Skinheads Hunt Native American Family. Guess Who Gets Arrested?
Warning: the information below is likely to make your blood
boil.
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hate crime happened a few weeks ago in Fernley, Nevada that is just
becoming known to the wider public. A family has lost its car, is
bankrupt and cannot return to their home because of it.You
should know about it. When you do, you will want to take action. At the
end, there is a change.org petition, information for press contacts,
and a Facebook Page where you can find more information and express your
solidarity. Please leave any other ideas you may have in the comments.It
all happened when Johnny, Lisa and Alyssa Bonty, and their son-in-law,
all from the Reno Sparks Indian Colony, stopped at the Quick Stop to get
some gas in Fernley NV on May 24th. The rest is below... According to Indian
Country Today, this is what happened:(the story has also been covered by Forbes
blog (!),RT, and RGJ.com)The AttackJohnny
Bonta got out of the car to pump some gas when a carload full of
skinheads pulled up alongside him. One of them got out of the car with a
baseball bat and tried to pick a fight. Johnny told him he didn't want
to fight and got back into the car. The family then drove off, with his
son-in-law, Shane Murray, behind the wheel. But now the skinheads were
in pursuit.As
the Bonta family was heading for the freeway ramp, the skinheads cut
them off and jammed on the brakes, causing a crash. The three skinheads
then all got out of their car with baseball bats, knives and a crowbar
and attacked the family.Here's how Lisa Bonfa described the vicious assault
that followed:“They
all jumped out of the car with baseball bats, knives and a crowbar, and
we knew they were going to hurt us,” said Lisa Bonta, in an interview
from Washoe Medical Center, where she was in treatment for seizures she
suffers....snip...[even though this happened at 1pm, nobody passing by would
stop to help them]...“I
saw one of them hit my husband in the head with a bat, and the other
one was trying to cut off his braid with a knife. Johnny was covered in
blood and they just kept hitting him with a crow bar. They even tried
to slit his throat,” she added.“Jacob
Cassell had my son-in-law on the ground in a chokehold and Shane was
turning blue. My daughter was sobbing ‘they’re killing him’ and somehow
she found the strength to hit Jacob in self-defense so he would release
Shane.”It
was then, Lisa said, that Cassell turned his anger on her and her
daughter, jumping on the hood of their car while swinging a baseball bat
and cursing at them.“I’m
a 46 year-old woman with serious health problems, and I tried to defend
myself, but he hit me across the lower back with his bat, calling us
‘niggers and river monsters,” said Lisa, who is Anglo. “He pointed at
Alyssa and said he would rape her the next time he saw her in Fernley,
where she lives.”Johnny was knocked out by the bat, which had broken his nose
and sinus cavities.Turns
out that Jacob Caswell's father is a police officer in town, and after
they tired of assaulting the family, Caswell taunted them with that
fact:“You
hear those cops coming? They’re not going to help you. My daddy is a cop
in this town, and nothing is going to happen to me. You fucking niggers
are going to jail.”The Police ResponseAnd
sure enough, the police arrive and they DON'T TAKE ANY STATEMENTS FROM
THE VICTIMS, JUST THE SKINHEADS!!!! They completely ignored the family
until Lisa suffered a seizure.This
despite the fact that Johnny had a broken nose, nasal cavity, and could
barely stand from being hit with the bat. Shane had a crushed elbow and
a broken hand, among other things.Three
ambulances responded arrived on the scene and took Lisa, Murray and
Alyssa for medical treatment. Lisa assumed Johnny had been taken in
another ambulance, but he had not.Johnny was taken to jail and received NO
medical attention for SIX days!!!!!!!"Why?" you ask?First they told Lisa that
he had an outstanding $367 fine.When the family arranged to pay it, they
charged Johnny with battery with a deadly weapon, even though he had NO
weapon.The
police wouldn't even let in an IHS doctor to treat Johnny in the jail.
