She's talking about you, TAquinas. You said that, did you not?
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."
there are at least 11 million illegals....W's administration admits this.
i suspect twice that.
when Reagan gave amnesty...the turnout was double the estimate.
Time to pick the KKK and deport them along with the illegals.
i forgot....everything on FR must be qualified
"hispanic" is not a race nor is it homogenous culturally
what we are really talking about are meztizo Mexicanos, Guatemaltecos, and Salvadorenos for the most part
i hope it's red
< Is there any other hairstyle to wear in the South in summer? IT'S HOT DOWN HERE.
what else goes with delmonicos? (purchased for $5/lb in the "sell by today" bin this morning--LOL).
Now, sentiments like that seem to go unchallenged except by literally a handful of FReepers,
Maybe a lot more people are starting to say what they are thinking(?) I couldn't care less what color someone's skin is and live in a very mixed community. But I do know that more and more people I talk to are just plain tired of all the PC nonsense, particularly regarding our schools.
As a country I think we are very accepting of people - far, far more so than what I have personally experienced in other countries. But other countries have RULES - in fact, a U.S. citizen cannot get a job in most other countries - yet we are expected to just give everything to anyone who somehow arrives here. I think that is what is so upsetting and is causing many to lose their objectivity.
since I've gotten into middle-middle aged ...almost 50.
i wear the shortcut Colonel David Hackworth style greyhair
i used to have quite long hair 8 years ago but gave it up
it sure rains a lot here...lately
my wife, who has long hair wears it up mostly....highlighted of course..lol
She's talking about you, TAquinas. You said that, did you not?
who are not in the primary invasion zone.
Yes, it makes a huge difference when theory is replaced with personal experience.
I'm having camarones in a bit myself with remoulade sauce and salad and french bread
delmonicos?
the ubiquitos baked spud or twice baked stuffed....salad...fresh asparagas with bernaise or hollandaise...a bread...and wine (red...white wine is not really wine)
i'm so old school....that sounds like a 60s cookbook
I wish I knew an answer, but I don't. It does seem though, that if there is ever another civil war in this country it will have in large part a racial dimension to it.
After the lawyers, of course!
there's PC nonsense, and then on the other extreme there's knuckle-dragging stupidity. can't we just be in between? (answering my own rhetorical question here) I shared with a FRiend recently the sentiment that people will usually take the easiest route, and it's easiest to categorize people into "neat little boxed-in categories". That's why all canned milkshake, fat-free, carb-free, eat tuna all day, wheat-free, vegetarian, atkins, you-name-it diet plans work. People don't want to think hard enough to realize that bacon grease isn't ALWAYS bad and that celerely isn't ALWAYS good (eating too much will make you bloat).
Mr. HR sometimes makes me shrimp w/ remoulade. YUMMY and perfect for summer. (why do i always seem to help hijack even the most serious thread with food)
Trouble is, though, that when a nine year old girl gets raped, thought ain't much value. You're talking emotion and gut response.
This is a "human nature" issue, not a white-American, brown-American, purple-American thing.
"Racism" means hate the white man and nothing more and it is just an excuse to exercise in moral superiority against those with little voice or power. Ever notice how your vitriol only pours out to those who are at the lowest of our society and never those with privelege or power. Yet I'm told "racism" is about holding people back and excluding them from enjoying the riches of our society (witness that fat stooge Oprah) and I cannot see how the poor and the ignorant whites by your account accomplish this grand conspiracy. In conclusion I think that fools who shout "racism" are little but evil little freaks themselves doing the bidding of the priveleged of our society.
I like pizza.
You're unfortunately right about human nature. During the French Occupation of Mexico, some French crossed over the river to my great great great grandparents place and raped my great great great grandmother. Her sons killed the offending French and then would go out weekly into Mexico to "hunt French".
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