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08-21-2018

 

Mike J. Carroll, Irish-American Traveller

Murphy Village USA

North Augusta, South Carolina. 29860

mikej.carrollauthor@gmail.com

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Houston Press

2603 La Branch Street

Houston, Texas. 77004

(713) 280-2400

 

“Sergeant Calderon: Patriot or Racist?”

 

An article was written by John Nova Lomax for The Houston Press April 21, 2011, entitled; “Five Street Scams Dogging Houston now,” reads like an imaginary New York mob story complete with “low-life’s” and a “police sergeant” who claims to be an expert at apprehending criminals. The reporter with the support of Houston Police Sergeant R. Calderon hurriedly places guilt on the Irish-American Travellers. The sergeant “believes the perpetrators were Irish Travelers -- the same Celtic-American group,” and strengthens his claim by referring to an ethnic minority as “infamous,” complete with an attached hyperlink to a story filled with lies and half-truth to support his indictments. An age-old tactic, guilt by association, used to indict an ethnic minority by two racists with an intent to deprive economic prosperity and provide an easy-out for the culprits.   

 

Sergeant Calderon starts with “senior citizens are approached in their homes,” words purposefully used to encourage hatred for those who would harm the elderly. “The Fake Utility Employee Ransack” he calls the first scam on his list of five. The sergeant gives a step-by-step account describing how the crime is committed on the homeowner. The victim tells the Houston Police Department; he, the perpetrator “had on a uniform” and wore “a helmet and a white shirt.” Calderon admits “Houston's ritzier West Side 'burbs” were hit hard by the culprits, and the “HPD didn’t make any arrests in those cases.” Calderon carefully includes Irish Traveller occupations to implicate the ethnic minority to cover for his agencies inability to apprehend the actual criminals and his need for an easy out.

 

The second scam on Sergeant Calderon’s list of five is “The Pigeon Drop,” and the perpetrator is African. Calderon places blame for these crimes solely on the African-American ethnic minority. His narrative complete with “pimps and prostitutes,” and polygamy reinforced by his belief in his superior traits that includes Christianity, intelligence, and kindness assuredly discredits the appearance of xenophobia. Calderon says the con artists are “black Americans who pose as Africans or Caribbean’s.” This scam “has been on the upswing in Houston,” and “we’ve arrested a few.”

 

The third scam on Sergeant Calderon’s list of five is “The Sweetheart Swindle,” and the accused are the Romani, yet another ethnic minority. They, meaning the Romani, “used to be called the now-offensive term of Gypsies.” The term gypsies carefully interweaved within the narrative to justify Calderon’s condemnation and persecution through false accusations, abhorrence, bigotry, and racism. Calderon's allegations of young women prostituting themselves to older men belong in a tabloid filled with other salacious stories, not a newspaper. The forth scam on Sergeant Calderon’s list of five is the “Door-to-Door Magazine Scam.” A man pretends to sell subscriptions to the "Houston Chronicle" for $29: dollars. According to the reporter the Houston Chronicle is “Houston’s Leading Information Source.

 

The fifth and final scam of Sergeant Calderon’s list of five is the “The Latin Lotto,” an elaborate scam perpetrated by Mexicans and Central Americans. A winning Texas Lotto Ticket offered to an elderly person for a discount price. The victim asked to verify the authenticity of the ticket using an actual Texas Lotto phone number, “but the hustlers will have figured out a way to re-route the call to a third crook.” Calderon asks the reader to believe that the culprit can reroute a phone call from a state government office to another phone. Would an individual capable of rerouting a phone call protected by countless safeguards need to resort to such a petty crime?   

 

This article should be required reading for criminals in need of a new scam. It delivers step-by-step directions and an ethnic minority to take the blame. Like Adolph Hitler, Sergeant Calderon hates American-Irish Travellers, African-Americans, Central Americans, Mexicans, Romani, anyone whom he sees as inferior to the master race. The reader should fear racists in positions of authority like this sergeant with the ability to harm the innocent to preserve their sense of superiority. This reporter gave this racist sergeant the ability to promote racism through his publication, does he also believe in the persecution of minorities?

 

If you are interested in American-Irish Travellers, their history both in Ireland and America read my book, entitled; “Irish Travellers: An Undocumented Journey Through History,” available on amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.

 

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Respectively Submitted,

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Mike J. Carroll, American-Irish Traveller

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