Last Thursday, 20-30 white teenagers beat and threw stones at two Latino workers in the small town of Mulino.  We are appalled and outraged at this racist, violent hate crime.  (see article below)

Anti-immigrant sentiment has fueled countless other unreported violent acts against immigrant workers and families.  Now is the time for us say no to hate and to fight for dignity and respect for all.

We urge you to join human dignity groups, the immigrant community, and allies at the vigil. In case of rain, the vigil will move across the street to Atkinson Memorial Church. This vigil is sponsored, so far, by Rural Organizing Project, Atkinson Memorial Church, Portland Immigrant Rights Coalition, Portland Jobs with Justice, and the Coalition Against Hate Crimes.

An ugly night at Wagon Wheel Park

A teenage mob's racially charged attack on two Latino men at a park near Molalla last week was an isolated incident, according to law enforcement officers in Clackamas County.

Few Latinos in Oregon are likely to buy that story because, from a wider perspective, the incident wasn't isolated in the least.

Separate studies by the Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center found that hate crimes against Latinos are on the rise in the United States. Both studies concluded that the raging national debate over immigration stoked the increase.

And that was last year. The subject has become white hot this year as Congress and the White House do battle over proposed immigration reform.

None of the 20 to 30 white youths at Wagon Wheel Park was in much of a mood for thoughtful debate Thursday night. They were more intent on beating and stoning Edwin Gonzales and Alex Guzman and screaming at them to "go back to Mexico."

Gonzales, 27, and Guzman, 26, work at a Molalla lumber mill. After their shift ended Thursday, they went to the park to have a beer and unwind.

The unprovoked attack put Gonzales in the hospital and left his car, which the two men tried to escape in, heavily damaged by large rocks. An Oregon City 18-year-old who allegedly led the mob has been charged with several crimes, and police said further arrests were likely.

The event can't be explained away as the predictable misconduct of teenagers too young, stupid and intoxicated to know better. The assault, as Clackamas County Detective Jim Strovink put it, was "hate-filled."

Where does such hate come from?

"There are a couple of things going on here," says Randy Blazak, the Portland State University professor who heads Oregon's Coalition Against Hate Crimes. "We're experiencing increased rhetoric about the perceived threat posed by Latino immigrants, and it's being amped up on talk radio and elsewhere."

Blazak doesn't buy the claim that the Molalla attack was an anomaly. Most hate crimes against immigrants go unreported, he says.

They occur every day on Portland's Burnside Street. Latino day laborers waiting there for work are frequently jeered by passing motorists, some of whom hurl cups of soda and other objects.

On immigration, the mood around the country is decidedly nasty these days. And this nastiness does have its ugly side effects, as we saw last week.

The United States needs its current immigration debate, but too much of it clearly has become overheated. Hate crimes against Latinos soared by 23 percent between 2003 and 2005, according to the FBI.

Last week's viciousness at Wagon Wheel Park was anything but "isolated."