I guess those of us who like to think of the City by the Bay as the real City of Brotherly Love and a utopic bubble of tolerance will have to think again, in light of a recent hate crime against a Latino youth. This happened blocks from my home, and the crime is even more disturbing in that it was perpetrated by a group of Asian youths who yelled racial slurs as they beat the kid unconscious.

Back in May we posted that hate crimes against Latinos were on the rise, and that this was tied to the immigration debate. I never thought I’d see it happen in my own backyard, an immigrant enclave par excellence. In the years I’ve been around San Francisco, I’ve seen the number of Latino immigrants working in Chinatown businesses grow significantly, and how suddenly some shops were stocking calling cards for Mexico as a result of this influx. I’m not sure if this particular attack could be linked to immigration, but the irony of this happening in a neighborhood like Chinatown is not lost on me.

Details around this case are sketchy (the media doesn’t tend to cover hate crimes against any group with much willingness) but what is known is that the teens have been arrested and the victim has been released from the hospital.

Via / San Francisco Chronicle