Going back as far as early 2007, Marciano and her ilk have made numerous appearances in New Haven joining in solidarity with such groups as the now (basically) extinct Southern Connecticut Immigration Reform, Connecticut Citizens for Immigration Enforcement and the notorious Community Watchdog Project (photo is of Marciano from 2007 with SCIR coordinator Bill Farrel at a rally against New Haven's ID program). A staunch supporter of their tactics, members of the CWP and SCIR have in turn, made several appearances in Danbury to support Marciano's cause.
The mayor assembled Irish, Jewish, black, Lithuanian and Ecuadorian leaders (among others) to the Green Thursday afternoon to speak out against what he called a hate group’s divisive fuss over the flying over the Mexican flag on the Green.
The flap started last weekend. The city held a “family day” to celebrate and promote its immigrant-friendly municipal ID card. A dozen out-of-town opponents of the card, organized by a group called the Community Watchdog Project (CWP), rallied outside. (Click here to read about that event.)
The protesters discovered that the city was flying the Mexican flag below the American flag on the pole on the Green. That outraged them. CWP founder Dustin Gold subsequently sent an email to supporters decrying the sight of the Mexican flag.
The city raised the flag to commemorate Mexican Independent Day. It has for decades regularly flown the flags of Italy, Ireland, and other nations on the Green to mark dates important to local ethnic communities.
“On Saturday, CWP members arrived at City Hall around 8:45 am. To their surprise the POW flag, that usually flies below the American flag on the New Haven Green flagpole, was replaced with a Mexican flag,” Gold wrote to his list of supporters.
“We are calling on all Veterans, soldiers, and patriotic Americans to call our Governor, Mayor, Attorney General, and Congressman to share your disgust with this treasonous act.”
Following that email, hostile emails and phone calls from around the country came in to City Hall.
Mayor John DeStefano read aloud some of those messages to the ethnic group leaders and to reporters assembled on the Green Thursday afternoon. (Click on the play arrow to the video to watch highlights.)
A sample email:
“Subject: Burn the Mexican flag, don’t fly it
“Mayor,
“You need to get your head out of your proverbial rectal area and become an American and represent Americans.
“Get rid of any flag, the Mexican flag and fly it in mexico if you like so much. It’s not our flag and we’re sick of paying for illegal aliens and all their babies and having their kids overrun our schools and downgrade our country.
“Kick them out and you go with them.”
Among the people joining DeStefano to decry the campaign and to support flying the Mexican flag were representatives of the Anti-Defamation League, the NAACP, the Knights of St. Patrick, the new Ecuadorian consulate in town (pictured: Troya Patricio and Raul Erazo), and Lithuanian, Puerto Rican, Italian, Polish, and Peruvian organizations.
DeStefano said that for decades, at least, the city has flown the flags of nations whose descendants in town wanted to mark important holidays — the flags of Ireland, Italy, Poland, etc. This is the first time he knows of that people have raised a fuss.
“This Mexican flag is doing nothing different than other flags representing people who live in this community have done,” DeStefano said. “I’s important when hate language like this occurs to call it out and point it out and point out where it’s coming from, in this case the Community Watchdog Project.”
In a phone interview, CWP’s Dustin Gold defended the effort.
He claimed he has no problem with the Mexican flag flying on the Green as long as it’s on a pole separate from the American flag. Putting them together violates federal flag-flying guidelines, he claimed.
Asked why he hasn’t objected to other nations’ flags, he said he hadn’t noticed the problem until Saturday’s rally. He also raised concerns about the POW flag being removed to make way for the Mexican flag.
“If there’s a flag up there for another country,” such as on Columbus Day, he promised, “we’ll be complaining.”
Here's video of New Haven Mayor DeStefano's presser.
Remember, this level of racism and bigotry is HAPPENING in Danbury everyday. From:
* Cable access host and Watertown native Barbara Keidel allegedly physically assaulting an immigrant rights supporter at an immigration forum in 2006 while allegedly verbally assaulting and spitting in the face of two immigrants at Pippa's for not speaking English (which resulted in her being banned from the establishment)
* a former "special cop" (and current laughable hot dog vendor) whose threats of violence resulted in his termination of the production of his live cable access show.
This site has only tipped the iceberg in terms of the tales of violence and racial intolerance that is DIRECTLY linked to Marciano. The case in New Haven is no different than the insanity people face in the area everyday...
04.25.22 (RADIO): WSHU Latino group call on Connecticut lawmakers to open a Danbury charter school
06.03.22 (OP-ED): KUSHNER: "Career Academy ‘a great deal for Danbury"
On September 26, 2007, ten plaintiffs filed suit in response to an arrest of aday laborers at a public park in Danbury, Connecticut. Plaintiffs amended their complaint on November 26, 2007.
The amended complaint states that plaintiffs sought to remedy the continued discriminatory and unauthorized enforcement of federal immigration laws against the Latino residents of the City of Danbury by Danbury's mayor and its police department.
Plaintiffs allege that the arrests violated their Fourth Amendment rights and the Connecticut Constitution because defendants conducted the arrests without valid warrants, in the absence of exigent circumstances, and without probable cause to believe that plaintiffs were engaged in unlawful activity. In addition, plaintiffs allege that defendants improperly stopped, detained, investigated, searched and arrested plaintiffs. Plaintiffs also allege that defendants violated their Fourteenth Amendment rights when they intentionally targeted plaintiffs, and arrested and detained them on the basis of their race, ethnicity and perceived national origin. Plaintiffs raise First Amendment, Due Process and tort claims.
Plaintiffs request declaratory relief, damages and attorneys fees.
Going back as far as early 2007, Marciano and her ilk have made numerous appearances in New Haven joining in solidarity with such groups as the now (basically) extinct Southern Connecticut Immigration Reform, Connecticut Citizens for Immigration Enforcement and the notorious Community Watchdog Project (photo is of Marciano from 2007 with SCIR coordinator Bill Farrel at a rally against New Haven's ID program). A staunch supporter of their tactics, members of the CWP and SCIR have in turn, made several appearances in Danbury to support Marciano's cause.Among the people joining DeStefano to decry the campaign and to support flying the Mexican flag were representatives of the Anti-Defamation League, the NAACP, the Knights of St. Patrick, the new Ecuadorian consulate in town (pictured: Troya Patricio and Raul Erazo), and Lithuanian, Puerto Rican, Italian, Polish, and Peruvian organizations.
On September 26, 2007, ten plaintiffs filed suit in response to an arrest of aday laborers at a public park in Danbury, Connecticut. Plaintiffs amended their complaint on November 26, 2007.
