Hate Crimes against Latinos Steadily on the Rise

Violent attacks on Latinos in Baltimore, MD, have occured three weekends in a row, including the latest where, police say, the suspect is a 13-year-old girl who shot two men after they refused her when she tried to rob them. One of those men died, as did Martin Reyez, 51, who was beaten to death with a two-by-two wooden plank last Friday.

"Seems like they are targeting the Spanish community, and unfortunately a lot of us, we don't complain about it," Maurcio Peralta, a local community leader, told Baltimore's Channel 13 news.

Hate crimes like these in Baltimore have been happening more and more frequently in cities across the country, and the targets of these attacks are overwhelmingly Latinos.

In March of 2009, Marcelo Lucero was murdered by seven teenagers in Long Island, New York. In Staten Island, NY, 26-year-old Mexican, Rodolfo Olmedo, was attacked on his way home from work at 4:30AM. On July 12 of 2008, Mexican immigrant Luis Ramirez was ruthlessly beaten by a group of teens in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, including some players on the town’s high school football team. Two days later, the 25 year-old died from severe head injuries.

The Southern Poverty Law Center reported that the number of hate groups has risen 35 percent since 2000 in the United States, and the Anti-Defamation League reports that extremist groups are using racism and xenophobia to incite violence against Latinos across the country.

So tell us...