He only got medical attention after tribal police pursued his release,
six days later.The
family also lost its car in all of this, and the police would NOT help
them locate it, even though they were the ones who towed it. TWO WEEKS
later they finally found it in a small impoundment yard, with its tires
flat.The
family cannot afford to get the car out since Johnny was out of work due
to his injuries. Family members now are walking to their doctors'
appointments.The Brag on FacebookThese morons always have to brag. They
incriminate themselves, that is if anyone's listening (or, in this case,
reading):Two
hours after attacking the Bontas, Josh Janiszewski of Fernley wrote,
“Just laid the fists and boots to some 6′ 5” tongan dude. what you got
on little guys?” at 3:13 p.m. When asked if they gave them hell, Josh
responded. “Oh we did. That’s for sure!” at 3:48 p.m. “Amen,” said Jacob
Cassell at 4:07 p.m.Jacob’s
mother Dee Cassell also commented, “So…who has blood? You guys need to
come home to mom?” at 4:48 p.m. She later added that she gave them First
Aid. “Better have ur asses at home after I did 1st aid. Don’t piss off
women – they r worse than men!” she wrote at 8:00 p.m.When asked if they got
“some good licks” in, Josh said, “sent em to the hospital, they got fucked up
man, thats for sure.”The PatternSince
this crime occurred, the family has found out that skinheads have
attacked other Native American families in nearby towns as well, but
nobody reports the crimes because they feel the police won't help them. AND
THEY'RE RIGHT!!!!!FBI InvestigationI
was relieved to learn at the end of the article that the FBI is
investigating this as a hate crime, and has taken statements from the
family. The Justice Department should also be investigating the Fernley
police department as well, but the article doesn't provide any
information on that.The family has contacted the ACLU and is trying to get a
lawyer through them.What you can do to help.If your blood hasn't boiled all
away at this point there are a couple of things you can do to help.UPDATE
(5:15pm EST): It seems that there's just one ChipIn over at the
Facebook page and it's just for $50 to someone we don't know. There is
now a bank account set up to help the family. Here's the address you can
send your checks to:To help the Bontas:Our
mailing address is 878 Silver Way Fernley NV 89408. Or we have the
account set up at US Bank Acct. 153754887328 "The Bonta Family HATE
CRIME Victim Fund"......1. There is a petition over at Change.org that you can
sign. That's a no-brainer.2. A Facebook page has been created to help the
family. There is a link on it to donate,
and you can also leave words of support (and please do). The FB page
also shows that the story is getting some attention over at reddit, so
if you can add to this, please do as well.3. There's also a Facebook page aimed
at Burning Man attendees
- apparently Fernley is on the way to BM festivities, and people are
pledging not to spend money there. Interesting action. Like it.3. A woman named
Karen over on the FB page also provided a list of contacts. I thought it was
good, so here it is:Anderson Cooper feedback form:
http://edition.cnn.com/...CNN iReoprt: http://ireport.cnn.com/60 Minutes (CBS):
http://www.cbsnews.com/...Frontline (PBS): http://www.pbs.org/...CNN:
http://edition.cnn.com/...Associated Press, Reno Bureau:Governor Sandoval:
http://nv.gov/...Petition calling for investigation:
http://www.change.org/...Lyon County Sheriff: http://www.lyon-county.org /...If
you have any other ideas or suggestions, please leave them in the comments.I
also wanted to add that this kind of virulent racism and behavior goes
on around reservations throughout the country, not just the southwest. I
sat in on a tribal council meeting on the Standing Rock Reservation two
summers ago, and was simply aghast at a group of former-UND students
testifying about why they had dropped out. Tensions had been especially
high during the mascot controversy (fueled by a racist donor who had
given money for a sports arena only on condition that the name Fighting
Sioux be retained) but it was common for the Lakota kids to be called
"Prairie Niggers" (nope, no typos, that's what I wrote) and otherwise be
harassed. Sometimes things like eggs would be thrown at them. This
story should be part of a larger expose of the racist behavior of people
around the reservations in this country. Prior to getting involved with
these issues, I just was not aware at all how sickeningly bad it is. An
ongoing series sponsored by the Native American Netroots team focusing on the
current issues faced by American Indian Tribes and current solutions to those
issues.
By betson08
|
Sourced from
DailyKos
Posted at July 11, 2011, 5:54 am
http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/632135/skinheads_hunt_native_american_family._guess_who_gets_arrested/#paragraph2
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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