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On the night of July 12th 2008, four white teenagers in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania were involved in the fatal beating of a 25 year old Mexican immigrant named Luis Ramirez. Last week an all-white jury acquitted two of the teenagers, 19 year old Derrick Donchak and 17 year old Brandon Piekarsky of aggravated assault, reckless endangerment and ethnic intimidation for Ramirez’s death. The only charge left was simple assault to which the family and friends of the defendants loudly cheered and celebrated in the courtroom. That the teenagers were consuming alcohol and involved in the altercation last July was never disputed by the defendants’ lawyers. But the picture painted was one of Luis Ramirez as the aggressor who made “some bad choices.” Prosecutors on the other hand, asserted that in fact the four young men baited Ramirez into a fight using racial slurs, and brutally beat him, leaving him lying on the ground convulsing, foaming at the mouth with his brain oozing out of his skull. Ramirez died of blunt force injuries in a hospital two days later, leaving behind his wife who is a life-long resident of Shenandoah, and his young children. The incident has highlighted a growing resentment against immigrant communities in Shenandoah and other similar towns. Eric Macklin, the jury foreman at the trial, revealed to the press that he had the most doubts among the jurors over the acquittals and was quoted as saying, “I do believe that all four boys involved are racists.”

GUEST: Gladys Limon of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund

For more information visit www.maldef.org.