Thread: Rape Spurs Anti-Hispanic Backlash in Ohio

HAMILTON, Ohio - 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.

ADVERTISEMENT

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."

___

On the Net:

Hamilton: http://www.hamilton-city.org/
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050716/ap_ ... al_tension

The people are tired of the illegals. This is only the begining.

Well said, Charles. Only the beginning.

How many weeks have we been trying to tell our politicians that THIS WILL NOT FLY HERE?

Did they listen? Not yet.

Will they ever? We'll see.

AMERICANS will not tolerate this situation. Wake Up Politicians, Wake Up!!

The American People will not allow this to continue. You need to start doing your jobs before this situation gets any worse. You have created a powder key ready to ignite by violating our laws, abandoning your duties, breaching your trust with the American People....all to foster a huge illegal immigrant population that exists here in direct violation of our US Immigration Laws. What made you think Americans would allow this?

You all are INSANE and CLUELESS IN DC. You don't know the American People at all.

Originally Posted by Judy

What made you think Americans would allow this?

Answer: the fact that they have allowed it for decades.

Jose: "the fact that they have allowed it for decades"

Oh no, Jose. Americans have not allowed it for decades. Not until this Administration did the numbers become alarming; Not until this Administration did the Government lay down on its Border Security; Not until this Administration did the Department of Labor, for example, become an advocate of illegals instead of Americans; Not until this Administration did the US Government negotiate US Immigration Law with the nations violating those laws; Not until this Administration did the problem become so great that AMERICANS had to step in and get matters back on track.

Whoever thought as you did that, because Americans have overlooked it assuming the government was doing something about it, that Americans would allow it to continue at an accelerated pace.....made a huge mistake. When the aliens started showing up in non-border states....that's when the plan was doomed to fail. Border states have sadly been so intiminated; so surrounded; so over-whelmed; so over-run that they have been heretofore....helpless.

Now they aren't. Now all Americans are united to stop this MADNESS.

Afterall, its our country and we decide what happens here.

And we have allowed you for a few weeks now Jose.

Are you ready? Jose? Do you have any idea what I could do?

W

Put a sock in it, Jose. If you are referring to raping American women when you saying "we've been allowing it for decades," you are playing with fire.

Has anyone noticed that when an event such as the rape of a 9 year old child occurs...a small backlash from the community occurs...then it the views of the LATINOS that are printed in the papers????

What about the views and feelings of the parents of that child?

This media slant is nauseating.

Believe me...that was a very small backlash in that community compared to what is on the way. Those papers dare not print what Americans are thinking these days. That's where the real NEWS is, dumb butt MSM.

RR

"dumb butt MSM"

RIGHT ON!!

The American Public is completely fed up with this; they are appalled by the things that are going on; there is a fire burning, RoadRunner, the Tiger is awake....taking notes....and a roar coming so loud and strong that it will shake the halls of DC!!