A Growing Nationwide Message of Hate Leads to Murder in a Small Town : A Contempo Special Report

by Tony Magaña

The Late Luis Ramirez, father of two Source MALDEF

In the classic movie “A Gentleman’s Agreement” the greatest harm society does to foster bigotry was revealed to be passivity to its display. The excuse of “ I am not a bigot!” or “What can I do?” is not enough when society and even more importantly we as individual members of society passively accept bigotry in even its mildest forms without protest. This passivity is the initial nourishment which allows the seeds of hate to put down their first roots.

Although free speech is essential to a free society it is also important that society understand that the effect of that speech depends not solely on the speaker but how society reacts to it. Prejudice can begin as a small stream barely affecting its surroundings but left unchecked it can be like a river that cuts a deep gorge in a valley.

Today in eastern Pennsylvania a deep gorge has been cut into the fabric of society with the most recent senseless murder of a Mexican immigrant by a group of teenagers. It would be all to easy to explain it as freak occurrence but further analysis reveals it is in fact the outcome of a progressive campaign of hate against Latinos in American society.

Over the past ten years there has been increasing hateful rhetoric targeting the Hispanic population which has correlated with an increasing rate of hate crimes against Hispanics.

The Anti-Defamation League reported in 2006 that racist calls on public airways and web sites calling for “Open Season” to kill Hispanics were becoming common in many parts of the country. The FBI which has tracked hate crimes against groups reports that there was the fastest growing increase of hate crimes ever against any group against Hispanics between 2003 and 2006 (the last year for which data are available). Concurrently, elected officials in Federal government and state government were finding attacks on Hispanics as scapegoats as convenient means to garner campaign support. In 2006 at the suggestion of the ADL, members of Hispanic organizations and the ADL requested that elected officials avoid such behavior and take preventative steps to stop this trend.

At least 10 to 12% of documented hate crimes involve the schools which shape young minds. On April 15, 2005 the student newspaper of Oregon City High School published a cartoon called “Let’s Git Us Some Mexicans”. Showing men with T-Shirts labeled Minutemen and guns, the cartoon laments that women and children are only worth two points. What is even more interesting is the fact the cartoon was approved by a teacher for publication. When members of the local community complained to the administration they were told it was not a significant event.

Source:La Voz de Atzlan

The INTERNET is now filled with hate video games that portray grotesque behavior towards minorities. One of the most popular games is called “Border Patrol” which is alleged to have been made under the direction of the avowed Neo-Nazi Tom Metzger. The object of this game is to shoot as many Mexicans crossing a river to get to a welfare office as possible. Extra points are given for shooting “Breeders” which represent pregnant women. This game has been copied on hundreds of web sites and usually has a high rating. There are often tournaments of this game held online. Many of the sites have a comment section with hundreds of bigoted remarks. It is a reasonable speculation that thousands of Americans are playing this game.

Source:ADL

In 2005 Mayor Lou Barletta of Hazelton, Pennsylvania and other community leaders decided on a whim that Hispanics were draining community resources, causing a crime wave, and ruining the local quality of life. His city is adjacent to Shenandoah were the recent murder occurred.

Barletta at an Anti-Immigration Rally

It was Mayor Barletta’s intent to remove all illegal Hispanics from his city of Hazelton although some local critics who know him said it was his real intent to remove all Hispanics. Mayor Barletta ordered police to patrol the streets looking for Hispanics and asked local townsfolk to actively participate in rooting them out. The law provided heavy penalties for any business that employed or offered services to any one about which there might be a possible suspicion about being an illegal alien.

Local employers had not reported any problems with illegal aliens and in fact reported that the arrival of Hispanics had been needed due to shortages in the landscaping, agriculture, and construction jobs. The local Chamber of Commerce reported that rather than being a burden on the community, the recent introduction of Hispanic shops had brought about a “revitalization” of the downtown area. After the implementation of Mayor Barletta’s local ordinances Hispanic businesses were severely affected causing many to leave the city. Ultimately, Federal courts ruled against Mayor Barletta but he remained unrepentant. Evidence presented at the trial disproved all his claims as bogus and showed that Hispanics in the community not only had a positive economic effect but also had a crime rate well below the rest of the population.

Hate on Cable Television:Source:Media Matters