Spate of Assaults Against Mexicans Rocks Staten Island Neighborhood

• alexa kim, I get where you are coming from. If I'm with mixed friends, i.e. Spanish and English speakers then I only speak english. However, if I'm in a public place with only spanish speaking friends we will speak spanish, even if there are English speaking people around (i.e. subway or bus) . I know it may bother some people but frankly, this is America, it is expected that people from all over the world will be here. As a side note, I get the feeling that you feel inferior about being from hispanic ancestry and are trying too hard to sound very American. Too bad, it is the most wonderful thing to be part of two cultures. I love the American culture, but I would not be complete without my Latino/Mexican side. To able to dance cumbia, merengue, bachata, ballenato, banda on one night and then to enjoy everything that America has to offer (its bars, sitcoms, movies, music, people) on another night is the most wonderful thing in the world. Felipe

• mcv said: Calm down, everyone. You are all equally racist Thank you! I love you for this. Less all remember that we have all been guilty of racism at one time or another. In all races there are good people and bad people. Lets not forget about the good people just because some bad people gives them a bad name.

• No, Alexa, I get it, I just think it's naive of you to think your value system universally applies to everyone else, and even moreso if you take it upon yourself to insist they should follow it just because grandma told YOU to. Good for you and your grandma, but that's as far as it goes. Don't impose your values on other people. They can follow the law and the bible or whatever moral code they want to as long as they don't cause harm to other people, but neither mentions only speaking English so as not to offend any overly sensitive people who happen to be eavesdropping. It's a nice thought, but it's rididulous to see it as absolutely universal.

• These punks doing this are not necessarily racists, they are common criminals stealing their victims wallets etc. One sad side effect of the illegal immigration situation is that they become a natural target for preditors like this. Now these individuals mentioned above may all be legal "Hispanic immigrants" but these punks have probably done this to many illegals who don't/can't report the crime for fear of being sent home.

• Well said A'Grandma.

• @ JOJO, I don't "follow" anything any speaker says. I follow my heart. Not to mention I grew up in a different time. I understand that "times" have changed. But as far as i see, they changed for the bad and not the good. I am not, and have never been a racist, but i do make comments on the idiots out there that chooses to invoke their thoughts and actions on others. I have been around a while. And i have seen things you may have never saw. I experienced segration in schools. Paddlings we got if we misbehaved in school. The riots over busings. The riots over the Vietnam war. The murders of both Kennedy's and MLK. The murders by Manson. The building of the trade towers and the bringing down of them. The shootings of Goldwater and Regan. The end of the Berlin Wall. ect. Read up on the past 50 yrs in the USA. I have been here. How would you like to be in school and have Air Raid drills where you had to get under your desks? So, i make my own thoughts and feelings known. I have experienced more in my 50 yrs then you may never experienced unless you are of the same generation. And believe me, it isn't just the Whites, Blacks, Cubans, Mexicans, Indians, Italians ect. it's every nationality that is within the USA borders. For every person within a nationality there is always someone who think they are better then anyone else. someone who will cause sometype of damages (death or otherwise) and then blame it on others. It's called a "bad apple within the bushel" and when no one takes responisbility for their own actions, they are to blame. Not someone else. As long as we have somekind of open door policy in America, we will have bad elements. When we have iilegals coming here, most are actually looking for a better life. But that is a low percentage. The others are here to "make their way" in drug money, human trafficing, murders ect. So maybe, before you make a statement about me, who you do not know, then maybe research the past 50 yrs. See what i have seen with my own eyes. See what i have felt with my own heart. "walk in my shoes" Then maybe you wouldn't be so quick to dismiss why i can relate to how it was as a child compared to how it is with my grandchildrens lifes. I don't see us "going up". We (the nation) is being imploded by different types of people who have no regards to other living beings.

• J, let it go already. Jeebus, I told you about why my Abuela raised me with the values that she did and you keep acting like it does not compute. I get it. It does not compute with you. I suspect it is because you are very, very young and incapable of appreciating the life lessons of a wise woman who understood the why of the what she taught. For you to fail to appreciate the value of her wisdom says all there is to know about you. And not in a good way. If you don't give a crap, big surprise.

