Anti-Latino Feelings Rise in PA. Town

A young undocumented worker, escorting a 15 year old woman, was accosted by four white youths in Shenandoah, PA. The youths were under the influence of alcohol and words soon led to blows and kicks. Luis Ramirez died a few days later. The youths were arrested and charged. One pleaded guilty to federal civil rights violation and testify at the trial of two others. Those two charged as adults were let free by an all-white jury; a third is still to be tried as a minor. The incident and the acquittal created a national stir and has civil rights and immigration advocates calling for federal trials and stronger hate-crime legislation from Congress.In Shenandoah the community seems divided and Latinos complain of a atmosphere of racism. Taunting and fights have irrupted at the local high school. Shouts and slurs from passing cars have greeted Latino pedestrians. There has been some vandalism against Latino businesses. Latinos avoid some neighborhoods. Community leaders seem at a loss on how to restore calm, with whites resistant to change and getting ugly and Latinos fearful. (See New York Times article.)