Thread: PA-Immigrant's death splits blue-collar town

RACE IN AMERICA

Immigrant's death splits blue-collar town
White teens accused of targeting Latino
By Antonio Olivo | Chicago Tribune correspondent
August 12, 2008
SHENANDOAH, Pa. — Under an elliptical moon, the sight of an illegal Mexican immigrant alone with a 15-year-old hometown girl seemed to push the beer-fueled high school football players into deadly violence.

"Isn't it a little late for you guys to be out?" one teen reportedly asked Luis Eduardo Ramirez, 25, and the girl as they walked near a park after 11 p.m. one Saturday last month. "Get your Mexican boyfriend out of here!"

Ethnic slurs ricocheted in the night, echoing what many have muttered for years in this crumbling mountainside town that was once the thriving jewel of Pennsylvania's coal country. Then, fists flew, and one teen, an honor student, reportedly delivered a skull-shattering kick to the head, killing Ramirez.

This pocket of blue-collar America, where big-band musicians Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey got their start, is spinning in the ugly vortex of the nation's racially charged war over illegal Immigration. Federal officials have launched an investigation into last month's murder to determine if it is part of a rising trend of anti-Latino hate crimes around the country.



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RACE IN AMERICA
Hate crimes against Latinos on the rise Graphic "We are reaping what we, as a nation, have [sown]," said Mark Potok, spokesman for the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate crimes nationwide.


Feds helping case
With Mexicans the focus of anger over illegal Immigration, reported hate crimes against Latinos increased to 576 in 2006, or 25 percent more than three years before, according to the most recent FBI report on such incidents. Latino activists argue the trend has only gotten worse as the debate rages over Immigration reform. In Illinois, anecdotal evidence suggests hate crimes have risen since 2006, when there were six, according to the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

Though no federal charges have been filed in the Shenandoah case, the Justice Department's civil rights division is aiding local prosecutors, a department spokeswoman said.

The Schuylkill County district attorney has charged Brandon Piekarsky, 16, and Colin Walsh, 17, as adults with murder and "ethnic intimidation," which covers hate crimes. Derrick Donchak, 18, has been charged with aggravated assault and ethnic intimidation. Another 17-year-old faces the same charges in juvenile court. All have pleaded not guilty.

As a preliminary hearing approaches next week, the case has further divided a community of wilting row houses and boarded-up businesses that has grown more tense since Latin American immigrants began arriving during the mid-1990s.

"One has fear of getting caught walking the streets at night, only to get the same as him," said Jorge Perez, owner of a Mexican grocery store. The grocery faces a memorial to the European immigrant miners who helped build the town to 30,000 residents before the coal economy crashed during the late 1950s. Today, about 5,600 people live in Shenandoah.

A 20-minute drive from Hazleton—the site of an earlier controversy over illegal Immigration—Shenandoah has a Latino population that has jumped in the past decade from three families to about 500 people, town officials say.

While older families lost jobs and moved out, the arriving Mexicans, Puerto Ricans and Dominicans landed work picking cherries or pruning pine Christmas trees.

The resentment over deteriorating neighborhoods and new Spanish-speaking neighbors who keep to themselves has fueled local reactions to Ramirez's murder. Some suggest he provoked the fight.


No criminal history
Ramirez, a father of two who held down a factory job and another one picking cherries, had no criminal history, District Atty. James Goodman said. He arrived illegally in 2003, friends said.

His connection to the 15-year-old girl remains unclear.

Though they say Ramirez was hard-working and devoted to his family, friends say he was seeing the girl. Her sister, Crystal Dillman, 24, is the mother of Ramirez's two children, ages 1 and 2. Dillman said she and Ramirez were engaged, and that he assumed the role of an older brother to her sister. The 15-year-old was unavailable.

Roger Laguna, an attorney for Walsh, said the boys had seen Ramirez and the girl together at the high school.

"You see a 15-year-old white girl with a person you believe to be a gangster or a thug: What's wrong with this picture?" said Laguna. "Most of us keep it to ourselves, but you've got 17-year-olds out there being rude and dumb; they broached the topic."

Laguna, seeking to move the case to juvenile court, describes what happened as a street brawl gone awry.

In a town that reveres its Blue Devils football team, the murder case is as much about the teens' future. Piekarsky and Walsh were honor roll students. Donchak was the starting quarterback before graduating last spring. Their families wouldn't comment.

