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Immigrant Rights Commission
Minutes of Meeting on November 5, 2001

The Immigrant Rights Commission (IRC) meeting was held on Monday, November 5, 2001 at San Francisco City Hall in Room 400, at 5:00 P.M.

Members Present          Emi Gusukuma, Isabel Huie, Diana Lau, Phu Nguyen, Richard Ow, Vera Haile, Houston Zheng, Medea Benjamin, Joseph Nwadibia, and Marlene Tran & Joaquin Gonzalez. Commissioner Tran left at 6:30pm.

Members Absent          Marcos Gutierrez

Others Present          Dang Pham, Executive Director of the IRC
          Winny Loi, Commission Secretary
          William Chan, Deputy City Attorney

Introduction:          Chair Lau welcomed & introduced the newly appointed Commissioner Gonzalez. She also introduced Neyde Azevedo & Juan Berumen who are waiting to be sworn in.

Presentation:          Inspectors Brown and Moore of the San Francisco Police Department gave to the Commission a presentation regarding incidences of hate crime in the City. The department's reporting of hate crime is governed by the state guidelines. Unfortunately, classification of a victim's immigration status is not a category used by the State. Incidences of hate crime directed at immigrants are usually reported as a hate crime based on race or ethnicity. The department encourages people to make reports on "hate incidents," however not all such incidents are a crime. For example, name-calling does not amount to a crime. Hence, "hate incidence" that does not qualify as a crime is not reported in the hate crime statistics compiled by the department.

If a victim of a hate crime has limit English proficiency and there is not an officer available who speaks the victim's native language, the victim can call AT&T to assist them with translation. To educate the immigrant population in the City regarding hate crimes, the departments also have hate crime brochures translated into 5 different languages. These brochures are distributed in many community groups, such as Chinese for Affirmative Action, groups in the Mission district & Russian Community in Richmond district. The brochures educate the public as to what is a hate crime or a hate incident & encourages them to report.

          Inspector Moore spoke to the Commission about the money used to assist the victims of hate crime. One such fund is the witness victim assistant program, which has money set aside for victim who suffered injuries & to assist the family of the victim when the victim is the breadwinner for the family. Inspector Moore also does training for the police academy & dispatchers in training on how to determine whether an incident might be a hate crime. During these training, she emphasizes to the cadets the need to ask the questions, because the victim would not voluntarily repeat what was said to them.

          Hate crimes are severely under reported, not just in San Francisco, but nationwide. Since the September 11th incident, there has been a dramatic increase in incidences of hate.

          The primary function of the hate crime unit is to investigate incidences of hate. The unit generally does not take calls from the public on criminal incidents.

          Inspector Brown will give us the descriptions of the break down categories in the hate crime report. She suggests that if the Commission has concerns regarding this issue, the Commissioners should address their concerns to the Chief Lau.

Public Comment:          Alicia Chao, a Falun Gong Practitioner, addressed the Commission on the difficulties faced by Falun Gong members. She told the Commissioners that the practitioners have been attacked in the San Francisco Bay Area, because they practice Falun Gong. The Chinese Consulate has targeted practitioners. Ms. Chao informed the Commission that during a personal trip to China, she was arrested by the Chinese authority. She was imprisoned for two weeks and was forced to make hairbrushes. She also reported that there have been hate incidents experienced by Falun Gong practitioners in Chinatown.

Approval of
Minutes:          Commissioners Haile made a motion to approve minutes for the October meeting, which was seconded by Commissioner Nwadibia. The minutes were adopted unanimously by the Commission.

Future Activity:          Director Pham talked about the Neighborhood meeting in the Richmond District. He proposed to have the meeting at the Russian Community Center at the Orthodox Church & proposed a meeting date of Dec. 4th. The Deputy City Attorney expressed some concerns about holding a meeting at a location that might be affiliated with a religious organization and will need to check to see if it is appropriate to use the facility.

Director's Report:          Director Pham informed the Commission that he has received two compliance plans from the Tier I Departments. He will send out letters to the other Tier I Departments which have not responded to us.

The Equal Access to Service Ordinance brochure needs to be translated to Chinese and Spanish. In addition, based on the latest Census figures, Vietnamese, Tagalong & Japanese might be included in the translation requirement.

          He discussed with Deputy City Attorney Elaine Warren, City regarding the need to have Building Permits in different languages so the public will know what is going on.

          The Commissioners asked the Commission Secretary to provide to them the list of the Tier I departments specified in the Equal Access to Service Ordinance.

Chair's Report:          Chair Lau provided a debriefing of Commission Anniversary Celebration held in September. The Anniversary was successful & there was a great turnout. She suggested that in the future more people should staff the sign-in table because at the event, the sign-in line was too long and there were too many people waiting. On next anniversary there should only be pre-printed nametags for the Commissioners. The guests will write their name on nametags. Commissioner Huie suggested the food could be smaller in size, so it's not as messy. Commissioner Haile suggested that chairs be added along the wall so people could sit. Commissioner Gonzalez suggests getting student volunteers to help out in next anniversary celebration.

Chair Lau also asked the various committees to start meeting. Commission Secretary informed the Commission that the website is in place for her to post the committees' agendas to the website. She will inform the committee members regarding the committee meetings.

Chair Lau also expressed some frustration regarding the effectiveness of the Commission. Since the Commission is an advisory in nature, the Commission cannot really do proactive activities to help the immigrant public. She asked the Policy & Legislative Committee to meet explore means by which the Commission can become more effective in assisting the immigrant population in the City.

Immigrant Pride Day was a successful event. Commissioners Lau, Zheng, Haile, Ow, Tran, Gutierrez, Benjamin & Director Pham went to support this event.

Next Meeting:          The next Commission meeting will a Special meeting held at the Richmond District (location to be announced), on December 4, 2001 at 5:00 p.m.

Adjournment:                    The Commission meeting was adjourned at 7:00 p.m.