Beating a Deaf citizen IS a hate crime.

To Whom It May Concern,

I am writing this e-mail to express my anger and disappointment in the City of San Diego for not protecting its own Disability community.

On August 13th, a deaf boy was beaten up in City Heights because a group of men that attacked him "didn't like the way he looked at them." According to one police officer: "The other guys in the park think he's looking at them funny, and they don't like it," he said. "So they approach and he's unable to respond, so they beat him up."

As a Deaf person, I use my facial expressions to communicate more than a typical hearing person would as a consequence of my hearing loss. I can understand how another person would mistaken my very expressive facial expressions as "looking funny" at someone else. That is what seems to have happened in this situation. Because this boy was Deaf and acting Deaf, he was beaten up. This argument, if correct, means that this was a hate crime.

Yet the San Diego Police Department, more specifically Officer Donelson has not been respectful or helpful to the Deaf Community. He refuses to consider the strong possibility that this was a hate crime. He keeps stating that this was not a hate crime because the Deaf boy was not beaten up because he was Deaf. Officer Donelson says this because he is not willing to understand that Deaf people do use facial expressions extensively that may be translated as looks that would make some think that we are "looking at them funny." He has already stated that "looking funny" at someone and getting beaten up for it is not a hate crime. This is true for others but not for people who use their faces extensively like I do because of who I am. I am Deaf and I will not allow some thugs to scare me into not signing and using my facial expressions because they beat up one of my own kind for having the characteristics of a Deaf person.

Please use your position and your heart to tell the San Diego Police Department that enough is enough and they need to devote more resources to getting these thugs off the street so they cannot commit anymore hate crimes and harm other Deaf people.

Only last month, 3 gay people were beaten up and the City of San Diego rallied to nab these hate-mongers in less than a week. Yet when a disabled person is beaten up because they had characteristics of their disability, they still have yet to capture anyone nearly two weeks after the crime. This is not right, just because we are not as visible as the GLBT community, we should not be put on the backburner.

Please take action and help push the San Diego Police Department to recognize that this was possibly a hate crime and needs to be treated like one to remove these criminals from the streets to make the streets safe again for San Diego's Deaf Community.

Thank you for your time,

Sincerely,

Philip Mecham

P.S. It saddens me to see the lack of effort and response from the San Diego's public service to protect its Deaf citizens. This will affect the present and potential, future San Diego Deaf residents, because Deaf people want to live in a city where they know they will be safe or protected. Right now, San Diego isn't looking like a great city to live or visit!