Study Shows Racial Profiling in Illinois Traffic Stops "Civil rights groups called Thursday for ending the state police practice of searching vehicles during routine traffic stops, citing new statistics that show Black and Latino motorists are searched more often even though drugs or other illegal items turn up more frequently among white drivers. Chicago Tribune. Eyewitness to Mexican Immigrant Beaten to Death Recounts Attack Luis Ramirez, a twenty-five-year-old Mexican immigrant, was beaten to death last week by a group of teenagers in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania. He was walking home last Monday night when six white high school students brutally beat him while yelling racial slurs. Despite eyewitness testimony, no charges have been filed. Arielle Garcia, a friend of Ramirez who witnessed the attack, retells the story. Democracy Now. ICE Raids Called ‘Harsh’ Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-San Jose and other Democrats blasted the Bush administration Thursday for conducting what Democrats described as harsh and punitive immigration raids, calling special attention to a raid at a kosher meatpacking plant in Iowa in May where nearly 400 illegal workers, mainly Guatemalans, were arrested in the largest worksite immigration raid in U.S. history. San Francisco Chronicle. Movie Shows a Racist Mardi Gras " Margaret Brown’s ‘The Order of Myths,’ is a wise and soberly affecting documentary about the separate but unequal Mardi Gras festivities that take place each year in Mobile, Ala." New York Times. LA County: Racial Conflict the Cause of High Crime Rate All hate crimes have risen in Los Angeles this year, but the County Human Relations Commission says, "One of the most worrisome findings, commissioners said, was the rising number of hate crimes between Latinos and blacks — many of them driven by gang hostility." Los Angeles Times.