LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: A Travesty of Justice

To The Editor: It was here, within the "protective" law enforcement station that insult was added to injury. For, in the wee hours of the morning, as most of Penn slept safe and sound, three Penn students were told they overreacted to this incident. They were informed they had no case against the men who, only hours before, had yelled "I'll kill you?Indian Bitches!" because a police officer did not overhear these threats. Worst of all, these three Penn students had to endure hearing one officer say to another, "These [Drexel students] are college students, and they don't need a permanent record." At this point, the police, denying that an incident of ethnic intimidation had occurred, released the two perpetrators into the night -- thus subjecting Monika, Bela and Roy to unknown danger. In effect, on Thursday March 23, Penn and Philadelphia police protected a group of racist, white Drexel students at the expense of these South Asian American Penn students. As the president of Penn's South Asia Society, I am alarmed and outraged that any police officers, after hearing what had taken place, could be so careless in their handling of this situation. They told the Penn students an officer must overhear ethnically intimidating remarks in order for the victim to press charges. The very next day, however, Penn's Director of Victim support services, Maureen Rush, denied this. She stated that in order for charges to be pressed "the victim must be harassed on the basis of race, ethnicity, color or national origin. In addition there must also be a physical threat of some kind, in this case, the fact that the students could not escape the verbal assault as they were in their own home" (DP 3/24/95). This contradiction means, someone screwed up. When will the police learn that when speech is so hateful and threats so abundant then violence may not be far behind? What would have stopped these intoxicated racists from returning to the scene, only this time with a gun to accompany their hatred? Who would have protected Bela, Monika, Roy and the other minority students then? Perhaps the most telling part of this whole situation is that, the next day due to these Penn students' persistence and courage, the case was resurrected by Philadelphia police. One of the perpetrators was taken into custody and a warrant was issued for another's arrest. This is significant, for it proves that Monika, Bela and Roy's case did have legal basis, after all. Equally clear is the fact that someone made a big mistake at the Southwest precinct. I expect to see a thorough investigation of why proper procedure was not followed by the officers on duty that morning. I encourage each member of the Penn community, regardless of ethnicity, to join us in demanding justice in this situation. Let us all be grateful that in spite of the police's negligence a racial incident did not turn into a murder that morning. But make no mistake: this was not due to any bravery or integrity on the part of the police force. For the fact that these racists are being tried at all, we can only thank Monika Parikh, Bela Shah and Roy Sehgal. From their example we must learn that when we have been violated we must each stand up for ourselves and stand by one another -- even when our police officers do not. Mika Rao College '96 South Asia Society President