assault send Somalis back to city

[Us_Marines]

Slurs, assault send Somalis back to city: Winthrop teens face charges, hate probe

 

A Somalian family that left Dorchester for what they thought would be a safer home in Winthrop is headed back to Dorchester after accusing Winthrop High football players of racial harassment and assault.

 

``We're leaving because my mother is tired of the attacks,'' said Khadija, 17, daughter of Fatuma Abu.

 

Two white teens, members of the Winthrop High School football team, each has been charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and intimidation of a witness. They have not been charged with a hate crime, which carries additional penalties.

 

 

Winthrop police, the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office and the Attorneys General's Office are investigating the case to evaluate whether hate-crime charges are applicable. The Anti-Defamation League is also investigating.

 

Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel Conley said yesterday, ``If there is any evidence that the victims were targeted because of their race, we will prosecute to the full extent of the law.''

 

The Somalian family fled their war-torn homeland seven years ago for a better life in Boston. They lived in Roxbury and Dorchester until last month, when Abu, 38, concerned about inner-city crime, decided to find a safer place to raise her family of seven.

 

But within days of moving to Winthrop, the assaults and harassment started, family members said. Mohamed Mohamed, 16, said the perpetrators yelled racial slurs and told him to ``go back to where you came from.''

 

Andy Tarsy, the executive director of the ADL's Northeast region, said, ``Even if it's not a hate crime under the law, the fact that someone would use racist language or slurs, that's a problem. The measure of a healthy community is not whether incidents of bigotry happen, but how they respond to it.''

 

Virginia Wilder, the executive secretary for the Winthrop Selectman, and Steven Jenkins, the superintendent of Winthrop Schools, did not return calls from the Herald yesterday.

 

The defendants are scheduled for a pretrial conference in Chelsea District Court on Oct. 20.