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'Racists: Bring One, Get in Free.'

Arun Venugopal

If you happened to walk through the campus of New York University this past week, you would surely have noticed a number of rather eye-catching flyers.

'Racists: Bring One, Get in Free.' 'Bigots: 50% off.' 'White Supremacists -- Free Drinks.'

The provocative ads were meant to hype a conference entitled 'Eliminate the Hate: Hate Crimes and the South Asian Community', scheduled to be held today at NYU's Vanderbilt Hall, at 6:30 pm.

The flyers were designed for free by Ogilvy & Mather, one of the world's leading ad agencies. And while it remains to be seen whether the ads pull in any prizes at the next awards show, the conference itself is likely to generate some much-needed discussion about an increasing phenomenon.

"There is not a lot of knowledge of how hate crimes have affected our community in the past," said Aaron Chatterji, an employee of Goldman Sachs and the organizer of the conference.

He cited one of the more notable instances of racial violence directed against a South Asian, the case of Rishi Maharaj.

In 1999, Maharaj, then aged 19, sustained multiple fractures after being beaten up by two men near his home in Queens, New York. The men had shouted racial epithets at Maharaj and his two accompanying cousins, as they descended upon him.

One of the men involved in the incident was eventually sentenced to eight years in prison, but the act nonetheless left the community shaken, a reminder of the Dot-buster attacks that occurred across New Jersey in the 1980s.

Upon graduating from Cornell University last year, Chatterji moved to New York, where he sensed an overall ignorance about the subject of hate crimes He solicited the support of the Network of Indian Professionals (NetIP), who co-sponsored the event. He found additional help from an organization known as Project Impact.

"It's a mentoring group for South Asians," Chatterji explained. "It's basically a service and political organization."

The conference will feature four panelists, each of whom will examine a different aspect of the issue. Sachin Pandya, an attorney at the New York Solicitor General's office, will attempt to provide a definition of hate crimes.

"Is rape a hate crime?" asked Chatterji, pointing to the challenges that attorneys and legislators face. "People need to have a background first. A lot of panels move a little too fast."

Tito Sinha, a former attorney for the Asian-American Legal Defense Fund (AALDEF), is expected to give a case study of the Rishi Maharaj case. Sinha acted as an advisor to the Maharaj family during their legal journey.

The third panelist, Debashish Mishra, will examine the community support necessary to combat hate crimes. "On one side we have legal representation and on the other side is the community," explained Chatterji.

As the founder of the Indian-American Leadership Center, Mishra has been active in mobilizing community support for various causes, including the National Gandhi Day of Service, which is observed across the country each October.

Finally, Prem Shunmugavelu, the political director at the India Abroad Center for Political Awareness, will examine the legislative issues that surround hate crimes bills.

"There's a lot of disasgreement in the community about whether hate crimes legislation is the way to go," said Chatterji. "Some people think it may be unconstitutional because it gives extra jail time to offenders. It's a legitimate argument and it's something we want the panel to address."

Another criticism of hate crimes legislation, Chatterji explained, is that it often allows prosecutors to draw upon casual statements of suspects as a means of buttressing their case. "A lot of times the prosecution uses past things they've said to prove these people are racist," he said. "And that's a fuzzy issue."

Currently, legislators are debating just who should be covered by hate crimes legislation. While many support laws that protect victims of racially-motivated violence, legislation aimed to protect the homosexual community is on shakier ground.

"Some people think it's not a valid classification," said Chatterji. "They think you can convict people who are motivated by race, but not out of homophobia."

While he doesn't expect any immediate solutions, Chatterji thinks the issue cuts across borders of language, caste and ideology.

"This is an issue that anyone from the South Asian community can be affected by."

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