Kids beat Mexican to death

Sure. The more people interact with blacks, hispanics, gays, etc., and see that they are people like them, the less of an issue it usually is.

 

Bigotry in the North is somewhat different. Instead of White vs. Black; it's Black vs. Italian vs. Irish vs. WASP vs. Polish vs. German, etc.

The town where the beating took place, Shenandoah, has a Catholic church for each ethnic group, even though it's a small town. It wasn't that long ago that a Irish Catholic marrying an Italian Catholic would've been considered a mixed marriage.

Hazleton, which is about a 20-minute drive from Shenandoah, is the same way as are many of the coal towns. If I remember right, Shenandoah tried to pass a similar ordinance on illiegal aliens.

The Hazleton mayor is using it as his ticket into Congress, and it seems to be working.

 

A Boston talk radio host.

 

I'd love to be in that town covering that story.

 

A smallpotatoes thread which revolves around a talkshow host. Hmm.

 

bookmark

 

Sounds like that entire town needs a little teaching in tolerance.

 

Yeah. Now those damn illegal aliens are getting our good, white kids thrown in jail for doing their patriotic duty, dammit!

 

I grew up near there, mark. You have no idea how right you are. Shenandoah is famous for three things: It's the home of Mrs. T's pierogies, the birthplace of Tommy Dorsey and it's the angriest place on earth. Ever since the coal boom ended, the place has gone downhill...and they're really, really pissed about that. Add illegal immigrants to the mix, and it's a bomb waiting to go off.

My alma mater used to play their high school in football every year. Whenever we went there to play, we'd have to keep our helmets on in the bus -- in case one of the avalanche of rocks that were being thrown at us happened to crash through the windows. We had two or the JV football games end in brawls. Ahh, memories.

Anyone who grew up near there probably has similar stories to tell. It's a crazy town.

 

OK, because my interest was piqued by this post, and because I'm a census nerd, I tracked down some numbers on this area.

The Coal Region of Pennsylvania (roughly defined as Lackawanna, Luzerne, Carbon, Columbia, Schuylkill and Northumberland counties in east central to northeast Pa.) has a current estimated population of 888,355. Pennsylvania's population was 12.4 million. The U.S. population was 301.1 million.

In the 1930 Census, as the anthracite coal boom was starting to level off and the Depression setting in, the U.S. Census count for that same area was at its peak, 1,231,698. Pennsylvania's population was 9.6 million. The U.S. population was 123 million.

So from its peak, the Coal Region declined in population by 28% while Pennsylvania grew 24%, and the U.S. grew 245%. Most of the population loss occurred during the 1950s.

This is a region where one town, Centralia, was shut down and abandoned because of an underground mine fire that began in 1962 -- and isn't out. Shenandoah, by the way, had a population of 30,000 in 1930. As of the 2007 Census estimate: 5,188. Its county, Schyulkill, has lost nearly half its population in the same period.

To be fair, Carbon and Columbia counties, the two smallest, have grown slightly in recent years. But this region, like others where the main economic reason for being no longer exists, is slowly dying. The biggest shock isn't that some frustrated local soul beat an Other. It's that someone from far away was able to sniff a job opportunity.

No wonder Obama's hope-and-change message doesn't play in regions like that. Discounting anyone not predisposed to vote for a black person, anyone in that region who had hope more than likely has left, or plans to leave. And generally speaking, for the region as a whole, change has meant nothing but tragedy.

 

You're absolutely right, Bob. I can count the number of friends I have from high school still living in our home town on one hand. It seems like anyone lucky enough to get through college makes great haste to put Schuylkill County in their rearview mirror as quickly as they can. When Obama made his comment about certain bitter types who cling to guns and religion, I immediately thought of home.

Still, as much as I rip on the place, I do it with some affection. There are some great people there, too. They may be in the extreme minority, but they're there.

 

Being from around the area I've tried to follow this story for the last couple weeks. And what's been more disturbing to me than the actual murder is that people have been pointing the finger at the victim. Saying why was he not deported when he had a criminal record (two assault charges, I believe). They are saying that if he were never there in the first place, this wouldn't have happened, and that basically the kids are blameless for the act.

That's far more disturbing.