Guinn declares no tolerance for discrimination

Stacy J. Willis

Friday, Sept. 21, 2001 | 10:41 a.m.

Dr. Raj Chanderraj was already buckled in on a U.S. Air flight set to leave Philadelphia last week when members of the flight crew and a uniformed policeman approached him.

"They told me to pick up my bags and come with them, to come out of the aircraft," Chanderraj, a Las Vegas resident, said.

"I went out. There were policeman there in the airport, and they told me, 'The crew is not comfortable with you on board,' " Chanderraj said.

Chanderraj explained to them that he is not a terrorist; he is a physician, a well-respected cardiologist and president of the Clark County Medical Society.

Although his family roots are in India, he has lived in Las Vegas for 25 years. His wife, Radha Chanderraj, serves on the Nevada Gaming Commission. Chanderraj was in the northeastern U.S. because his teenaged children attend Phillips Exeter Academy, a prestigious secondary school in New Hampshire.

Law enforcement officials detained him for more than 20 minutes, verified his background, and then let him re-board and take his seat among already nervous passengers.

"You feel embarrassed. You feel like you've done something wrong," Chanderraj recalled yesterday after a meeting of political, religious and community leaders at the Grant Sawyer Building.

Gov. Kenny Guinn called the "Assembly on Discrimination and Hate Crimes" to discourage violence against people of Middle Eastern descent or Muslims in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.

And, Guinn said, he called the meeting to discourage the sort of prejudicial profiling his friend Chanderraj had been subjected to in Philadelphia.

"Let's make sure that doesn't happen to a single innocent person in Nevada," Guinn said.

Guinn announced a state hate crimes hotline telephone number, and said he had reassigned four state employees to monitor the line. The number is 1-800-221-2408.

A smorgasbord of Las Vegas' religious leaders -- men and women representing Muslim, Jewish, Catholic, Mormon and Episcopal faiths -- called for tolerance and unity in brief speeches at the meeting. Local politicians were joined via satellite by Northern Nevada politicians in a call for a spirit of teamwork in what Guinn called "tough times ahead in Nevada."

Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Pappa, Clark County District Attorney Stewart Bell and Metro Police Sheriff Jerry Keller reminded the crowd of about 100 that law enforcement is now particularly vigilant and would arrest and prosecute anyone who commits hate crimes in the coming months.

"We have police officers at every mosque," said Keller, whose office has received dozens of calls alleging threats and hate crimes in the last week. "There is no room for hate in our community...We will track them (criminals) down."

Del Pappa said her office is prepared to use Nevada's statutes that allow for stiffer sentences for those whose crimes are motivated by prejudice against a minority group.

Lee Plotkin, executive director of the local chapter of the National Conference for Community and Justice, said that 36 percent of Americans said they do not know enough about Muslims to form an opinion of them, according to a year 2000 NCCJ survey.

But as community leaders filed out of the room full of the talk of growing tolerance, some members of the Arab-American and Muslim communities said they are already feeling the effect of backlash.

"My son was in Washington, D.C., and a few days after the attack he went to get a haircut, and the barber refused him (because of his Middle-Eastern heritage)," Dr. Bashir Chowdry, a heart surgeon who moved to Las Vegas from Pakistan more than 20 years ago. "And my wife said, 'Do we need to move back to Pakistan? Are we safe here?' We are Americans, good citizens. Why should we be a target? It makes me very sad."

As the room emptied, a man named Muhamad Madidi approached the governor.

"I have been fired because of my race," Madidi, an American from Morocco, said. Tears ran down his cheeks as he said he had gotten into a terse exchange on Sept. 11 with an accusatory tourist at Caesar's Palace, where he worked as a banquet waiter.

Caesar's Palace VP of Marketing Jack Leone "categorically denied" the termination was related to race.

"People see my nametag and are prejudiced. Now I have no job," Madidi said. "Governor, I am a good citizen. I don't know what I'm going to do."

Guinn listened and said he would ask his Equal Rights Commission director, Anita Laruy, to investigate.

"We'll take care of you," the governor said.

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