HispanicVista Columnists
One Incident Reflective of Many
By Robert Miranda
A media whirlwind was developing in Fort Atkinson after I wrote about U.S. Navy Petty Officer First Class Dale Lawver’s experience with xenophobia at the hands of Dennis White, the building manager at the Fort Atkinson American Legion who would not rent the American Legion hall to him because of his Mexican heritage.
The Wisconsin State Journal reported recently that Dennis White was fired late Friday afternoon, by the Fort Atkinson American Legion.
The American Legion in Fort Atkinson is to be commended for moving on this matter quickly. It acted responsibly as it looked into the matter before coming to the right conclusion.
Our Constitution makes it clear that people of all races must be treated equally under the law.
Yet, our society continues to breed individuals who see others under a veil of prejudice, judging people because of the color of their skin rather than for the content of their character.
Racial prejudice is a reality in America. Racism is cloaked in institutional practices. It is buried in coded language and subtle messages. It hurts many people.
It hurt Petty Officer Dale Lawver. It hurt his wife Teresa. It hurt his children. Racism is so common in this country; it has become invisible because it is so normal.
This incident at the American Legion at Fort Atkinson is not just “one incident.” It is an incident that is reflective of the xenophobia permeating from within and throughout the fabric of society all across this nation.
This is a reality many are not willing to acknowledge. But acknowledge we must because what happened to Dale is happening to many other Latinos and African-Americans all across the United States.
It may not be that these victims of racism are being denied a hall to rent for a party; it could be as simple as white children being told by their parents not to associate with Black children. Are we entering a new dark era of overt racism in America?
Anglos don’t have to think about being white when they walk the shopping malls of their small rural towns. They don’t look at the police to see if the cops noticed if they were Black. Most Whites don’t have to worry about being able to communicate in English to others. But many Blacks and non-English speaking dark-skinned Latinos are constantly aware of the pigmentation of their skin—especially in areas of Wisconsin where people of color are small in numbers.
Petty Officer Dale Lawver and his family, because of this incident, have been hit up-side the head with the reality that racism in Wisconsin is alive and well. Dennis White may have paid for his racist action by losing his job, but it is the institution of racism, where Dennis White learned his hatred of Mexicans which needs to be destroyed.
The showing of love by many who heard about this incident to this family and the quick action by the American Legion to terminate Dennis White is a good start towards defeating this wicked practice. Let’s turn our attention towards destroying the institutions of racism—it is long overdue.
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- Robert Miranda, a frequent contributing columnist to HispanicVista.com (http://www.hispanicvista.com/) is a national award winning columnist, Latino community activist and Editor-in-Chief of the Milwaukee Spanish Journal. Email at: rmiranda@wi.rr.com
- Racial incident denounced by sailor, American Legion
- JAN 28, 2006
- GEORGE HESSELBERG
- Wisconsin State Journal
- http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/local/index.php?ntid=70587
A 19-year U.S. Navy veteran assigned to recruitment duties in Janesville said he was not allowed to rent the Fort Atkinson American Legion hall for his retirement party because of his ethnicity.
Petty Officer Dale Lawver, a Mexican-American and Texas native, said the building manager told him the hall would not be available to "Mexicans" and that he did not rent to "you people."
The building manager, Dennis White, was fired late Friday afternoon, according to the Legion post's lawyer, Vicki Zick. White did not return two messages left at his home Friday evening.
Lawver, 37, a veteran of the war in Afghanistan among other assignments in his nearly 20 years in the military, said White's comments "felt like someone had kicked me right in the stomach.
"Especially with me standing there in uniform, that made it even worse," he said Friday. "What am I fighting for here? What have I been doing for the last 20 years to be treated like this? This is a place that is supposed to be there for me. I just got a packet in the mail telling me how to join the American Legion."
State American Legion officials Friday denounced the treatment.
State Commander Ted Duckworth said: "I know in my heart this incident is a far cry from the beliefs of our organization and members."
There are 74,000 American Legion members of 535 posts in Wisconsin, including the Paul Frank Florine Post 166 at 201 S. Water St. East in Fort Atkinson.
That was where Lawver, a Fort Atkinson resident and a Navy recruiter in Janesville for the past three years, went on his lunch hour Jan. 2 to see if the building was suitable for his Navy retirement party.
Lawver said he was wearing his dress blue Navy uniform and was accompanied by his cousin. What happened at the post building, in the bar, was first publicized in a column written by Robert Miranda in the Spanish Journal, of Milwaukee.
After asking a woman about renting the hall, the woman talked with a man, identified to Lawver as White, at the other end of the bar. Lawver asked White if the hall would be available for his party, and White said no.
Asked why not, Miranda wrote, White "told Lawver that the hall would not be rented to 'you people.' At first Lawver thought he meant Navy personnel. When Lawver asked what he meant by 'you people,' White responded: 'Mexicans.'"
Lawver said he was told that the last time the post rented the hall to Mexicans, they caused problems.
The Fort Atkinson American Legion Post 166 board met Friday afternoon to discuss the incident.
Zick said Legion officials are "extremely remorseful" and are taking the complaint very seriously.
At the same time, she stressed that White must have an opportunity to defend himself and said he could be reinstated if the allegations are determined to be untrue.
"Mr. Lawver is, if in fact (the incident) happened, owed an apology by the American Legion, and we will publicly apologize to him," Zick said. "It's absolutely not the policy of the American Legion not to rent to people on the basis of race, color, creed, religion, ethnic origin or anything of that nature."
In a statement released Friday morning, state commander Duckworth said, "I take it as a personal insult that a fellow veteran was treated in any possibly disrespectful way, a man who is honorably serving our country and was hoping to celebrate a milestone in his career.
"I am quite certain there are any number of American Legion posts throughout the state who would welcome Petty Officer Lawver with open arms as a guest or a member."
State Adjutant Bill West said other American Legion posts in the Janesville area have offered Lawver the use of their halls at no charge. (Lawver said the Orfordville post Friday did so.)
"This is one bad apple out of 74,000," West said.
Nevertheless, Lawver's attorney, Narciso Aleman, said Friday he will press for a public airing of the incident, and by that he meant a lawsuit.
"We want for (the building manager) to say he was wrong, that he should not have done that to a person who has given 20 years of his life in service to his country," said Aleman.
"It seems the height of un- American behavior for a person who has responsibility for the management and operation of such a facility to have disrespect for the intent of the facility," he said.
He said the manager has a right to think and say what he wants, but he does not have a right to "impose that as a standard" for the facility.
Lawver said Friday he has "been a little frustrated over this."
The response of the manager to his questions "completely shocked me, I just couldn't believe it."
He said the incident would not affect his job recruiting for the Navy.
"I have put some quality people into the Navy out of here and I will continue to do so," he said.
Lawver and his wife, Theresa, a native of Fort Atkinson, own a home about five minutes from the American Legion hall. He said he has been "mostly an East Coast sailor."
"I have not experienced this kind of racism before," he said.
Lawver said he has been contacted by other American Legion post commanders who have apologized and said "it was a shame."
Lawver has a stepson who is in the Army, and a brother in Texas who is a recruiter for the Army.
- Danielle Corcoran contributed to this report.