Violating the rights of others goes on and on...

Last week, I wrote a post about being shocked and sickened that the civil rights of other people in this country continue to be violated...even now, in 2009. Deaf people (like my parents) have been repressed and discriminated against as well. Here's the latest example I've seen:

susan greene
Greene: A sign of apathy for deaf
By Susan Greene
Denver Post Columnist
Posted: 07/12/2009 01:00:00 AM MDT

Sarah Burke was cooking dinner for her family when police came knocking at her door.

As she tells it, the Denver officers kept ignoring the obvious fact that both she and her husband are profoundly deaf and unable to read lips.

Police finally asked the couple's son to sign to Burke that she had a bench warrant for allegedly failing to file paperwork related to a 2-year-old misdemeanor case. "Contempt of court" was a concept that the 8-year-old boy couldn't grasp, let alone interpret.

The cuffs tying Burke's hands behind her back kept her from communicating the best way she knows how — in American Sign Language. She spent the night in jail without an interpreter to explain what she was in for. ...

Read the rest of the article here.

Hello? There's been laws passed that are supposed to end this BS--most recently, the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act). Hiring an interpreter for a deaf person is an undue burden? Please. Give me a break! A city can find money for anything else but whines about having to hire an interpreter?

Would you want to be treated like Sarah Burke was? How about Roger Krebs or Shawn Vigil?

And a local example of continued bigotry against African Americans, a swim club in PA cancelled the contract of an inner city day camp. The contract was so that the camp could bring 65 minority children to the pool one day a week during the summer to cool off! The children heard racist comments the first day they visited. Parents pulled their own children out of the water. A mother told the camp director she'd see to it the kids were not allowed to come back. The kids themselves, based on what other members said, were well behaved and not causing a problem.

A couple of days after the first visit, management at the pool cancelled the camp's contract.

Protests began. The management realized they had a problem on their hands and said the contract wasn't cancelled because of race, it had to do with safety. There were too many kids. Uh huh. The protests continued. Now the club has issued an apology and invited the camp back. Um, can you say too little too late? So it's not about safety after all? Ugh.