The number of hate crimes against Latinos in the U.S. rose nearly 40 percent from 2003-2007 when the Latino population only rose by 14 percent according to FBI statistics. With all that is going on in Arizona and with our current administration who is failing to address immigration reform the numbers are only getting worse. You can go on any search engine and type in Hate Crimes Against Latinos and you will get pages of stories from across the country.
I am appalled not only as a Latino but as a human being to see what is going on. There is absolutely nothing to justify committing a hate crime. It is not our job to take justice into our hands and hurt somebody or even kill them because we do not agree with how they got here or why they are here. We have to remember that two wrongs never make a right. They may be here illegally but they are still human and deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. Stand up for what you believe in as I do but don't let hate consume you. Nothing good ever comes out of hate.
Just a non-biased question....
ReplyDeleteWho are the perpetrators of the crimes?
To say that crime against Latinos has seen a disproportionate increase is one thing but it might be telling if the source of the statistic is Latino on Latino instead of what may be hinted at within the authors blog.
It interests me because I deal with "statistics" of this nature every week. And every once in a while something I prepare is questioned and I must defend my work/analysis.
Cheers!
According to Wikipedia; "Hate crimes (also known as bias-motivated crimes) occur when a perpetrator targets a victim because of his or her perceived membership in a certain social group, usually defined by racial group, religion, sexual orientation, disability, class, ethnicity, nationality, age, gender, gender identity, or political affiliation." But the statistics came from the FBI. Their definition varies a little form Wikipedia's and states "In response to mounting national concern over crimes motivated by bias, Congress enacted the Hate Crime Statistics Act of 1990. The law directed the Attorney General to collect data “about crimes that manifest evidence of prejudice based on race, religion, sexual orientation, or ethnicity.” If you go on this website http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius_04/offenses_reported/hate_crime/index.html you will see that 53.8% of all hate crimes in 2004 were Race based. Those numbers and the many stories that are on the internet talking about the assaults on Latinos lead us to believe that the hate crimes were committed by someone of a diffrent race. Did that answer your question?
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