Dropped Hate-Crime Charges Outrage Community
August 26, 2008
Community law groups collaborate with private firm for justice for Indian American victim
In July 2007, Vishal Wadhwa, a 38-year-old Indian American vice president and banker with Citi Private Bank, was attacked by South Lake Tahoe residents Joseph and Georgia Silva on El Dorado Beach in Tahoe.
Racial epithets like “Indian sluts and whores,” “Indian garbage,” “terrorists” and “relatives of Osama bin Laden” were thrown at Wadhwa, who was accompanied by his fiancée and her cousin. Wadhwa asked the Silvas to stop calling them names, but the pair continued. As Wadhwa left to call the police, the Silvas followed him and attacked him in the parking lot.
Wadhwa suffered a broken orbital socket, which will cause dizzy spells for the rest of his life, not to mention the emotional, psychological and physical trauma.
Many in the Asian American and legal communities who saw this case as the definition of a hate crime were outraged to learn on July 31 that felony and hate crime charges were dropped against the Silvas.
“If this [case] is not a hate crime, then what is a hate crime?” asked Harmeet K. Dhillon, the South Asian Bar Association’s Civil Rights Committee chair. “If you shout racial epithets and if you break someone’s face based on their ethnicity, it is a hate crime.”
The hate-crime charges have been dropped because racially offensive words by themselves do not constitute a hate crime unless accompanied by a threat of harm because of one’s ethnicity. Racial epithets were used in anger, but Wadhwa was not kicked because of his ethnicity, according to witnesses. The felony charges have been dropped because the attack by the Silvas did not produce “great bodily injury,” since Silva kicked Wadhwa using only her bare foot.
Arguing that the attack was racially motivated are the San Francisco defense firm Clarence Dyer, the Asian Law Caucus and the South Asian Bar Association. Wadhwa’s attorney Edwin Prather of Clarence Dyer called the collaboration a way for Wadhwa’s message to reach the broader community.
“The victim received pro-bono representation through Clarence Dyer; Asian Law Caucus and South Asian Bar Association are advocating for the community,” explained Shirin Sinnar, staff attorney at the Asian law Caucus.
At this point, Prather said, Wadhwa is not going to appeal the judge’s decision to drop the hate- crime charges, but advocates say the community should be made aware of this issue for future incidents.
“It is not only the Asian, not only the South Asian, but any community is hurt by this crime,” said Vid Prabhakaran, vice president-external of the South Asian Bar Association. “It is not a crime against an individual but against the entire community at large.”
A hearing is scheduled for Sept. 24, and charges will likely be four misdemeanors against Georgia Silva and one against Joseph Silva. However, this sentence is far from what the community initially expected, and some fear it may have a chilling effect on people coming forward about hate crimes in the future.
“This will have terrible and drastic repercussions to hate crimes. The community will be discouraged from reporting crimes because they can’t find justice,” asserts Prather.
“[The community] becomes very vulnerable in being attacked because perpetrators won’t be seriously treated by the law,” adds Sinnar.
Elizabeth Grossman, the attorney that represents the Silvas, explained in a hearing that the Silvas are “challenged emotionally and psychologically,” convincing the judge to drop the hate-crime charges.
“I am sympathetic to people having issues, but if they are incapable to restrain themselves, they should not be out in the community. They are a danger to society,” says Dhillon, who is urging people and people of color in particular to boycott Lake Tahoe as a tourist destination.
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Unfortunately, Mr. Wadhwa, his fiancée and her cousin were attacked twice: first by the assailants in Tahoe and second by the criminal justice system, who like the assailants, gives the false impression that America thinks less of those who are Asian (or at least not white). Shame on Superior Court Judge Suzanne Kingsbury for dropping those hate crime charges; she should be removed from the bench (and if she isn’t, then hopefully she won’t be re-elected to the bench as I understand her term as a judge ends this year).
I’m not Asian and I don’t live in Lake Tahoe or that area, but I don’t have to be to feel utter disgust for what happened to Mr. Wadhwa and his family. I’m just an average white man who can see very, very clearly that racism is alive in America–both in the hearts and minds of some citizens, including those who have sworn to uphold the law.
As a community we need to send a strong message to judge Suzanne Kingsbury for dropping the hate crime charges. A petition with a sense of utter disgust from her poor decision making capability needs to be prepared and sent to El Darado County justice officials.