Attacks against Mexicans inflame tensions in NYC

[pampango]

Source: Dayton Daily News

When Rodolfo Olmedo was dragged down by a group of men shouting anti-Mexican epithets and bashed over the head with a wooden stick on the street outside his home, he instinctively covered his face to keep from getting disfigured. Blood filled his mouth. "I wanted to scream, but I couldn't because of the beating they were giving me," said the 25-year-old baker. Nearly five months later, he is still taking pain medications for his head injuries.

Recorded by a store's surveillance camera, the assault was the first of 11 suspected anti-Hispanic bias attacks in a Staten Island neighborhood, re-igniting years-old tensions between blacks and Hispanics in New York City's most remote borough. Residents of Port Richmond — where an influx of newcomers from Latin America over the past decade has transformed the community — alternately blame the attacks on the economy, unemployment and the debate over Arizona's immigration law.

But Isaias Lozano, a day laborer, said he knows why he was attacked and robbed in December by "morenos" — the Spanish word he uses to describe his black neighbors. "They hate us because we're Mexicans," he said while sitting at El Centro del Inmigrante, a center for immigrant day workers. "They aren't robbing just anybody."

Across the United States, the immigration debate plays out in suspicion of outsiders and sometimes escalates into violence. Port Richmond, tucked in a corner of New York City that most visitors never see, is wrestling with the perennial question of how people from different backgrounds can live together and get along.

Read more: http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/nation-world-news/attacks-against-mexicans-inflame-tensions-in-nyc-863398.html

[timo]

1. racism

kinda makes you wonder, I guess people will never learn!!
if the shoes were mixed n matched on other feet the msm would be having a shit fit, all the players would be getting face time on air about how terrible it is!!

[Lightning Count]

2. Is Black on Mexican violence really racism.

Or is it something requiring an entirely new definition.

Staten Island seems like an odd place for this to occur.

[daylan b]

3. It's only an add place for it to occur

if you you believe in false stereotypes or regions.

[HockeyMom]

6. Staten Island is the most conservative

and Republican of all the boroughs. It always votes that way.

[daylan b]

7. Staten Island African Americans are conservative?

I guess I learn something every day.

BTW, it was specifically Port Richmond.

[KamaAina]

8. You're thinking of the portion roughly south of I-278

between the Verrazano and Goethals bridges.

The northern third of the island near the ferry has had a diverse population for quite some time now. The rap group Wu-Tang Clan even maintained its office there.

[musette_sf]

36. you are correct

signed, former resident of Stapleton (Wu-Tang World Headquarters)

[KamaAina]

39. Dang, you've been everywhere that I've been!

NYC (though not SI), NOLA, SF.

[musette_sf]

41. How about Houston?

CT > NYC (Bklyn, SI) > NOLA > Houston > SF Bay Area

(the CT part was not too long, I don't have too many autonomous memories from there)

[NYMdaveNYI]

29. it’s the italians....

Also explains Peter King’s stranglehold on the 3rd District on Long Island, lots of conservative Irish and Italians in the district.

[slackmaster]

4. Of course it's racism

:argh:

[proteus_lives]

33. Yeah, it's racism.

:eyes:

[okieinpain]

35. yes it's racism and the tension is getting worse between blacks

and hispanics. I've had more then one person tell me that hispanics don't like blacks, so why should blacks feel sorry for hispanics.

[JustAnotherGen]

5. Evidently

Bigotry knows no boundaries.

[Kweli4Real]

9. I know that slang expressions are quite colloquial, but ...

Isaias Lozano, a day laborer, said he knows why he was attacked and robbed in December by "morenos" — the Spanish word he uses to describe his black neighbors. "They hate us because we're Mexicans,"

Or maybe he took the beating for his referring to his neighbors as "morenos", which in many quarters is the equivilent of the "N-word."

Just a thought.

[Lightning Count]

10. I was not aware of that.

Thank you for the insight.

[Lost-in-FL]

12. You are incorrect. Moreno is Spanish for any "darker" or "tan" skinned person.

Please do not promote false stereotypes.

[Name removed]

13. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Lost-in-FL]

15. That's a very ignorant link.

And you are just promoting that here. It just goes to show that you have no knowledge of the subject you are trying to debate.

[Lightning Count]

17. Just a simple google search of "morenos"

It may not be a racist term in South America, but it could very well have taken a racial overtone in Black communities in the US. Given it's literal translation I can see how it could evolve to be a very insensitive term.

[Lost-in-FL]

18. That's just your opinion.

But no. There are plenty of direct and very racially explicit and insensitivy words in spanish and in many other languages. Moreno or morena is not one of them.

