Even the FBI seems to have a double standard here…

To read all postings regarding the – Happy Valley Tattoo Massacre’ click here

We haven’t had any more contact by the American Fork Police since they served us with an eviction order last thursday.
A local newspaper has decided to write about us; amazingly it is the Mormon Church owned Deseret News.

Meanwhile, none of the other agencies, FBI, ACLU etc. that claimed to be interested in helping us have followed through on their promises of initiating investigations at all.

At the same time, the FBI considers what is obviously a children’s prank (and typical for Utah) to be (though they don’t come out and say it) a “terrorist threat” though they do say they are pursuing it as a “hate crime”.

Here’s an excerpt and link.

“The FBI now considers the graffiti spray-painted outside The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ seminary building at Highland High School a hate crime. The graffiti was discovered at the Salt Lake school on Jan. 11. Spray-painted arrows led from message to message to message.”

“This is more than just kids playing. This is something extending beyond that,” FBI Special Agent Juan Becerra said Wednesday. “It’s trying to send a message where a church is not welcome.” http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695246622,00.html

We certainly consider the raid by the American Fork police to be a fascist act that was intended to disrupt our ability to offer services and for our staff to provide for their families to a much greater degree than requiring the cleaning of graffiti from our building – and we do consider these actions against us as “hate crimes” also “trying to send a message where a church is not welcome.”

But the FBI was supposed to have an investigator out here two weeks ago and no one has called or shown up. The FBI agent known only to me as Irma, who assigned the investigation to us no longer takes my calls or returns my messages – but they will put all their efforts into school-kids painting graffiti on a church owned high-school structure, claiming to be “Knights of Satan” out to “dismantle the Mormon Empire” and “claim Mormon children”.

These pranks of high-school children receive the full attention of the FBI, especially, I believe because the LDS church was the victim, whereas, our church is basically ignored since we are not status quo like the LDS church and do not have the Salt Lake City FBI office staffed with our church members as the majority religion does.

It has been obvious when talking to these different agencies that they are very uncomfortable with the idea of members of their (Mormon) church perpetrating these violations against another church and would rather exercise denial than pursue justice against their own membership.

And it seems that our offering tattooing and piercing as ministry services somehow in their minds invalidates our claims regarding violations of our civil and religious rights making anti-constitutional acts against us somehow deserved and our constitutional rights void where prohibited by religious discrimination.

Having members of local law enforcement flaunting their authority as well as their disregard for the law, practicing harassment and intimidation, confiscating materials of spiritual value to their creators and materials designed to assist patrons in practicing their personal spirituality and support of this ministry are much more serious in my mind than painting a few upside down stars on a school building – though I find vandalism despicable and consider destruction of other people’s property to not be an act of free speech, though a lot of graffiti artists and “taggers” I’m sure, feel somehow entitled.

Nobody has confiscated the materials that the LDS church school uses to perform it’s mission and no one has charged them with crimes they did not commit and no one is prosecuting them for being victims of crime as if they were criminals, and no one, as officers of the law are threatening them with prison when they have committed no crimes, and and no one is telling their ministers that they have to move out of their residences, and yet, the obviously teenage created graffiti is considered a “hate crime” while the police action against us, they would rather sweep under the rug since it is a violation by, rather than against, members of the majority religion.

I plan on making phone calls today to the home offices of all the agencies who’s Utah departments are giving us the cold shoulder in the hopes that they will want to encourage their staff to fulfill their mission(s).

I don’t know if that will help our cause at all. Too often it seems to not help when you point out that government is not doing their job.

But this kind of thing where they make a big deal out of a teenage prank, and certainly the snot-nosed-brats who defaced the seminary building should be charged and corrected and made to make restitution – and I wonder about the parents of those kids who think it is just fine to deface another person’s property for their entertainment, well, I just wonder why when we are victimized by snot-nosed-brats, somehow we are not worthy of the protection of our constitutional rights and privileges and the “brats” are seen to be the victims and the government dives right in to further victimize the actual victims rather than taking to task those who are actually performing criminal acts!

Why is it I wonder that in Utah everyone wants to protect children who crap on their neighbors and assume that the victim of their rude, antisocial behavior – if they don’t dress like a lawyer – must have somehow deserved the abuse, while the rotten kid gets to be a hero and victim rather then being held accountable for their bad behavior.

So, it should be no wonder really that we have to deal with road rage, graffiti, drug abuse and gang crimes when our community encourages anti-social, criminal behavior in local children and persecutes the victims of their crimes.

I suppose it would be good to point out that not only have local agencies not seemed to care about civil and religious rights violations in their community, but also I contacted the AF mayor, city council and pretty much everyone on the list I posted a few days back and only two members of the art council bothered to reply and they both pretty much said that they believed in supporting civil rights, but didn’t plan on supporting mine.

I was pretty surprised to not hear anything from our 4 member city council especially since Federal Law allows the city council to be sued over the police violation of the Religious Land Use Act.

The mayor, typical to American Fork Government leaders apparently, has also decided that he is above responding to my email to him.

The local government makes it pretty clear that they do not consider the human, civil or religious rights of my staff or my rights as a human, community member, religious leader or service provider to have any value whatsoever while their silence in my mind makes them complicit and serves as their unspoken endorsement of these criminal acts against us.

It is epidemic in Utah for people to demand rights for themselves while they actively deny those same rights to others.

Trampling on civil and human rights is considered a right of the majority here and it seems that even Federal officers who are members of that majority (religion) think it is okay too.

If we wanted civil rights and personal freedoms, they seem to be saying, we should be members of their church – since we’re not – we don’t deserve human, civil or religious rights.

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. Martin Luther King, Jr.

~ by Dr. Lowrey on January 24, 2008.