A Killing in a Town Where Latinos Sense Hate

Marcelo Lucero is a 37 year-old immigrant from a poor village in Ecuador who has lived in the United States for 16 years was fatally stabbed to death by Jeffrey Conroy, a 17 year-old white supremacist. This article displayed a true sense of racism and hatred towards immigrants and the minority. The article states that Conroy and his six friends were out drinking one night when they declared that they were going to attack an innocent ‘Mexican’. Tragically for Mr. Lucero, he was the first Mexican they stumbled upon. The boys circled around Mr. Lucero and started to throw punches and kicks at him. Obviously Mr. Lucero was helpless in his defence as he was largely outnumbered by these teens. The beating did not kill Marcelo rather it was a fatal stab wound to his chest by Jeff which tragically ended his life because of his Hispanic appearance. This was obviously a hate crime which makes matters even worse. It brings me to ask two questions. What possesses a 17 year-old to do such a brutal crime and where did he learn to hate immigrants so much? There are quite a few answers to this question, but here are the main answers. One, he learned these poor values from either his family or friends or two, he learned them from this society and past issues regarding race. This article shows that racial values are still not being properly learned by today’s youth. I found this article both depressing and absolutely disgusting by the acts of this horrifying crime. While this is not the first time that this kind of incident has happened, I believe that this attack on Mr. Lucero provides not only a reflection of widespread anti-Latino sentiments but also a widespread of racial intolerance and hatred towards the minority. This article not only shows the continuing problems of racism and anti-immigrant views, but it also shows how little progress has been made in this heated conflict.


Article by: Kirk Semple
New York Times
November 14, 2008
Section A24

Mayor Mark D. Boughton of Danbury Connecticut at Wabash College

Mayer Mark D. Boughton of Danbury, Connecticut came to Wabash College on November 17th to talk about immigration. He mentioned that Danbury has 49 different languages that are spoken throughout the city. Surprisingly Danbury has the largest concentration of Shiite Muslims and Brazilians in the United States. This is because of the job opportunities Danbury offers.
He also said that 60% of immigrants over stay their visas because they do not want to go back to their home countries because America has so many opportunities. The majority of these immigrants are working low wage jobs so they are unable to own houses by themselves. One of the major problems in the city is over crowding of houses. Sometimes there will be six to eight people living in a 2 person house. Schools are pressured because so many of the students speak very broken English. Medical institutes are also under great pressure because most of the immigrants do not have insurance to pay their medical expenses. They do not go to a family doctor regularly so they use hospitals ER unit to treat their injuries or illnesses; which increases other patients bills because they have to pay for the immigrants who do not pay.
Danbury does not have the man power to round up all of the illegal immigrants that are living in the city. The only way they can find them is when they are pulled over by the police, everyone is scanned into a federal database and if they come up as illegal then they are detained. But for the most part they are released the next day because they post bail.
Another big problem Danbury has is volleyball games played by Ecuadorians. These Ecuadorians gather at people’s houses and there will be 200-300 people in a house that is designed for 4 people and there will be gambling, alcohol and drug use going on. When the party is broken up, the police sit the owners down and discuss the economic values of the living unit and tell them that parties like this deplete the value of the house.
Mayor Boughton said that Obama’s first year plan of immigration laws will not work because there is not enough money to go into the programs he has planned. Boughton has devised a plan to implement immigrants into the United States. He mentioned that immigrants should not be brought in just to work and then sent back to their home country because for the most part they will not want to go back. America should give them amnesty and a reason to stay. He proposed that immigrants who want to stay and become American citizens will have to do 1000 hours of community service over 6 years. This will give them a permanent green card for them to work on getting their citizenship.
I personally believe this plan will work because for the most part immigrants who come to America do not get good jobs and do not have the money to pay the thousands of dollars to pay for citizenship. The community service they will be doing will give them a chance to put their mark in American history.

