No Justice for Vincent Then, No Justice for Luis Now
New America Media, Commentary, Carmina Ocampo Posted: May 08, 2009
Editor's Note: Last week, two of the young white men who allegedly killed Mexican immigrant Luis Ramirez in Shenandoah, Penn. were acquitted by an all white jury. The case mirrors the first federal hate crime prosecution involving an Asian American. Carmina Ocampo is a Skadden fellow and staff attorney at the Asian Pacific American Legal Center (APALC) of Los Angeles. Immigration Matters regularly features the views of immigration advocates and experts.
Last July, Luis Ramirez, a Latino immigrant who worked in a factory, was brutally killed by a gang of drunken white teenagers motivated by their dislike of the growing Latino population in their small coalmining town of Shenandoah, Penn. Two of the young white men who killed Luis were recently acquitted by an all white jury of all serious charges including third-degree murder and ethnic intimidation.
The facts of this case sounded all too familiar to those of us lawyers who work on civil rights cases. They mirror the facts at the heart of the 1982 Vincent Chin hate crime case.
Luis Ramirez was taunted with racial slurs and beaten to death during an altercation with a group of drunken white teenagers. Similarly, Vincent Chin was a Chinese American man also in his 20s, who was brutally killed in Detroit by two white autoworkers who mistook him for being Japanese and shouted racial slurs at him, saying, “It’s because of m*** f*s like you that we’re out of work.”
Luis’s murder occurred during a time of increasing anti-immigrant sentiment directed primarily towards Latino immigrants, exacerbated by the economic crisis. Vincent Chin’s murder took place during a climate of intense anti-Asian sentiment directed at the Japanese who were blamed for taking jobs away from American workers. Helen Zia, a well-known Asian American civil rights activist described the early 1980s as a dangerous time to look Asian. The same may be said for Latinos today.
In both Luis’s and Vincent’s cases, the killers argued that their actions should be excused because they were drunk, the victims were the aggressors, and they were merely exercising self-defense during a drunken brawl.
During the state trial, Vincent’s killers were sentenced to only three years probation. His brutal death and his killers’ slap-on-the-wrist sentence shocked Asian Americans throughout the nation. Asian Americans launched a nationwide campaign, led by the American Citizens for Justice (ACJ), to demand just sentencing of the killers and federal prosecution of the murder as a hate crime.
As a result, Vincent’s case became the first federal hate crime prosecution involving an Asian American victim. Unfortunately, Vincent’s killers were acquitted of all charges in the federal case, including committing a hate crime, by an all white jury in Cincinnati. Vincent’s killers never served a day in jail. In light of the unjust verdict recently awarded to Luis’s killers, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF) similarly are urging the Department of Justice to conduct a full investigation and prosecute the teenagers for a federal hate crime.
The Vincent Chin case is taught today in Asian American studies classes everywhere, inspiring a whole new generation of Asian American youth to take an interest in Asian American history and activism. Last weekend, the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival screened “Who Killed Vincent Chin,” the 1987 Academy Award-nominated documentary by Christine Choy and Renee Tajima-Pena about Vincent’s death, and the phenomenal community organizing that took place in its wake. One of the film’s most striking and powerful images is of Vincent’s mother, Lily Chin, one of the bravest heroes in the Vincent Chin campaign. In the film, Lily’s face contorted in pain and grief as she spoke out about Vincent’s death and demanded justice for her son. We can only imagine the suffering that Luis’s mother, wife, and two young children must be going through today.
May is the Asian Pacific American (APA) Heritage Month. As part of APA Heritage Month, we owe it to Vincent and our community to remember how Asian Americans came together with other communities of color to demand justice for Vincent Chin. This time, we must do the same for Luis Ramirez.
Related Articles:
Justice for Luis Ramírez
Latinos in Danger
Forbidden Love in Shenandoah, PA: Behind Beating Deaths of Immigrants
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User Comments
Paul186 on May 28, 2009 at 23:21:06 said:
I've never forgotten the Vincent Chin incident.I was more taken aback at the lack of
punishment, than the perp's bigotry and violence- there's always slime at the bottom of the heap. But, the judge? What does that say about a true education in America, except it's fragmented and lacking.
Liquids Reign on May 21, 2009 at 07:42:01 said:
If you are stating that Ramirez had a "wife", then you obviously have no clue about this specific case. All you are doing is reading one article and basing your entire argument on someone elses opinion. Might I suggest you actually read the court testimony of the Ramirez case an be objective with your then updated writings. Ramirez had "no wife", he was in fact "engaged" to Crystal Dillman, age 24, by her admission and the mother off his 2 children, and he was engaged to Roxanne Rector, age 15, as admitted in court testimony and the younger half sister of Crystal Dillman.
smarty pants on May 14, 2009 at 22:12:22 said:
The murders and light sentences as well as the all "white jury" not convicting is reminiscing of the treatment of blacks. Just goes to show you despite having a black president there are parts of America that will never change.
smarty pants on May 14, 2009 at 22:11:22 said:
Very sad and tragic death. However, it allows Asians and Latinos to see they are the new n*ggers of America. The worst thing is that these men are not the cause of job loss. But, other white men caused the loss of jobs. Yet, white trash will not go and bomb or beat up the owners of Chrysler, and those who employ illegals. They instead killed 2 innocent men just trying to make a living. Very sad. But if minorities do not stand together they will eventually exterminate us all. Take note of WWII Europe.
Nunya on May 13, 2009 at 07:15:09 said:
stupid haoles
Jphung on May 09, 2009 at 14:02:29 said:
I think these violent actions are backed by anti-immigrant sentiments in general...i hear about many racist attacks towards the Asian and Latino communities a lot this last year, in college campuses, schools, on the streets. We are still continued being racialized every day; and when society/economy is doing bad, folks who are kept vulnerable are always scapegoated and attacked.
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