• You're missing the point. Why should a stranger care that it bothers some people to hear them speaking Spanish? Essentially, that's what it sounds like you are applying your rule to. It would be assumed if you were in a group of people you wouldn't speak a foreign language, because you couldn't communicate with the people you're engaging in conversation. So, the other circumstances are obviously the ones covered by your comments. If you're not invited into a conversation, you shouldn't assume they were talking about you just because you can't understand what they say to each other. But seriously, do you think it hurts my feelings for some stranger on the internet to say she doesn't care about me?

• Obviously J, obviously. You don't care about others? Then we don't care abut you, fair enough.

• Seriously, WHO CARES how you would feel, Alexa, if someone was speaking a language you didn't understand within earshot? I think you ought to recognize that your "Golden Rule" is purely subjective. Maybe lots of people share it, but unwritten rules that aren't absolutely universal don't really mean a whole lot to me.

• J, while I appreciate that due to your emotional commitment to this issue it may cause you to interpret what I say in a way that withholds the benefit of the doubt to me, as opposed to extending it to me, I don't believe I said or even implied that persons speaking other languages should be prohibited from ever speaking their native language while living here. The code that inspires the requirement that we not speak "around" our guest is the Golden Rule. It was not a form of ultra-conservative etiquette. It was a simple equation: how would I feel if I were in the shoes of the other person? Would I like it if it were done to me? I do not assume that persons standing near me are automatically nosy eavesdroppers. If I am in a group of mixed speakers, I don't start speaking Spanish to the Spanish speakers, excluding the non-Spanish speakers, if we are all speaking English. That tends to make the English-only speakers wonder "what are they saying that they don't want us to hear? is it about us?" Because my Abuelita remembered how it made her feel when English-only speakers would speak in front of her, perhaps glance at her, and then start laughing. Maybe they were making a joke about her, maybe not. All she knew for sure was it felt bad. What I find more often is Mexicans who will try to make others accommodate them first. "¿Hablar Espanol?" they automatically ask first. When the hapless American says no, the Mexican quickly slides into speaking English, with varying degrees of accent. To the bewilderment of the American standing in her own country. As a result, I feel so bad for the English-only speakers, that I reassure them that they are no different than Mexicans in Mexico. Mexicans in Mexico would find it bizarre to be accused of raaaacism for speaking only Spanish. What you aren't suitably specific about, J, in your comments is the real issue: illegal immigration. Not immigration in general but <i>illegal</i> immigration. Include that qualifier, instead of stubbornly leaving it off, and I'll believe you aren't constantly accusing everyone of being raaaacists while you believe that you are not.

• Alexa, the problem was that you didn't qualify that when you made the original statements, in the interest of finding ammunition to attack me for. If you did want to imply you weren't judging people for speaking Spanish in private, it wasn't clear unil you made additional qualifiers. You just made broad generalizations about it. That's what I take issue with. It implied you don't want to hear ANYONE speaking Spanish here, EVER. I think there are indeed plenty of people that share that view, and I find it a very dangerous perspective to hold in a democracy made up of the descendents of immigrants. Be emotionally invested, but be precise and fair at the same time. You suggesting hispanic immigrants who choose to speak Spanish whenever they want implies illiteracy in English is damaging to the public opinion of hispanics in general, I feel. That's a personal choice of your grandmother. As a matter of etiquette, or whatever, that's her and your judgment call to make for yourselves only. It doesn't insist to me as some ironclad rule that someone shouldn't speak Spanish in front of nosy people who shouldn't be eavesdropping anyway, know what I mean? Why should they care that they don't understand someone's conversation unless it is directed at them? I think what you won't find very often is someone trying to speak to an English speaker in Spanish. That would make no sense if they expected to be understood and get anywhere in a conversation, and that's why I think at the very least, people ought to leave that issue alone entirely. Too many assumptions are made the minute someone starts complaining about it.

