Purported plea from Chinese labor camp found in Halloween decorations
An Oregon woman who found a Chinese laborer's plea for help hidden in a box of Halloween decorations says she thinks the letter, which describes brutal conditions inside a work camp, is authentic.
Julie Keith, 42, of Portland, bought a Halloween graveyard kit from Kmart last year and tucked it away in a storage box. When she opened the kit this October, she found the letter tucked in between two Stryofoam headstones.
“I fully believe it is real.”
- Julie Keith
“If you occasionally buy this product, please kindly resend this letter to the World Human Right Organization,” the unsigned letter read. “Thousands people here who are under the persicution [sic] of the Chinese Communist Party Government will thank and remember you forever."
The writer said the product was made in Masanjia Labor Camp in Shenyang, China, where laborers work for 15 hours a day without time off on the weekends and holidays, making only 10 yuan ($1.61) per month.
The China director at Human Rights Watch, Sophie Richardson, told The Oregonian that the organization could not confirm the origin or authenticity of the letter.
But Keith told FoxNews.com that she thinks it isn’t a fake, after analyzing the product packaging and showing it to a Chinese co-worker at the Portland Goodwill store where she works, who said it looked authentic.
“I fully believe it is real,” she said, describing how the headstones where the letter was found inside of were sealed together and the box was closed with tape. “It had to of come from where they said.”
Keith posted an image of the letter on Facebook and said she’s been criticized online from people who fear retribution against the workers, as the letter contains their exact location at the camp they are stationed – “Unit 8, Department 2.”
But she added that she is “just trying to spread awareness.”
“It would be nice if these companies were aware of what was happening,” she said.
ICE's Homeland Security Investigations said Tuesday that it is looking into the letter, The Oregonian reported.
Keith told FoxNews.com that she spoke to ICE agents and gave them the box of decorations and the letter, but hasn’t received any updates.
Sears Holdings Corporation, which owns Kmart, said in a statement that it is also investigating the matter.
"Sears Holdings has a Global Compliance Program which helps to ensure that vendors and factories producing merchandise for our company adhere to specific Program Requirements, and all local laws pertaining to employment standards and workplace practices," the company said. "Failure to comply with any of the Program Requirements, including the use of forced labor, may result in a loss of business or factory termination.”
13 comments:
There was recent coverage of the only person known to have escaped a large camp in N Korea. I wonder if her find has anything to do with seeing that report?
http://reason.com/reasontv/2012/12/02/i-escaped-a-north-korean-prison-camp-shi
the video from 60 Minutes..
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50136263n
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Dylan Redwine Remains Missing Beyond Christmas Holiday.
ecember 27, 2012 12:15 AM EST
Missing Colorado boy Dylan Redwine still hasn't been found, and now Christmas time has passed in an event that his family had to experience without him. This holiday season is the first spent without the 13-year-old, who has now been missing for over a month. Sadly, there don't appear to be any investigative updates in the search for the lad, but it's good to see media outlets continue their coverage of this case.
"A mother can never prepare herself for the worst case scenario. But, it's not that I haven't thought about it. It's not that I'm immune to it. But I choose to hope for Dylan," Said Elaine Redwine, the mother of the missing child.
The mother of the missing teen has been in Vallecito for the past month but is now back home where she awaits answers in her son's case. This is a tough time for the family of Dylan Redwine. Detectives have acknowledged that they have no new leads in the case, and that just further adds to the possibility that this will end up another cold case missing person's story. With no answers and over a month behind her, Elaine Redwine's emotions must be indescribable right now.
But what about the father? Mark Redwine wasn't mentioned in the above-cited source—only the boy's mother. Isn't this a tough holiday for the father of the missing teen as well? Elaine Redwine has been publicly critical of the boy's father, accusing him of doing something to him (but what?). Now that Christmas is over, will detectives kick back into gear and find out what happened?
http://news.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474981829562
OT.
US: Guns For Food At Drive-Thru After Shooting
Over 1,000 weapons, including Uzis and assault rifles, were handed in as police promised there would be no questions asked.12:02pm UK, Thursday 27 December 2012
Los Angeles gun owners have traded in their weapons for food vouchers worth up to $200 (£123) in a drive-thru style event brought forward after the Connecticut school shooting.
Long queues formed as people, predominantly men, handed over weapons including assault rifles and Uzis directly from their cars, in exchange for grocery store gift cards.
Police promised there would be no questions asked and by the end of the day 1,016 weapons, among them TEC-9 semi-automatic handguns, WW2 rifles and vintage shotguns, one dating from 1895, had been handed in.
