Racist Whites kill another
undocumented Mexican immigrant

Luis Ramirez of Shenandoah, Pennsylvania
was the father of three children

by
Ernesto Cienfuegos
La Voz de Aztlan

Los Angeles, Alta California - July 22, 2008 - (ACN) In a heinous hate crime reminiscent of the dragging death of one and the savage beating of five elderly Mexican agricultural workers by eight Whites youths in north San Diego County,California on July of 2000, six White juveniles viciously beat and killed a Mexican father of three children in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania while yelling racial slurs at the victim,

The horrific beating of 25-year-old Luis Eduardo Ramirez Zavala of Guanajuato,Mexico occurred on July 12 and he died in intensive care two days later. What makes this case particularly disturbing is that even though there is ample evidence and witnesses that point to the criminals, to this date there have been no arrests in the case. Five of the six killers are allegedly members of the town's much revered Shenandoah Valley High School football team called "The Blue Devils."

Shenandoah Police Chief Matthew Nestor said that there have been problems in the community ever since the Mexicans starting arriving in town. Our teenagers have sprayed racially tinged graffiti and yelled racial slurs at the newcomers, he said. The 2000 US census enumerated Whites as 97.40% of the population while Latinos comprised 2.76%. Six years later in 2006, Latinos grew to 10% of the town's population.

Luis Ramirez came to the U.S. from Guanajuato, Mexico about six years ago to look for work in the Pennsylvania coal region. In Shenandoah, Ramirez found steady employment and fathered two children with his common-law-wife Crystal Dillman who stated that he had to endured racial harassment by the town's White residents. Crystal Dillman also said that Ramirez was a loving father to her 3-year-old daughter from another marriage who thought of him as her father. Crystal Dillman, is 24-years-old and grew up in Shenandoah. She says that her husband was often called derogatory names, including "dirty Mexican,'' and told to return to Mexico. "People in this town are very racist toward Latinos. They think right away if you're Mexican, you're illegal, and you're no good,'' said Crystal Dillman.

There are many witnesses that saw the vicious hate crime. Among these is retired Philadelphia police officer Eileen Burke. Eileen Burke lives on the street where the assault took place. She testifies that she heard a youth scream at one of Ramirez's friends after the beating to tell her Mexican friends to get out of Shenandoah, "or you're going to be laying next to him.''

Retired police officer Eileen Burke is referring to Ramirez' friends Arielle Garcia and her husband who attempted to rescue the victim. Arielle Garcia says that she and her husband saw 2 or 3 of the assailants repeatedly kicking Ramirez in the head. Ramirez' friends said, "that's when he started shaking and foaming out of the mouth.'' The Garcias said they heard the racist youths call Ramirez "stupid Mexican", "fucking wetback" and other ethnic slurs. (Hear an interview of Arielle Garcia by Amy Goodman of DemocracyNow! HERE )

Ramirez' wife Crystal Dillman has no doubt the horrible killing was racially motivated. “I know they did this because they don’t like the color of his skin,” Dillman said. “Now his children are going to grow up angry, knowing their father was killed because of his race, or nationality, or color, or whatever it was that bothered these people about him.”

“He was a good guy, a terrific father,” Crystal Dillman said. “Everyone who knew him loved him.” Ramirez and Dillman have three children, Anjelina, 3, Kiara, 2, and Eduardo, 11 months. Dillman said Ramirez worked to provide for his family. “He worked two jobs to give his children the life he never had,” she added.

La Voz de Aztlan has been documenting anti-Mexican hate crimes since it went online on January 1, 2000, Many of the hate crimes we have reported on have gone unpunished. Among these is the brutal bludgeoning to death of mother Maria Esperanza Hernandez and her daughter Maria del Carmen Castillo Hernandez in Fremont, California on February 1, 2004. Another was the brutal decapitation of three Mexican children, Lucero Quezada, 8, Ricardo Espinoza, 9, and their cousin Alexis Espejo, 10, in Baltimore, Maryland on May 27, 2004. In this case two relatives were blamed, railroaded and convicted of the crime but the family to this date are fighting for justice in the case. Yet another case was the arson fire of a Mexican immigrant apartment building that killed ten Mexican immigrants from Leon, Guanajuato, Mexico in Columbus, Ohio in September of 2004. Another brutal hate crime that has gone unpunished occurred in Sharonville, Cincinnati where the dead bodies of four hard working Mexican laborers were found in their apartment on December of 2007.

We are happy to report that our efforts have not been in vain. After almost six years of our solitary reporting on these vicious anti-Mexican hate crimes, mainstream organizations such as MALDEF and the NCLR are now picking up the slack. Also, the national media in Mexico is reporting more frequently on these racist attacks and killings of its nationals that will for surely have international implications. One question we have is, how long are we going to wait before we put a stop on these murderous attacks upon our community?