System of Neglect

The United States detention centers are under a lot of controversy. Since post-Sept 11 the number of detainees in these centers has tripled due to the fear of terrorism. There has been 83 detainees have died in these centers in the past five years. Ironically, 30 of these deaths are due to the fact of medical staff not taking action to help the detainee immediately. That is just one cause to this every growing problem. The other reasons on why these people are dying, are neglectful guards, ill-trained technicians, sloppy record-keeping, missing medical files, overcrowding, and staff shortages. The people that are being put into these centers are not criminals;however, some of them are coming to the United States to seek asylum because they are feeling threaten at home. One big point that jumped out is, some of the medical staff in these centers that most of the victims are faking it when they say they are feeling sick. About one and four immigrants in these centers has a chronic health condition. Now, how can ICE say that these immigrants are faking their pain when these many are diagnosed with a chronic disease? It just puzzles me that the immigrants (people who come to the here for a better life) are being treat as bad as they were at home. Immigrants are still human beings and deserve the right to have the proper treatment as the law provides to them. But no, these centers are taking advantage of these people by killing them off. After reading, I was frustrated because now I know why some immigrants really don’t like this place when it comes to being deported or thrown in jail. They are basically been treated like animals. On the nurses was quoted saying “Dogs get better treatment in the dog pounds.” This is the determining factor that states how corrupted this system is. If you could treat an animal in the US better than a human being something has to be done.

Washington Post

By: Dana Priest and Amy Goldstein

May 11, 2008

Immigration in Danbury

This week I’m am discussing a presentation give Unidos Por Sangrios. It was about the problems that Mayor Boughton of Danbury, CT faces on a daily basis. To start off I will give a brief demographical look at the city of Danbury. There are a total of forty-nine languages spoken in this city of about eighty-five thousand. They also have the largest concentration of Shiite Muslims and Brazilians. This kind of cultural diversity causes some problems. The majority of immigration problems stem from over crowding and cultural differences. One thing that the city is able to do is to check for basic problems such as illegal apartments in garages and attics, cars parked in yards, and undocumented building projects. Also one problem that they had is people playing volleyball in the neighborhoods into the later hours of the night. This caused problems because there were a lot of illegal activities at these games. To help combat these, the Mayor would send police to disband the group when it got too late, and all of those participating in illegal activities were arrested and background checked to make sure that they are actually citizens. I agree with this plan of not seeking out illegals but rather allowing them to be the ones that make the mistake and then get them. This program is somewhere in between a sanctuary city and having officials go out racially profiling people to make sure that they are legal.

“Tibetan Exiles Meet to Ponder a New Strategy”

“Whatever he does, we do,” said Tashi, a driver who keeps a portrait of the Dalai Lama on his dashboard even though such images are banned in China. He also added that, “we don’t want to make trouble.” The Article, “Tibetan Exiles Meet to Ponder a New Strategy” that was published on Sunday, November 9, 2008 shows us, the reader, that this man’s statement is an accurate one. The article discusses how the calm here could soon crumble, depending on the outcome of a six-day meeting of Tibetan exiles that began Monday in India. The conclave is the first of its kind since 1991. The Dalai Lama has called for hundreds of Tibetans to gather in the Himalayan town of Dharamsala, the seat of the Tibetan government in exile, to help decide on a new strategy for Tibet. In a statement released Monday, the government in exile sought to play down speculation that a significant shift in its approach to the issue of Tibetan independence might be near. The speculation has been fueled in part by comments from the Dalai Lama, who said this month that his drive to secure autonomy for Tibet through negotiations with the Chinese government had failed. That admission strengthened the hand of younger Tibetans who have long agitated for a more radical approach and who have demanded independence.

My opinion of the article, “Tibetan Exiles Meet to Ponder a New Strategy” is that it is empowering that despite over 40 years of Chinese occupation of Tibet, the Tibetan people refuse to be conquered and subjugated by China. The present Chinese policy, a combination of demographic manipulation and discrimination, aims to finally suppress the Tibetan issue by changing the very character and the identity of Tibet and its people. Though governments and human rights organizations have expressed concern about the transfer and settlement of Chinese people into Tibet, the issue is difficult to address effectively due to a shortage of reliable figures and the misleading use of statistics by Chinese authorities.