[Lightning Count]

19. Not moreno, but morenos.

Subtle, but different. Words are racist based on people's opinion or perception of them. I can just see how it could be viewed as insensitive.

[Lost-in-FL]

21. Plural... Like saying white vs. whites.

Sorry but it is NOT a racist slang as used by the person who was attacked by others. Unless saying white, asians, jamaicans is racist or insensitive. You are implying that the word morenos is the same as the plural of the n word which is not as someone incorrectly posted earlier.

Yes, words are often taken based on people's opinion or perception but the use of morenos by the person attacked by a group was not racist but descriptive of a group just like one says white, puertorrican, etc.

[Lightning Count]

22. In Puerto Rico the words Negro and Negrita are used.

By your logic, these are also not racist. Like I said, I can see how that term could be seen as insensitive.

[Lost-in-FL]

23. As puertorican myself and dark skinned at that I have been called morena, negrita and negra...

And thus able to recognize when they are used directly as a racially charged word. What I am saying is that morenos is not equated to the n word.

[Lightning Count]

24. And there you have it.

You are able to recognize it, but you are not a Black man living in an impoverished US community. If you do not believe that, then I encourage you to travel to the Bronx and try to use those terms casually.

They are the ones who get to judge what they view to be insensitive and I can see how that description may fan the flames of racial tension.

[Lost-in-FL]

25. Did you even read the link or are you still playing with semantics?

This men was assaulted by a group of individuals that have mistaken reasons to believe that he is a threat to the community. It happens that a republican piece of legislation is fanning the flames of racial tension. I guess you are missing the bigger picture here.

May I ask why I should go around the Bronx pissing on people?

[Lightning Count]

30. Doubtful.

It is unlikely that hoodlums in Staten Island are even aware of the Arizona legislation. Doubtful they even read the NYT or watch the news. More likely this is all due to the fast demographic change cited in the article and widespread unemployment especially among Blacks.

I am not supporting what happened. I just was responding to what another poster cited.

I am curious about one thing. The article cites how the community changed from shuttered storefronts to a bustling shopping area filled with Hispanic themed stores. Why was the Black community unable to open stores before the arrival of the Hispanic community? Would be a very interesting sociological study.

[Lost-in-FL]

31. You are right. A subject that should be studied.

And hope you are not blaming Hispanics for that.

[Lost-in-FL]

26. Duplicate

[LanternWaste]

27. Is this a correct inference?

Because you're ignorant of the use of a non-colloquial term, you empathize with others' alleged ignorance of the same? Is that a correct inference?

[Lightning Count]

28. No.

It's a comment on how location can affect how terms are interpreted.

[Lost-in-FL]

32. Interpreted and judge.

Which is unfair to those who use common descriptive terms and are erroneously thought as racist because the person doing the judging do not know the proper use of a phrase.

[martymar64]

42. In California, I heard the term "mallate" a lot as an ephithet

Kind of a Spanish/Chicano version of mullato. Definitely was used as a racial slur against blacks.

[rabs]

14. "moreno" is not racist

in South America "moreno" (m) or "morena" (f) is merely descriptive of a person who is shade or two darker than white.

For example:

"Paso unos dias en la playa y volvio bien moreno/morena."
"He/she spent a few days at the beach and came back really tanned."

Isaias Lozano was actually being non-racist. He could have used the Mexican word "mayate," which is really racist.

(edit for typo)

[Lost-in-FL]

16. +1, nt

[EFerrari]

37. No, it's not. That's wrong. n/t

[mitchtv]

38. news to me

[mwrguy]

11. Moreno is Spanish and Portuguese for a tanned or dark haired person.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moreno

[Dappleganger]

20. It shouldn't matter what words were used, that doesn't deserve a beating.

[inwiththenew]

34. I was talking to a police officer

A couple years ago and he was telling me that a few people, mostly African American due to the neighborhood, would rob day laborers because they know they carry and keep lots of money on them because they can't go open a bank account and the laborers are less likely to call the police. He said it has caused a lot of tension between the two groups in the neighborhood.

[Lost-in-FL]

40. Same happens in Central Florida

Couple of years back a "documented" worker of central american descent was murdered during a home invasion in Orlando. A white supremacist was arrested for the murder a few days later and according to the police they were the groups targeting foreign workers of mexican or central american descent. There was a spike of robberies on these laborers because they carry cash only. The sad part is that even when they have the proper documentation to work here they seem paranoid of the police and do not call even if they are in need.