A Charlottesville Attacker Says He “Isn’t Racist Because He’s Puerto Rican”

By Richy Rosario

One of the men responsible for beating 20-year-old Deandre Harris last weekend during the white supremacist riot in Charlottesville, Virginia, is of Puerto Rican descent, reports Remezcla.

The man, according to reports, identifies as Alex Michael Ramos. After the attack, he got on Facebook Live and spewed a bombastic diatribe filled of contradictory racist comments, both defending the “Unite the Right” rallies, and said he isn’t racist because he’s Puerto Rican.

“I need to say some s**t about the UTR, and I need to say some s**t about racism, ’cause I’m not f**king racist, I’m Spanish,” he said on the Facebook Live video. “I’m Puerto Rican. Yeah, there are some Puerto Rican racist people out there, but I’m not one of them. And I need people to know that s**t.”

His Facebook page has been deactivated since then, but various social media posts are filled with racist residue showing Ramos participating in various “alt-right” activities.

Harris suffered a broken wrist and a chipped tooth, and had to get eight staples in his head. The Charlottesville police were allegedly not involved. The lack of law enforcement begs the question: Would they have not been involved if black people were attacking their white counterparts? Furthermore, Ramos’ participation in the UTR movement, and subsequently deeming himself not prejudiced, is an example of toxic white privilege.

This leads to a bigger issue within Latino communities, one concerning colorism and white supremacist ideals. And for the record: Spanish is a colonizer’s language, like English. Do you go around calling yourself English?

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