(Photo : Polk County Sheriff’s Office)
Screenshot from: Polk County Sheriff’s Office Website

A Hispanic teen suffered injures all over her body after being driven over by a woman from Des Moines, Iowa because "she was a Mexican," according to an article by NBC News.

According to the detectives, Nicole Marie Poole Franklin, 42, was driving a black Jeep Grand Cherokee near a high school on December 9 when she drove onto the sidewalk where the 14-year-old victim was walking.

"The defendant admitted she intentionally struck the victim intending to injure or kill her," according to a complaint from the Clive Police Department. "She struck the victim because the victim is Hispanic."

In a news conference on Friday, Clive Police Chief Michael Venema said that "Franklin told investigators that she ran the girl over because, in her words, she was 'a Mexican.'"

"She went on to make a number of derogatory statements about Latinos to our investigators," Venema said. "There is no place in our community, or in any other for that matter, for this type of hatred or violence."

Poole Franklin has been charged with attempted murder. According to the Polk County Sheriff's Office, she is also being charged with assault, theft, consumption, intoxication and possession of illegal substances.

According to the Census Bureau, Latinos constitute 18.1 percent of the United States' total population in 2018 and this figure is projected to rise up to 28.6% by 2060 with 119 million Latinos residing in the country.

Despite being the largest minority in the U.S., hate crimes against Latinos are rising. Moreover, they are underrepresented in film, in high-tech jobs and in the federal government workforce. And when they fight for equal treatment and representation, or even when they just speak Spanish in public, they are told over and over that they need to assimilate.

The study "Discrimination in America: Experiences and Views of Latinos" by Harvard School of Public Health reveals that nearly a third of Latinos claim they have been personally discriminated against because they are Latino when applying for jobs, when being paid equally or considered for promotions, and when trying to rent a room or apartment or buy a house.

Additionally, at least one in five Latinos say they or a family member have been treated unfairly by the courts or unfairly stopped or treated by the law enforcement for being Latino. Non-immigrant Latinos are nearly twice as likely as immigrant Latinos to report that they or a family member have been stopped or unfairly treated by the police because they are Latino.

The study also reveals that more than a third or more of Latinos say they have personally experienced racial or ethnic slurs and people making insensitive or offensive comments or negative assumptions about their race or ethnicity.

In the workplace, nonimmigrant Latinos and Latinos with college degree are both more likely to report various forms of individual discrimination.

Furthermore, the study claims that Latinos also find means to avoid discrimination such as avoiding medical care or calling the police even when in need due to concern that they or a family member would be discriminated against for being Latino.

The Hispanic teen is among the many Latinos who can attest that the rampant discrimination and hate crimes in the U.S. is among the most pressing issues politicians must focus on in terms of legislation and implementation.