"Those kids don't need to be gone [in prison] for 17, 18 years," said Bob Seigel, 48. Nearby, his teenage daughter smacked her fist to her palm, while others laughed, in mock preparation for what some fear will be ethnic retaliation.

Community leaders worry about such reaction. Two years ago, officials unsuccessfully attempted to pass an ordinance modeled after one in Hazleton that would have punished landlords for renting to illegal immigrants. Now, they are forming an advisory council to help build better relations with Latinos.

"Some families are even afraid to send their kids to school," said Andrew Szczyglak, Shenandoah City Council president, referring to comments during a candlelight vigil for Ramirez last month that drew about 200 people. "That shouldn't be."

Jack Levin, a sociology professor at Boston's Northeastern University who has written books on hate crimes, said he could see it coming.

In a 24-hour news culture, where blogs, talk radio and cable TV provide a steady torrent of negative stereotypes about illegal immigrants, Latinos are primed as potential victims, Levin said.
Friends described Ramirez as the reserved son of an abused mother, sending much of what he earned back to her in Guanajuato, Mexico.

In her apartment, Dillman said Ramirez had assumed the role of father to her eldest daughter, 3, from another relationship.

"He would do anything for these kids," Dillman said. "He'd walk around in ripped-up jeans and an old shirt so they could have nice clothes

Is this story missing details? Was there a gun involved in this ?
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nati ... 4865.story

Is this story missing details? Was there a gun involved in this ?

Ya....there's pieces missing.....and no, no gun or any weapons involved. He died 30 hr's. later, after surgery, from being kicked in the head.

Though they say Ramirez was hard-working and devoted to his family, friends say he was seeing the girl. Her sister, Crystal Dillman, 24, is the mother of Ramirez's two children, ages 1 and 2. Dillman said she and Ramirez were engaged, and that he assumed the role of an older brother to her sister. The 15-year-old was unavailable

I think there was a pic with this article where the fiance was holding a pic of Ramarez with her little sister.......again, maybe it's just me, but I'd be having a talk with "baby sis". Can't say I've ever seen real close actual brother and sister that were that cozy. Not to mention having my "fiance" hanging out all day til late evening with my little sister while I'm at home with 2 kids........being the hard working devoted family man he supposidly was.

Originally Posted by crazybird

Is this story missing details? Was there a gun involved in this ?

Ya....there's pieces missing.....and no, no gun or any weapons involved. He died 30 hr's. later, after surgery, from being kicked in the head.

That's not what killed him, it was from falling and hitting his head on the pavement.

"One has fear of getting caught walking the streets at night, only to get the same as him," said Jorge Perez, owner of a Mexican grocery store.

The non-hispanic families in town are afraid to let their kids even play in the front yard. They fear that the "hispanic community" is going to attack.

No criminal history
Ramirez, a father of two who held down a factory job and another one picking cherries, had no criminal history, District Atty. James Goodman said. He arrived illegally in 2003, friends said.

Actually, Ramirez had a criminal past dating back to 2000, in Schuylkill AND Luzerne Counties. One was for the stabbing assault on another human being in 2004.

Though they say Ramirez was hard-working and devoted to his family, friends say he was seeing the girl. Her sister, Crystal Dillman, 24, is the mother of Ramirez's two children, ages 1 and 2. Dillman said she and Ramirez were engaged, and that he assumed the role of an older brother to her sister. The 15-year-old was unavailable.

The 15-year-old girl's father went to the cops back in the spring to report the statutory rape of his minor daughter in a hotel in Frackville, PA. The cops did nothing.

a candlelight vigil for Ramirez last month that drew about 200 people.

There were about 25-35 Shenandoah residents in attendance. The rest were bused in from larger cities.

Is this story missing details? Was there a gun involved in this ?

Yes, there are a LOT of details missing. YES, there was a gun involved. Supposedly it was a BB gun, but IT WAS recovered from the crime scene.
The preliminary hearing is scheduled for Monday August 18th.

The adoring fiancee, Crystal Dillman, tried to run over her half-sister the first weekend of August, getting herself charged with careless driving.

Yes, there are tons of puzzle pieces missing ...

All the missing pieces will come out during the trial I hope. I shuddered when I read Ramirez was like a father to his fiancee's 3 yr. old girl.

That's not what killed him, it was from falling and hitting his head on the pavement.

I've heard both........I'll be curious to see what the real story is because I'll bet dollars to donuts the supposid "victim" was hardly an innocent player in this fiasco.