• Well, if J says it, then it must true, instead? No, J, you are emotionally invested in your point of view on this subject, as am I. What language a person chooses to speak in private, amoung like speakers, is entirely outside of my criticism, and you know it. My grandparents are enormously proud of me J. My Abuelita in particular was very much so. She and I spoke in her native language, Spanish, all the time. She understood that I am an American. She was a Mexican. She never expected me to be loyal to her country. She raised me to love my country. She also raised me to never speak Spanish in front of those who clearly did not understand it, or vice versa. But thanks for wondering.

• Well, if Alexa Kim says it, then it all MUST be true, right? Notice the difference between being objective and critical of someone's comments and being obnoxious, overly condescending and presumptuous when debating someone. For example, presuming that choosing to speak Spanish whenever the hell one feels like it means you are illiterate in English. Offensive and condescending to tell someone how to privately live their day-to-day life, whether they be illegal or not - since you would have no way of knowing just by overhearing Spanish being spoken. Nice stereotypes, Alexa. Your grandparents must be so proud.

• And for further reading: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/080810dnmetbabies.2be9a7e.html

• &#64;LaceButterfly, first, welcome. You'll quickly notice that J has a habit of stubbornly refusing to add the word "illegal" to his mischaracterization of those who are fighting for our government to take the laws of our land seriously. He wants to insist that we must, simply must, all be raaaaacists -- but never him, oh no, he is pure of heart and soul and never hates others-unless of course you want to have your laws enforced in which case he hates you- -- and thus we should just leave. Even if you're a natural born American. You must leave for you are a raaaaacist. But others who are not born here, they must stay. Because they are a different color from you (or so he thinks) and that is a color he prefers. As long as their color is not white, he prefers them to you. Which of course means he's a racist. Of course, if too many immigrants, legal or illegal, infuse another country and they never learn to speak the language of the land, then slowly they start making it more and more difficult to just conduct business with the native Americans. Or how dangerous it is because they can't follow emergency workers' orders or read street signs. Never mind how racist and rude it is to never learn the language of the country that benefits them. Or how simply rude it is to speak another language in front of a native American. Can you imagine if the shoe were on the other foot? If an "ugly American" were to make the same arguments for himself in the land of Mexico? Oh, but there are no "ugly Mexicans" the most numerous of illegal immigrants. In fact, ICE has a term for all the other immigrants: OTM. Other Than Mexican. It has nothing to do with anything but how many of them are here without invitation, against the law.

• LaceButterfly, be as fed up as you want, the question is, what are you going to do about it? You'll vote, I'll vote, and may the best man win. Our country isn't going to kick out invaluably cheap labor entirely, it never will. It never will overturn the century old precedent for how we apply the 14th Ammendment, no matter how you vote. I'll bet my life on both those statements. So, while I can recognize a need for reform, at the same time, I'm "thumbing my nose" at you for just being a jerk about things like someone's personal choice to speak Spanish to their peers, or the suggestion that they are "using our country as toilet paper, which I think, in addition to not making a lot of sense as a metaphor, is nonsense. Immigration problems isn't 100% about latin americans, that's where the propaganda comes in. People like you try to paint them all in a negative light and then attempt to qualify it saying, the LEGAL ones are OK, but god forbid any of THEM speak Spanish, right? And, I still don't see jw defending a made-up statistic.

• 'Anti immigrant propaganda'? That's an ignorant thing to say considering the problem our country is having right now with so many immigrants basically snubbing their noses at us and using our country as toilet paper. Law abiding citizens who come here LEGALLY and pay taxes and speak the language are not the problem...it's the others who are breaking the law and trying to sap the country dry. Yes, in summation, they need to be deported and go home. Nothing racist or 'unfair' about that in the least. We need to protect our country and our citizens. The bleeding heart liberals can give their tax money, jobs and etc to the illegal immigrants if they are so concerned for them. I've had enough of it.

• Yeah, 20%? Did you just pull that number out of your ass, as usual for anti-immigrant propaganda?