Article written by: Edward Wong
The New York Times
Monday, November 17, 2008
Article on page A13 of the New York edition

Immigration Talk with Mayor Mark D. Boughton

Yesterday, I was lucky enough to have the chance to listen to a politician really speak about is actions in his community.  His name is Mark D. Boughton and he is the proud mayor of Danbury, Connecticut.  As I was eating a nice pizza lunch, compliments of Wabash, I was enriched in the theories on how illegal immigration is being handled in his city.  In Danbury, as Mayor Boughton described, there is a problem with illegal immigrants and over-crowding in this quiet little city.  Of the 85,000 people that live within city limits roughly 1/6 are illegal immigrants.  There have been an influx of South American Immigrants moving into this city.  There are also 49 different first languages spoken in the high school alone.  The nickname of this city is "The Gateway to New England," but recently it has been the Gateway to the United States for many of these immigrants. With the massive amount of immigrants comes a massive amount of different traditions.  For example, in Danbury there is a very large population of Ecuadorian people.  The national sport of these Ecuadorians is volleyball.  So they have volleyball matches in their yards.  This may seem harmless, but the matches attract large crowds of a few hundred people and this brings trouble.  At these matches, Mayor Boughton explained, one can find: illegal gambling, drugs, underage drinking etc..  Mainly things get out of hand.  The over crowding of the city is a big problem and parties like this are examples why.  So to stop the illegal immigration into the city the mayor has come up with a plan.  He has joined his police force with the I.C.E. force to remove any illegal immigrants that come about.  He doesn't want to search for them because he knows this is a type of racial profiling, and he doesn't want this at all.  I agree with his plans to search everyone that lives in the community through traffic stops and such, and not go door to door.  I just hope that it will solve and problems the city may have without disrespecting anyone.  I think that this is a fair way to do this and it is a sticky situation any way you look at it.  All I have to say is good luck Mayor Boughton, and thanks for lunch. 

Immigration Lecture at Wabash College

Mayor of Danbury, Connecticut, Mark D. Boughton, stated at an immigration lecture given at Wabash College that Danbury County holds the largest concentration of both Shiite Muslims and Brazilians in northern America. He went on to illustrate how he believes Danbury has the most diverse county compared to any other in the nation. He stated that 49 different languages were spoken amongst the 85,000 residents living in Danbury County. He also claimed that there was a large majority of Ecuadorians beginning to immigrate into the county. Throughout the latter part of the lecture Mayor Boughton illustrated aspects of immigration in Danbury by providing an anecdote. He claimed that 95% of the Brazilian and Ecuadorian immigrants living in Danbury were illegal immigrants. He believed that a majority of them became illegal immigrants over a duration of time because their working visa’s had expired. When Mayor Boughton was asked how he felt about this particular situation pertaining to working visa’s he described his solution. His solution was to allow illegal immigrants already residing in the US to be able to “earn” their rights to become legalized citizens. It was his belief that they should have the decision to work 1,600 hours of community service over a period of five years to be able to earn a social security number and thus benefits. At the same time, they should be given a social security system and acknowledged in order to pay taxes and receive benefits.
Mayor Boughton also provided an anecdote of which illustrated how the various different cultures in Danbury erected some culture shocks. The mayor described how many Ecuadorians loved to play volleyball and would have large gatherings in order to play amongst one another. He described how they would have the volleyball net set up in the front yard where they would all play and even bet on the games being played. Alcohol and overcrowding of the streets was also evident from these gatherings. The mayor rationalized the situation by describing how in the Ecuadorian culture this would be perfectly fine, but that here in the US it was against the law. Danbury County sought the matter as a minor misunderstanding of the American culture and through these Ecuadorians eyes. The mayor took a stand by having police take proper action when such events occurred. He also stressed that the police shouldn’t use this as an opportunity to racially profile these people as illegal immigrants, and demanded that they treat them all as if they were American citizen’s and allow them to be treated equally.
In my opinion, I believe that both Mayor Broughton’s epiphany and action taken towards immigration in the US is the way more politicians should witness and take upon themselves. I believe that Mayor Broughton believes that whether the immigrants in Danbury are illegal or legal, that they should all have opportunities regardless. It is evident in his action towards illegal immigrants that he doesn’t view them as harmful, but as people trying to make their living through virtue of the good economy and jobs the US has to offer. His idea towards what the illegal immigrants should due in order to “earn” their rights to become legal resident’s strikes me as a very interesting idea. In some respects I believe that this is a good idea considering it both helps the society and helps the immigrant at the same time. On the other hand, I kind of see it as a small facet behind which slavery was founded. Immigrants doing community service is obviously not as harsh as slavery, but the idea seems to behold some of the descriptive qualities slavery with holds. I believe that the Mayor is doing a very effective job in handling illegal immigration in Danbury. He is obviously always going to have criticism from both parties when it comes to immigration, but I believe that he should stay true to his beliefs and not allow opinions to persuade him.