DATE=03/14/2002

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=9-11 MONEY (L-ONLY)

NUMBER=2-287579

BYLINE=MICHAEL LELAND

DATELINE=CHICAGO

INTERNET=YES

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: Since the September 11th terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, charities have raised about two-billion dollars for victims, families of the dead, and others affected by the attacks. V-O-A's Michael Leland reports, a woman in Chicago is leading a campaign to make some of that money available to others she says suffered because of September 11th.

TEXT: Chicago-area writer and activist Anya Cordell says the victims of September 11th can be found beyond New York, Washington and the Pennsylvania field where a fourth hijacked plane crashed that day. She says there were at least 14 people killed in post-attack backlash against Muslims or people who looked Muslim.

/// CORDELL ACT 1 ///

The most famous case was in Mesa, Arizona. It was a Sikh gentleman, who owned a service station. He was planting flowers outside his service station, and he was murdered in cold blood.

/// END ACT ///

Ms. Cordell has founded the Campaign for Collateral Compassion, and is asking charities like the American Red Cross to share some of the hundreds-of-millions-of-dollars they have raised for September 11th victims with the families of those killed in "backlash" violence.

/// CORDELL ACT 2 ///

They were killed as a direct result of September 11th. Their deaths flowed out of those events, and they were also victims of terrorism. They would not have died, if not for the events of September 11th.

/// END ACT ///

The American Red Cross declined to provide an official to be interviewed for this story, but did send V-O-A a statement saying, in part: "The American Red Cross deeply regrets and opposes any hate crimes based on ethnicity. But the money raised for September 11th victims has been earmarked for terrorist attack survivors or families of the dead; people who live or work near the World Trade Center in New York who have been economically hurt as a result of the attacks, and rescue and recovery workers."

Still, Ms. Cordell says those killed after September 11th in retaliatory violence are no different from those killed in the attacks themselves.

/// CORDELL ACT 3 ///

They were not a natural disaster, they were not an earthquake or hurricane. They were, in essence, a massive hate crime. So the Red Cross and all the other charities are already aiding hate crime victims.

/// END ACT ///

Ms. Cordell has been speaking throughout the Chicago area, urging people to write the American Red Cross and ask it to change its policy for distributing money for September 11th victims. (signed)

NEB/MJL/TW