A 20-minute drive from Hazleton—the site of an earlier controversy over illegal Immigration—Shenandoah has a Latino population that has jumped in the past decade from three families to about 500 people, town officials say.

OK...IMMIGRATION, YES.but when you see numbers like this in our small towns or communities.IT IS NOT IMMIGRATION!..IT IS AN INVASION!!!

DUH!
Do you really think this would happen as much if the LAWS were actually enforced for immigration?

Jack Levin, a sociology professor at Boston's Northeastern University who has written books on hate crimes, said he could see it coming.

In a 24-hour news culture, where blogs, talk radio and cable TV provide a steady torrent of negative stereotypes about illegal immigrants, Latinos are primed as potential victims, Levin said.

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Town Still Torn Over Immigrant Murder

SHENANDOAH, Penn., Aug. 13, 2008
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(CBS) In the town of Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, parishioners at a local church offered up prayers for peace - a peace that was broken the night of July 12, when Luis Ramirez, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, was beaten to death.

The crime shocked people in this small, Appalachian town, reports CBS News correspondent Seth Doane. A late night street fight punctuated by ethnic slurs ended in Ramirez's death. Four high school students, all on the football team, are the main suspects.

"I never thought there was such underlying hatred or bigotry," the town mayor said.

A group of girls that spoke to CBS News said they were shocked at the accused, "because they are nice boys."

"That's what I really don't understand," said one girl. "When I heard about it I was really surprised. I couldn't believe it was them."

Sixteen-year-old Brandon Piekarski and 17-year-old Collin Walsh were both charged with homicide. The football team's quarterback, 18-year-old Derrick Donchak, faces aggravated assault charges. The fourth teen's case is in juvenile court.

All of them, though, are charged with ethnic intimidation.

About a month after this tragedy, some people aren't allowed to talk and others are still too frightened to. So trying to get a clear picture of what's really happening in Shenandoah isn't easy. And the answer changes, depending on who you ask.

At a farmer's market, one woman emphatically denied noticing tension below the town's surface.

But Crystal Dillman, Ramirez's fiancé and mother of his three children, says she sees racism first hand.

"It's pretty sad when you see the true sides of half of these people around here," she said. "It's not good when you go out and you have your small children and they're saying, 'Take your dirty Mexicans home and give them a bath.' "

Shenandoah has always been a magnet for migrants. Work in coal mines fueled a boom. But when the mines closed, people left and the population dropped to just over 5,500 today.

What has grown is the county's Hispanic population - up 65 percent since 2000 as a new wave of immigrants come in search of jobs. Like "Cesar," who works in construction and said he knew Ramirez.

"After this happened I'm frightened to go out," he said through a translator. "You do go out, but not without watching your back."

White kids told CBS News they were scared too - and angry.

"If that happened to a white person, every church in this god***n f***ing town wouldn't do a god***n thing about it," said one kid while pounding his fist to cheers from a surrounding group. "Just because they're f***ing border-jumpers and came over here."

"I can't say it without sounding racist," said another teenager. "I can't say, you know, the Mexicans came here and now there's problems."

"But is that how you feel?" asked Doane.

"Yeah … Obviously I've been here my whole life and I've never had a problem. Now there's problems," he responded.

The economic struggle here only aggravates any racial one. But even residents who just believe it was just a "terrible accident" say that's no excuse.

"It can't go unpunished," said the woman from the farmer's market. "Because it'll set a precedent that they can do that to the Mexican people."

While the community waits for justice, it holds a second vigil for Luis Ramirez, hoping for a future free of strife.



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White kids told CBS News they were scared too - and angry.

"If that happened to a white person, every church in this god***n f***ing town wouldn't do a god***n thing about it," said one kid while pounding his fist to cheers from a surrounding group. "Just because they're f***ing border-jumpers and came over here."

"I can't say it without sounding racist," said another teenager. "I can't say, you know, the Mexicans came here and now there's problems."

"But is that how you feel?" asked Doane.

"Yeah … Obviously I've been here my whole life and I've never had a problem. Now there's problems," he responded.

Funny how Doane didn't ask the teen why he felt that churches favor the illegals? The kid is right, they do and that in itself is racist.

In addition, Crystal doesn't have a lot of credibility. Probably waiting for a payout. Didn't she also try to run over Ramirez' 15 year old girlfriend, who also happens to be her sister? Twightlight zone time oooo-eeee-oooo-eeee.