Nearly half of robbery victims in Durham are Hispanic

Durham Herald-Sun ^ | Jan 7, 2007 : 11:23 pm ET | DAN E. WAY

[nctexan]

DURHAM -- The angry punch to his face didn't have a lasting effect on Eliseo Hernandez.

The lumps caused by fierce kicks to his body have long since disappeared.

But the terror of having three guns thrust against his body as he was beaten, threatened with death and robbed on Thanksgiving Day spawned lingering emotional trauma.

Hernandez's tale of terror is anything but unique in Durham. For a variety of reasons, many say, Hispanics are a lucrative, vulnerable and growing target for armed robbers.

The Hispanics also say most of the robbers are black. Of 17 Hispanics asked, all said they were either a robbery victim or knew one -- and that the assailants in every case were black.

An assistant Durham County district attorney supports their assertion, saying armed robbery of Hispanics here is chiefly a black-on-Hispanic crime.

Sleepless nights and a gnawing fear of again facing death at the point of a gun barrel are the mental barbs hooked into Hernandez's psyche, he said.

Retelling his experience is obviously painful -- his head hung low, mostly avoiding eye contact, his voice is an odd mixture of anger and shame.

But the immigrant from Guanajuato, Mexico, believes his life-threatening experience is little more than a statistic to police.

And in Durham, such statistics illustrate grave vulnerability -- nearly half of all robbery victims are Hispanic, although Hispanics represent only about 9 percent of the city's population, according to the 2000 census.

Robberies increased 58 percent during the first nine months of 2006 when compared with the same period in 2005, according to Deputy Police Chief Ron Hodge. Most involved stick-ups, and most of the victims were Hispanic, he said.

In July, August and September 2006, the most recent period for which statistics are available, 46 percent of all Durham robbery victims were Hispanic, police spokeswoman Kammie Michael has said.

"It's probably more like 90 percent," Hernandez said. (snip)

He and a Hispanic friend who also was beaten and robbed that night did call the police, but Hernandez said that was futile.

"Police don't do anything," he said.

Instead of posting more patrols in high-crime neighborhoods, police told him it was his fault for carrying so much money, and advised him to look out his windows to be vigilant of suspicious activity, he said.

[Riverman94610]

OK,they don't like each other as a GROUP.I do agree with you there.
Yet on an individual level there are many close black-Latino friendships and even marriages.I see that all the time.In fact,in October I am going to my black friend's wedding to a Mexican-American woman.None of her friends or his friends of the same ethnic group have any problem with it.
Remember,I am from the Bay Area of California.What goes on here isn't necessarily the state of affairs for flyover country.

[Czar]

Your link requires registration with the LA Slimes. I cannot bring myself to do anything that smacks of cooperation with that left wing fish wrap. Thanks for the ping, though.

[Mr J]

Cue the Mexican gangs, acting in so-called self-defence.

[B4Ranch]

Check your email for a copy of the article

[Czar]

Got it--thanks.

[Old Professer]

"The Hispanics also say most of the robbers are black. Of 17 Hispanics asked, all said they were either a robbery victim or knew one -- and that the assailants in every case were black."

They should stay out of black neighborhoods.

[Old Professer]

Cover charge.