There were events at two locations including one at Van Nuys, north of LA, and demand was so high that officers even ran out of grocery cards at one point.
Gun owners were given up to a $100 gift card in exchange for handguns, rifles and shotguns, or up to a $200 card for automatic weapons.
Police promised no questions would be asked
A couple of pro-gun activists turned out to protest against the Gun Buyback Programme, trying to dissuade owners from giving in weapons to be destroyed.
LA mayor Antonio Villaraigosa brought forward the date of the event from next May.
It followed the shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, on December 14, in which gunman Adam Lanza killed 26 people including 20 young children.
Sergeant Rudy Lopez of the LA Police Department said the buyback event was going well compared to previous years.
He said: "It's looking very positive. A lot of people are waiting an hour and a half (in line). People want to do something to do their part to get more guns off the streets."
Sgt Lopez also said police would check the weapons handed in, to make sure they are not reported as stolen or lost, and hand them back to their rightful owners if they are.
Gunman Adam Lanza killed 26 people at a Connecticut school
All other weapons were due to be melted.
The success of the scheme in traditionally liberal LA is in contrast to a claim by the world's largest seller of gun supplies that it cannot keep up with demand as orders for assault weapon and high-capacity magazines skyrocket in the wake of the Newtown school shooting.
Pete Brownell, president of Brownells, said that in a three-day period the company has sold an "unprecedented" three-and-a-half years' worth of inventory of magazines.
Under the buyback scheme in LA, the fact that police were asking no questions was a key incentive. "See that? That's a silencer," said Sgt Lopez, pointing to an assault weapon. "That's illegal. We didn't say anything."
Critics of such schemes have questioned their effectiveness, arguing the weapons surrendered tend to be the least likely to be used in criminal activities, such as guns which are old or malfunctioning.
In the line of cars, a 51-year-old unnamed man said he was turning in four rifles that belonged to his late father.
"The guns have been sitting around, and there's a money incentive, so why not?" he said.
Sandra Lefall, 38, said the Connecticut shooting did spur her to turn in a gun.
"I'm bringing in a 9mm handgun because I want to get it out of the house, because I have teenage children. I would hate for them to do what that guy in Connecticut did," she told the LA Times.
http://news.sky.com/story/1030592/us-guns-for-food-at-drive-thru-after-shooting
Unit 8 Dept 2
Hoax letter
It's a brave new world!
Send our Union Leaders over there immediately! That will teach those Chinese a thing or two! Send them now!!!!
It would be nice to see a close-up of that note so that the handwriting could be analyzed.
This reminds me of an old man that returned money he'd stolen from Sears around Christmas one year. He finally felt bad after several decades.
The note is written in English? The enslaved laborer wanted the letter forwarded to the "world human rights organization"? I think there is an "International Human Rights" and "World Health Organization" but regardless seems odd a Chinese Peasant would be familiar with such institutions.
Most of the letter was not quoted but the working condition description may not have been exaggerated. But US consumers need their cheap WalMart products so don't expect too much pressure for change.
Indentured servitude is a good thing as long as its not in this country. Of course, some of the big government policies are what keeps the US from slipping into something close to it.
Thanks,
Suzie
It seems we are to make note of 'fully' since it has been underlined. I think this is a sham, nit just because saying you fully believe something is like prefacing a statement with, 'do you want the truth?' or 'to be honest,' as if hey, normally I make crap up as I go. I think it is a hoax for the reasons listed above, the letter being written in English as well as the agencies listed/units, etc., I also don't kniw how informed they'd be about who would care and why, plus, I doubt anyone would be thankful for the scrutiny. I am more curious about this Oregonian woman...she's so eager to be in the spotlight. Maybe someone is playing a joke on her due to this known quirk of hers or perhaps she did fabricate it due to recent news. In any case, she wants a little attention and seems as if she's ignorant enough to not understand that not all attention is worth having. (or that she's not smarter than law enforcement, could be a rude awakening.)
A Chinese peasant who went to school would be familiar with such insitutions, but would probably not be in prison, as "peasants" are not a big threat to the government. There really aqre no "peasants" in China after the manner of the the "peasants" who lived there before Mao, and the people who go to prison and end up in camps doing slave labor are usually more educated, and very intelligent. Education and intelligence combined are a threat to many governments. Writers often get arrested in China, just for writing.
Education and intelligence have nothing to do with access to information about counter-cultural organizations ina society in which you are in grave danger for simply writing, as you mentioned. You cannot prove they would know about these organizations.
Exactly. People who go to prison in China often ARE people who know about those things.
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