• To beat them or rob them is wrong. 20% of Mexico's population is living in the US ILLEGALLY. They need to go home.

• Did anyone catch the news of...I think it was 2 black guys getting something like 37 years this week for the beating homicide of a legal Ecuadorean immigrant? Shit is out of control. People are getting targeted for hate crimes even when they have a right to be here! You'd think 500 years of abuse would have taught people a bit more empathy/tolerance. Then you have white kids like this potentially getting half a year in county jail for a similar murder: http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/06/17/pennsylvania.immigrant.beating.death/index.html We really haven't come very far.

• Boy grandma if you were able to grow up in the south without those worries..........oyu must be white. That can also explain your rush limbuagh/Hannity views.

• I think most of the kids doing the assaults are black, BKB.

• Calm down, everyone. You are all equally racist.

• Ridiculous...first it was African Americans...now Mexicans...when is America ever going to get over its issue with brown people??? Why are so many people intimidated by brown folks? The day will come when white people, white supremists and other whitey hate groups, will reap what they have sown all these years....it will be funny to watch the tables be turned on them, the white race is not the supreme race, we are all of the human race, its about time to act like a civilized nation instead of a bunch of ignorant, barbaric idiots.

• Oh, goggle Springfield MA. And check out the murders, drug lords and the Mafia which control Springfield. Not to mention a while ago we had a serial killer there. ALfred Gainner (sorry if spelled wrong). So not all italians like the 70's anymore! there are some nice areas of Springfield. and where i live is in the next town over. So some of the really bad spills over to us as well.

• Old enought to remember how it was to live somewhere (for me in a small rural area in the south) and go to bed with doors unlocked. Windows wide open. sometimes sleeping in the back yard. Not worrying that some criminal was going to sneak in and rape or murder us. Or to kidnap us. No i understand that stuff did happen. But i grew up "free". off to friends house on my bike ect. Now we have the windows (and not all of them) open only in the daytime and only when we are home. The doors are always double locked no matter time of day. If i'm in the backyard, the door is still closed and locked. I feel like a prisoner all the time. But that's the mentality now a days. I never had alarms systems (but we do now) on cars or house. And i live in a really "good and nice" area. But in the past few months, there has been nothing but a lot of home evasions in the daytime in our area. I have had a lot of crap happen directly to me or mine. Or to friends of mine. I sometimes think i am cursed or something. Which i could probable write a book or two on my experiences. But, i don't bring anything up unless a story appears that mirrors a experience. I wish sometimes that we could go back to the 60's or the 70's. But that isn't something that will every happen. Besides, don't know if i can take the "peace and love" crowd again. If i didn't have my children and grandchildren localy, i would probable head to my cabin in maine and live like my dad did for 17 yrs. Alone. No phone, no cable. No computer. Just me and the animals. the 4 footed ones not the ones running around out here. But i can't. and so i fight back. I got involved in our city politics and Recently retired from the school committee. I am very active in our nieghborhood watch. And stuff. Not to make if safe just for me or mine, but for all. I have elderly nieghbors. "the Russians" and a halfway house (mental) on my little street. I'm not a politician. Just a mom who choose to become involved in whatever to better our area for my family. so that we all don't end up prisoners of our own homes.

• sounds like the typical up and coming felons-I agree with Pete-chickenshit little boys looking for easy targets

• I know Pete, just making sure your paying attention :D. It's true though, there seems to be a point in the lives of young men where (if your not steered towards the right path) a violent streak takes over and the "weakest of the herd" is a prime target. Is it racist? Well from what I hear the DA is saying no. (I'm in NYC) But Christine Quinn is on the hunt for racists now so we will see what happens. Have a good weekend Pete Kotz ;) Angry Grandma, you have the craziest life!! And from what you've mentioned you're not that old!! Getting shot on the way to the doctors. Whoa.

• Naah, I wasn't busting your balls, Shannie. If your idea of a score is to rob a Mexican bus boy, you're probably the dumbest guy on Staten Island. I just think it's chickenshit little boys looking for easy targets. And since so many Mexicans are small and slight, it's like picking off the smallest doe in the herd.

