(New Ulm, MN) – She doesn’t have the same story as a “typical” immigrant, but Alma Marin has spent years fighting for those who do, and a racist letter she recently received only strengthened her resolve to fight harder. anonymous

The New Ulm woman, a recipient of a New Ulm Human Rights Commission award for her work for equal rights for all, was born in Bolivia and moved to Puerto Rico when she was 12.  Her father was working for an American company, which is how their family received U.S. residency.  The family moved to Minnesota briefly, but when her parents moved to Spain, Marin stayed in the Midwest.

Marin, who is Mexican, moved to New Ulm in 2006.  Since then, she could recall only two instances of discrimination in the time she’s lived in the city.  Until she opened her mailbox in mid-January and found a letter addressed to “Alma Marin – Illegal alien.”  The envelope contained an anonymous letter, loaded with racist hate speech directed at Marin, the League of Women Voters, President Barack Obama, and immigrants in general.

Marin is almost positive the letter was a response to her comments in the New Ulm Journal’s January 14th “What’s on your mind” segment.  The paper asked her and several people their opinion of the government shutdown.  Marin responded: “I think the longer it goes on, the more people will realize what a bad president we have.”

“Your a freeloader and a diseased liberal who loved the Black Bastard who ran our country into the ground and gave our taxes to the worthless,” ran the anonymous letter to Marin, dated January 15th.

The typewritten letter had been mailed through the postal service directly to Marin’s home address.  She says she wasn’t offended or scared.  “I thought it was just pathetic and sad.  Maybe I’m being foolish.  Maybe I’m not being scared enough.”

The letter-writer went on to insinuate that whites were superior to other races, using disparaging words to describe other races: “The normal american white worker who live here don’t need some rat running what’s right into the ground.  Whites earned our freedoms not some taco, unfriendly, smelly Spaniard.”

Also included in the letter was a commentary berating the flip of the U.S. House of Representative flip Democrat to Republican.  The post targets Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, Representative Rashida Tlaib, and Minnesota Representative Ilhan Omar.

“The best in this country voted this President into office for the simple reason of what that bigot, racist, ni**er and dirty rotten bastard did to our country and its people who gave us our good life,” the letter went on to say.

Letters to the newspaper and an editorial condemned the speech of the letter-writer.  The vile tone of the letter only fueled Marin’s quest to promote human rights”It’s amazing,” Marin said of the support.  If I’m going to take this and make this positive, I’ve got to make sure that I talk for the people, some of them immigrants.  They are intimidated.  I know they are.”

The letter was closed with scathing remarks directed at the League of Women Voters, of which Marin is a member: “Consider yourself an idiot and anti-american, you old bag From your male friends of league of women whores, lesbians etc.”

The letter has been reported to the New Ulm Police, who have retained the original as part of their investigation.

“I’ve been protected by wealth, I’ve been protected by education, but I’m just like those other people,” said Marin.  They are hardworking, they are decent.  [Human rights] shouldn’t be a divisive idea.”

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