Maria Charo Juega, Latin American Legal Defense and Education Fund
The troubling story of a couple of wealthy Princeton property owners whose negligence caused a pack of unlicensed, unvaccinated, unleashed dogs to attack and inflict life-threatening injuries to a landscaper is a dark sign of our times.
The James’ are now fighting a legal and public relations battle to protect their dog, at the expense of the credibility and character of the victim, whom they now blame for the incident, while his condition of immigrant has turned into an "aggravating" factor in the eyes of the public. The narrative of the "Save Congo" campaign has achieved its objective: the brutalized victim has been dehumanized as an ignorant, cowardly trespasser who deserved to be mauled.
One only has to skim through the trail of repulsive comments posted on Internet blogs, or tune in to the paladins of just and worthy causes, the Jersey Guys on 101.5 FM, to get the tone of the public discourse that this incident has unleashed all over the state. That this appeal has found such a widespread echo is one more warning of the looming tsunami of anti-immigrant feeling washing up on this country.
