Latino Activists Face Death Threats in Georgia

By Judith Martínez-Sadri, New America Media. Posted May 28, 2008.

Editor's note: this was originally published in Spanish by Atlanta Latino. It is reprinted here with permission.

Death threats have not intimidated pro-Latino activists in Georgia. Instead, they have spurred them to join forces across racial lines to counteract the anti-immigrant atmosphere that has taken on a sinister tone in the state.

Less than a week after Rich Pellegrino called a group of human rights organizations together to protest the sale of a racist T-shirt, he received a shocking death threat at the door of his home.

It had been a rough week for Pellegrino, director of the Cobb Immigrant Alliance, who protested in front of Mulligan's Bar and Grill in Marietta with other activists on May 13.

The objective was to urge the owner of the establishment to suspend the sale of a T-shirt that depicted a drawing of Curious George with a caption that read "Obama in 2008," which offended the African-American community and the Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama.

Two days later, Pellegrino was greeted with a death threat on his doorstep.

"I got home at about 10 p.m. from a meeting with some Latino leaders," said Pellegrino. "I saw a manila envelope at the door that said 'Cobb Latino Alliance,' with my name and a sketched drawing of a cross and the year 2008.

"My children said it looked as if there was a man hanging from the cross and that perhaps they were referring to me and that the year 2008 was the year I was going to die," he said, laughing nervously.

Pellegrino dropped the envelope and went to look for his family. After verifying that they were okay, he called 911, and minutes later Cobb County police officers and firefighters showed up at his home, took the envelope and brought it in to investigate its contents.

Pellegrino confessed that the episode caused him to fear for the safety of his family.

"It scared me," said Pellegrino. "My daughters had been playing in the yard a few minutes earlier; they had called me to tell me that it was raining."

The incident also shocked him because even though he had received unpleasant e-mails and intimidating phone calls in the past from people who are against his pro-immigrant work, this was the first time he had received a threat of this type at his own home.

"I was in a state of shock -- it reminded me of my experiences during the time of the civil rights movement and in the 80s when they arrested me for professing my Baha'i faith and holding meetings with African-Americans in South Carolina," said Pellegrino. "I was threatened by the Ku Klux Klan and arrested by Anglo police officers there."

Although the threat was an unpleasant situation for Pellegrino, he vows that it will not stop him from his mission of uniting communities and fighting for the rights of immigrants.

"I talked to my wife and said, 'If you want me to get out of this, I will for my family's sake.' She told me that it was too late to turn back and not to give up. I know she doesn't want me to be intimidated and give up."

Pellegrino says that he and his family will take certain precautions and be on the alert, but they will not let these threats intimidate them.

The sign in his yard that reads "Welcome immigrants" will remain, and Pellegrino is now preparing to work for immigrants and civil rights with the new organization Cobb United for Change, which emerged after the incident involving the offensive T-shirts against Barack Obama.

THE ENVELOPE AND ITS CONTENTS

According to Dana Pierce, spokesperson for the Cobb County Police Department, the envelope is now being analyzed.

"The suspicious package case is being treated like a hate crime and is considered an active and ongoing investigation," said Pierce. "We treat these types of cases very seriously, and should the person be caught, they will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law." Pierce added that the envelope contained some red powder that turned out to be harmless red dye.

WHO'S TO BLAME FOR THE THREATS

Threats against immigrant advocacy groups are nothing new in Georgia.

E-mails with messages such as, "You belong on a rope," letters and telephone calls from anti-immigrants, and even protests during events organized by the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials (GALEO), have been directed at GALEO's executive director, Jerry Gonzalez, in the last two years.

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