• Even though i have been called a racist more then once on here. I will comment. I heard on CNN the other night, is that it is a "group of young men". But that doesn't matter to me. What matters is a unprovoced (sorry spell wrong again) attack is not warranted to anyone. legal or illegal. And they should be charged with hate crimes. We all know that is exactly what they are. In my area of MA: In the 80's we were over loaded with different orientals nationalities. Then in the 90's it was Russians. In the past 5 years we have been overloaded with mexicans. So we have seen our share of immigration in the past 20+ years. And we have had crap like this here. Or regular basis. Just the players change. We even have some stupid punks who thought it was a-ok to distroy Jewish Temples. And Jewish peoples homes and schools. We do have a extreme amount of hate crimes that go on in the surrounding area. There are certain parts of Springfield that i will not go. Not in the daytime with a full car full of people! We have had car jacking, gand inductions (against strangers) murders ect. When my son was a teen, we were driving thru a part of Springfield that i had never had a problem with before, to go to the doctor's office. Well. My car was shot at. and my son recieved a singe mark (now a scar) on his right arm where the bullet entered into the door of my car. I didn't even stop. Drove right to dr's office. Who called the police for me. The bad thing was, we saw who did this. They were not hiding. They were young boys (3 of them) and they were shooting at any car that happened to drive by. So to this day, he won't drive anywhere near there. Bottomline. No state or city is immuned to anyone who thinks other's are different or taking jobs or whatever. if there is hate. It will come out in violence In Maine, the immigration for the past 15 yrs is Somailians. and i can tell you truthfully, that a lot of crap like this is happening up there everyday.

• Yeah I wasn't sure if Pete was bustin' my balls! I'm going to check it out right now..

• Classify?? Lol

• &#64;shannie, you made sense, no worries girl. I posted a link to a hilarious video of the semen slinger's latest attempt at romancing the ladies. LOL!

• Lol, after re-reading my post I see how silly it can be interpreted. Okay okay, its totally unacceptable to succumb to violence in any fashion. To further clarify, I'm sure these kids (the 15yr old and cohorts) thought less of the mexican man they beat up and that can be called a hate crime, but for whatever reasons they assaulted the mexican, having a job wasn't one of them. If there were bands of recently unemployed family men jumping mexicans it would be a whole different animal. Kids who aren't raised right and think its okay to beat up what they classify weak are far different from the hateful feelings of those who have a racist beef with illegal immigrants. Oy! I give up! I'm not making to much sense, is there an update on the semen slinger? :)

• &#64;shannie and @Pete, I also agree that it is more likely that the assailants are young, ignorant and bored, and, let me add, who might try to feebly rationalize their actions as borne out of frustration over illegal immigrants. What they've done is always totally unacceptable, no matter the status of the victim.

• I hate to say it, but, this is our federal government's fault and the fault of Mexico's federal government because they actually have the lack of self-respect to encourage their own citizens to leave in the greatest numbers of all. If these governments had been, for the past now 40 years, taking their respective country's laws seriously, we wouldn't have an illegal immigration problem and we wouldn't be tacitly encouraging people to handle it their way instead. Our own governments are responsible for this state of affairs and until it is rectified, more people will vent their frustrations violently, especially more so in tough economic times. I know that there are a fair number of people who don't like immigrants of any kind. There are far, far more people who do welcome the immigrants who come to America legally, who respect our laws and who strive to join the American society.

• "The assailants are usually not really racist, they are young ignorant, misguided and bored. When the assailants are adults and unemployed with families to support I will then say it has to do with economic and immigration issues." Interesting thesis, fair Shannie. I'd tend to agree with you on that.

• Your grip is valid Oppos3d. Its definitely a legit issue and within hours you will have a few people trying to convince you otherwise. I feel like the violence is nothing new, its just reported more frequently than ever. The assailants are usually not really racist, they are young ignorant, misguided and bored. When the assailants are adults and unemployed with families to support I will then say it has to do with economic and immigration issues.

