Minorities in U.S. call for awareness against hate crimes

[Natasha]

Minorities in U.S. call for awareness against hate crimes

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-05/10/content_11345597.htm
5/10/09

LOS ANGELES, May 9 (Xinhua) -- Minorities in the U.S. have joined efforts to raise consciousness in the country on hate crimes targeting minorities and immigrants when the country is facing economic recession.

    The Latino and Asian communities in the U.S. were shocked when two young white men who killed a Latino man were recently acquitted by an all white jury.

    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, Pennsylvania. The two defendants were acquitted of all serious charges including third degree murder and ethnic intimidation.