Hispanics in the Crosshairs…Again
February 3rd, 2010

What series of events leads a group of local teenagers to attack and murder an Hispanic man for simply walking down the street? What influences lead them to shout slurs as they kick him to death?

A recent column written by historian and author William C. Kashatus in the Philadelphia Inquirer explores the frightening relationship between the national debate over immigration and the rise of hate groups and hate crimes against Latinos. He draws on the disturbing case of Luis Eduardo Ramirez in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, where even the "police officers have been charged with obstructing the investigation into Ramirez's death...including helping the defendants dispose of crucial evidence, including the shoes used to deliver the final, fatal kick to Ramirez's head."

Kashatus calls it "a frightening national pattern of anti-Latino hate crimes in the United States, which has paralleled growing resentment of illegal immigrants."

The hate-filled rhetoric of local and national politicians, law enforcement officers, and the media spawned by the immigration debate has real-life consequences for all Latinos, whether they are citizens of this country or not. When Marcelo Lucero of Patachogue, New York was murdered last year in a similar incident involving a group of young teens, the National Council of La Raza (NCLR) and six other civil rights groups banded together to call the incident "a wake-up call for America."

The alarm bell is still ringing.