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That area has no jobs. You bring in outsiders to an area where people already struggle to make a living and what do you think will happen? Illegals drive down wages to begin with. Or they'll compete for social services. Or some local is barely making ends meet and sees some newcomer living on welfare or possibly dealing drugs. Or he's dealing drugs and now there's competition. Or the new guys get friendly with local girls and fights occur. The coal regions are notorious for having tough guys, irish miners, etc. I don't want to stereotype but human nature is human nature. My dad was from that area and told stories about kids fighting: catholic vs protestant, irish vs. slovak, etc., adults fighting and drinking, prejudice against those who couldn't speak english, you name it.
Not all spanish are illegals. Many of these new families are from NYC or NJ and the father lives and works there and visits on weekends. Housing is ridiculously cheap in the coal regions so they buy a house or rent and have the family live there. There's nothing wrong with that, but the locals may not like hearing spanish or having outsiders move in.
Probably 90% of the trouble is economic. I think justice failed with those guys getting off as easy as they did. But murders happen and racial hate is rarely the reason. Two drunk white guys beat another white guy to death on a college campus. A young white man gets stabbed to death at a party by a gate crasher who is also white. Recently in the same area some white guys killed another white guy over car vandalism and a love triangle. Murder is murder. Hate is hate. Dead is dead. And the incidence of race based crime is extremely low.
In the old days women that were suspected to be witches were killed, would it be ok to keep that practice...?????
In the old days women that were suspected to be witches were killed, would it be ok to keep that practice...?????
The "there's nothing wrong with that" refers to people moving to this area because housing is cheap.
I rarely if ever agree with Icy Tea but I have to agree with everything s/he said. S/he didn't defend or excuse anything, s/he explained. And got it spot on.
Location: The Land Mass Between NOLA and Mobile, AL
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That area has no jobs. You bring in outsiders to an area where people already struggle to make a living and what do you think will happen? Illegals drive down wages to begin with. Or they'll compete for social services. Or some local is barely making ends meet and sees some newcomer living on welfare or possibly dealing drugs. Or he's dealing drugs and now there's competition. Or the new guys get friendly with local girls and fights occur. The coal regions are notorious for having tough guys, irish miners, etc. I don't want to stereotype but human nature is human nature. My dad was from that area and told stories about kids fighting: catholic vs protestant, irish vs. slovak, etc., adults fighting and drinking, prejudice against those who couldn't speak english, you name it.
Not all spanish are illegals. Many of these new families are from NYC or NJ and the father lives and works there and visits on weekends. Housing is ridiculously cheap in the coal regions so they buy a house or rent and have the family live there. There's nothing wrong with that, but the locals may not like hearing spanish or having outsiders move in.
Probably 90% of the trouble is economic. I think justice failed with those guys getting off as easy as they did. But murders happen and racial hate is rarely the reason. Two drunk white guys beat another white guy to death on a college campus. A young white man gets stabbed to death at a party by a gate crasher who is also white. Recently in the same area some white guys killed another white guy over car vandalism and a love triangle. Murder is murder. Hate is hate. Dead is dead. And the incidence of race based crime is extremely low.
While it is true that dead is dead, the motives behind murder matter in jurisprudence, and they have for hundreds of years. In fact, motive is one of the major components in constructing the theory of the crime, the others being means and opportunity. For example, in a murder just among people of the same race, in most states how that murder is prosecuted will depend on the motive. If I, in an act of premeditation, hire someone to kill my boyfriend, I'll probably be charged with murder 1. If, in contrast, I catch him sleeping with someone and kill him in a frenzy, I'd likely be charged with murder 2. Depending on the circumstances, I might plead out to man 1, or even mount a defense based on "not guilty by reason of extreme mental disturbance." That is a temporary insanity defense, and they rarely work, but the option exists. The upshot is that context does matter. All hate crime provisions do is add an additional special circumstance to a bunch of other special circumstances that already exist.
Now, whether or not this particular incident was a hate crime is open to argument. Just want to point out the fact that context has always mattered when prosecuting crimes.
Back to my original subject. First, it is my theory that White-Latino tensions may be higher in blue-collar small-towns areas. Especially those that never had a large Latino population. New Mexico may not be a racial utopia, but I believe that the tensions overall are lower due to a longer and much more established Latino presense in the state. The long establishment of a Latino population quite possibly caused most of the Anglo nationalists to leave the area. Thus, the remaining Anglos (this is just a theory) may be more accepting of non-Anglos. On the other hand, I have no idea on how the Latino would be accepting of Anglos in such areas. (Even New Mexico has had some tension from Latinos angry about Anglos moving into the state...though this is partly due to the effects of gentrification on the cost of living). Secondly, I do believe that level of education reduces racial tensions. This is based on my personal observations on racial issues. (Though I am telling you this from an Anglo perspective). Other issues such as the economy and jobs most probably will increase tensions due to the widespread belief that LAtino workers take American jobs (I am not stating whether or not this is the case since that is not the point).
The point I am trying to make is that the economy, educational attainment and only recent influx of Latinos has caused much of the tension in that part of PA. This is what I now believe. As for the tension from Latinos to Anglos in other areas...I have no idea. I am not familiar enough with that culture, though I believe education and income are too vital factors.
I was not trying to start an arguement about crime and which side is more racist. The majority of individuals I have met from different races have at least some degree of "racist" mentality. What I was trying to grasp in my thread are the factors leading to this tension on both sides of the coin. I am starting to understand the Anglo side better, but now I would like to understand the Latino side. I am not trying to start an arguement, like I just said on who is more racist, I just want to understand more fully the factors leading to racial tension in different parts of the country.
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