Henry Ramirez was leaving a New York City movie theater when ithappened.
"There was a shooting right in front of my kids and myself,"Ramirez recalled.
Wanting a better life for his family, Ramirez packed up and leftthe Bronx for Hazleton, where he often spent summers visitingfamily.
"There was too much crime in New York. That's why I moved to aquieter city like this," said Ramirez, who served as an auxiliaryofficer with the New York City Police Department.
He and his wife bought a house on East Diamond Avenue in 2005,and fell in love with the city.
"But in the last five or six years, everything started changing,"he said.
The changes are topics the father of three wanted to shed lighton, and he does so in two online Spanish-language blogs he started.
The blogs, along with a Ramirez-created social network gearedtoward Latinos and a forum on web design software, are tallyingthousands of visits a day.
As for the blogs, one recurring theme is how not everyone isaccepting of people of different ethnic backgrounds. It's somethingRamirez doesn't quite understand because most everyone in the areacan trace his or her roots to another country. For example, thereare local residents of Italian, Polish and Irish descent, Ramirezexplained.
But having a deeper-than-pale skin color - like many Hispanics do- often means being held accountable for things going wrong inHazleton, Ramirez said.
"Everything we get blamed for just because they see a Latinoface," Ramirez said. "I don't think it's right. If you do something,it's you. It's not everyone."
Ramirez, who was born in the Dominican Republic and became a U.S.citizen in the 1990s, writes in one of his blogs that Latinos paytaxes and are involved in the community.
"We are on the right path, studying, working and contributing,"he writes.
Being outspoken online or in his day-to-day interactions, hesaid, is the best way to address problems.
"If I stay quiet, everybody is going to step on me," he said.
Ramirez's blogs have followers from across the country and worldwho visit for the comments and accompanying photos and videos. ALatino social network he started a year ago has 7,000 members, and arecently launched WordPress forum also is gaining attention.
He's proud of his Internet presence, saying he's mostly self-taught - with the exception of a six-month course in computertechnology.
Ramirez said he also earned a security training certificatethrough New York state and his high school general equivalencydiploma while working a full-time labor job.
"I had to walk two hours home (from school) in the snow, rain,anything because I didn't have a quarter to pay the bus," he said."But you have to fight for what you have, you have to earn it."
An on-the-job injury required several back surgeries for Ramirez,who is now disabled. While he can't sit or stand for long periods oftime, he finds time to blog about whatever is on his mind. He'shoping his words will resonate with folks and help people understandeach other, whether they are black, white or colors in between.
"We are not working together. We need to work together to getthis fixed. We are all human," he said. "I do not know anyone withblood of any other color than red."
jwhalen@standardspeaker.com
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