• In any economic depression people look for scapegoats. Rather than go after the people who really are to blame, like the Bankers and Traders and Speculative Investors, stupid people tend to blame a.) The President b.) Immigrants and c.) People Who Still Have Jobs (and generally in that order). The President has the Secret Service and Military to protect him so he can take the finger being wagged at him, even when the depressed masses stage a coup on his front doorstep (i.e., the Morgan-British Fascist Coup Against FDR in 1933). However Immigrants and those who are still fortunate enough to have jobs still are the ones to get the lion's share of the violence...especially Immigrants who have Jobs (i.e. the Jews of 1930's Depression-era Germany). Basically, in Recession-era America, Facism is on the rise, and Hispanics are unfortunately our version of the Jewish scapegoat. I used to think this kind of stupidity was Xenophobia, pure and simple, but I'm beginning to realize that it is just a rabid form of selfish protectionism and misguided anger. These people should be focusing their anger at Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan, AIG, Lehman Brothers, Countrywide, Ameriquest, Citigroup, Bank of America, Bear Stearsn, Merrill Lynch, British Petroleum and HBOS/Lloyd's Banking Group, and all of the others players in the Shadow Banking System who committed Fraud, Predatory Lending, Sub-Prime Lending, and other Rich Get Richer While the Poor Get Poorer Schemes that caused the current world-wide Economic Crisis to begin with. Don't blame the Hispanics for having jobs still. They work hard and at a competitive wage, generally doing work the same people who are assaulting them would rather not do. They didn't take your job, some multi-Billionaire on Wall Street did. You have every right to be angry and moved to violence, but at least do the right thing and direct it to where it is deserved people! Ride the ferry and go over to Wall Street and beat on the people there instead!

• I read a story a while back regarding a lady from brazil that came to America to go to school. She was given grants from the government that paid for most of her school, grants for housing and food while she attended school. The rest of her schooling was earned through scholarships. When asked what she planned to do after graduation, she said she was moving back to Brazil. Our government paid a substantial amount of dollars for this particular lady to obtain a degree so she could leave when it was obtained instead of putting it to good use. I on the other hand joined the military to help pay for my schooling. After 2 years in the Reserves was discharged Honorably for a pre-existing medical condition. Not only was I told that all funding to my school would stop, but was also ordered to pay 1700 dollars that I was told I didnt earn from my bonus money. I am not racist and could care less about who is what color or what someone else looks like. What I do have a problem with is the fact that our country takes care of other countries citizens better than it does its own. The lady from Brazil gets her college completely paid for along with giving her money to pay expenses, all the while there are kids that are American citizens that work two jobs just to afford tuition. This is not fair. American citizens rights should come before immigrants on any issue. Jobs should go to American citizens before immigrants 100% of the time. How many immigrants are working tax free? How much money could the government gain if those jobs were filled by tax paying citizens? Just some food for thought...

• They have nothing better to do with their time then to beat and rob people. At least the people who they were beating were actually doing someting with their lives, like working. I don't get why people are even racist, we're all pink on the inside. Besides, it's not like the people getting beaten were commiting crimes or anything, they were just here in the U.S. working. I hope this stops immedeately or else things are going to turn into California. Before I moved to CT there were some parts in California that you couldn't go to alone if you were the wrong race. My boyfriend and I had to make sure we stayed together in some areas, he didn't believe me until he got pulled over by immigration 3 times within 2 hours, and then stopped by some kids and almost beaten. He's Puerto Rican, and people always mistook him for being illegal. I think that stupid is becoming contageous. Or maybe it's just since the economy is down and not getting better quick enough people might be seeing immigrants as the problem since they see many immigrants with jobs while they who are americans are without jobs and are having trouble finding jobs. Even though if you have the stupidity to beat and rob someone then most likely you don't have a job just because an immigrant supposedly took it, chances are that you're so uneducated and improper that employers realized that they have options, and much better options then you. Just a thought though.

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