Posted on 07/16/2005 2:26:29 PM PDT by Tumbleweed_Connection
It started with the spray-painted, misspelled "Rapest" on the house of a Hispanic man accused of sexually assaulting a 9-year-old white girl. Then the house went up in flames in a suspected arson. Confrontations, name-calling and threats against Hispanics followed. Men roamed the streets wearing pillowcases with eye holes, and Ku Klux Klansmen in hoods and robes showed up to pass out pamphlets. There were rumors of assaults and beatings.
Now this small Ohio river city's booming Hispanic population is cowed, the streets in their neighborhoods nearly deserted.
Outside the office of the Living Water Ministry, which two months ago drew hundreds of people to its first Cinco de Mayo festival, there is still a smell of charred wood from the June 21 fire that gutted the house next door and caused damage to the outside of the ministry's office.
"Before, the street would be covered with people, people out all over the place," said Sasha Amen, community outreach coordinator for Living Water. "There's a lot of fear now. People are shutting themselves in their homes."
Hamilton has been a hotbed for Hispanic growth in a state that has lagged behind much of the nation in Hispanic population. The number of Hispanics here jumped fivefold in the 1990s, to 1,566, and is now estimated at 4,000 or more in a city of some 61,000.
For the most part, the immigrants had settled in without much controversy in Hamilton, whose mayor in the 1990s was of Cuban descent. But life here was transformed on June 19, when a 9-year-old Caucasian girl was raped, allegedly by a Hispanic man who has apparently fled the city.
"Yes, there is fear," said Ramona Ramirez, who owns a corner deli-supermarket where she says business is off and her bread delivery man is now afraid to come. "They are attacking all the Hispanics, and it is only one person. We don't know what will happen."
Lupe Galvan, a Mexican-born woman who has been here five years, said some neighbors are talking about moving away.
City and community leaders are trying to heal the wounds, beefing up patrols and trying to calm the community, Mayor Don Ryan said Friday. Ryan said authorities are stressing that the rape was "strictly a random act of violence" and not racially motivated.
"We're continuing to be a melting pot in this country," he said. "Assimilating into our culture is tough; I firmly believe that it will take time."
While the anti-Hispanic backlash has stunned many of the immigrants, some say they've felt racial prejudice here before. The Rev. Eustaquio Recalde, a native of Paraguay, says he was often harassed and ridiculed while working a factory job as the lone Hispanic employee.
"I think it's been around," Recalde said. "This was an opportunity for a few people to express it."
Ezra Escudero, executive director of the Ohio Commission on Hispanic/Latino Affairs in Columbus, says Hamilton is not alone in feeling tension in a state where the Hispanic population has doubled to nearly 280,000 since 1990.
"The challenge for the community is whether the tragedy will bring out the best or the worst in people," he said.
Shelly Jarrett Bromberg, an assistant professor of Spanish and Latin American studies at Miami University in Oxford, has helped organize two community forums since the fire. She called the Hamilton unrest an important moment for local Hispanics, churches, police and public officials.
"I think everyone realizes that we need to have a dialogue ... to make the community feel safe and feel that they have a voice," Bromberg said. "I think there are a lot of people who want to make this work out."
Someone on FR actually used the term "beaner"? Intentionally and without sarcasm?
Oh, man, hereabouts that's a good way to get punched in the mouth. Even by us big Irish girls.
I was just thinking that, looking out my window and seeing the neighbor's three little boys with their VERY short summer buzzes.
(Little buzz-cut boys are SO cute, and these three giggle when you rub their heads. But then, they're all on track to be real heartbreakers in about 15 years.)
Post was deleted, but the FReeper's still here.
You two gotta quit it . . . I just ate and you're making me hungry!
Dammit, now I'm gonna have to go twice-bake. Them's GOOD eatin'.
What do you put in a twice-baked? I mix the spud innards with lots of cheese, some milk, butter, garlic and pepper . . . always looking for new mixes!
bacon bits (real ones)
Wow. I mean, DAMN.
Same time "Caucasian" did.
(I keep getting in trouble for checking "Other" and writing in "human.")
I guess the (absolutely justified) hatred directed at Joseph Duncan (the Groene children's kidnapper) on every FR thread so far isn't really hatred, since he's American-born and white.
Mmmmmm, bacon . . .
Remember (back in the day) when everyone used to keep a jar of bacon grease on or near the stove? Mom would drop a ladle of it into the skillet to scramble the eggs with. Solid lard. Man, oh MAN, were those eggs good.
"I would think the ENTIRE community, including the Hispanic members of the community, should have been outraged and angry over the rape of a child."
You mean the same kind of outrage displayed by the American Muslim Community after 9/11? *Insert Deafening Silence Here*
Sorry. In a perfect world it would work that way, but...
Oh, my GOD.
My mouth is literally agape.
I have enough trouble getting my mind around the fact that someone would THINK that . . . but to have the 'nads to POST it . . . the mind boggles.
He's still around, posting mostly on the Holloway threads these days.
I'm just about afraid to go there. I'd probably get suspended for beotch-slapping.
Racism is LAZY. I'd rather get to know a person and find some good reasons to dislike him. ;)
With 200+ posts, I obviously haven't read every single one today, but of the many I have read, none have asked the question of how many of this 'community' in Columbus, are here legally? Certainly the article doesn't broach the subject regarding the traumatized women who joined this 'community' 5 years ago.
Do we know if the perpetrator is a legal American citizen?
If the 'community' is so concerned, assuming there was opportunity, why didn't they turn the perpetrator over to the authorities, before he disappeared?
Furthermore this 'community'(God or the censor only know, what the present proper PC term applys), is often characterized as an especially close knit community; are we to believe no one knows where the perpetrator is presently? Precisely because of the fact that Mexico would never extradite him, why is no one turning him in, for the no-harm-no-foul-PR-points that could be earned? Would the 'community' disapprove, and possibly retaliate in some manner? Or, is it possible, this should tell legal Americans something about this communities respect for laws.
And finally, is there a local chapter of that non-racist, liberty loving organization, MEChA? Have they made known their official opinion of this situation?
ps If you are here criminally, or are giving aid and comfort to those who are, please do move back to where you came from, because in either case you should be prosecuted and permanently banned from the United States. Along with our treasonous President who rationalizes your criminality, thus inviting you to disavow the validity of the United States Constitution.
One last question, does anyone have definitive proof that the President ordered the US Border Patrol to stand down after the Patriot Patrols quit Arizona? I'd really like to see that. Seems to me that would be indisputable proof he is not upholding the Constitution.
Ohio is a cesspool for illegals, what are the citizens to do? The DNC created this damn mess.
Very true. I left SW Ohio for 20 years, moved back to Warren County last year. It's booming, as is any Cincy suburb, but the city is in sad shape. Ohio's GOP has too long relied on the Northeastern part of the state, or the Taft family and it's cronies. That's changing a bit. I'm an enthusiastic Blackwell supporter and hope for some change after Taft is gone.
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