wife or not?!1"


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http://gawker.com/5718648/how-a-quiet-suburbs-police-force-drove-out-latinos

How a Quiet Suburb's Police Force Drove Out Latinos

East Haven, Conn., is a quiet suburb of New Haven with a "peaceful, small-town setting and thriving businesses." Unless you are Latino, in which case it's the place where you're targeted with "traffic stops, false arrests and even jailhouse beatings."

From the late 19th through the mid 20th century, a number of towns across the U.S. instituted official or unofficial policies preventing minorities—usually African-Americans—from buying or owning property within the city limits. They were called "Sundown Towns" thanks to warnings that blacks and other persecuted groups should avoid being caught in these places after sundown. Now, East Haven isn't officially a "Sundown Town." But it sounds like the East Haven Police Department sure is trying to make it one: ....

The Justice Department has started a civil rights investigation, and the FBI recently opened a criminal probe. But that has not changed things on Main Street, where restaurants and stores that cater to Hispanics are going out of business. ....

And don't think of complaining when the police "park outside (your) shops and stop any Latinos"! The wife of Ecuadorean immigrant Luis Rodriguez, who owns Los Amigos Grocery, tried videotaping the cops. Her husband was then arrested and jailed for five days for "child neglect" because his three-year-old was unsupervised outside the store.

And even being a cop won't help you. Santiago Malave, a former New Haven police officer and current probation officer, encountered the cops while engaging in a dispute with his wife. He says he was arrested for "disorderly conduct" as soon as he let slip he was born in Puerto Rico. "I tried to talk to the sergeant, but he said, 'You spics don't have rights here,' " he told the AP. ....

Hispanics in East Haven say more than half their population - estimated at 1,900 by the Census Bureau - has moved away.

"They destroyed our future here," (Restaurant owner Mario) Marin said of police. He said even out-of-town diners have stopped coming since officers launched raids on the restaurant's parking lot, towing away any cars with out-of-state license plates.


Send an email to Max Read, the author of this post, at [email protected].

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[xchrom]

1. a sad recommend. nt

[Fridays Child]

5. Sunlight can be therapeutic. I'll recommend this, too.

:kick:

[maryf]

2. K&R

profiling to the nth degree, this is disgusting, thanks.

[UTUSN]

3. I just put the Southern Poverty Law Center into my "daily"folder where it should have been all along

http://www.splcenter.org/

It's going to be needed more and more every day.

[proud2BlibKansan]

16. I'm on their email list

They send out great stuff.

[leveymg]

4. This happened with the Portuguese in CT earlier in the 20th Century

Connecticut was home to a small but thriving immigrant community from Portugal. I remember in the 1960s and 1970s there was still residual discrimination against the "Spics" in the small Conn. town I grew up in.

The movie "Mystic Pizza" makes some light reference to that.

[peacetalksforall]

6. So it must be OK with the people - the police are still there. Who are these

people? The ruling elites?

[CTyankee]

10. East Haven has a working class population. Many are of Italian American background.

It is sad to see so many people in one town hate so much...

[dkf]

7. Is Gawker a good source?

Aren't they more attuned to Mel Gibson or Tiger Woods?

[UTUSN]

12. It's attuned to what one looks for: If YOU look for Mel/Tiger, you'll find them. If you look for

other things, you'll find THOSE!1 Besides the fun side, it is a Lib-friendly site that points to many original reporting sites on "serious" topics.


What in the story is *not* true? Ah, I see your next post (below), #8 that is: That explains it.

[dkf]

13. I just notice what is posted here.

It's not a site I frequent.

[dkf]

8. Apparently it is stemming from a neighboring counties effort to issue IDs and debit cards to illegal

Immigrants.

"Calling it a move towards “social justice,” aldermen overwhelmingly approved a plan to issue identification cards for all city residents regardless of immigration status. Click on the play arrow to watch the emphatic applause for the plan, the first of its kind in the nation.

The so-called Elm City Resident Card has drawn boiling condemnation from outsider activists but overwhelming support inside city limits — click here, here and here for background on the card, introduced by Mayor DeStefano.

In a 25 to 1 vote Monday, aldermen approved acceptance of $250,359 in private funds from the First City Fund Corporation to support the mayor’s plan. The Elm City Resident Card, originally designed to help undocumented immigrants avoid getting robbed or assaulted, will be a combination of identification, debit card, library card, and a way to pay the parking meter, for all city residents young and old. The city plans to roll out the new cards in July."

http://www.newhavenindependent.org/archives/2007/06/city_id_plan_ap.php

[CTyankee]

11. At the time of issuance of this card, my husband was working in the department at City Hall

that issued it. We were so proud. I guess it was the one good thing that John DeStefano did for the people of New Haven. What he did to affirmative action wound up with a Supreme Court case with his name on it, the notorious Rizzo v. DeStefano (white firefighters case).

[CTyankee]

9. East Haven, known locally as 'staven, is notorious for its racist police force

and racist population. 'Staveners despise New Haven, which they consider elitist and full of blacks, latinos and other "undesirables." There is a lot of corruption in this little burb's government too. There is a civil rights investigation going on right now by the U.S. Justice Dept. It's not exactly a secret!

Newcomers to New Haven are warned about East Haven. People who would like the ambience of New Haven are told that East Haven is NOT where they will want to live.

East Haven to me is almost a foreign country, and one that I do not wish to visit. I would hate to say that I prejudge people based on where they live...but with a few (outstanding) exceptions, I have been sadly correct in my assessment of people there...it's just too bad in many ways...

[UTUSN]

14. Thank you. n/t

[proud2BlibKansan]

15. Puerto Rico is no longer part of the US?

Who knew . . .