MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Latino activists are calling for more help and resources for the Latino community after two armed robbery cases within days of each other targeted members of the Latino community.
Monday night two men, Jeremy Tyson and Malek Lacy, are locked up. They’re accused of attacking Luis Rivera outside his home in southeast Memphis. According to family, they got away with cash and his car.
“He was about to go inside when they came and told him don’t move,” explained his sister-in-law.
Rivera was attacked on Clearbrook Street Thursday.
However, he’s not the only victim; police also told WREG in a separate case last week four men attacked and robbed another Latino man outside his home two-and-a-half miles away on Claudette. Those men got away with $2,500 cash and are still wanted.
“Many people in the Latino community do not feel the police will listen to them,” said Elena Delavega, an assistant professor at the University of Memphis.
Delavega does research and outreach for understanding the Latino community in Memphis, which she said is growing — some stats show the population is 5 percent.
“But in reality it’s closer to 10 percent,” she explained.
Delavega said it’s tough to say how many crimes against the Latino community there really are because most go unreported.
“They do not know the things that the media would put out in protecting yourself or information in protecting yourself because it’s not provided in Spanish.”
She said the bottom line is reaching out to the communities through social services, and when it comes to police, actually recruiting from the Latino community.
This is something MPD said they are doing; this afternoon they told WREG they have been advertising in the Latino community for more bilingual officers.