Published: Tuesday, June 16, 2009
EXTREMISTS
Commission's outreach needed
The editorial headline in Friday's Herald had it right when it stated that threats mustn't be dismissed because
"...we can't count on white supremacists, and other extremists, to get themselves arrested before they do harm."
Two years ago Shawna Forde publicly exposed her extremist beliefs when she organized an "anti-immigrant summit" at the Everett Elks Lodge. Her subsequent trouble with the law and personal difficulties are well documented by this newspaper, the blogosphere and her own Web site.
On Friday we learned that she had been arrested in Arizona and is charged with murder in connection with the shooting deaths of a 9-year-old Mexican American girl and her father in Pima County. Was this the inevitable outcome of a life filled with fear and hate? What could we have done differently in Snohomish County to, perhaps, help avert the unfortunate series of events in this woman's life?
One way to reach out to all residents and communities in Snohomish County would be through an educational outreach program now being considered by the Snohomish County Council. The council is reviewing an ordinance submitted to it last year by the Snohomish County Citizens Committee for Human Rights (www.sccchr.org).
The SCCCHR is requesting that the council establish a Human Rights Commission based on the Washington State Human Rights Commission. The state commission was instrumental in the development of the ordinance with the help of over 50 volunteer citizens throughout the county. It has been endorsed by numerous organizations, elected officials and individuals.
This ordinance would be the first county-led effort of a county-wide program to identify and address human and civil rights issues in Snohomish County. Snohomish County is currently the largest county in Washington without a Human Rights Commission.
It's time that we acknowledge and deal with perceived and real "threats" when they occur in our own county while we mourn the tragedy allegedly caused by one of our citizens in another.
Luis Moscoso
Mountlake Terrace
"...we can't count on white supremacists, and other extremists, to get themselves arrested before they do harm."
Two years ago Shawna Forde publicly exposed her extremist beliefs when she organized an "anti-immigrant summit" at the Everett Elks Lodge. Her subsequent trouble with the law and personal difficulties are well documented by this newspaper, the blogosphere and her own Web site.
On Friday we learned that she had been arrested in Arizona and is charged with murder in connection with the shooting deaths of a 9-year-old Mexican American girl and her father in Pima County. Was this the inevitable outcome of a life filled with fear and hate? What could we have done differently in Snohomish County to, perhaps, help avert the unfortunate series of events in this woman's life?
One way to reach out to all residents and communities in Snohomish County would be through an educational outreach program now being considered by the Snohomish County Council. The council is reviewing an ordinance submitted to it last year by the Snohomish County Citizens Committee for Human Rights (www.sccchr.org).
The SCCCHR is requesting that the council establish a Human Rights Commission based on the Washington State Human Rights Commission. The state commission was instrumental in the development of the ordinance with the help of over 50 volunteer citizens throughout the county. It has been endorsed by numerous organizations, elected officials and individuals.
This ordinance would be the first county-led effort of a county-wide program to identify and address human and civil rights issues in Snohomish County. Snohomish County is currently the largest county in Washington without a Human Rights Commission.
It's time that we acknowledge and deal with perceived and real "threats" when they occur in our own county while we mourn the tragedy allegedly caused by one of our citizens in another.
Luis Moscoso
Mountlake Terrace
Comments
(