[Home] [Headlines] [Latest Articles] [Latest Comments] [Post] [Sign-in] [Mail] [Setup] [Help] [Register]
Status: Not Logged In; Sign In
Immigration See other Immigration Articles Title: Mexican’s Death Bares a Town’s Ethnic Tension SHENANDOAH, Pa. Crystal Dillman knows that four teenagers have been charged in the death of her fiancé, Luis Ramirez, that the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department is monitoring the case and that most people in this small town in the Appalachian Mountains believe it was a horrible crime. But Ms. Dillman, the mother of Mr. Ramirezs two young children, is not sure justice will prevail. I think they might get off, she said of the four teenagers, because Luis was an illegal Mexican and these are all-American boys on the football team who get good grades, or whatever theyre saying about them. Theyll find some way to let them go. The case has raised similar concerns among Latinos across the country. For many Latinos, this is a case of enough is enough, said Gladys Limón, a staff lawyer for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund. And it can help us get attention to the wider issue that this is happening all over the country, not just to illegal immigrants, but legal, and anyone who is perceived to be Latino. Mr. Ramirez, 25, who had been in the country illegally for six years, picking crops and working in factories, died July 14 from head injuries received two days earlier. Investigators said he had gotten into a fight with a group of teenage boys most or all of them members of the towns high school football team, the Blue Devils who left him unconscious in a residential street, foaming at the mouth. Exactly what happened during the fight is still hotly debated on Internet message boards in Shendoh, as the town is called, with some saying it was just a street fight that went bad, and others claiming the teenagers singled out a Mexican immigrant for a beating and made anti-Mexican remarks. Since Mr. Ramirezs death, this town of 5,600 has been bitterly divided over the case, illuminating ethnic tensions that surprised town leaders. Ive heard things like, We dont want to send our kids back to school because were afraid people dont like Mexicans, Mayor Thomas ONeill said. Thats shocking to me. That is not the Shenandoah I know. Prosecutors have charged Brandon Piekarski, 16, and Collin Walsh, 17, with homicide, ethnic intimidation and other counts in adult court, though their lawyers are trying to have the case moved to juvenile court. Derrick Donchak, 18, was charged with aggravated assault, ethnic intimidation and other counts, including providing liquor to the other boys on the night of the confrontation. All were members of the football team; Mr. Donchak was its starting quarterback. A 17-year-old, whose name has not been released, was charged in juvenile court with aggravated assault, ethnic intimidation and other charges. They have all pleaded not guilty. After anthracite coal was discovered near the town in the late 1800s, immigrants poured in, mainly from Europe. The hamlet grew to a borough of 25,000 before the mines started to close. The immigrant groups largely got along, but they also felt the need to ethnically divide not just their churches some of which are still considered the Italian church or the Irish church but also the towns volunteer fire companies. The towns biggest festival every year is Heritage Days near the end of August, when the major ethnic groups, among them the Lithuanians, Irish, Italians, Greeks and, more recently, Mexicans, put floats in a parade and sell ethnic food from booths. Mr. Ramirezs death has also reignited a regional debate over immigration that began two years ago when the town of Hazleton, about 20 miles from Shenandoah, enacted an ordinance that sought to discourage people from hiring or renting to illegal immigrants. At the time, Shenandoah, whose Hispanic population has grown to about 10 percent, from 2.8 percent in 2000, considered a similar ordinance but held off after Hazleton was sued. Even then, there were signs of tension. After the debate over the Hazleton ordinance, Shenandoahs Mexican community pulled out of Heritage Days in 2006. They just didnt feel comfortable then, said Flor Gomez, whose family runs a Mexican restaurant in town. Many people believe the debate fueled by Hazletons actions helped create the environment that led to Mr. Ramirezs death. Clearly there were a lot of factors here, said Ms. Limón, of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, which has been helping Ms. Dillman. But I do believe that the inflammatory rhetoric in the immigration debate does have a correlation with increased violence against Latinos. {read the rest at the link) Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top Page Up Full Thread Page Down Bottom/Latest Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 13.
#1. To: CAPPSMADNESS (#0)
Sucker.
I once met half a dozen public school officials from Fresno, California who told me that young white girls came to them all the time complaining that the Mexican boys threatened to cut their face if they did not have sex with Mexican boys. The administrators including whites and Mexicans all said that they told the girls to have sex with the boys. I asked what they would do if a white girl dared to file a rape complaint with the police. They all agreed that they would flunk her out of school so she couldn't go to college. Only a racist would file a rape complaint.
URSHTNME
No. I was not kidding. White people are a persecuted minority in many parts of California. There was a recent post on demographic changes in LA from 1940 to present day. I had thought of commenting and saying that if they subtracted out the Jews from Malibu and Beverly Hills, there would not be any white enclaves remaining. A couple year ago I had a friend who was married to a Jewish man. Her 11 year- old daighter had so many rape threats from non-whites in Sunnyvale California (near San Jose)that she had to take her daughter to the man in charge of Security for Jews in the local area. Both my friend and her daughter are beautiful blondes. My friend was not Jewish but her husband was. She took her daughter with her and the man in charge of Jewish Security liked her and her daughter so much that he decided to do what he could to protect the 11 year-old from really serious rape threats. That worked for awhile. She and her husband eventually moved from Sunnyvale to Cupertino where the homes were $900,000 at that time and the neighbors are either white or Chinese. The schools are good and bad students talk their parents into moving to easier school districts.
There are no replies to Comment # 13. End Trace Mode for Comment # 13.
Top Page Up Full Thread Page Down Bottom/Latest |
||
[Home]
[Headlines]
[Latest Articles]
[Latest Comments]
[Post]
[Sign-in]
[Mail]
[Setup]
[Help]
[Register]
|