Homeland Insecurity and Racism and Bigotry

[bubbafred10]

Spotlight on American justice

 

http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20050819/1065721.asp

 

Trial of inspector accused of beating Chinese businesswoman expected to revive international interest in high-profile case

 

By MICHAEL BEEBE and DAN HERBECK

News Staff Reporters

8/19/2005

 

Click to view larger picture

 

New York Daily News

Zhao Yan says her injuries were inflicted by a U.S. customs agent.

 

Click to view larger picture

 

New York Daily News

Zhao Yan, shown in 2000, has told the Chinese news media that at least three inspectors kicked her.

 

 

 

A U.S. border inspector was scheduled to go on trial today on charges of beating a Chinese businesswoman he had mistaken for a drug smuggler, a case that made front page news in China and led to high-level talks between China's foreign minister and then-U.S. Secretary of State Colin L. Powell.

Robert Rhodes, 44, of Niagara Falls, a 17-year veteran of what is now the Department of Homeland Security's Customs and Border Protection, faces a single count of violating the civil rights of Zhao Yan, a charge that carries a 10-year prison term.

 

Steven M. Cohen, Rhodes' lawyer, is attempting to subpoena both Powell and former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge to testify about allegations that, in indicting Rhodes, the government had bent to pressure from China.

 

U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara completed jury selection Thursday and is expected to rule shortly on whether Powell and Ridge can be called to testify.

 

For days, pictures of Zhao, 38, with both eyes blackened and her forehead bruised and scratched, appeared on government-controlled television and newspapers across China.

 

"What happened to this woman?" EastSouthWestNorth, a Hong Kong Web site, asked in posting photos of Zhao. "Was she the victim of domestic violence? Was she in a train wreck? Was she the victim of a mugging?"

 

The trial, which could last several weeks, is expected to draw widespread attention in China, where commentators have accused the United States of a double standard - criticizing China for human rights violations while one of its agents is accused of assaulting a Chinese citizen.

 

"The Chinese people were very upset by the brutality of the American officers," said Zhang Jie, director of the Center for Chinese Studies at Buffalo State College. "I think the Chinese people were impressed that the U.S. government was willing to prosecute one of its own."

 

But they may react angrily if Rhodes is acquitted, Zhang said, especially since the U.S. government has been pressing China to improve its human rights record.

 

"There could be demonstrations and protests," he said. "Even if she was a drug dealer or a criminal, there would be no reason to beat her like that."

 

Mingyu Wang, an Amherst engineer and active member of the Chinese Club of Western New York, added: "In China, people see America as putting a great emphasis on human rights," he said. "People look up to the United States for that. [This incident] really painted a very bad picture of America."

 

 

--------------------------------------

 

Contrast that to this one - no beating here:

 

 

MARKET REVIEW: HOMELAND INSECURITY

 

Your editors recently returned from a weeklong trip to Vancouver, B.C.,

where we attended the annual Agora Wealth Symposium.

 

We always enjoy being in Vancouver, with its beautiful weather and

friendly people, and the conference itself was a huge success. We had the

chance to meet a lot of our readers, which is always nice, and our

editors didn't disappoint in their speeches. All in all, a good time was had

by everyone.

 

That is, until we tried to return to Baltimore. We were stuck in line

to go through customs for over an hour (at six in the morning), our

flight was delayed in Las Vegas for hours...and we didn't make it home

until 3 a.m.

 

We thought we had the worst experience traveling home, until we read

this note from Kevin Kerr:

 

"First of all, let me tell you I was flying Cathay Pacific Airways

direct from Vancouver to New York.

 

"When I arrived in New York, I handed my passport to the customs agent,

he scanned it and scanned it and then paused and said in an official

tone, 'Please come with me.' I was taken to this back room that looked

like something out of the old Barney Miller police sitcom. I was told to

sit and wait as the officers from Homeland Security perched on their

desk and looked down from about four feet above me. The room was dingy

and poorly lighted; it was like being in a low-budget Kafkaesque film.

"Three officers proceeded to question me, one after the other, like I

was a criminal. Let me just tell you some history: For some reason,

there is another Kevin Kerr in the system, and he has been for about 15

years. Supposedly, this guy did some very bad things, but nobody will ever

tell me what. Bottom line: It's not me. Anyway, they always flag this

and can see from the picture it's not me. In fact, the guy isn't even

the same race as me, supposedly. No matter.

 

"Having said that, they demanded my fingerprints and asked me about 25

questions. After they confirmed I wasn't this guy, they asked me to

repeat my social security number. I asked why, and they said, 'Are you

refusing?' the officer said in an intimidating tone.

 

"I dare not, I thought. What's next?

 

"I was really feeling like I was in a Kafka type film now, and wondered

how it was going to end. I said, 'Why are you interrogating me?'

Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say. One of the officers started

yelling at me, telling me they weren't interrogating me. Maybe I missed

something, but except for the lone light bulb on a string and beating me

with a rubber hose, it sure seemed like interrogation. They then

insisted I repeat my social security number and looked up my records.

Suddenly, one of them said, 'Have you been under a doctor's care recently?'

 

"I said, confusedly, 'What?' He said, 'Well, the computer shows a

missing persons report was filed for you back in May by the hospital near

your home.' Again I said, 'What?'

 

"Now let me clarify, I was at the hospital back in May; which I had

completely forgot. I was having severe headaches and went to the emergency

room, but the wait was over five hours and I felt better, so I decided

to go to my doctor the next day instead.

 

"But as I was leaving the hospital, I told the orderly I decided to go

to my own doctor and couldn't wait another five hours, and he said

fine. So I left. I never thought anything of it.

 

"Turns out the hospital reported me as a missing person. So presto,

Homeland Security, in its infinite wisdom, has me as a missing person now

returning from abroad. I was never notified by the police, never called

at my house (which has a listed number), never contacted by the

hospital that had all of my records - hell, I had surgery there in the past

they know exactly where I live. No, instead they reported me missing to

Homeland Security.

 

"After about 45 minutes, two calls to my lawyer in Italy and three to

the Connecticut police, the immigration people said I could go, but

pointed out that it wasn't their fault. It must be the Connecticut police's

mistake. Yeah, right!

 

"What's my point in all of this? Let me first say that I am a staunch

believer in security and in tight immigration. I worked in the World

Trade Center and was in the building for the first attack [in 1993], I

lost my car in the garage that day, and nearly my life. Then, on 9/11 I

lost many friends, too. I am a believer in doing things by the book when

it comes to immigration. Just ask my wife Katrin, who is an immigrant

from Estonia, or my first wife Nicola, who was an immigrant from Spain.

Dealing with immigration is a long, arduous process, and costly, too. I

never plan to do it again.

 

"However, it's my firm belief that things have come full circle, and we

are now living under the thumb of a system that is squashing our civil

rights, freedom and all due process. In this one incident, my rights to

privacy, to freedom, to representation, to innocent until proven guilty

were all thrown out the window. I have heard of numerous cases of this,

yet had not experienced it. Now I see what everyone has been saying is

true.

 

"Homeland Security is nothing of the kind. The department is a mockery

of a way to get people to sleep better at night. The irony is that all

of the rights we hope to protect are simply set aside for some agenda

that I, quite frankly, have little interest in anymore. I have lost too

many friends and too much time dealing with the results - or lack

thereof - of the current administration's policies. Enough is enough.

 

"Oh, and by the way, I am a registered Republican, and have been since

I was old enough to vote. I didn't vote in the last election, and in

the next I am praying for a good independent candidate so I actually have

someone to vote for. Hell maybe I will run, I can't do any worse.

 

"I love America more than anything, but lately, it just doesn't feel

like it anymore, and that's sad."

 

Kevin Kerr and Kate Incontrera

The Daily Reckoning

 

P.S. Kevin has had overwhelming response to this note, which he ran in

his newsletter - seems as though many Americans are feeling fed up with

Homeland Security and the efforts done by our government to make our

country "safe." We will be printing many of these reader comments in The

Daily Reckoning next week, so stay tuned, and feel free to write in

yourself - send your messages to dr@dailyreckoning.com

 

In the meantime, for more of Kevin Kerr's insights, see his latest

report:

 

The Trader's Code

http://www1.youreletters.com/t/168345/1497523/777165/0/

[HanLi]

it's been said that, "a few bad apples can spoil the whole bunch"

[warpedbored]

I've been watching a documentary on one of the discovery channels about 911 and it seems to me that homeland insecurity is about right. My oppinion is it is mostly feel good action to make the american people think something is being done. Regardless of how you feel about it though there is no excuse for that Chinese woman to have been beaten as badly as she was at the border even if she was guilty of something which she wasn't. I for one hope that the border guard gets the maximum penalty allowed by law and then a little extra by his fellow inmates.

[Dennis143]

I've been watching a documentary on one of the discovery channels about 911 and it seems to me that homeland insecurity is about right.  My oppinion is it is mostly feel good action to make the american people think something is being done.  Regardless of how you feel about it though there is no excuse for that Chinese woman to have been beaten as badly as she was at the border even if she was guilty of something which she wasn't.  I for one hope that the border guard gets the maximum penalty allowed by law and then a little extra by his fellow inmates.

148971[/snapback]

Right on Carl!! Just what we all need is an incident like this to fuel greater unrest between the US and China. Makes me wonder about retaliation to some poor US tourist as this was front page news in China.

[Jeikun]

LOL yep Chinese will put that incident as front pase news. But only for political reasons. DO they really care one of their citizens was beaten? Heck no!! I guarantee you that in the time it takes me to write this post there will be a dozen incidents of police brutality in China.

