New York Times reporter Sean Hamill filed "Mexican's Death Bares a Town's Ethnic Tension," about a killing in the town of Shenandoah, Pa. Four teenagers on the town's high school football team have been charged in the death of Luis Ramirez, an illegal immigrant, after he suffered a beating July 12. The boys have been charged, among other counts, with "ethnic intimidation." Motive? Hamill had the audacity to suggest an overturned policy from the town of Hazleton, 20 miles away from Shenandoah, was somewhat responsible for the hostile atmosphere that led to the killing.
Mr. Ramirez's 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, Shenandoah's Mexican community pulled out of Heritage Days in 2006.
"They just didn't feel comfortable then," said Flor Gomez, whose family runs a Mexican restaurant in town.
Many people believe the debate fueled by Hazleton's actions helped create the environment that led to Mr. Ramirez's death.
By "many people," read "left-wing pro-illegal immigration groups."
"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."
Hazleton's mayor, Lou Barletta, said he saw no connection to his town's ordinance, which was scrapped after the town lost a court battle.
In other words, an ordinance that wasn't even in effect was responsible for the alleged murderous actions of four teenagers, two years later and twenty miles away.
—Clay Waters is the director of Times Watch, an MRC project tracking the New York Times.
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And with the country sliding
August 5, 2008 - 17:13 ET by Chris NormanAnd with the country sliding far to the left if Obama gets in, I'm sure we will hear about more politically criminal charges like "ethnic intimidation". So far, these kind of political charges are just enhancements to already violent felonies, but once they take root, how long before we hear about prosecutions for purely "political/social attitude crimes? This may all be part of Obama's brave new world, and it's chilling to think about.
McNotObama '08
My hope is that if these
August 5, 2008 - 17:25 ET by jdhawkMy hope is that if these young men who murdered this man are prosecuted to the full extent of the law. What color or nationality this man was should be of no concern. If he was murdered in the 1st degree, the men that did this should be put to death.
Wouldn't it be novel if there was as much press about the murder, thievery and mayhem caused by illegal aliens?
For example, here is how illegal aliens are handle in Los Angles. This is not atypical.
"Some of the most violent
criminals at large today are illegal aliens. Yet in cities where crime from
these lawbreakers is highest, the police cannot use the most obvious tool to
apprehend them: their immigration status. In Los Angeles, for example, dozens of
gang members from a ruthless Salvadoran prison gang have snuck back into town
after having been deported for such crimes as murder, shootings, and drug
trafficking. Police officers know who they are and know that their mere presence
in the country is a felony. Yet should an LAPD officer arrest an illegal
gangbanger for felonious reentry, it is the officer who will be treated as a
criminal by his own department — for violating the LAPD’s rule against enforcing
immigration law."
So, it you arrest an illegal alien for being an illegal alien in many police departments you, a police officer, are the criminal.
What? Haven't heard that from the drive by media? I am shocked I tell you . . . shocked!
I don't believe anything the NY Times writes
August 5, 2008 - 17:43 ET by jefflebowskiThey have ZERO credibility with me. If the NY Times tells me the sun has risen, I will look out the window.
Why not write on the terror that the families of those two little girls in Houston have to live with the rest of their lives? They were raped and strangled by a bunch of illegal Mexican thugs. They even stomped their throats to make sure that they were dead. Jose Medellin, who is scheduled to die tonight, even bragged that both girls were virgins.
I'd like the Times to write about that. Oh, they have...they complained that the international community is mad because Texas is executing this piece of trash. I have nothing but contempt for the NY Times. The sooner it goes out of business the better for the USA.
Jeff Lebowski
www.angrywhitedude.c...
execution
August 6, 2008 - 15:12 ET by tejanodiablowell, he's a goner .. 10:30 last night .. still, even with what he did, and he really did deserve to die, say a prayer for him when you pray for his victims .. he certainly won't be going to the same place ..
never look a gift skunk in the tail ..
Ethnic intimidation
August 5, 2008 - 17:55 ET by ReaverApparently talking about illegal immigration qualifies as ethnic intimidation, at least to the NYT. Which ethnic qroup is really being intimidated?
So, where is the NYT's outrage over drunken illegals...
August 5, 2008 - 17:56 ET by R D Helm...who are mowing down innocent Americans in droves?
Hmmmmmm?
We are not going to save this country by being polite to those who are
working tirelessly (and succeeding right handily) at destroying it.
Ah, the MALDEF is involved.
August 5, 2008 - 20:47 ET by HillbillyKingNow we know who gave Hamill the press release to turn in as his story.
MALDEF is linked with La Raza
I think Mr. Water's left out Anti-American when describing MALDEF as a left-wing pro-illegal immigration group.
Back to Hamill, this guy is a f*ckin idiot;
Investigators said he had gotten into a fight with a group of teenage
boys — most or all of them members of the town’s high school football
team, the Blue Devils — who left him unconscious in a residential
street, foaming at the mouth.
However a couple of paragraphs later;
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.(emphasis mine)
But, what do you expect from a guy who writes for the NYT.
If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; But if you really make them think, they'll hate you.
Don Marquis 1878-1937
wait..
August 5, 2008 - 21:06 ET by candanceSo in their eyes a city council voting to ban the hiring of illegal immigrants is just a baby step toward high school thugs beating a minority?
Is the NYT even trying to be a newspaper anymore?