Women's Building & Arab Businesses Attacked

The Women's Building and Arab Businesses Defaced in Hate-Related Crime

San Francisco, CA - Sometime between the eve and the morning of Thursday December 19, 2002, vandalism hate crimes were committed on at least three buildings in the Mission District. Nearly 140 incidents of hate violence in the Bay Area have been reported to the San Francisco chapter of the American Arab Anti Discrimination Committee. The vandalism at The Women's Building broadcast a variety of hateful messages such as: "Why do niggers in Africa kill each other?" "Cunts" "Nuke Iraq" "Kill Arabs" "Why are cunts nasty?" and "Why are dykes so ugly?"

Last night was the fifth time the MaestraPeace Mural at The Women's Building has been vandalized with graffiti that
symbolized hate against people of our community including women and immigrants since March, 2002. Messages of hate are the direct opposite of what the mural stands for: women teacher of peace. In the Mission District alone, anti-Arab slurs have been spray painted on bus shelters and a number of buildings housing social justice organizations.

"Each time our mural is vandalized it is not just an attack on The Women's Building, it is an affront towards the
community, as well as to the peace movement," said Teresa Mejٍa, Executive Director of The Women's Building. The Women's Building believes that it is absolutely crucial that anyone who feels compelled to spread the message of hate by defacing its mural be quickly apprehended. If anyone has any information regarding these hate crimes, please contact The Women's Building at (415) 431-1180, The American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee of San Francisco at (415) 861-7444, and Inspector Miranda Moore at San Francisco Police Dept./Hate Crimes Unit at (415) 553-1133.

For over twenty years The Women's Building has made the Mission its home dedicating our resources to provide women and girls with the tools and resources they need to achieve full and equal participation in society. The Women's Building houses many organizations supporting women and communities of color, including Mujeres Unidas y Activas, the Riley Center, COLAGE, Purple Moon Dance Project, Cooperative Restraining Order Clinic, San Francisco Women Against Rape, Bay
Area Girls Center, and Mission Neighborhood Centers, Inc. The San Francisco chapter of the American Arab
Anti-Discrimination Committee is a community based civil rights organization, working against discrimination,
stereotyping, and hate violence. If you are a victim or witness to hate violence, racial profiling, or detention, you
can call the 24-hour toll free English and Arabic Community Resource Hotline of the San Francisco American Arab
Anti-Discrimination Committee, at 1-877-282-2288. Together, we can make the San Francisco Bay Area a refuge for all of its residents.

Contact:
The Women's Building
Makiko Kambayashi
Phone: 415.431.1180 x20
E-mail: makiko [at] womensbuilding.org

American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee of San Francisco
Sonya Kaleel
Phone: (415) 987-4661
Email: skaleel [at] yahoo.com