Hate Crimes Against Latinos Rise Dramatically Over Year
“Shame. You are in the U.S. Teach English, not foreign tongues.”
Those are the exact words written in a letter last month to Luciano Ramirez, owner of Latino Books Y Mas, located on S. Palm Canyon Drive in Palm Springs.
The anonymous sender even addressed Ramirez’s bookstore as “Wetback Books.”
“We found that very offensive,” Ramirez said, “To label us like that. Those are fighting words.”
Ramirez reported the incident to the police who categorized it as a hate crime.
Incidentally, according to a new report from the California Department of Justice, hate crimes against Latinos in 2010 skyrocketed by nearly 50 percent, when compared to 2009.
Read: 2010 California Hate Crime Report
“I believe that’s true. I think there is an anti-immigrant situation,” Ramirez said. “Everything you read … is very anti-immigrant, anti-Latino.”
The same DOJ report said hate crimes in general jumped, especially in the Coachella Valley. In 2009, Indio had zero reported hate crimes. In 2010, Indio had three reported hate crimes.
In La Quinta, the number of hate crimes doubled, from three to six.
In Palm Springs, the number of hate crimes quadrupled, from four to sixteen.
Latino Books Y Mas was victimized before. In 2006, two men walked into the bookstore’s old location on Tahquitz Way and verbally harassed Ramirez’s wife, calling her a “dirty Mexican.”
Ramirez said the two men were Palm Springs residents.
The Palm Springs Human Rights Commission offers some advice to potential hate crime victims:
– Protect yourself by diffusing the situation. Don’t respond to people taunting you. – Call 911 and file a police report. – Take note of the suspect’s physical features. – Write down everything that happened. – Be proactive. If you witness a hate crime, tell the victim you’re willing to help and be a witness.
Ramirez said discrimination against Latinos has always existed. It just was more subtle then, he said. But, he believes most Latinos won’t report hate crimes out of fear or pride.
