In a Divided Town, a Question of Hate, or Cash?
The New York Times
October 24, 2004
By DAMIEN CAVE
Victor DeLeon suffered head wounds and a broken arm, which kept him out of work for a month, after he was beaten that same month in neighboring Plainfield while walking home from a local bar.
And Samuel Aguillar Jimenez was killed. His body was discovered in a Plainfield cemetery on May 17 with a fatal gash to the head.
They are among at least 17 Hispanic men who the local police suspect were severely beaten by young black men – and in the one case, killed – in and around Plainfield during the spring and summer. Whether the attacks were motivated by racial or ethnic hatred remains an open question, though black leaders say they do not believe bias has been the root. Only one suspect has been charged with a bias crime, and there is no consensus among the police about whether the men were attacked because of their ethnicity or the cash in their pockets.