 

The difference? A guy does it here, he is prosicuted, sued, fired, and humiliated (as he should be). In China NOTHING is done about it. People just look the other way (if they know what's good for them).

 

The hypocrasy of it reeks. For that reason, I can't feel much empathy in this case. Even though I hope the guy who did it is prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

 

China calling us out on human rights... it is to laugh.

 

I agree however on the homeland security issue. It is about the ILLUSION of security. Not about actual security, except by coincidence maybe. But sometimes, that's more important (especially when the goal is to pacify people).

[Dan R]

When it happens to an American citizen it is hushed up unless it is caught on film. I've had hispanic friends harassed by cops and believe me they are good guys. Black friends have been cuffed and after doing a run down on them released. One was billy clubed for wasting their time. My son in law was stopped and shoved around by the police a number of times because of his shaved head and tattoos. But these were incidents not recorded by police who will go on doing it until it is news.

 

I think the reason it is such an issue is it is an international incident directed at a foreign citizen. However if I as a manager of a company have knowledge of an employee that has harassed anyone in the company and did not take action to prevent future occurances, I and the company face fines and charges with possible jail time for negligence. Why is he charged and not his supervisors. The law holds supervision accountable in companies for their employees but in government it seems the fall guy stands alone.

[Trigg]

I have to agree with goat boy. police brutality is ubiquitous in the US. The similarity to China is that when it occurs to people that 'nobody gives a hoot' about, it is ignored. Go into any big city in America and ask the residents of the lower SES areas if our police can be brutal or not. I'm 100% sure of the answer. The biggest difference may be that in certain areas, if caught on film, we sensationalize it and speak of it as the exception. The power of free press serves us well in this case as the more it is brought to light, the less likley it is to occur again.

[cosmiclobster]

I will agree that there are some people in the US that deserve to have the Rodney King treatment done to them. But a 98 pound Chinese woman VS a trained 200+ lb. uniformed officer with weapons?

I hope he gets locked up because:

1. He clearly stepped over the line.

2. If he isn't disiplined, it will give free reign to all enforcement officers to do the "Rodney" to whoever they feel like it and

3. So that the rest of the world will see that the US isn't 100% hypocrites who say one thing and practice another (it's a free country, except when you're unarmed and one of our officers decides to do a tap dance on your head with a club!).

[HanLi]

a few rotten apples....... sometimes we miss seeing the good that is done by the rest!!

Edited August 24, 2005 by hankhoude (see edit history)

[cosmiclobster]

a few rotten apples.......  sometimes we miss seeing the good that is done by the rest!!

149441[/snapback]

True, but the rotten apples need to be taken out of the pile before the whole basket of fruit turns rotten!

[HanLi]

a few rotten apples.......  sometimes we miss seeing the good that is done by the rest!!

149441[/snapback]

True, but the rotten apples need to be taken out of the pile before the whole basket of fruit turns rotten!

149446[/snapback]

I would never argue that point... but the point is... we still have the best law enforcement system in the world... in my opinion

[BuffaloPaul]

a few rotten apples.......  sometimes we miss seeing the good that is done by the rest!!

149441[/snapback]

True, but the rotten apples need to be taken out of the pile before the whole basket of fruit turns rotten!

149446[/snapback]

I would never argue that point... but the point is... we still have the best law enforcement system in the world... in my opinion

149450[/snapback]

I agree, I think as a society we tend to be overcritical of our government and authority figures. Maybe its a 60's holdover.

[Trigg]

a few rotten apples.......  sometimes we miss seeing the good that is done by the rest!!

149441[/snapback]

True, but the rotten apples need to be taken out of the pile before the whole basket of fruit turns rotten!

149446[/snapback]

I would never argue that point... but the point is... we still have the best law enforcement system in the world... in my opinion

149450[/snapback]

I agree, I think as a society we tend to be overcritical of our government and authority figures. Maybe its a 60's holdover.

149453[/snapback]

Overcritical of our governement????

[Jeikun]

In all fairness, it's our ability and right to be (over)critical of the government that makes it function as well as it does. Not just a right really, more of a responsibility. If we just keep our heads in the sand and go along with everything, we will slowly become a facist state (or even socialist, perhaps). Point is, this is first and formost a government "by the people" if we leave only 2% of those people to make all the decisions, and just go quietly along, that will no longer be true, and we will only have ourselves to blame. That's why even when I see a zealous nut job (in my eyes) ratteling on and on about something, I don't lose much sleep over it, because somewhere else there is another zealous nut job arguing the extreme opposite. They cancel each other out, and keep things as moderate as possible, as long as we all let our voices be heard (that's the idea anyway).

[Trigg]

In all fairness, it's our ability and right to be (over)critical of the government that makes it function as well as it does.  Not just a right really, more of a responsibility. 

149510[/snapback]

I could not agree more!!