On the heels of the brutal murder of Luis Ramirez, comes yet another Shenandoah hate crime:

On Friday, Javier Alcala Jr., 21, allegedly was abducted and beaten by three men who duct-taped and blindfolded him.

This follows the July 12 killing of Luis Eduardo Ramirez Zavala, 25, an illegal immigrant who had been living in the U.S. for six years. He allegedly was pummeled near a local park after a confrontation with at least four teenage boys.

It’s almost impossible to believe that the murder of Luis Ramirez wouldn’t have functioned as a wake-up call. Instead, it emboldened some people in this town to dig in on behalf of bigotry, anti-immigrant and anti-Latino rhetoric, and violence.

On a recent Saturday, the Babe Ruth League field around the bend from the Mrs. T's Pierogies factory was crowded with people waving Old Glory, surrounded by their families and dogs.

The sun was still out, but mosquitoes were circling. Some folks carried placards - "Gallon of Gas: $3.69, Purchase of a Gun: $419, Deportation: Priceless," - that hinted at the turmoil that has simmered and occasionally boiled over since Ramirez's death.

Midway through the anti-illegal-immigrant rally, Crystal Dillman, who had been Ramirez's fiancee, arrived with her sister and some friends. The women, all of whom are white, unfurled a large Mexican flag.

"I'm here to support the cause; I'm here to support my husband," said Dillman, a Shenandoah native, quickly amending her statement to say "fiancee."

When some in the crowd noticed them and the flag, they shouted: "Why don't you go to Mexico?" and "Go home, Crystal!"

But the mother of three held her ground. "I'm not going nowhere," she said. "Let them say what whatever they want."

The trash-talk continued: "Wetback kids!" was directed toward Dillman's group. Her sister Lita responded joyfully with her arms raised in obscene gestures.

The tension escalated until state troopers stepped in, standing as a barrier around the Mexican flag until the crowd dispersed.

Note to reporter: I wouldn’t call a placard linking a gun reference to deportation following the murder of an innocent man a hint at turmoil nor would I call a mob surrounding a group of women and hurling ethnic slurs "trash-talk". It’s a little more serious than that.)

How is it possible that one hate crime could follow so closely to another – especially one that has received such nationwide attention?

Maybe it’s because Pennsylvania refuses to acknowledge or hold accountable bigotry engrained into the political fiber of the state.

• You have to wonder what message it sends when the Shenandoah police drag their heels for weeks on the Luis Ramirez murder, only finally arresting the culprits after an eyewitness points out the crime on Amy Goodman’s Democracy Now. At my last reading, police in Shenandoah are still reluctant to declare the latest attack a hate crime.

• You have to wonder when the Ramirez murder received barely a mention in Harrisburg, and hardly any denouncement from any major politician in our state.

• You have to wonder when Lou Barletta, who is apparently leading Paul Kanjorski in the latest polls is also named Pennsylvania Mayor of the Year.

• You have to wonder when the Democrats endorse for Attorney General an anti-immigrant blowhard like Tom Morganelli, who has been rebuked by judges for his nutty behavior on immigration, like helping local police officers in Northampton County conduct their own immigration raids with no formal training.

You have to wonder about the state of Pennsylvania politics and whether the Democrats in this state will continue to endorse the bigotry and violence fomenting in this torn-up town or whether they’ll just stand nervously on the sidelines, courting votes when they can and sheepishly tsk-tsk-ing in front of the “pro-immigrant” crowd. And you have to wonder who's going to get up on that national stage and declare that Pennsvylania isn't going to be defined by Joey Vento and Hazleton and the murder of Luis Ramirez - that we're going to work out our deep economic troubles and the needs of struggling communities without scapegoating and mob violence. We're wondering Governor.

This is no longer a situation of pro-immigrant and anti-immigrant. This is about whether a rule of law and civil society is endorsed in our state, or whether it’s a free-for-all depending on whether you might be an immigrant.