Help Joseph Pham.

I received this comment on my blog post on Joseph Pham that linked to website set up to support Pham and contribute to his defence.

Here is a post from the site in English giving some background to the story.....

Seven years. Seven years. 

For seven years, day after day, your family has been harassed. Diapers and dog feces have been thrown at your children, your home windows have been shattered, your car damaged, and your life threatened. All this happens simply because the music filtered from your speakers is in Vietnamese, the food you cook smells of fish sauce, and your skin is hued in golden tones. 

This is the ugly face of discrimination, prejudice, racism, and outright hatred. In such a volatile atmosphere where your pleas of help throughout the system have been ignored and danger stands to take away everything you love in the wink of an eye, would you suffer the loss of those you have sworn to protect or would you fight for the safety of your family? 

On the evening of Saturday, June 9^th 2012, when Brian Wilson pounded on his neighbor’s door with words of fury shaking the summer night, this was the terrible decision which Joseph Pham faced. 

Who is Joseph Pham? 

Joseph Pham is an American. In 1982 Joseph fled his native country of Vietnam to seek a better life. The United States of America, land of the free and the home of the brave, offered a welcoming beacon. Since the day he set foot on her soil, Joseph has worked hard to fulfill his American Dream, earning his US citizenship, raising a beautiful family of five, and enjoying the freedoms only America can offer. 

In his youth, Joseph lived in Cedar Rapids, Iowa with the Moyle’s, his American foster family. For nine years he was loved and treated like a biological son. He attended McKinley Junior High and Washington High School where his driven spirit and desire for self-improvement earned him exceptional grades and honors. 

After high school, he moved to California to be reunited with his biological parents. Until their deaths in 2002, he supported and cared for his much respected elders. During this time as well, he met and married his wife, Thu Van Nguyen. They became a family of three with the birth of their oldest daughter Kathie. Eventually, Nancy came along and finally Jack arrived to complete the family portrait. 

The Nightmare Begins 

In 2005, Joseph and his family decided to move back to Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He desired a return to his Midwestern roots where his memory recalled the safety and security of small town life. Joseph sought to overcome the sad void created by the death of his birth parents and build a new life in Iowa, where his young family could come to better know the foster parents that loved and raised him. 

Gathering his wife, two daughters, and only son, he made the journey from Westminster, California to Cedar Rapids, Iowa. They found the house of their dreams and settled in. Unfortunately, the Moses’ weren’t pleased with the new family in the neighborhood and set about creating a nightmare. 

The neighborly relationship was instantly marred by racial tension. The Pham family was verbally harassed on a regular basis. The Moses family would yell out hateful messages, such as: “We don’t want you here,” “You’re not welcome here,” and “Go back to where you came from.” Eventually, the verbal harassment escalated into violence.Windows were broken, muddy tire prints and torn grass offered evidence of vehicles driven across the Pham’s property, mail was stolen and discarded in mutilated states, feces was thrown at the children, vehicles were vandalized, and the list of harassments continue, spanning for years on end and in various manners. Seeking to quell the injustices brought against them, the Pham’s repeatedly called the police department and numerous police reports were filed. 

In 2010, the Pham’s sought legal action against Jamie Moses when a rock thrown by his hand shattered the family’s front window and left Kathie Pham with multiple cuts and bruises as well as friend who was sleeping over. The lawsuit sought reconciliation for damages including emotional distress, pain/suffering, property damage, punitive damages and court costs. Jamie Moses pleaded guilty to fifth-degree criminal mischief for breaking the Pham’s windows. He was ordered to pay for repair of the window which totaled 190 dollars. The judge filed a no-contact order between Jamie and the Pham family as well.Still, peace was hard in coming. Shortly after the case closed, Jamie and Tracy Moses divorced. Jamie moved out and Brian Wilson, moved in. The same harassments continued, the same prejudices, the same racism, simply a different face. 

On June the 9^th, 2012, the family had just returned from a graduation party. Danger tainted the air, flavored in the same bitter taste of hatred for no other reason than to hate. When Brian Wilson’s fist pounded the front door and his angry shouts rang through the night, Joseph Pham’s instincts took over and the rest of the story is one that remains to be told with time. 

Please Help 

Joseph Pham is currently charged with three counts of attempted murder and intimidation with a dangerous weapon. His family waits for their visit to the Linn County jail twice a week, the maximum days they are allowed, in 30 minute increments.Each day the mother with three children cower behind closed windows and locked doors, afraid to live any longer in the home that is now a thing of their nightmares. People drive by with shouts of support and disdain. At night they sleep with friends, where no one will know, where no one will scream words of hate or shake fists of rage. 

Thu Van is a housewife with three young children to care for and feed alone. Their protector and financial head is gone. All that remains are fear, questions, helplessness…, bills…, legal fees, and tears. 

If you are able, please offer Joseph Pham and his family aid in any means possible at this time of hardship. Defense fees are high. Times are hard.  His family is in need of your support to fight for his justice and freedom.

The most surprising thing about this case is how silent the Asian-American blogosphere has been. For me, this case is a perfect illustration of how America's cultural anti-Asian racial antagonism promotes racial harassment  and permits prejudice whilst censuring those Asians who stand up to it.

The site tells you how you can contribute. Please help the guy out in whatever way you can.