Warning: racist junior air marshals and press wonks ahead
There's a certain segment of the travelling public who need to have their junior TSA badges taken off them (preferably with clubs) before they fly anywhere.
Last week Santiago Lo Tizoy, a Guatemalan gardener/landscaper with limited English was acquitted of charges that he attempted to hurt a 3 month-old baby and attempted "rushing the cockpit" during a NW flight between LA and Honolulu last December.
Here are the news reports of his acquittal in local newspapers. As usual the Star Bulletin's version is way out ahead. Note the very laconic statement from the Honolulu Advertiser (on which more anon)
The fact that the people sitting near him testified in his defence (his "suspicious" behavior was mostly a reaction to having spilled water on himself) and that clearly NOT BEING ABLE TO SPEAK ENGLISH factored hugely in some passengers' self-appointed assessments of his "threat potential" thankfully emerged at his trial, but it was clear that someone in the local media had already decided he was a scary wetback guilty.
The whole sordid story can be found in the breathless accounts of the Haole Honolulu Advertiser. I'm putting in a link to all 8 stories just so you can see them.
http://search3.honoluluadvertiser.com/search?ie=&site=advertiser&output=xml_no_dtd&client=advertiser&lr=&proxystylesheet=advertiser&oe=&btnG=Search&q=tizol
This is a picture of Tizol who is clearly indigenous (as if this wasn't already obvious from the way he was being treated. If he'd looked like Jimmy Smits -no offence 'mano- I'm thinking this probably wouldn't have gone down this way either).
This story is clearly the most egregious. Note particularly the "9/11 " reference toward the end of the story. Bloody Lone Ranger wannabees.
Note that as related in the other stories, particularly in the Star Bulletin Tizol who is 5 feet tall was tackled by 4 "other passengers" 2 of whom were over 6 feet tall and 200 pounds each.
Shades of "the Miami Al Qaeda Cell" over-reaction anyone?
The Honolulu Star-Bulletin had more balanced coverage although they also kind of went off the deep end at the beginning.
And people wonder why it's a good idea to teach people how to speak "foreign" languages?
Good on the local Honolulu jury for not buying into the racist paranoia of the "activist" passengers or the fear-mongering of the racist, Haole-identified, "organ of record".
Last week Santiago Lo Tizoy, a Guatemalan gardener/landscaper with limited English was acquitted of charges that he attempted to hurt a 3 month-old baby and attempted "rushing the cockpit" during a NW flight between LA and Honolulu last December.
Here are the news reports of his acquittal in local newspapers. As usual the Star Bulletin's version is way out ahead. Note the very laconic statement from the Honolulu Advertiser (on which more anon)
The fact that the people sitting near him testified in his defence (his "suspicious" behavior was mostly a reaction to having spilled water on himself) and that clearly NOT BEING ABLE TO SPEAK ENGLISH factored hugely in some passengers' self-appointed assessments of his "threat potential" thankfully emerged at his trial, but it was clear that someone in the local media had already decided he was a scary wetback guilty.
The whole sordid story can be found in the breathless accounts of the Haole Honolulu Advertiser. I'm putting in a link to all 8 stories just so you can see them.
http://search3.honoluluadvertiser.com/search?ie=&site=advertiser&output=xml_no_dtd&client=advertiser&lr=&proxystylesheet=advertiser&oe=&btnG=Search&q=tizol
This is a picture of Tizol who is clearly indigenous (as if this wasn't already obvious from the way he was being treated. If he'd looked like Jimmy Smits -no offence 'mano- I'm thinking this probably wouldn't have gone down this way either).
This story is clearly the most egregious. Note particularly the "9/11 " reference toward the end of the story. Bloody Lone Ranger wannabees.
Note that as related in the other stories, particularly in the Star Bulletin Tizol who is 5 feet tall was tackled by 4 "other passengers" 2 of whom were over 6 feet tall and 200 pounds each.
Shades of "the Miami Al Qaeda Cell" over-reaction anyone?
The Honolulu Star-Bulletin had more balanced coverage although they also kind of went off the deep end at the beginning.
And people wonder why it's a good idea to teach people how to speak "foreign" languages?
Good on the local Honolulu jury for not buying into the racist paranoia of the "activist" passengers or the fear-mongering of the racist, Haole-identified, "organ of record".