REMARKS OF SUFFOLK COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY DANIEL F. CONLEY: ANIT-DEFAMATION LEAGUE CIVIL RIGHTS COMMITTEE Wednesday, May 24, 2006 Thank you for inviting me here this afternoon. We in law enforcement know that we cannot win the battle against crime by ourselves. We need partners in the communities we serve, and in the ongoing fight against bigotry and hatred, we are happy to count the Anti-Defamation League among our most important allies. So I thank the ADL for that. I'd like to thank, also, two members of my office who are here with me today, and who have done great work in the area of civil rights. Assistant District Attorney Stacey Fortes-White is our point person for civil rights crimes. Stacey works closely with the local police departments in Suffolk County, including the Boston police Community Disorders Unit, to investigate all suspected hate crimes and, where appropriate, bring civil rights violation charges. Jackie Lamont, the deputy chief of our victim advocacy program, provides support to people who have been victims of hate crimes, and, along with ADL, provides training to other law enforcement agencies about how to best serve victims of hate crimes. I know Stacey and Jackie are thrilled to be here today. Certain cases define a prosecutor's office. I would argue that how an office responds to hate crimes - what resources it puts into investigations and prosecutions, what level of expertise and experience it insists upon in those assigned to them - tell you a lot about how progressive that office is. Shortly after I began my current term as district attorney, an act of terrible violence occurred on the concourse at the Park Street MBTA station. I'm sure many of you here remember that night, when Josiah Spaulding III allegedly attacked two teenage girls with a metal baton, causing injuries that put both victims in the hospital with head injuries. It was bad enough that a physically powerful young man would use a weapon akin to a police billy club to beat two young women, one 14 and one 17, unprovoked. In fact, I was disturbed that he was even carrying it. But what caused the most concern for me and my office was what the victims and witnesses told investigators: that Spaulding and a number of his friends, who were all white, had taunted the young women with vulgar racial epithets during the attack. We in the law enforcement community see violence on a daily basis, and it continues to shock us. When that violence is driven by racial, ethnic, or religious intolerance, though, it becomes an attack not on just one person, but on many. In a way, the entire city was victimized that night. I can imagine people here, and in other parts of the country, shuddering also when they heard that even in Boston, even in the 21st century, a person can be surrounded by a mob and beaten because of the color of his or her skin. This we will not abide: not in our time, and not in our city. We brought Spaulding's case before a grand jury and indicted him not just on charges of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon but also on two counts each of civil rights violation and violation of constitutional rights. By moving his case out of district court and into Superior Court, where he faces much stronger maximum penalties, we hope to accomplish two things: first, to hold Spaulding accountable for the crimes against the two victims, and second, to send a message loud and clear that hate crimes, and those who commit them, will not be tolerated here. That case is pending in Suffolk Superior Court now, and we expect to bring it to trial later this year. More recently, in Winthrop, a family of Somali immigrants became the targets of harassment and violence by several local youths. No one was seriously injured, but you can imagine my anger and frustration on hearing that the very people who came to our country to escape famine and violence now found themselves in fear on the same shores that welcomed my ancestors from Ireland on my father's side and Italy in the case of my mother's parents. My office worked closely with Winthrop police to ensure the family's safety and to build a case against those believed responsible. The Attorney General's Office also moved quickly, issuing a civil injunction barring the suspects from any further contact with the family, and Winthrop Police remain ready to enforce it. When we learned that the defendants had allegedly violated that civil injunction, we worked with the Attorney General's Office to initiate further sanctions, because the culprits will face stiffer penalties by us going that route. You won't find any turf battles here - state and county prosecutors are working with local authorities to ensure that the victims are protected and the suspects are held to account for their actions. But if the bad news is that we continue to see isolated incidents of violence driven by racism and other forms of prejudice, the good news is that the most recent FBI statistics show Massachusetts is at an eight-year low in terms of hate crimes reported. Some would say that we're lucky to live in such a state, but I think there's more to it than just luck. We have worked to make it that way, worked toward a belief in tolerance, inclusion, and diversity that now runs like a current through our schools and industries. We have embraced the wide variety of cultures that can be found in city squares across the Commonwealth, and most densely right here in Boston, where generations of immigrants have built homes and raised families. And it's a reflection of our state government's willingness to work collaboratively with social service organizations to make sure that vulnerable populations are well-represented, no matter their income level or political clout. The sad truth is that racism and prejudice still exist. Homophobia and religious discrimination continue to plague our culture. And even many otherwise enlightened men and women don't recognize their own privilege when it comes to matters of race, ethnicity, gender orientation, and religious observance. But those of us whose duty it is to enforce the law are keenly aware of the duty we have to right those wrongs: a duty to those who have been discriminated against; a duty to the next generation, be they native born or reared by immigrant families; and a duty to history, which we hope will judge us by our actions, and not condemn us for inaction. I am deeply proud of our office's professional relationship with the Anti-Defamation League, and deeply proud of my personal friendships with Andy Tarsy and many of its members. Just as an attack on one person may victimize many, your work on behalf of the few benefits us all. Thank you so much for having me this afternoon, and I look forward to continued collaboration between our respective organizations to preserve the right of all our citizens to equal justice under the law. Thank you.