Blacks, Latinos and Hate Crimes

What comes to mind when you hear the term “hate crime” — a burning cross, a black man in a tree, a Ku Klux Klansman?  In the 21st century such images often prove to be outdated. Hate crime victims aren’t likely to be lynched these days and the perpetrators don’t always have white skin.

Take the case of Cheryl Green. In December 2006, the 14-year-old African-American girl was hanging out with friends in the Harbor Gateway neighborhood of Los Angeles when a member of the 204th Street gang shot into the crowd of youths, killing Green. This wasn’t an instance of a gang member misfiring, intending to kill one person and accidentally killing a bystander.  Instead, a jury found on Sept. 9 that Jonathan Fajardo didn’t care who he killed as long as his victim was black, making his shooting a hate crime. Apparently a previous dispute Fajardo had with a black man impelled him to shoot into the group of African Americans.  In addition to killing Green, Fajardo wounded three other young people in the crowd. And two weeks later, with the help of fellow gang member Daniel Aguilar, he stabbed to death a young black man who'd witnessed the shooting.

Both Fajardo and Aguilar are Latino. Unfortunately they’re far from the only Latino gang members to be convicted of hate crimes against blacks. Nine months ago, authorities conducted a sweep of the Avenues gang in the Northeast section of Los Angeles. Reportedly run by the Mexican Mafia, this Latino gang sprayed racist graffiti throughout the neighborhood to discourage blacks from moving into the area. According to the 222-page indictment against the gang:

“Avenues gang members also confront African-Americans with threats of violence and murder. …”

Lest anyone mistake the gang’s targeting of blacks as simply a territorial beef, consider that just about 3 percent of residents in the neighborhood run by the Avenues gang is African American. Thus, the gang’s fixation on black is fundamentally race-based. What does this say about Latino-black relations? Where do Latinos who live in a community with few blacks learn to hate African Americans? Moreover, where do blacks learn to hate Latinos?

On the country’s opposite coast, African Americans have been involved in a spate of hate crimes against Latino immigrants. In Staten Island, N.Y., 11 anti-Latino hate crimes have taken place over the past several months. Many of the perpetrators are African American.

Why are blacks attacking Latinos? Residents say that the debate over Arizona’s new immigration policy has influenced blacks in the Staten Island neighborhood of Port Richmond to hold Latinos responsible for taking jobs away from them. Other blacks supposedly resent the influx of Latinos coming into Port Richmond. They believe the immigrants are changing the essence of the community. Port Richmond, a heavily black neighborhood for years, is today known as “Little Mexico.” But changing demographics doesn’t give blacks the right to attack their new Latino neighbors.

With blacks brutalizing Latinos in New York and Latinos gunning down blacks in Los Angeles, it’s clear that there’s work to do. After Cheryl Green’s death, forums were held in Los Angeles to allow blacks and Latinos to dialogue about racial tensions between the two groups. But many of the folks involved in the forums are race conscious individuals who recognize that when minorities engage in “horizontal racism,” all people of color lose. Meanwhile, those seeking to divide and conquer gain ground. So the question is: How can we send this message to the people on the streets? Whereas in the past people of color were simply hate crimes victims, today they’re also choosing to be victimizers — with all too tragic results.

Photo Credit: Bryan Davidson