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Shenandoah Is Still Hot

A group of at least 300 members of Voice of the People showed up in Shenandoah (PA), while 150 Hispanics joined together at a local temple to send a message of…

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The climate in Shenandoah (PA) is under observation.

Things have worsened after two groups of demonstrators met face to face at a town park, last August 30.

Some 300 demonstrators (the larger of the groups) demanded that the undocumented leave Shenandoah.

A few others, headed by Crystal Dillman, widow of Luis Eduardo Ramírez Zavala, stated that immigrants “are also human”.

The 300 demonstrators were at the park for various hours speaking of and showing banners with anti-immigrant messages.  They were convened by Voice of the People, and carried posters with messages of rejection and incrimination towards immigrants.

At least 25 state police officers and Latino community members prevented more Hispanics from passing through in order to avoid confrontation between both groups.

In reply to the banners, Dillman pulled out a Mexican flag, while the crowd cried “Crystal go to Mexico”.

A few minutes earlier, around 150 people gathered at a local temple to sing and send messages of peace.

The small town located about two hours north of Philadelphia has become the eye of the storm after a group of white youths beat a Mexican immigrant to death last July.

Three youngsters were arrested; two of them, Brandon Piekarski, 16, and Collin Walsh, 17, were accused of homicide and ethnic intimidation, among others.
The third, Donovan Donchak, 18, is accused of aggravated assault and ethnic intimidation, among others.

Donchak was out on bail, after paying a $70,000.

Hispanic leaders have questioned the fact that the two youths accused of homicide were allowed to leave jail after bail was set at $50,000.

“We know that these are bails in which only 10 percent is applicable”, stated Reverend Miguel Rivera of the National Latino Coalition of Christain Ministers and Leaders (CONLAMIC for its initials in Spanish).

Rivera, who was present at the temple gathering, said that in being judged as adults, these youths will face a jury in a predominantly white town and which shall thus favor the accused.

“If the tables were turned, we would witness that justice does not equally apply to Latinos”, he said.

In his opinion, this murder involved an initiation rite of a “white supremacist gang” and has a lot to do with the anti-immigrant measures promoted by the mayor of the neighboring city of Hazleton, Lou Barletta.

Life has changed a lot in Shenandoah since the homicide, said town mayor Thomas O’Neill.

“The mere existence of a demonstration such as this, which uses immigrants as an excuse, but which is clearly racist, does not help the inhabitants of Shenandoah”, he stated.

He insisted on creating a liaison committee to attend to the complaints and worries of the Latino community in Shenandoah.

With regard to the threats that members of the Hispanic community ensure they have been the targets of, O’Neill stated that he was unaware of such incidents.

“I am the most interested in ensuring that this does not happen in our town”, he stated.  “It’s difficult to know if this is true if people do not report it to the authorities”.

He said that if the people are scared of turning to the police, they can turn to him to accompany them to report such acts.

“If anyone feels threatened, he/she can come call me at home and I will answer”, he affirmed. The mayor’s phone number is 570.

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