I Weep for my Hometown

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Two weeks ago, a Hispanic man was beaten to death in my hometown. He left behind a fiancée and three small children. The crime was perpetrated by a group of drunken teenagers. Although the exact circumstances of the night are still up in the air, it seems that the victim’s biggest crime was being Mexican.

Shenandoah is a very “white” town. When I was growing up there was maybe a handful of minorities. Even today, our area is mostly white, with much tension between races. However, we have had an increase in the Hispanic population in recent years that is centered in Shenandoah due to an old priest who had connections with Mexico and Puerto Rico. This caused an uproar in the town that continues to this day. I had thought that it was dying down a bit, but unfortunately I was wrong.

While I had not known Luis, my mom knew him as a customer at her workplace. She said he was a very sweet man. He was also hard working, as he was holding down two jobs in an effort to support his family. But the only thing that sees to matter to most people is his race. The comments on the website for our local paper are horrifying. I have never seen such hate before, and it saddens and angers me. While there are many comments and people in support of his family, most of the comments are aimed at blaming them. They say that it wouldn’t have happened if he had stayed where he belongs, and are trying to make heroes out of the boys for helping to weed out the illegals. Even our town officials are trying to downplay the seriousness of it all. It is truly disheartening.

I don’t think I can fully express my feelings toward the situation in words. You can read details of the crime here. It also made the Drudge Report. You may not want to read the comments while eating, as they are truly nauseating.

I’m at work now, but will check on the thread as I can either tonite, or tomorrow.

2

My heart weeps with you.

3

It’s nice to see someone agreeing with me. It’s just such a blatant display of hate I don’t understand.

4

That’s so horrible :frowning: That poor guy.

I’m sickened by what some people here in my hometown have to say about the recent increase in Hispanic people that has come here. It’s amazing that people who are likely the children or grandchildren of the Irish, Italian, Polish or Slovak immigrants who came here to work at the factories that formed the basis of the local economy until recently, can turn around and say, 'Those immigrants have no right to be here!" They’re just trying to improve their lot in life, just like the immigrants from years ago, and it’s certainly not up to private citizen hooligans to “bring down the law” on someone they percieve as an “illegal immigrant.” That’s what we have the INS and police for, if needed.

5

Jesus Christ, some of those comments are revolting. While I can see why rational people would have a problem with an influx of illegal immigrants, I have seen so much xenophobia in the issue even in my home town. I guess the racists are just changing their targets from blacks to more socially acceptable Latinos and Arabs.

6

Is there a school in that area? Can’t any of those freakin’ people, racists or not, learn how to spell?

7

My dad blames everything on “the illegals” and tends to blame them for pretty much all of his short comings when it comes to the economy. Although he works hard, he would get money if it wasn’t for those illegals! He would get money if his taxes didn’t go to paying for all the millions of illegals teeming around the corner! And yet he wonders why his strawberries are a dollar a pound. I think that the only thing that’s really changed over time is what nationality served as the boogeyman. The Chinese had a way worse time on the west coast just a hundred years ago, not to mention the Irish and Poles on the east coast during the same time period. Now it’s the Mexicans who are out to destroy Us Nice All American Folks.

8

Man I wish this were in the Pit.

ETA: Because I am just as horrified as you. I try to be really open-minded, but the kind of people who would 1) create such an environment of hate and 2) excuse such dispicable deeds really deserve a full dressing-down. I hate the feeling of helplessness. :mad:

9

There is a large Somali refugee population where I live which just horrifies the natives - they’re not white, they’re not Christian, and they dress funny. The comments off the article you link to are something I see in my local paper every time an article references a refugee. I’ve been writing monthly columns regarding refugees for the paper for about a year now and the hate email I get is just stunning in its ignorance. That attitude makes me want to bang heads into walls. :mad:

10

olivesmarch4th: I thought of putting this in the Pit but then I realized that I was more upset than angry. But you’re right about the feeling of helplessness. I don’t know what, if anything, I could do. I have a bad feeling that this is just the beginning. The tension around town is unreal, and it’s only a matter of time until it gets released.

