New information on today's court hearing of Dee Allen, arrested protesting the Minutemen

As you know, Gray Panthers friend Dee Allen was arrested recently, among hundreds protesting the racist and xenophobic Minutemen, who were spreading their hateful and dangerous message that immigrants, and by inuendo, Latinos, are violent low-life that threaten the safety of community. Dee's crime: spitting at an officer.

The Minutemen's message is the kind of rhetoric that led to decades of lynchings in the South. Less than a month ago, Luis Ramirez was beaten to death by white youths shouting racist epithets in Shenandoah Pennsylvania, a short distance from Hazelton, a town where anti-immigrant campaigns led to passage of laws banning employment of undocumented workers or rental of housing to them.

Yet the Sanctuary City of San Francisco provided the City Hall steps and police protection to the Minutemen, and made opposing them a crime which the City will prosecute on the flimsiest of pretexts. Given the fact that latins and blacks occupy the areas of town that the developers want to take over for luxury condos, it's hardly surprising that the Chronicle runs stories conflating immigrant youth with drug dealers and immigrant men with murders, or that the City should protect the Minutemen and harass latin and black youth with the Gang Injunction program. It's like the old relationship between the businessmen of the White Citizens Council and the Klan. All of us will suffer if business can use racism and xenophobia to gentrify the City.

I speak feelingly on this, having spent a year in the 1980s fighting off false charges of assaulting two officers, in a demonstration and fight against the Klan, which had move in to organize Oxnard California, following the murder of a child by a farmworker. This may look like a trivial case of spitting at an officer, but the consequences of this case are huge. Dee needs, and deserves, our support.

Michael

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Hillary Ronen, of La Raza Centro Legal, writes:

Dee Allen had a court hearing this morning. He continues to maintain his innocence and is standing strong in protest against the ridiculous charges against him. A police officer maintains that Dee spit at him and so the DA has not yet agreed to drop charges against him. That's where we come in...

1. If you witnessed the events leading up to Dee's arrest, took photographs, or video of the arrest, etc. please let us know. Dee's attorney would like to see any evidence and interview you so she can convince the DA that they do not have a case.

2. Please write a letter of support for Dee. Dee's attorney wants to hand the letters over to the DA to show him how the community will respond if this case goes to trial. The letter can be an individual letter or an organizational letter. In the letter feel free to include your personal experiences with Dee and your admiration for his work and commitment to fighting for justice. Feel free to also include your outrage that Dee is being targeted and that you are ready and willing to speak out publicly if the DA does not drop the charges against him. Include your contact information in the letter. Please send your letters to me so I can pass them on to Dee and his attorney.

Hillary Ronen
La Raza Centro Legal
474 Valencia Street, Suite 295
San Francisco, CA 94103

Thanks so much for your continued support. A wonderful group of people showed up to support Dee this morning at his Court hearing and it made a difference. His attorney and the DA know that we are watching to make sure that our friend and comrade is 100% exonerated! Mark your calendars - the next hearing is October 2nd at 9:00 a.m.

Hillary