South Asian Bar Association of Northern California

Contact: Harmeet K. Dhillon, Chair Civil Rights Committee

415-433-1700

Asian Law Caucus

Contact: Shirin Sinnar, Staff Attorney
415-848-7714

Attackers of San Francisco Resident Charged With Hate

Crimes, Felony Aggravated Assault
South Asians called "Indian garbage" and "relatives of Osama bin Laden" before
violent assault at Lake Tahoe

(San Francisco, Aug. 21) - Joseph and Georgia Silva, who attacked an Indian American
at Lake Tahoe last month, are scheduled to be arraigned tomorrow by the El Dorado
County, California District Attorney's office on multiple criminal charges including
felony aggravated assault and hate crimes.

According to witnesses, on the evening of Saturday, July 14, the victim (a financial
services executive in his mid-30s who resides in San Francisco and is a U.S. citizen) was
visiting Lake Tahoe with his fiancée and her cousin, also Indian Americans. As the two
women walked along the beach, one of the Silvas called them "Indian sluts and whores."
Upon inquiry by the victim, the Silvas responded with a volley of racial slurs, including
the terms "Indian garbage," "terrorists," and "relatives of Osama bin Laden."

As the victim's group walked away, the Silvas followed them, maintaining their verbal
assault. The Silvas then brutally attacked him, knocking him to the ground and kicking
his face, while continuing their racist slurs. The victim suffered serious injuries, including
facial fractures. During this time, the Silvas also assaulted an elderly Indian American
couple, throwing a cup of sand at them and hurling racial epithets. The victim managed to
call "911" and the Silvas were arrested at the scene of the crime as their target was treated
by emergency medical personnel and taken to a Tahoe hospital.

A family member of the victim stated: "Despite the law-abiding and productive nature of
the Indian American community, since 9/11 many innocent members have become the
victims of misguided hate because of their appearances and beliefs. Our family is
undergoing a horrific ordeal. Such violent acts of hate crimes violence can not be
tolerated, and must be punished to the full extent of the law.

"Hate has no place in our communities," said Shirin Sinnar, staff attorney at the Asian
Law Caucus, a nonprofit legal organization that helps victims of hate crimes obtain
redress. "We commend the district attorney's office for what we expect will be a
vigorous prosecution of those responsible."
"It took significant courage and integrity for this victim and his family to step forward
and insist that their attackers be brought to justice, not only for his sake but for the sake
of the entire community of potential hate crime victims," said Harmeet K. Dhillon, an
attorney and Chair of the Civil Rights Committee of the South Asian Bar Association of
Northern California, which assists hate crime and civil rights victims in the South Asian
community to assert their legal rights. "Crimes of this nature not only cause life-
threatening injuries to the physical victim, but they strike at the very heart of an entire
community's identity, feelings of safety, self-worth, and belonging in the tapestry of
American society, leaving emotional and mental scars far beyond the original victim. By
pursuing justice, the victim's family is helping to make our communities safer for all."

This most recent attack follows last month's fatal hate crime against another South Asian
man in the Sacramento area. On July 1, Satendar Singh, a 25-year-old Sikh man of Fijian
Indian descent, was brutally attacked at Lake Natoma, east of Sacramento, by a group
shouting racist and homophobic slurs. As a result of a massive head injury from the
beating, he fell into a coma and died several days later. In addition, on August 12, the
Islamic Center of the East Bay in Antioch, CA was set ablaze in an attack that is being
investigated as an act of arson and that community members fear was motivated by anti-
Muslim bias.

In light of these recent attacks, the South Asian Bar Association and the Asian Law
Caucus encourage members of the local South Asian community and the public at large
to exercise vigilance and to report threats or incidents of hate violence. There is a large
and active network of community and legal organizations offering support (often on a pro
bono basis) for victims as well as provide educational support, outreach and training for
educational and law enforcement institutions. Local and national organizations that can
directly assist victims and/or direct them toward appropriate community resources
include:

Anti-Defamation League (San Francisco): 415.981.3500

Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Bay Area: info@aaba-bay.com

Asian Law Caucus (San Francisco): 415.896.1701

Asian Pacific Islander Legal Outreach: 415.567.6255

Association of Nepalese Lawyers in the U.S. ("ANLUS"): www.anlus.wordpress.com

Association of Pakistani- American Lawyers: www.apalnet.org; 206.753.8042

Bay Area Association of Muslim Lawyers: www.baaml.net

Bay Area Lawyers for Individual Freedom: www.balif.org

Charles Houston Bar Association: 415.289.7004

Council on American-Islamic Relations ("CAIR"): 408.986.9874 (Santa Clara);

916.441.6269 (Sacramento)

Hindu America Foundation (DC): www.hafsite.org; 301.770.7835

Indian Community Center (Milpitas) - 408.416.0218

Japanese American Citizens League (San Francisco): 415.345.1075

National Federation of Indian Associations ("NFIA"): 571.230.7288

Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund ("SALDEF"): 877.917.4547

Sikh Coalition: www.sikhcoalition.org; 212.655.3095, ext. 83

South Asian Bar Association of Northern California (San Francisco): 1-888-99NOHATE

Vietnamese American Bar Association of Northern California - 415.957.3075