Actually a lot of the replies here are enlightening to me. I’m aware of the immigration issues in the country, but have been under the assumption that our area is one of those “hick” places that hasn’t caught up with the rest of the country (as far as acceptance of minorities). I didn’t realize that racism was still so rampant. That sounds very ignorant, I know, but is not intended to offend. Other areas just seem so more accepting, perhaps because I’m on the outside looking in (?)

11

What about a letter to your hometown newspaper? Speak up for peace. Say some of the things you have said here; they are very moving. I’m sure you are not the only one feeling this way. I hurt for you too.

12

I’m not surprised by the comments. Saddened, and disgusted. But not surprised. There are too many people whom I have heard espouse two (or more) tiered justice systems: One for us (usually WASP Americans, but not always.); and one for the rest of them.

I just wish that more people could recognize the importance of the rule of law.

13

You know, I came from a pretty provincial hometown in Pennsylvania myself. And I’m pretty horrified with this crime.

However, the posters here are answering the attitudes in Shenandoah with ones equally tending toward black and white thinking - when we all know the truth is somewhere in between. And maybe it would serve us all better if we were to engage those grays here.

The post above mine was particularly ironic - pleading for respect for the law when the man killed was here illegally. Rich. Not that that earned him a beating death, or even a beating, but failing to recognize this as a factor isn’t smart.

14

“You’re not supposed to be here so it’s ok to kill you” is an ok defense in regards to murder? That’s not really what you’re trying to say, is it?

15

How on earth could you get that from my post?

16

I understand that he was breaking the law by simply being here. And yes, it was a factor in his death, in the sense that it added fuel to the hate-filled beating. However, I don’t think that his immigrant status is relevant to the matter at hand, which is the brutal, ignorant, unjustified murder of a man that had just as much right to live as anybody, regardless of status, race, etc.

There’s a candle light vigil set for tonite that I’m going to try to attend, along with a press conference from a few national organizations.

17

That’s true. However, you don’t say that in your OP - you say his biggest crime was being Mexican. That was hardly true - as that’s not a crime. His only crime seems to be breaking our immigration laws - but you gloss right over that in your OP and leave it to us to read it in the cites, which do take pains to mention it.

I’m not terribly anti-immigrant - I see it as a problem that ought to be fixed from the employer and government side, and ultimately by repair of the Mexican economy and social structure. In the meantime, though, lots of Mexicans with few job skills are going to be moving into places like Shenandoah, and competing for jobs with people with skills demonstrated in the comments section of that paper.

If you don’t think that will cause some kind of conflict, you’re fooling yourself.

And I don’t want to hear this bullshit about jobs Americans won’t do, either, because I’ve done a lot of them. I’ve worked construction, fast food, cleaned office buildings - anything to earn a buck, when my family was a lot poorer.

What Americans won’t do willingly is work those jobs with no Social Security benefits, workers comp, reasonable protection from job hazards, and the like. Illegal workers will, and therefore are a boon for employers who want to do jobs cheap or dangerous jobs (asbestos removal, for instance).

One-third of young people in this very white town live below the poverty line - and the standard line is that poverty breeds resentment. Why doesn’t it stand to reason that they might resent Mexicans moving in? After all, those Mexicans aren’t coming in to take professorships at the local college or doctors jobs at the hospital, for the most part. Illegal Mexicans are coming in to work as laborers - the only jobs some of these kids are qualified to get, and ones that are plenty scarce in an area with a soft economy to begin with.

None of this excuses anything - but maybe if we understand it better we can help the situation more. Many of the posts above were as much in denial as the poor deluded people blaming Mexicans for this problem.

18

There is nothing in the article to indicate the murderers knew the immigration status of the victim; for all they knew the dead guy could have been born in Texas. This man’s biggest crime was being illegal, yes, but he wasn’t killed for his immigration status - he was killed for his ethnicity.

19

Mr. Moto nails it!

20

This is what I meant in the OP. The boys had no way of knowing he was illegal. They targeted him because he was Mexican.