AmericanVampireLeague.com/2009-07i

July 2009 Club-goers Assaulted by Fang-bashers July 31, 2009 A young couple narrowly avoided serious injury recently when they were accosted in the parking lot of The Tooth Fairy, a vampire-operated club outside Cincinnati. Though the altercation was brief and the victims managed to fend off their attackers, it stands as a concerning example of the violence and intimidation being leveled against open-minded members of the human community. Security personnel on the roof caught this footage of the confrontation: Vampire Friends Attacked UPDATE: Dawn of Terror July 28, 2009 Missing image: "burning_house.jpg", width="362", height="249" BEAUMONT, TX -- (AVL) The suburban home of vampire businessman Irving Young was firebombed by a crowd of masked assailants, marking the sixth such attack in northern Texas. Arson investigators have uncovered few leads in the cases, though neighbors report seeing a group of about a dozen people throw Molotov cocktails through the structure's windows before fleeing on foot through a nearby field. Irving was out of town on business when the incident occurred. UPDATE: Dawn of Terror July 28, 2009 Missing image: "painted_store.jpg", width="357", height="268" BATON ROUGE, LA -- (AVL) Entire neighborhoods have been defaced in the city, with slogans of hate marring many vampire-owned businesses and homes. Holly Putnam, the human manager of a vampire-owned floral shop, is worried she'll be out of a job if this happens again: "A whole block of buildings with fangs and slurs painted on them doesn't exactly put you in the mood to bring a bouquet home for the wife," she says. "This economy is hitting us hard enough without this kind of nonsense to compound it." UPDATE: Dawn of Terror July 27, 2009 Missing image: "shatttered_glass.jpg", width="300", height="399" DALLAS -- (AVL) A spokesman for the Museum of the Immortal Arts in Dallas is reporting that the cultural institution was vandalized by "a mob throwing bricks, bottles and other trash." An entire wall of plate glass windows was broken, but the building's security system prevented the attackers from gaining entrance. The museum's revolving collection includes thousands of priceless relics accumulated by vampires throughout history. Stop Fanaticism from Taking Root July 27, 2009 As anti-vampire groups continue to recruit members across the country, propaganda videos like this are becoming more and more common. Though the AVL is obviously concerned with these manufactured messages of hate, the fringe groups creating them are certainly a vocal minority and pose little physical threat to anyone. Nevertheless, when bigots like this man are allowed to profess their intolerance unchecked, the cost to our society is measured not in terms of public safety but public opinion — and only you can help mitigate that damage, by speaking out against such reactionary rhetoric in your own homes, schools and churches. Vampires Suck on This!! Dawn of Terror Targets American Vampires July 19, 2009 Reports have been flooding in this morning from around the nation, and as the big picture comes into focus, it's clear that a hate conspiracy unlike anything in American history has been unleashed on the country. Shortly after sunrise in Dallas, a crowd of masked men and women took to the streets of the city's Arts District, defacing a number of vampire-owned galleries and installations. A similar group, across the country in Washington, D.C., threw bricks through the windows of the AVL headquarters and drove wooden stakes into walls, photos and furniture. Vampires and vampire advocates in other towns and cities have also faced fires, vandalism and persecution at the hands of these unknown attackers — all of whom coordinated their assault to take place at sunrise. Though thankfully no one was injured, property damage is already estimated in the millions of dollars, and the psychic damage done to our communities could last a very, very long time. Our nation has never seen such a highly orchestrated hate crime, targeting a minority simultaneously across the country. In fact, these attacks are far more reminiscent of Nazi Germany than of anything in our own past. While the AVL is rushing to get resources to those in need, we also would like to make our position absolutely clear: It is understood that these actions were undertaken by a domestic terrorist organization, and the AVL will leave the investigation to the federal authorities. There will be no vampire response to this tragedy. If we're asked for any assistance, of course we'll cooperate, but this is clearly a matter for law enforcement to handle. Also, to aid transparency, the AVL will continue to post images of the attack as they come in: Missing image: "vnacht.jpg", width="400", height="895" The Recruitment Myth July 1, 2009 Embedded Flash Video: http://hbo.a.mms.mavenapps.net/mms/rt/1/site/hbo-hbocom1-pub01-live/current/truebloodfos/multipleCategoryPlayer/client/embedded/embedded.swf Recently, a handful of human extremists have drawn attention to themselves by grandstanding against an imagined "menace" — a supposed wave of humans voluntarily turning themselves vampire. A recent speech by "Reverend" Stephen Newlin (see the video above) alleged that thousands of Americans — mostly misdirected adolescents, liberals and socially unstable adults, he says — have been duped into becoming vampires. Talk radio host and former bible college professor Alan Lipton, in a piece called "They're Coming for Our Children," suggests that an army of new vampires is being raised — and will outnumber humans in the U.S. by 2035. We certainly hope Mr. Lipton wasn't a math professor! In reality, vampires have been and always will be, a microscopic minority on earth. When one imagines the billions of humans, reproducing exponentially, it is almost comical to think of a roomful of non-reproducing vampires as a threat. Quite the contrary, it is vampires who are continually on the brink of extinction! The leadership of the AVL would like for everyone to understand the code that vampires have lived under for hundreds of years when it comes to adding to our numbers: No self-respecting vampire would perform this complicated and emotional procedure lightly, for money or on a misguided person's whim. Most vampires have never done it. Vampires have never recruited new members into their race, and indeed have spent centuries rejecting, often forcefully, humans seeking the change. In the entire span of human history, only a tiny, tiny fraction of humans have become vampires, and losses due to attrition have kept numbers fairly consistent throughout the millennia. Opponents to change have always used the most base of fears to demonize those they hate. At varying times in history, Catholics, Jews, African Americans and gays were called threats to our children. We urge our new friends in the human community to reject Newlin, Lipton and other agents of hate, so that we may all get on with the business of building a better future together, without prejudice and without fear. Signed, The Board of Directors