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After Cops and Teens Arrested in Shenandoah, Pa., a Town Reflects on Racism

Posted December 16, 2009 by Patrick Young, Esq.

The charging yesterday of two teens and four police in connection with a Federal investigation growing out of the killing of immigrant Luis Ramirez last year, local people in Shenadoah, Pa. have begun to process the dramatic turn of events.
After an incident involving immigrants, I always like to go to the newspaper where the hate crime occurred to see how the local people are reacting to it. The charging of two young men in the alledged hate crime death of Luis Ramirez as well as four local police, including three involved in the investigation of the killing, has led to an outpouring in the local Republican Herald newspaper.
One commenter expressed a common feeling that people in Shenandoah should stick by the accused whites, saying “support those you know”.
Many others took the tack that the blame for the killing lay with the victim:
“I also don’t feel that an illegal immigrant should be allowed to stay in this country without attempting to become an American citizen. I don’t know if that would have changed the results of the fight but if he was deported, he might have not been in Shennadoah at the time of the fight.”
Some supported the young men in their effort to ethnically cleanse the town:
“This is ridiculous! Let the teens go. They were found not guilty by their peers. Sorry but the man who died was an illegal alien.. I believe they did the right thing since our government wont.”
Others criticized the fact that a non-white Federal prosecutor is bringing the case:
“okay what happened was a shame,but to charge them with hate crimes which by the way is a white only crime is retarded. the police i can see being charge but then i read the news closes and the assistant attorney general’s name is perez so of course he will push it. my only question is what if ramirez got all his buddies and did a drive by and killed say a group of blacks or white would that be racial of course it would but nobody would ever push it. it is time to let it go and move on and also if you dont like the country then get out stop hiding behind our laws. this is just another example of the idiots we have in washington get the police leave the kids who are already punished out of this”

And many expressed anger that whites are jailed at all:
“it sad to say this is what america is coming too. all this because of an illegal mexican. 5 six maybe 7 or more white legal americans going to jail over an illegale mexican. change this countrys name to mexamerica, riuned your own country and now ours.”
Here is a similar lament, expressed more succinctly:
“All this for a mexican.. This is the United States not Mexico. He shouldn’t have been here anyway… “
Crystal Dillman, the mother of Luis Ramirez’s children, is a white woman who has been a frequent target of abuse. Here is a typical comment: “As far as Dillman is concerned. They should round her up to for harboring an illegal”.
Others targetted local religious communities that have held candle lighting ceremonies in commemoration of Ramirez’s death. Here is one example:
“Being an illegal is still illegal RIGHT ! Next time they have another candle service bring the vans and start shipping them south”
But, nearly half the comments supported the Federal action. Many said that they had moved away from the area because of the racism and corruption endemic to the town. Others said they had been victims of police shakedowns. Still others said that even though they were themselves white, they had been attacked by groups of residents for being from nearby villages or for attending a local Catholic school.
In response to the problem Shenandoah faces now that much of its police force is in jail, one person wrote:
“Shenandoah sounds safer without these police on duty.”
Others commented on the racism they had been raised on and asked residents to stop denying the problem and confront it:
“If those of us who grew up/currently live in the county honestly answer this question: have you heard racism on a regular basis in public places in the county? have you heard racism around your dinner table? Those comments and jokes are not innocuous and what have led to this situation. We have all condoned racism in the county when we tolerate that kind of talk. This is what happens when racism is allowed to fester.”