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Portada / Front Page
El Sol Latino September 2021
Puerto Rico Men Charged with Hate Crimes for Shooting Transgender Woman with a Paintball Gun Washington, DC | U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE - Office of Public Affairs | August 6, 2021 – A federal grand jury in San Juan, Puerto Rico, returned a three-count indictment charging Jordany Rafael Laboy García, Christian Yamaurie Rivera Otero and Anthony Steven Lobos Ruiz with hate crimes for assaulting a transgender woman because of her gender identity. Rivera Otero and Lobos Ruiz were also charged with obstruction of justice. The indictment alleges that on Feb. 24, 2020, Laboy García, Rivera Otero and Lobos Ruiz were traveling in a car when they recognized the victim on the side of the road in Toa Baja, Puerto Rico. According to the indictment, the conspirators recognized the victim from social media posts previously identifying her as a man who entered the women’s restroom at a local restaurant. After identifying her, Laboy García, Rivera Otero and Lobos Ruiz verbally harassed the victim. The three men then drove to get a paintball gun and paintballs to be used to shoot at the victim. The men returned to the same place where they had spotted the victim and fired paintballs at her. During both encounters, the men used a cell phone to record their actions. The men then shared these recordings with others. The indictment further alleges that after the alleged assault, Rivera Otero directed Lobos Ruiz to delete at least one video recording of the paintball gun assault and
verbal harassment of the victim from his cellular phone, and that Lobos Ruiz, in response, did so. If convicted, the defendants face a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison for the hate crime charge, five years in prison for the conspiracy charge, and a fine up to $250,000 with respect to each charge. If convicted, Rivera Otero and Lobos Ruiz also face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a fine up to $250,000 for the obstruction of justice charge. The case is being investigated by the San Juan Field Office of the FBI. The case is being prosecuted by Special Litigation Counsel Rose E. Gibson and Trial Attorney Laura B. Gilson of the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division along with Assistant U.S. Attorney José A. Contreras of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Puerto Rico. The indictment was announced by Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, W. Stephen Muldrow, U.S. Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico and Special Agent in Charge Joseph González for the FBI’s San Juan Field Office. An indictment is merely an allegation, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilt
New Data on the Black-White Wealth Gap Before and During the Pandemic Washington, DC | CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS | July 28, 2021— A new analysis from the Center for American Progress shows that the long-standing Black-white wealth gap hurt Black households’ ability to weather the COVID-19 pandemic. It also describes how, without policy interventions, the pandemic may lead to a widening of the wealth gap between Black and white Americans.
s The fortunes of Black and white homeowners diverged during the pandemic. A much larger share of Black homeowners than white homeowners—17.6 percent versus 6.9 percent—fell behind on their mortgage from August 2020 to March 2021.
Even before the pandemic, centuries of policy choices by federal, state, and local governments led to the typical Black household holding just one-tenth of the wealth of the typical white household. In “Wealth Matters: The BlackWhite Wealth Gap Before and During the Pandemic,” authors Christian E. Weller and Richard Figueroa find that during the pandemic, Black households faced more financial emergencies with fewer economic resources, resulting in a widening gap in economic opportunity between Black and white households.
s Among Black households that borrowed from family and friends, 43.9 percent canceled their postsecondary plans, and another 12.9 percent decided to take fewer classes. In comparison, 29.1 percent of white households that mainly used their income for expenses decided to cancel their postsecondary plans, and another 10.1 percent decided to take fewer classes. Again, less access to emergency savings often translates to more borrowing from friends and family, fewer future opportunities, and less economic mobility for Black households, compared with white households.
Key findings include: s Many more white households than Black households were able to use their savings during the pandemic to fill financial gaps left by job losses and/or higher health care costs. While 45.9 percent of white households that saw a drop in job-related income used their savings to pay for current expenses, only 30.6 percent of Black households did so. Similarly, more white households than Black households—28.5 percent versus 18.8 percent —used their savings when they were out of work due to health reasons. s During the pandemic, a higher percentage of Black households had to borrow money than white households. For example, 44.5 percent of white households that used savings to pay for expenses also borrowed on credit cards, and 16.1 percent borrowed from family and friends. In comparison, more Black households in this situation borrowed money, with 45.8 percent taking out loans and 28.5 percent borrowing from family and friends. Essentially, Black households substituted more debt for limited emergency savings, widening the wealth gap between typical Black and white families.
s Homeownership among African Americans grew more slowly than it did for white households during the pandemic. Black Americans were less able to take advantage of historically low interest rates. The Black homeownership rate stood at 44.1 percent by the end of 2020, almost equal to the 44 percent rate at the end of 2019. In comparison, the white homeownership rate rose from 73.7 percent to 74.5 percent during the same time period. Simply put, Black households faced more obstacles to becoming and staying homeowners because they had less money to fall back on.
The new CAP analysis makes the case that given the sheer size of the Black-white wealth gap, it would take a wide range of policy measures across an extended period of time to eliminate it, including direct targeted financial transfers to African Americans to overcome their inherent wealth disadvantages across generations. The brief also takes a look at steps the Biden administration can take to close the racial wealth gap, based on the National Advisory Council on Eliminating the Black-White Wealth Gap’s work over the course of 2020.Those solutions include: s )MPROVING ACCESS TO UNBANKED AND UNDERBANKED HOUSEHOLDS THROUGH postal banking s )NCREASING ACCESS TO FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT FUNDING FOR "LACK innovators and inventors s 0ROVIDING ADDITIONAL SUPPORT FOR "LACK ENTREPRENEURS TO START AND GROW their businesses continued on page 14
