After Ferguson: Latinos now feel more empowered to demand justice, loudly
*What these protests have in common is that they’re local, meaning that they’ve been organized by commuities and community organizations. National Latino civil rights organizations seem to be absent, or at least not visible. I think this gives the protests a special legitimacy – the fact that they’re saying “it’s happening here as well.” By calling attention to the incidents in their home towns they become part of a growing call for justice and change. The empowerment is deeper than what we see at the surface. VL
Protests broke out in Pasco, Washington after an unarmed Mexican immigrant was fatally shot by police officers who said he threw rocks at them. In Grapevine, Texas 10 days later, there was a community uproar after a Latino robbery suspect was shot by police following a high-speed chase. And people took to the streets in Santa Ana, California days later, after police officers killed a Mexican-American they had pulled over on suspicion of robbery.
Prior to the police-related shooting in Ferguson, Missouri, these incidents may have fueled anger locally. But Ferguson has become an emblem of the tensions between minorities and police departments nationwide – and it has seemed to galvanize minority communities to take to the streets after police-related deaths they feel are unjust.
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[Photo courtesy of Fox NewsLatino]